The Extraordinary Military Career of John Shipp

The entertaining memoirs of a British soldier of the empire

As the eighteenth century turned to the nineteenth the rise of Napoleon and the First Empire of France engaged British military prowess on land and sea. Study of the British Army of the time focuses, inevitably, on its struggles with the French and especially upon the conflict in the Iberian Peninsula. Yet this was also a time when the rapid expansion of the British Empire was inexorably turning the map of the world 'red' and there were military adventures to be had in many lands. John Shipp, the author of this well regarded military memoir, was engaged in one of the Kaffir-or Caffre, as he terms them-Wars in early 19th century South Africa before being sent to India. There Lake and Wellesley, the future Wellington, fought hard won battles with small, mixed armies of British regiments and the native troops of the Honourable East India Company, against the dominant martial races of India. Shipp joined the 22nd (Cheshire) Regiment of Foot and as a sergeant led the forlorn hope at the storming of Bhurtpore-one of the most formidable of the Mahratta fortresses-and on two other occasions. He served in several other regiments, was promoted and then sold his commission before working his way up again in the cavalry. Much of his career was with the 87th Regiment of Foot, and Shipp regales us with many colourful anecdotes about the exploits of his Irish comrades. Shipp's story is entertainingly and often whimsically recounted by the author who reveals himself, perhaps inadvertently, to be something of a likeable rogue. His easy going literary style draws the reader to the heart of his world and his prose is full of detail, dialogue and the atmosphere of the time and place as he takes us with him on campaign and into battle. Available in soft cover and hard back with dust jacket.