I travelled to the University of Southampton on 4/5 April 2025 to attend the Eighth Wellington Congress. The great and the good of Napoleonic research gathered for a programme of papers inspired by the Duke of Wellington, his life and times. The papers were many and varied and the meeting was two days well spent.

I presented my paper ‘Highly Meritorious, another day in the retreat from Burgos’. I recorded one of my rehearsals for posterity, you can find it here;

The paper describes the four separate rearguard actions that were fought on the 23 October 1812 when the British and Spanish rearguard of 3,500 men held off the French advanced guard cavalry (5,500 men) under Maucune.