John Gurwood CB

John Gurwood was born in 1790 in the East Riding of Yorkshire. He entered the army as an ensign in the 52nd Foot on 30 Mar 1808. He served in the Peninsula from that year until 1812. Whilst leading a Forlorn Hope attack at Ciudad Rodrigo, he was wounded in the head and suffered the effects of the wound all his life, causing bouts of depression. At the siege he captured the Governor, General Banier, and was rewarded by Wellington who presented Gurwood with Banier’s sword. In July 1812 he transferred to the 9th Lancers as a captain. For the rest of the war in Spain he was brigade major to the Household Cavalry, and later Lambert’s Infantry Brigade.He was present at the battles of Vitoria, Nivelle, Nive, Orthez and Toulouse.
He was one of the Elegant Extracts transferred into the 10th Hussars in 1814 after the Quentin Affair. He was at Waterloo with the 10th and severely wounded early in the day. He was promoted to major in 1817, lieutenant-colonel in 1827 and colonel in 1841. He was private secretary to the Duke of Wellington, to whom he was devoted, and compiled the Wellington Despatches. This was a lifetime’s work for Gurwood but he was not helped by the Duke’s criticisms and interference He was created a CB for his work as a historian. But the effects of his wounds and the bad treatment he received from Wellington and William Napier caused him to commit suicide on Christmas Day 1845 by cutting his own throat. The engraving is dated 27 May 1845, only 7 months before his death.

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