Major General William Furneaux: A Military Legacy

Royal Artillery

Major General William Furneaux (1791 to 1862) served in the Napoleonic Wars, or more properly the Peninsular Wars, in Spain.

He served in a number of different artillery battalions over the years, starting his armed service at the age of 17 as a 2nd lieutenant and retired as Major General at the age of 64 (see table below for his service record summary).

According to military records, he was present at the Battle of Albuera (1811), Seige of Badajoz (1812) , and the Battle of Castalla (1813) in the Peninsular Wars. He then served in Gibraltar, Canada and Bermuda.

In all of the sieges, in the Peninsular Wars, it was the guns which where decisive in order to break down the walls of the defending cities.

The service summary is: "Joined the army in the lines in front of Lisbon, marched with the 6th Brigade […] to the Battle of Albuera and remained for some time in the field. Afterwards returned to Lisbon and fitted out a H 6 pounder Brigade and joined the 6 Division under […] served as the covering army at the siege of Badadjoz. Then attached to the Holcombe heavy and forces […] and was appointed Acting Brigade Major to the united force of artillery in which capacity retained to serve until after Castallan where I was ordered to join at Gibraltar."¹ He was also awarded a service clasp for the Siege of Ciudad Rodrigo² which for some reason isnt mentioned in this short summary of service.

The mention of Brigade Major above is interesting, as it was a staff officer position and was responsible for most staff functions with the exception of the commissary in a brigade ³. It was possible to be both a Lieutenant and a Brigade Major. In early 1804 the brigade major post was promoted to a deputy adjutant general and remained that way for the remainder of the war ⁴. Thus William Furneaux was acting in a senior staff position in the headquarters of the artillery.

Military Service History for Major General William Furneaux ^​*​5

Footnotes