William Francis Patrick Napier General Sir William Francis Patrick Napier KCB ( 7 December 1785 – 12 February 1860 ) , Irish soldier in the British Army and military historian , third son of Colonel George Napier ( 1751 – 1804 ) and his wife , Lady Sarah Lennox ( 1845 - 1826 ) was born at Celbridge , near Dublin . Military service . He became an ensign in the Royal Irish Artillery in 1800 , but at once exchanged into the 62nd , and was put on half - pay in 1802 . He was afterwards made a cornet in the Royal Horse Guards by the influence of his uncle the duke of Richmond , and for the first time did actual military duty in this regiment , but he soon fell in with Sir John Moore ' s suggestion that he should exchange into the 52nd , which was about to be trained at Shorncliffe Army Camp . Through Sir John Moore he soon obtained a company in the 43rd , joined that regiment at Shorncliffe and became a great favourite with Moore . He served in Denmark , and was present at the engagement of Koege ( Køge ) , and , his regiment being shortly afterwards sent to Spain , he bore himself nobly through the retreat to Corunna , the hardships of which permanently impaired his health . In 1809 he became " aide - de - camp " to his cousin the Duke of Richmond , Lord Lieutenant of Ireland , but joined the 43rd when that regiment was ordered again to Spain . With the light brigade ( the 43rd , 52nd , and 95th ) , under the command of General Craufurd , he marched to Talavera in the famous forced march which he has described in his " History " , and had a violent attack of pleurisy on the way . He , however , refused to leave Spain , was wounded on the Coa , and shot near the spine at Cazal Nova . His conduct was so conspicuous during the pursuit of Masséna after he left the lines of Torres Vedras that he as well as his brother George was recommended for a brevet majority . He became Brigade Major , was present at Fuentes d ' Onoro , but had so bad an attack of ague that he was obliged to return to England . In England he married his cousin Caroline Amelia Fox , daughter of General , the Honourable Henry Fox and niece of the statesman Charles James Fox . They had a number of children , one of whom , Pamela Adelaide Napier , married Philip William Skynner Miles and had a son , Philip Napier Miles . Another daughter , Louisa Augusta Napier , married General Sir Patrick Leonard MacDougall who , after her death , married Marianne Adelaide Miles , a sister of Philip William Skynner Miles . Three weeks after his marriage he again started for Spain , and was present at the storming of Badajoz , where his great friend Colonel McLeod was killed . In the absence of the new Lieutenant - Colonel he took command of the 43rd regiment ( he was now a substantive Major ) and commanded it at the battle of Salamanca . After a short stay at home he again joined his regiment at the Pyrenees , and did his greatest military service at the Battle of Nivelle , where , with instinctive military insight , he secured the most strongly fortified part of Soult ' s position , practically without orders . He served with his regiment at the battles of the Nive , where he received two wounds , Orthes , and Toulouse . For his services he was made brevet Lieutenant - Colonel , and one of the first C . B . s . Like his brother Charles he then entered the military college at Farnham . He commanded his regiment in the invasion of France after Waterloo , and remained in France with the army of occupation until 1819 , when he retired on half - pay . As it was impossible for him to live on a Major ' s half - pay with a wife and family , he determined to become an artist , and took a house in Sloane Street , where he studied with George Jones , the academician . Historian . The years he had spent in France he had occupied in improving his general education , for , incredible as it seems , the author of the " History of the War in the Peninsula " could not spell or write respectable English till that time . But his career was to be great in literature , not in art . The tendency appeared in an able review of Jomini ' s works ( " Edinburgh Review " ) in 1821 , and in 1823 Henry Bickersteth suggested that he write a history of the Peninsular War . For some time he did not take kindly to the suggestion , but at last determined to become an author in order to defend the memory of Sir John Moore , and to prevent the glory of his old chief being overshadowed by that of Wellington . The Duke of Wellington himself gave him much assistance , and handed over to him the whole of Joseph Bonaparte ' s correspondence which had been taken at the battle of Vittoria ; this was all in cipher , but Mrs Napier , with great patience , discovered the keys . Marshal Soult also took an active interest in the work and arranged for the French translation of Mathieu Dumas . In 1828 the first volume of the " History " appeared . The publisher , John Murray , indeed , was disappointed in the sale of the first volume and Napier published the remainder himself . But it was at once seen that the great deeds of the Peninsular War were about to be fitly commemorated . The excitement which followed the appearance of each volume is proved by the innumerable pamphlets issued by those who believed themselves to be attacked , and by personal altercations with many distinguished officers . But the success of the book was proved still more by the absence of competition than by these bitter controversies . The histories of Southey and Lord Londonderry fell still - born , and Sir George Murray , Wellington ' s quartermaster - general , who had determined to produce the history , gave up the attempt in despair . This success was due to a combination of qualities which have justly secured for Napier the title of being the greatest military historian England has produced . When in 1840 the last volume of the " History " was published , his fame not only in England but in France and Germany was safely established . His life during these years had been chiefly absorbed in his " History " , but he had warmly sympathized with the movement for political reform which was agitating England . ' The Radicals ' of Bath , ( forerunners of Chartism ) , and many other cities and towns pressed him to enter parliament , and Napier was actually invited to become tile military chief of a national guard to obtain reforms by force of arms . He refused the dangerous honor on the ground that he was in bad health and had a family of eight children . In 1830 he had been promoted Colonel , and in 1841 he was made a Major - General and was appointed Lieutenant Governor of Guernsey . Here he found plenty of occupation in controlling the relations between the soldiers and the inhabitants , and also in working out proposals for a complete scheme of reform in the government of the island . While he was at Guernsey his brother Charles had conquered Sindh , and the attacks made on the policy of that conquest brought William Napier again into the field of literature . In 1845 he published his " History of the Conquest of Scinde " , and in 1851 the corresponding " History of the Administration of Scinde " books which in style and vigour rivalled the great " History " , but which , being written for controversial purposes , were not likely to maintain enduring popularity . In 1847 he resigned his governorship , and in 1848 was made a K . C . B . , and settled at Scinde House , Clapham Park . In 1851 he was promoted Lieutenant - General . His time was fully occupied in defending his brother , in revising the numerous editions of his " History " which were being called for , and in writing letters to " The Times " on every conceivable subject , whether military or literary . His energy is the more astonishing when it is remembered that he never recovered from the effects of the wound he had received at Cazal Nova , and that he often had to lie on his back for months together . His domestic life was shadowed by the incurable affliction of his only son , and when his brother Charles died in 1853 the world seemed to be darkening round him . He devoted himself to writing the life of that brother , which appeared in 1857 , and which is in many respects his most characteristic book . In the end of 1853 his younger brother , Captain Henry Napier , RN . , died , and in 1855 his brother Sir George . Inspired by his work , he lived on till the year 1860 , when , broken by trouble , fatigue and ill - health , he died at Clapham , and was buried at West Norwood . Four months earlier he had been promoted to the full rank of general .