Britain’s Last Invasion, The Battle of Fishguard 1797 - Phil Carradice

The reading for this month has concluded with my finishing, ‘Britain’s Last Invasion’ by Phil Carradice, which, as the Introduction to this book points out, covers an incident in British history that very few of my countrymen would have ever heard of and from a casual question posed to fellow club-mates at the DWG, namely “When was the last invasion of mainland Great Britain?” seemed to confirm with only one of a small sample theorising that the landing at Fishguard in 1797 might be a candidate, with others going for William of Orange and the Glorious Revolution of 1688 as more likely.

I myself already knew of this invasion, purely from my reading of an historical write up and suggested wargaming scenario in one of the hobby magazines from way-back-when, with, spoiler alert!!, memories of the fearless Jemima Fawr leading a regiment of black bonnet topped Welsh women in red cloaks out on to nearby hills to scare the French force into surrendering, whilst rounding up foragers at the point of a pitch fork. 

You will have to read Phil Carradice's book to get a better idea of what is myth and fact or indeed a bit of both, about this story, but I hope gives you the flavour of this 'ripping yarn', that the Battle of Fishguard is all about.

Jemima Fawr or as she also known, Jemima Nicholas was just one of the characters, and a very formidable one, the fills the narrative of this fascinating story.

Had I been asked to provide more detail on when exactly this invasion occurred, why and precisely how it ended in the way it did, and perhaps mentioning a few of the key characters involved I would have indeed been flummoxed and no doubt failed my Home-Office UK Nationality Test.

Phil Carradice has composed an enthralling account of this incredible story of poor planning, preparation and action, or as we used to say back in my professional days, guilty of not applying the five p's, 'proper preparation prevents p.ss-poor presentation', five not six as 'p.ss-poor' is hyphenated; this equally applying to both sides, that could have easily led to an entirely different outcome with a different throw of Fortuna’s dice and, as he points out in his conclusion to the book, ‘. . . any good story should contain the three p’s - place, people, problem’, this story having them all.

The five members of the French Directory in all their finery

To fully appreciate the astonishing thinking that characterised that of the leadership of the Revolutionary French Directorate that emerged from the bloody period of ‘The Terror’ one has to try and grasp the situation that prevailed in France in the late eighteenth century as the country emerged seemingly successfully from its struggle for survival against the monarchies of Europe, shocked and horrified at the execution of Louis XVI on the 21st January 1793, and bent on ending any possible contagion of the ‘republican’ menace that seemed to threaten the stability of the status quo enjoyed by the Ancien Regime.

Lazare Carnot - Alexandre-Marie Colin
Carnot was a soldier, politician and mathematician as well 
as a supreme organiser, credited with reforming the 
French Royalist Army into the Revolutionary one that stormed
across Europe in the last campaigns of the eighteenth century.
He would later emerge briefly as Napoleon's Minister of War

By 1797 the year of our story, Britain not for the last time stood alone, facing down the predominant power controlling the agenda in Europe and the French Directory and its leading member for military affairs, titled 'The Organiser of the Victory' for his reforms of the Revolutionary French Army that had led to French dominance in Europe, Lazarre Carnot, both determined to find a way of dealing with “perfidious Albion’ once and for all, with a country seemingly to French eyes, ripe for revolution by its down-trodden masses keen to overthrow the yoke of its ruling monarchy and aristocracy.

Of course this French appreciation failed to take into account that the British were already experienced in revolution and regicide long before it became a popular sport in France, a case of 'done that got the T-Shirt' and it’s evolution towards a more inclusive constitutional monarchy was in its infancy but already underway, an aspect that would only gather pace in the wake of the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and the advent of the Industrial Revolution that would introduce to Britain the new ruling class or bourgeoise middle class of nouveau riche industrialists and merchants and the clamour for more political emancipation and inclusivity for the working man that would follow. 

In his quest for a plan to deal with the British and pay them back in kind for the support they had given to French Royalists in the Vendee Uprising, Carnot's search revealed the architects for the eventual French landing in Pembrokeshire, that would form part of a complicated and rather naïve plan to invade and subdue Britain through invasion and uprising.

