Dr Andrew Bamford – Breaking Windows With Guineas: British Descents on the Coast of France, 1758
Tuesday 26th September 2023
For the September instalment of the SAHR's series of monthly lectures, Dr Andrew Bamford gave a talk entitled: 'Breaking Windows With Guineas: British Descents on the Coast of France, 1758'.
The talk took place on Tuesday 26 September at 7pm BST and can be watched on the Society's YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/p0JWP9n_tUs
Synopsis
During the early years of the Seven Years War in Europe, it was politically problematic to send British troops to join the fighting in Germany. Instead, such disposable forces as were available were deployed in attacks on French coastal targets – this was notionally a diversion in favour of Britain’s allies, and also would hopefully advance her maritime interests. In 1757 an attempt against Rochefort descended into a near-farce that ended the career of the commander: in 1758 larger forces were deployed against targets in Brittany and Normandy with decidedly mixed results. A first attempt against St Malo failed, but a second attack took and sacked Cherbourg. Attempting to make a renewed attempt against St Malo, the British forces were unable to re-embark at their landing point and had to make a multi-day march to a more sheltered location, a combination of circumstances that ultimately led to disaster and defeat. These little-known operations are not only a fascinating story in their own right, told here with use of contemporary maps and plans as well as photographs of the key locations, but also provide an insight into the state of the British Army at the outbreak of the Seven Years War.
Speaker biography
Andrew Bamford obtained his PhD from the University of Leeds for a thesis on British manpower management during the Napoleonic Wars. He currently edits the book series 'From Reason to Revolution, 1721-1815' for Helion and Company, which has allowed him to take his research backwards into the mid-eighteenth century as reflected in the topic of this talk. He has served for a number of years on the Council of the Society for Army Historical Research, currently as Hon. Secretary.