Page 143 - Wish Stream Year of 2017

Le Marchant’s life was not without controversy. In the middle of his tenure as Lieutenant-Gov- ernor in 1806, he fell out badly with both his immediate subordinate (the Superintendent) at Marlow, Lt Col Butler, and General Harcourt. The main cause was what Le Marchant felt was poor tuition and discipline at the junior division, for which he totally blamed Butler, and the lack of Harcourt’s backing. Le Marchant made an official complaint (an unusual move), and was himself counter-accused by Harcourt of ‘cal- umny’ against Butler (the making of false and defamatory statements about someone in order to damage their reputation). The Duke of York convened an inquiry. Harcourt eventually backed down and gave Le Marchant more support, but it was a tense time with no guarantee of success for him. Peace was made and all parties kept their positions. This incident, and others, caused Le Marchant some lasting bitterness at what he felt had been shabby treatment. During most of his time as Lieutenant-Governor, the Govern- ment had been progressing, albeit very slowly, a new single building to house the RMC, at Sand- hurst. Demand for places at the College had long outstripped available vacancies, and build- ing work had begun as far back as 1802 but was not finished until 1812. Le Marchant was much involved in this, and visited several times during construction, sometimes with his son, Denis.
Death and glory!
The war with France, now with Napoleon as the main foe, had been going on almost con- tinuously since 1793. In 1811, Le Marchant was given a promotion, in the ordinary course, to Major General, which made him too senior to continue in his role at the RMC. Although sad in many ways to leave the RMC, as he had expected to spend his remaining working days at Sandhurst, he was glad to be sent to the Peninsular to command the Heavy Brigade of cavalry under the Duke of Wellington, with the chance of real action once again. It was a pres- tigious command, which showed the Duke of York’s continued high regard for his professional ability. He took with him his eldest son, Carey, as his aide-de-camp (ADC). Shortly after arriving in Lisbon, he heard the very sad news of the death of his beloved ‘Polly’, shortly after the birth of his tenth and final child. Both the Duke of York and the Duke of Wellington gave Le Marchant leave to return home to take care of his children, who were left in the house in High Wycombe. He received notice from his brother-in-Law, Peter Carey, (by now a full Colonel), that he and his
sister, Sophy, would take good care of the chil- dren, and in particular the younger ones. Peter Carey was anxious that his brother-in-law should not forfeit his chance of final distinction. This they did for longer than they anticipated, and the Le Marchant family had good cause to be in debt to the Carey family thereafter.
At the Battle of Salamanca in Spain on 22 July 1812, Le Marchant personally led a glorious and devastating charge of the Heavy Brigade against the French left flank, over a thousand sabres in total. During skirmishes after the charge, Le Marchant was fatally shot by a French infantry- man. His body is buried on the battlefield. Wel- lington witnessed the charge, declaring: ‘I never saw anything more splendid in my life’.
The death of Le Marchant was recognised as a great loss, as he was well-known as an excep- tionally able officer. The Duke of York was par- ticularly saddened, and was said to burst into tears. The King was probably too unwell by this time to be aware of Le Marchant’s death. In a rare move, Parliament granted an annual pen- sion for his orphaned children of £1,200, and a further sum of £1,500 was voted for a memo- rial in St Paul’s Cathedral. This is over the steps leading down to the Crypt in the north transept, and depicts a young woman representing Spain, a tomb with a cameo of Le Marchant on the side, Britannia and a rather worried looking Gen- tleman Cadet.
Le Marchant was only forty-six when he died. His healthy and vigorous constitution had prom- ised him a long life. Despite the honours granted by Parliament, they probably fell short of what would have been had the public been aware of the full details and significance of Le Marchant’s actions and achievements at Salamanca. The
Monument in St Paul’s Cathedral
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