John Gurwood

Colonel John Gurwood CB (1790 – 25 December 1845), British Army was a successful cavalry officer wounded at many battles on several occasions, leaving long-term emotional and physical scars. He was awarded a Companion of the Bath for his duty to the service. After Waterloo, and the re-settlement of the army on a grateful nation, Gurwood became a writer and historian. A legacy of depression and loneliness led to a tragic and untimely death.

Born of "poor but honest parents in the East Riding of Yorkshire", John Gurwood began his career in a merchant's office but in 1808 obtained an ensigncy in the 52nd (Oxfordshire) Regiment of Foot. With his regiment he served in the "Light Division" of Wellington's army throughout the early Peninsular campaigns, and at Ciudad Rodrigo (19 January 1812) he led one of the forlorn hopes being severely wounded. For his gallant conduct on this occasion Wellington presented Gurwood with the sword of the French governor of Ciudad Rodrigo.

A little later, transferring to the 9th Light Dragoons, he was made brigade-major to the Household Cavalry which had just arrived in the Peninsula. In the latter part of the war he served as brigade-major to Lambert's brigade of the 6th Infantry division, and was present at the various actions in which that division played a conspicuous part— the Nivelle, the Nive, Orthes and Toulouse. In 1814, he transferred to the 10th Hussars.

During the preliminary actions to Waterloo, Captain Gurwood was for the third time severely wounded, although this happened in a skirmish before the main battle had even started. As a result of the wounds he received from actions against De Grouchy's Cavalry Corps, he was sent back to Brussels and missed most of Waterloo to his considerable mortification.

After the battle, Paris was occupied for over a year, so that Gurwood was part of the allied garrison occupying the city during the restoration of Bourbon King Louis XVIII. Gurwood later married Fanny Mayer (née Kreilsamner) whom he had met in Paris after the war and whose daughter Eugenie (aged 10 at the time) is now believed to have been the illegitimate daughter of Napoleon Bonaparte himself. Eugenie went on to marry William Baliol Brett, 1st Viscount Esher.

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