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I can't see any Allard/Allod/Allwood baptisms in the Wetheringsett registers from 1745 to 1754. There are a couple of Allard baptisms in the neighbouring parish of Debenham:
William s/o John & Sarah Allard, bap 5 Feb 1737/8
Jonathan s/o John & Sarah Allard, bap 4 Apr 1740

And John Allwood was buried in Wetheringsett in 1773.

Sorry I can't suggest anything else.

Sue

Hi Alan,
I've sent you the info via email as it is from a copyright source.

Sue

If any officer of the 48th was going to memorialise a battle it would be Talavera - Talavera is THE battle of the 48th. Wellington personally sent them in to plug a gap that was made by the French in the British lines that could have lost the British the battle and at that stage the whole Peninsular War (some might argue!) Talavera Day (27th July 1809 - the start of the battle) is commemorated as the Regimental day, and the battle Honour of Talavera was prominent on the Regimental Badge until the Regimental amalagamations of the 1960s.

Battle Honours were added to the King's Colour and Regimental Colour as awarded and were never removed. The Honours awarded to the 48th for the Peninsular War up to the date of Captain Woods death were: "Douro", "Talavera", "Albeura", "Badajoz", and "Salamanca".

Sorauren is not shown as a battle honour. I suspect that it is because it was classified as a small action or engagement and was not afforded a separate battle honour.

Captain H F Wood is recorded in the Appendices of the Regimentl History as having died of wounds received in the battle at Sorauren (when the charge took place, not in 1811). As you say the battle of the Pyrenees was a short while afterwards and it seems likely that whoever finished the honours on the sword added that honour to include Captain Woods last battle in some way on the sword.


It is likely that the Regimental Museum and Archives may have more about officers of the period.



Steve.

Just catching up after a holiday break and would add these few thoughts:
As Steve says battle honours were awarded to battalions who had taken part in notable actions. The decision as to whether a battle warranted an honour being awarded and the battalions to whom it was awarded was taken by one of the administrative departments in London and would occur several months after the action. (The spelling of the honour was determined by the clerk who wrote things out and none of them knew Portuguese or Spanish, hence Roleia for Rolica, etc.) Only if the battalion had been awarded such a battle honour would an officer dare to have the name of a battle engraved on something.

Sorauren was the third major battle of Soult's Pyrenean offensive (which resulted in the battles of Maya, Roncevalles and Sorauren, plus a number of minor skirmishes). The offensive started on 25 July and Soult was finally forced back to his starting point on 2 August. The entire campaign was covered by the "Pyrenees" battle honour.

It seems to me as if the "Talavera" inscription and the blade inscriptions could have been made at two different times. Certainly the "Pyrenees" battle honour would not have been awarded until several months after his death. If he distinguished himself at Talavera (as well as being wounded) is it possible that the sword was a presentation from some organisation (such as the Patriotic Society of London) for his role at Talavera? Such a sword was a very personal thing and I can't see it being auctioned off. (It would also explain it's non-standard style.) If he was a well respected officer the regiment may have had the additional honours engraved on it after his death for presentation to his widow or relatives?

Sue

A couple of points:
The medal is a Military Service General Medal. This award was instituted in 1847, retrospectively covering actions in the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars and had to be applied for, in writing, by the proposed recipient. This means the recipient had to still be alive in 1847 (though he was allowed to die before the medal was actually issued, in which case it was still issued but went to his next of kin  ). This also means the list of awards is actually a very, very small subset of the personnel who fought the wars. Many of the rank and file still alive in 1847 probably never even heard of it. See:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Military_General_Service_Medal

One of the best sources I've found for information on the Peninsular Army is Oman "Wellington's Army" (digital copy available online at Internet Archive,  http://www.archive.org/details/wellingtonsarmy100oman ) which has in its appendices a complete listing of the British Army in 1809 with stations plus a year by year tracking of the organisation of Wellington's army through the campaign. Also see p198 for systems of promotion. Napier's history of the war is also on Internet Archive (though he has been criticised for his biased attitudes towards some aspects of the campaign) along with many other histories and memoirs. Most of Oman's definitive history is too recent to be out of copyright and digitised, but has been reprinted recently.

When an army is retreating, rivers and ridges form natural defensive positions, thus during the Allied advance into the south of France in 1814 a number of the battles involved forcing river crossings, hence the names of the battles.

Sue