This is a list of British Army officers who received sovereign's awards for their services during the Napoleonic Wars, comprising the period 1803 to 1815 and ranging in awards from knights bachelor to peerages. This list includes officers of the Royal Marines who were at the time seconded to the British Army, and foreign officers serving in the British Army who received honorary awards.
Introduction Initially during the Napoleonic Wars, awards were rare for those who had distinguished themselves in service, leaving many without tangible symbols of their success. These awards were overwhelmingly presented to senior officers rather than to other ranks and subalterns, for whom the prevailing opinion was that doing their duty was a reward of itself. Decorations for other ranks were only introduced in 1854 with the Distinguished Conduct Medal.
The lack of official awards caused great resentment among the British, as in comparison the French liberally awarded the Legion of Honour. Some regiments created their own awards to fill this gap, such as embroidered colours for personal deeds and badges for the survivors of forlorn hopes. In 1815 the Order of the Bath was reorganised to combat this lack of appropriate rewards, adding several new classes to it and allowing more officers, including those of field rank, to receive rewards for their services. Over 500 soldiers would go on to receive awards as part of this expanded system. The highest honour, a peerage, was awarded sixteen times to twelve individuals, of which Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, received four increasing from a viscountcy to a dukedom.
Not covered in this list are campaign medals awarded during the Napoleonic Wars, which often did include the lower ranks in awards. These included the Waterloo Medal and later the Military General Service Medal, as well as officer-specific medals such as the Army Gold Cross and Army Gold Medal. Also not covered is the Royal Guelphic Order which, while presented to British Army officers by the Prince Regent, was a Hanoverian order rather than a British one.
+Table key Posthumous award Royal Marines officer Honorary award
Peerages A peerage was traditionally the most prestigious award an officer might receive, providing them with a hereditary title of nobility. British Army officers received peerages for both outstanding military and political services in this period; those who already held a peerage would be elevated in it. The most peerages were awarded in 1814 to general officers who had served in the Peninsular War as commanders of independent units or formations larger than a division. RankNamePeerageDateRef.Gerard Lake, 1st Baron Lake31 October 1807William Cathcart, 10th Baron Cathcart3 November 1807Sir Arthur Wellesley4 September 1809Arthur Wellesley, 1st Viscount Wellington28 February 1812Arthur Wellesley, 1st Earl of Wellington18 August 1812Henry Phipps, 1st Baron Mulgrave7 September 1812Arthur Wellesley, 1st Marquess of Wellington3 May 1814Sir John Hope3 May 1814Sir Thomas Graham3 May 1814Sir Stapleton Cotton3 May 1814Sir Rowland Hill3 May 1814Sir William Beresford3 May 1814Sir Charles Stewart1 July 1814William Cathcart, 1st Viscount Cathcart16 July 1814Henry Paget, 2nd Earl of Uxbridge23 June 1815George Harris11 August 1815
Baronetcies A baronetcy is a hereditary knighthood; it is not a title of nobility and as such officers awarded baronetcies remained commoners. In precedence these titles ranked immediately below baronies, the lowest rank of the peerage. Many more officers who had served in the Napoleonic Wars were created baronets later in their careers, years after the wars had ended. RankNameDateReasonRef.John Doyle29 October 1805For servicesSir Charles Green5 December 1805For services and capture of SurinameGeorge Prevost6 December 1805Defence of DominicaCharles Hastings25 February 1806George Nugent11 November 1806For servicesHarry Burrard3 November 1807For services Copenhagen ExpeditionThomas Blomefield14 November 1807For services Copenhagen Expedition and Royal ArtilleryGeorge Pigott3 October 1808Sir David Baird13 April 1809For services India, Egypt, Cape Colony, PeninsulaWilliam Payne8 December 1812Commander of Cavalry in PeninsulaSir Richard Fletcher14 December 1812Commander of Royal Engineers in PeninsulaRoger Sheaffe16 January 1813Commander Upper CanadaHildebrand Oakes2 November 1813For servicesThomas Hislop2 November 1813For servicesGeorge Hewett6 November 1813For services and Commander-in-Chief, IndiaSir John Hamilton21 December 1814Division commander in PeninsulaHoward Elphinstone3 April 1815Commander of Royal Engineers in PeninsulaSir Hew Dalrymple6 May 1815For services in Peninsula and GibraltarSir Alexander Campbell6 May 1815Division commander in Peninsula
Order of the Bath The Order of the Bath was an order of chivalry available to British Army officers. Prior to 1815 the order only had one grade, Knight of the Bath, which was presented in the post-nominals KB, and was awarded not for meritorious achievement but for men of high social and economic status. This antiquated order was expanded into military and civil divisions with three classes, so that more people could be included in the order and rewarded for their services. Those officers who already held a KB received the highest class of the new order, becoming a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath. This class and the next, Knight Commander, styled the awardee as a knight, while the lowest class, Knight Companion, did not.
