Francis De Visme: The Life of a Napoleonic Officer
One of our research volunteers has recently been exploring the life of Francis De Visme. Francis served in the 51st Regiment of Foot during the Napoleonic Wars. The 51st later became the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry. Their research has been a fantastic chance for us to explore the life of a young officer in a period that was full of strange promotion systems, confusing pay and men sometimes holding more than one rank at once.
Francis was born in 1793 in Newent in Gloucestershire. We haven’t found out a lot about his family in these early years, but he would eventually go on to have at least one sister, called Julia, 18 years his junior.
On the 22 March, 1810, aged 17, Francis joined the 51st Regiment of Foot as an ensign. An ensign was the most junior officer in an infantry regiment to hold a commission, a kind of document that formally records the recipient as an officer in an army. If you’ve ever read the acronym ‘NCO’, this refers to a non-commissioned officer, or anyone who holds a rank above private but below ensign, like a corporal or a sergeant. At this time, commissions were paid for, and not often awarded for good service. Advancing in rank often required purchasing a commission from an officer of the rank you wished to advance to. There were lots of rules and regulations surrounding this practice, formal and informal, but it ultimately meant that only men from very wealthy families advanced to the highest ranks. Private soldiers and junior officers often found themselves unable to progress their careers because they didn’t have enough money.
A private of the 51st in 1815, wearing a uniform that would’ve been very familiar to Francis, Brown University Library.
About 11 months after joining the regiment was sent to Portugal as part of the Duke of Wellington’s army, fighting the French there. Their first battle after arriving was at Fuentes de Oñoro in Spain. The regimental diary covering the battle says that “the 51st Regiment was distinguished for its Judicious Skirmishing, as well as for its able Retreat, in the face of a large body of French Cavalry, and Infantry”. Thanks to Francis De Visme’s medal in our collection (more below!) we know that he fought in this battle, but we don’t yet know much about his exact role in it.
A print from 1815 depicting the Battle of Fuentes de Oñoro (NAM. 1971-02-33-532-20).
In January of 1812 the 51st, including Francis, took part in the siege of the town of Ciudad Rodrigo. Much of the regiment’s time was spent patrolling the surrounding countryside in harsh conditions.
On the last day of 1812 Ensign De Visme became Lieutenant De Visme, 51st Regiment of Foot. It wasn’t to last however as, less than three months into the role, Francis transferred to the 21st Light Dragoons, becoming a captain in the process. The 21st were one of a number of regiments raised quickly during the Napoleonic Wars and disbanded in the years after they ended. Why Francis chose to transfer we may never know. What we do know is that the 21st Light Dragoons were stationed in the Cape Colony, which now forms a large part of modern South Africa.
Francis spent the next 7 years serving with the 21st, before going down to half pay in 1820. This is exactly what it sounds like. This was an early sort of pension, where officers would elect to go down to half pay and leave active service upon retirement, during career breaks, or when their services weren’t currently required. The next year Francis went back up to full pay, this time serving in the Cape Corps Cavalry, which was an auxiliary force made up of South Africa’s non-white population, commanded by white British officers. As far as we can tell, this was his last active command, as in 1822 he exchanges into the 60th Regiment of Foot, but is exclusively on half pay from now on.
15 years into his retirement, Francis is suddenly promoted to major. This didn’t come with a new field role and responsibilities, as it was a brevet promotion. These were mostly ceremonial promotions that didn’t include any extra duties, pay, or privileges. Brevet promotions were relatively common through the first half of the 1800s. To add an extra layer of confusion, Francis’ new rank was in the army as a whole, but not within his regiment, so according to the 60th Foot, he was Captain De Visme, but in the army’s books he was Major De Visme.
Francis’ Military General Service Medal is on display in our medal room, part of the new King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Research and Collections Centre within City of Doncaster Archives. This medal was created in 1847, and was a retroactive award for soldiers who fought in the army between 1793 and 1814, the heights of the wars with revolutionary France and then Napoleon. All ranks were eligible, but it would only be awarded to surviving claimants who submitted a written application. This meant that large numbers of men never received the medal, as many simply hadn’t survived the 30 years since the end of the war. Francis’ medal has clasps recognising his presence at Fuentes de Oñoro and Ciudad Rodrigo.
Francis’ Military General Service Medal, on display in our Research and Collections Centre.
By the 1850s Francis appears to have been comfortably retired. He’s in the 1851 census, the same year he received another brevet promotion, to lieutenant colonel. He’d married a woman named Harriet, and had two children, Elizabeth and George, both in their early 20s. His sister Julia and a niece called Sophia were living with them, alongside a 17 year old boy called Godfrey, whose relationship to the family is unknown. They had a number of staff, “Servants, Footman, Lady’s Maid, Laundry Maid and Cook, Housemaid, Charwoman” (a cleaner).
Francis formally left the army, giving up his half pay in August 1854. Interestingly he was officially transferred to the 80th Regiment of Foot only a week earlier. At this point that Francis disappears from the records our research volunteer was able to find, until his death in December 1869, in St. Helier, Jersey. How he spent the final 15 years of his life is unclear right now, but it remains a topic we’re tremendously interested in finding out more about. Francis was buried in the churchyard of St. Peter’s Church in the village of Chertsey in Surrey.
Do you know more about Francis? Email us at [email protected]
Upcoming events:
King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Research and Collection Centre Open Day
Second Wednesday of every month, 10am – 4pm
King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Medal Room Tours
Fourth Wednesday of every month, 10am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm
(No session in December due to Christmas break)
Open Days and Medal Room tours are FREE to attend. No booking required!
All images of objects from the King’s Own Yorkshire Light Infantry Collection are shared under Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0), credit to Heritage Doncaster.