Colquhoun Grant ( British intelligence officer ) Lieutenant - Colonel Colquhoun Grant ( 1780 – 1829 ) was a British Army soldier and intelligence officer during the Napoleonic Wars . He should not be confused with his contemporary and namesake Sir Colquhoun Grant , who was a British cavalry general . Of a family from the Scots aristocracy , Grant , the youngest of eight brothers , was commissioned into the 11th Foot in 1795 , reaching the rank of Major by 1809 when he was posted to the Iberian Peninsula under the command of Arthur Wellesley , later Duke of Wellington . In 1810 he was appointed to Wellesley ' s personal staff as an " Exploring Officer " in the Peninsula Corps of Guides , a special reconnaissance unit who spoke the local languages . Grant never thought of himself as a spy , and always rode in full uniform , often behind enemy lines , to note the positions and strength of the enemy . Grant was captured by French forces on 16 April 1812 . As he was in uniform he was treated as an officer and gentleman by his captors , who offered him parole which Grant accepted . His servant Leon , a local guide , was not so fortunate , and was shot . Grant was invited to dine with Marshal Marmont who hoped to find out more about Wellington , and who was angered by Grant ' s reticence . Marmont had good reason to remain suspicious of Grant , as the latter managed to send and receive secret messages while in captivity . Marmont sent Grant to Paris for interrogation . It is clear from Marmont ' s correspondence that he had no intention of exchanging Grant for a prisoner of equal rank among the British , as was the custom of the time , considering him to be a spy . Grant , on seeing a copy of Marmont ' s letter , decided that it invalidated his agreement to parole and left him free to escape . Grant was able to avoid recapture by passing himself off as an American officer , and spent some weeks at liberty in the streets and salons of Paris , sending intelligence reports to Wellington . He then escaped to England , rejoining Wellington in early 1814 . Promoted to lieutenant - colonel he was appointed commanding officer of the Corps of Guides and Head of Intelligence for the Peninsular Army . During the Hundred Days Campaign Grant was working as Intelligence officer in France when Wellington put him in charge of his own intelligence operations . Grant sent in a steady stream of reports regarding the build - up of French troops along the border and returned to Brussels in time to take part in the Battle of Waterloo on 18 June . In 1821 Grant transferred to the 54th Foot as lieutenant - colonel , later commanding a brigade in the First Anglo - Burmese War In 1829 he was invalided out of the army and his doctor Sir James McGrigor send him to Aachen to take the waters there . On the night of 28 September 1829 he died there . He appears as a character in Susanna Clarke ' s fantasy novel set in the period , Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell . The character of Major Michael Hogan in Bernard Cornwell ' s " Sharpe " series of novels is loosely based on Grant . In James McGee ' s novel " Rebellion " , based on the real ' Malet Conspiracy ' , Grant joins forces with McGee ' s fictional hero , Matthew Hawkwood . Together , they take part in a plot by renegade French generals to seize control of the Empire while Napoleon Bonaparte is fighting in Russia . His son , Walter Colquhoun Grant , also became an army officer , the youngest captain in the army at 24 , before financial troubles saw him become an early settler in the Colony of Vancouver Island . He later rejoined the army , serving in the Crimean War and Indian Mutiny . References . Jock Haswell : The First Respectable Spy . The Life and Times of Colquhoun Grant , Wellington ' s head of Intelligence , London 1969