Awards for the new Order of the Bath took into account both distinguished service and bravery, and were less constrained to ranks as previous awards had been. The first class was limited to those officers of major-general or above, with soldiers as low as lieutenant-colonel being made Knights Commander. Colonels were more likely to be made Knights Companion, which award became the standard for service in the field. Membership of the first two classes of the order was limited, with seventy-two men being allowed the first, and 180 the second. Ten extra spaces were added to the second class for the addition of foreign officers who nonetheless held British commissions, notably those of the King's German Legion.
Awards of the Order of the Bath had not been finalised when the Hundred Days campaign was fought, and so officers who had distinguished themselves at the battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo were also included when the lists were eventually released. Those officers rewarded for their services in earlier campaigns, such as the Peninsular War, had their awards dated 2 January, while those for the latter campaign were dated 22 June.
Knight Grand Cross RankNameDatePrior KBRef.Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany2 January 181530 December 1767Sir Robert Abercromby2 January 181515 January 1797Sir Alured Clarke2 January 181514 January 1797John Hely-Hutchinson, 1st Baron Hutchinson2 January 181528 May 1801Sir Eyre Coote2 January 181519 May 1802Sir John Cradock2 January 181516 February 1803Sir David Dundas2 January 181528 April 1803Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington2 January 181528 August 1804George Ludlow, 3rd Earl Ludlow2 January 181526 September 1804Sir John Stuart2 January 181513 September 1806Sir David Baird2 January 181521 April 1809John Hope, 1st Baron Niddry2 January 181521 April 1809Sir Brent Spencer2 January 181521 April 1809Sir George Beckwith2 January 181524 April 1809Sir John Sherbrooke2 January 181516 September 1809William Beresford, 1st Baron Beresford2 January 181516 October 1810Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch2 January 181522 February 1812Rowland Hill, 1st Baron Hill2 January 181522 February 1812Sir Samuel Auchmuty2 January 181522 February 1812Sir Edward Paget2 January 181512 June 1812Stapleton Cotton, 1st Baron Combermere2 January 181521 August 1812Sir George Nugent2 January 18151 February 1813Sir William Keppel2 January 18151 February 1813Sir John Doyle2 January 18151 February 1813Lord William Bentinck2 January 18151 February 1813Sir James Leith2 January 18151 February 1813Sir Thomas Picton2 January 18151 February 1813Sir Galbraith Lowry Cole2 January 18151 February 1813Charles Stewart, 1st Baron Stewart2 January 18151 February 1813Sir Alexander Hope2 January 181529 June 1813Sir Henry Clinton2 January 181529 June 1813George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie2 January 181511 September 1813Sir William Stewart2 January 181511 September 1813Sir George Murray2 January 181511 September 1813Sir Edward Pakenham2 January 181511 September 1813William, Prince of Orange2 January 181514 August 1814Prince Edward, Duke of Kent and Strathearn2 January 1815Prince Ernest, Duke of Cumberland and Teviotdale2 January 1815Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge2 January 1815Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh2 January 1815Henry Paget, 2nd Earl of Uxbridge2 January 1815Robert Brownrigg2 January 1815Harry Calvert2 January 1815Thomas Maitland2 January 1815William Henry Clinton2 January 1815Sir John Abercromby7 April 1815Sir Charles Colville7 April 1815Sir James Kempt22 June 1815
Knight Commander