General de Division Lazare Hoche (left) - Jean-Louis Laneuville and Theobold Wolfe Tone (right) - Artist Anonymous.
Hoche first saw action as a young lieutenant in 1792 and rose rapidly to general de brigade by September 1793, surviving the reign of terror and charges of treason with a record of achievement and success coupled with fiery energy. He defeated the British sponsored French Royalists in western France and was appointed by the Directorate to organise and lead the French Invasion of Ireland in July 1796. Wolfe Tone was a leading Irish Revolutionary figure and a founding member of the United Irishmen, a republican society determined to end British rule in Ireland. He would take part in the 1796 expedition led by Hoche and the later one in 1798 when he was captured by the Royal Navy, later committing suicide in prison, before his planned execution.
 

General de Division Hoche and the Irish republican Theobold Wolfe Tone, were the two men that between them would design the plan to invade Ireland in the winter of 1796 with Hoche leading a French army landed on the southern Irish coast and with Tone in collaboration with the United Irishmen raising the wider country up in support and arms to overthrow British rule in Ireland; this combined with two other landings on the British mainland designed to appeal to similar insurrection in disaffected parts of the country and to distract any British forces likely to be sent to Ireland as reinforcements.

The French plan for the Invasion of Britain, with the main operation aimed at Bantry Bay (2) in the winter of 1796, supported by two other later operations against mainland Britain, one at Bristol (4), to be redirected to Pembrokeshire should this prove problematic and another towards Newcastle (1). This against the backdrop of the ongoing war that would see the Royal Navy achieve a remarkable victory over the Spanish fleet, looking to support the French plans, but intercepted and defeated at the Battle of Cape St Vincent (3), 14th February 1797.
https://the-past.com/feature/fishguard-february-1797-the-last-french-invasion-of-britain/

If you are like me, an avid enthusiast for this period, you are likely aware of the unsuccessful outcome of the primary operation of the French plan and I have prepared several small ship historical actions to bring to the table with 'Kiss Me Hardy!' including the famous action between the French 74-gun Droits de l'Homme and Sir Edward Pellew's 46-gun Razee, Indefatigable in company with the 36-gun frigate Amazon fought close to the Britany coast following the French withdrawal.

So it was a fascinating read to discover that the French diversionary attack, initially planned against Bristol, but with a provision in the orders to divert to Pembrokeshire should the occasion demand, still proceeded in the year after the disastrous attempt to land in Ireland, during some of the worst winter storms imaginable, and despite the fact that its intended object was no longer part of a greater plan, and despite that the other diversionary attack planned on Newcastle had been abandoned.

I think Carradice does a really good job in painting the political picture that prevailed in France under the Directory following the bloody purges of 'The Terror' that preceded it, with the culture that developed, to simply do as one was ordered and not to question or act through volition and initiative; which might leave a commander and individual exposed to severe punitive disciplinary consequences in the result of failure, but that meant orders were followed to the letter even though the circumstances that prevailed at the time of their issuing were known to no longer apply, helping to give a modern reader an insight into this remarkable situation.

You couldn't possibly imagine that situation occurring today!

A grenadier, left, of the so called Legion Noire or 2nd Legion de Francs, wearing captured British coats from the Vendee expedition, dyed black but ending up a chocolate brown. The Legion would be the French invasion force of about 1,400 troops composed in the main of convicts, an ill disciplined and unenthusiastic corps that would be focussed on pillage and destruction rather than invasion. To right is a subaltern of the light company of the Fishguard and Newport Volunteers. The landing would not be opposed by any British regular troops other than a handful of artillerymen and would expose the utter lack of preparedness by the British authorities for this expedition and the possible consequences it might have caused had it been better prepared and organised.
https://the-past.com/feature/fishguard-february-1797-the-last-french-invasion-of-britain/

If this scenario wasn't already beyond belief in terms of military feasibility, the key architect of the plan, Hoche, had been reassigned to other operations in Europe, so was not even in charge of this fiasco, and the forces selected to land in Britain were composed of, in the main, 1,200 convicts, with little enthusiasm for the cause and no military discipline, stiffened by a few hundred regular grenadiers and led by an American adventurer, given the rank of Colonel, a certain William Tate; he having seen active service during the American War of Independence and whose only claim to lead this mission was his enthusiastic rabid hatred for all things British, supported by an officer cadre of young inexperienced disaffected Irishmen who potentially would, as British citizens, face execution for treason, should they be captured. 

