"British 18pdr foot batteries in 1815" Topic

A number of OoBs show Wellington's army with three four-gun foot artillery units in 1815. They did not participate in the fighting.

Were these the heavy field artillery Wellington was keen on having, or were they just siege artillery for the intended invasion? I have Franklin but only volume 1 which does not consider anything above 12-pounder. Would these have been bracket trail or block trail pieces? What limber would they have used?

Obviously I am gagging to have a unit of 18-pounders on the table.

Doesn't Franklin mention 18 pounders briefly in his book? I somehow remember them getting at least a brief mention, probably right after the section on 12 pounders. I don't remember any details on gun carriages, but you may find something useful there. I do remember Franklin saying that Wellington had asked the War Office for three batteries of 12 pounders before Waterloo, but he had not received them when the campaign started.

The Peninsular Army had a unit of 18pounders that usually makes the OOB listing in the later years of the campaign (Morrison's battery) although I don't remember seeing it shown on a map of a battle, and most historians who acknowledge it concede they don't really know how it was used. The fact that it makes the OOB and has a permanent organization probably distinguishes it somewhat from the siege train, but it cannot have been easy to employ under Spanish conditions: I remember a mention somewhere that two guns required an entire company's worth of men.

AFAIK Wellington asked for a battery of 18pdr field guns (perhaps influenced by his favorite gunner LCol Dickson)and they were used at the forcing of the river Adour in the operation against Bayonne.

The 18pdrs along with the rockets were used as positional guns to protect the pontoon crossing of the Adour. Re' "Wellington's Guns", pp. 343-344.

I believe LCol Dickson (after just returning from New Orleans) commanded this 18pdr battery as part of Wellington's reserve.

BTW 18pdr and 24pdr field guns were used in Upper Canada during the War of 1812.

According to Scott Bowden's "Armies at Waterloo" (page 315) there were 3 batteries each with four 18 pdr guns, commanded by Captain's Ilbert, Thomas Hutcheson & Morisson.

Detachments of Hutcheson's & Ilbert's brigades served at Waterloo in charge of small arms ammunition distribution. The remainder of these Brigades along with Morisson's were in the Antwerp-Ostend area.

Chris Henry's "British Napoleonic Artillery 1793-1815 Part 2 Siege and Coastal Artillery" – Osprey New Vanguard 65, page 15 suggests most heavy guns relied on split trails…….

C. E. Franklin's "British Napoleonic Field Artillery" page 206 talks about 18pdr Iron guns & says ".. assumed mounted on a bracket trail carriage, but the design is unclear as is that of the platform wagons that were included in the establishment, although they may well be similar to those illustrated after the period.".

Split trails as I understand the term were a later innovation, so I would assume he means bracket trails.

Thx for the Franklin reference, that was the one I had in mind.

@ Davout etc al

Yes, these are the units I had noticed. I understand Wellington was quite keen on heavier guns, hence his asking for 12-pounders. The three 18-pounder units are shown (in orbats that mention them) as being at Antwerp.

Does anyone make suitable pieces in 25/28mm? There is an old Hinchliffe bracket trail siege gun of unstated calibre, but I had one years ago and it looks frankly huge; more like a 32- or even 42-pounder. It took up to ten horses to move a 12-pounder; how many would an 18-pounder have required?

TA Miniatures produces both 18pdr and 24pdr 28mm guns with bracket trails. I have both and they are very nice models.

Number of horses – probably 12 (have seen that figure given to pull a 24 pdr cannon) – but will have a search of my various tomes later to see if there is a definite answer.

The 18pounders were used extensively in Spain as siege guns.
The British had access to 12 pound field guns early on, but due to the shortage of horses they were never removed from the ships. Morrison commanded siege guns during the campaign. Lipscombe's book- "Wellington's Guns" lists all the batteries, and the guns in each, involved during the Peninsula and Waterloo Campaign's. The 18 Pd siege gun batteries are listed.

From Adye's The Bombardier and Pocket Gunner, 1813 edition, 4-5:

'Artillery of the Park-The Park of Artillery, in addition to a requisite proportion of light guns, to replace such as may be disabled or taken, ought to contain a proportion of ordnance of heavy caliber, such as 18-pounders, 12-pounders, and 8-inch howitzers, for the purpose of forming batteries of position, defending entrenched posts, breaking down bridges, dislodging an enemy from temporary works, or old castles, fortified in order to impede the march of an army for a short time. It is not absolutely necessary that those of the heaviest caliber should follow the army in its movements, but they may be brought up as near to it as circumstances will admit of; and in general and decisive actions, would be found of the greatest utility.'

18-pounders were siege artillery, not field artillery and could not maneuver easily in the field as the lighter calibers of the foot artillery brigades and horse artillery troops. Another indicator of their intended use is that each company in addition to the pieces also carried the firing platforms with them. Consequently, the 18-pounders were heavy artillery.

Field artillery consisted of foot artillery, horse artillery, and mountain artillery. Heavy, or siege, artillery consisted usually of 18-pounders and 8-inch howitzers. Both of these pieces were too heavy for employment in the field. There were two 18-pounders in the British service, one six inches longer than the other, which was nine feet long. It weighed 4,480 pounds.

The first 18-pounder brigade was formed in April 1813 and two artillery companies, commanded by Captain Morrison and Captain Glubb were required to man and move the guns.

Three more companies were formed in Belgium in 1815. See page 206 of CE Franklin's British Napoleonic Field Artillery.

I have a 3 gun split trail 18 pound battery for my British in Spain. They are Hinchliffe and quite good they are limbered by 9 oxen, each gun