Expendable, disaffected, undisciplined convicts being sent into battle. You couldn't imagine that happening today!

French troops landing at Fishguard

What follows the first five chapters covering the plan and the forces involved, together with the political and military scene outlined above, is a ripping yarn that introduces the reader to what followed when Tate and his men, it has to be said, safely manacled and locked below deck, boarded the eighteen-pounder French 48-gun frigates Vengeur and sister ship Resistance, together with the 22-gun corvette La Constance and the 12-gun lugger Le Vautour in Brest setting sail on the 18th February 1797.

As described this story is full of characters, from the high-born to the lowlier members of society and Carradice fills the account with the anecdotes and stories linked with them, helping to paint a picture of of their character's strengths and flaws, as they struggled to deal with a situation that for nearly all involved was unprecedented and left a deep memory on them and the local area around the tiny fishing village of Fishguard, where the French force landed on the nearby beaches and where they would lay down their arms a few days later.

A contemporary print of French troops surrendering on Goodwick Sands.

This was an easy read and I enjoyed progressing my way through the account, one chapter at a time each night, as part of my bed time read, and with a trip to Pembrokeshire coming up later this summer I'm hoping to take a drive out to some of the places mentioned, to soak up some of the history of this, the last invasion of mainland Britain by foreign troops.

Britain's Last Invasion, The Battle of Fishguard 1797 by Phil Carradice, is published by Pen & Sword and consists of 224 pages which includes the following:

Foreward

Introduction

A Brief Note on Illustrations and Images

Chapter 1        A Prelude to Disaster

Chapter 2        Revolution in France

Chapter 3        The Directory Lays its Plans

Chapter 4        Diversion and Attack

Chapter 5        The Legion Noire

Chapter 6        Towards Fishguard

Chapter 7        Tate's Landing
Chapter 8        Defending the Nation

Chapter 9        Establishing the Beachhead

Chapter 10      Went the Day Well?

Chapter 11      A Time of Duty and Disaster

Chapter 12      The Fleet Leaves

Chapter 13      Surrender      

Chapter 14      The Aftermath

Chapter 15      Effects

Chapter 16      Players Departing the Stage

Chapter 17      The British, Too

Conclusion

Notes

Bibliography

Acknowledgements

Index

My copy is a paperback edition and there are thirty-seven black and white illustrations in the book with several photographs of the area around Fishguard and the key buildings involved looking to have been taken in the late 19th century that really capture the likely look of the places at the time of the story. My only quibble, and its a small one, is the quality of the maps included, which at least they are included, but you will find better ones on 'The Past.com', one of which I included in this post to better illustrate the French plan.

The hardcover edition of the book is list price £19.99 and the paperback £12.99, but there are a range of prices around for this book in both formats on the used and new market, and I got my copy for considerably less than the list price, so, as always, it's worth shopping around.

If you would like an interesting Wargaming 'What If' AAR about Fishguard, plus loads of history, then check out this post on Jemima Fawr's Miniature Wargames Blog.

Jemima Fawr- The Battle That Never Was, Fishguard 1797

Next Up: Lots to post about here on JJ's with an upcoming trip to Wales to play Trafalgar on a two day boy's beano, five new models have been added to the collection that need to be showcased, my Australian adventure continues to the wonderful city of Brisbane, Jack's Spanish squadron are in the builder yard, nearing completion and I have a new project that I'm working on which includes some inspiration from Mel, The Terrain Tutor.

More anon

JJ