31 Dickson ‘Cadogan’ p.39.
32 Ibid. p.40.
33 Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.237.
34 Cadogan to Marlborough 22 April 1709, Cadogan Papers.
35 Cadogan to Marlborough 10 April 1710, Cadogan Papers.
36 Cadogan to Marlborough 15 February 1711, Cadogan Papers.
37 Cadogan to unknown correspondent 12 August 1710, Cadogan Papers.
38 Patricia Dickson ‘Lieutenant General William Cadogan’s Intelligence Service, Part I 1706–1715’, offprint of unknown source, Cadogan Papers p.1.
39 Ibid. p.3.
40 Ibid. p.2.
41 Ibid. p.17.
42 Cadogan to Raby 16 June 1710 in BL Add Mss 22196 f.79.
43 Unsigned note in BL Add Mss 4747 f.25.
44 Sir John Fortescue ‘A Junior Officer of Marlborough’s Staff’ in Historical and Military Essays (London 1928) pp.180–1, 184, 186.
45 Cadogan to Marlborough 28 February 1716, Cadogan Papers.
46 Cadogan to Marlborough 26 June 1710, Cadogan Papers.
47 Cardonnel to Ellis 30 July 1703, BL Add Mss 28918 f.194.
48 Cardonnel to Stepney 25 May 1706, BL Add Mss 7063 f.199.
49 London Gazette 8–11 March 1711.
50 London Gazette 27–29 November 1711.
51 London Gazette 12–15 January 1711.
52 London Gazette 9–12 October 1704.
53 Marlborough to Lady Marlborough May 1702, BL Add Mss 61427 f.134.
54 Marlborough to Lady Marlborough 10 July 1703 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.221.
55 Lady Marlborough to Marlborough, undated (1701–02), BL Add Mss 61427 f.134.
56 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 16 August 1710 in Life of the Duchess of Marlborough I p.363.
57 Marlborough to Godolphin 16 August 1702 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.104.
58 Marlborough to Godolphin 2 July 1702 ibid. p.80.
59 Marlborough to Heinsius 20 July 1702 in B. van ’T Hoff The Correspondence 1701–1711 of John Churchill and Anthonie Heinsius (The Hague 1951) p.19.
60 David Chandler and Christopher L. Scott (eds) ‘The Journal of John Wilson, an “Old Flanderkin Sergeant” of the 15th Regiment …’ in David Chandler et al. (eds) Military Miscellany II (Stroud 2005) p.35.
61 Ibid.
62 Ibid. p.36.
63 Chandler Robert Parker p.20.
64 Marlborough to Godolphin 10 July 1702 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.90.
65 16 August Old Style, for Marlborough and Godolphin were then corresponding by the English calendar. In Continental New Style the missed opportunity was on 26 August 1702. During the Blenheim campaign Marlborough took to dating his letters ‘according to the custom of the country’.
66 Marlborough to Heinsius 4 September 1702 in Marlborough – Heinsius p.28.
67 Chandler Robert Parker p.22.
68 HMC Coke III p.16.
69 Marlborough to Godolphin 14 September 1702 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.115.
70 Chandler Robert Parker p.25.
71 Marlborough to Nottingham 23 October 1702 in Murray Dispatches I p.47.
72 Chandler Robert Parker p.25.
73 De Vault and Pelet II p.613,
74 Berwick Memoirs I p.181.
75 Chandler Robert Parker p.25.
76 Ailesbury II p.542.
77 Murray Dispatches V p.580.
78 Queen Anne to Lady Marlborough 22 October 1702 in Brown Letters p.97.
79 Sarah Duchess of Marlborough Conduct p.304.
80 Marlborough to Lady Marlborough 4 November 1702 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.142.
81 Marlborough to Lady Marlborough 6 November 1702 ibid. p.143.
82 Gregg Queen Anne p.165.
83 Coxe Marlborough I p.106.
84 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 18 February 1703 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.150.
85 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 18 February 1703 ibid. p.151.
86 Cardonnel to Heinsius 23 February 1703 in Marlborough – Heinsius p.58.
87 Ailesbury II p.558.
88 Marlborough to Godolphin 9 April 1703 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.165.
89 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 9 March 1703 ibid. p.253.
90 Queen Anne to Duchess of Marlborough 18 and 19 February 1703 in Gregg Queen Anne pp.168–9.
91 Ibid. p.169.
92 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 9 March 1703 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.200.
93 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 17 May 1703 ibid. p.186.
94 I owe this insight to Ophelia Field in The Favourite.
95 Queen Anne to Duchess of Marlborough 22 May 1703 in Brown Letters p.125.
96 Chandler Mérode-Westerloo p.147.
97 Marlborough to Heinsius 5 January 1703 in Marlborough – Heinsius p.46.
98 Marlborough to Heinsius 21 April 1703 ibid. p.61.
99 Marlborough to Godolphin 9 April 1703 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.165.
100 Marlborough to Heinsius 27 April 1703 in Marlborough – Heinsius p.63.
101 Overkirk (1640–1708) came from an illegitimate line of the Orange-Nassau family, and had saved William of Orange’s life at the siege of Mons in 1678. Promoted general in 1701, he replaced Athlone as the Estates-General’s field marshal when the latter died in February 1703.
102 Chandler Robert Parker p.26.
103 Marlborough to Opdam 19 May 1703 in Murray Dispatches I p.102.
104 Marlborough to Coehoorn 23 May 1703 ibid. p.105.
105 Marlborough to Godolphin 31 May 1703 NS in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.188.
106 J.W. Sypesteyn (ed.) Het leven van Menno baron van Coehoorn (Leeuwarden 1860) p.209.
107 Marlborough to Heinsius 17 June 1703 in Marlborough – Heinsius p.75.
108 Marlborough to Heinsius 22 June 1703 ibid. p.76.
109 Marlborough to Opdam 28 June 1703 in Murray Dispatches I p.125.
110 Marlborough to Heinsius 2 July 1703 in Marlborough – Heinsius p.78.
111 Marlborough to Godolphin 2 July 1703 NS in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.209.
112 Hop to the Estates-General 1 July 1703 in Murray Dispatches I p.129.
113 Chandler Mérode-Westerloo p.152.
114 Marlborough to Godolphin 5 July 1703 NS in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.211.
115 Marlborough to Heinsius 21 July 1703 in Marlborough – Heinsius p.83.
116 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 4 July 1703 NS in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.212.
117 Marlborough to Godolphin 30 July 1703 NS ibid. p.223.
118 Notes on the Council of War 24 August 1703 in Murray Dispatches I pp.165–6.
119 Marlborough to Godolphin 27 August 1703 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.235.
120 Marlborough to Godolphin 6 September 1703 ibid. p.239.
121 Marlborough to Heinsius 26 August 1703 in Marlborough – Heinsius p.89.
122 Marlborough to Heinsius 11 October 1703 ibid. p.95.
123 Marlborough to Berwick 23 October 1703 in Murray Dispatches I p.203.
CHAPTER 5: High Germany
1 Marlborough to Heinsius 8 June 1704 in Marlborough – Heinsius p.109.
2 Eugène Memoirs p.34.
3 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 18 January 1704 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I pp.260–1.
4 Churchill Marlborough III p.283.
5 Marlborough to Godolphin 8 February 1704 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.269.
6 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 4 February 1704 ibid. p.268.
7 Marlborough to Hedges 12 January 1704 in Murray Dispatches I p.234.
8 Cadogan to Raby 17 February 1704, Cadogan Papers.
9 Marlborough to Heinsius 7 and 14 March 2004 in Marlborough – Heinsius pp.101–2.
10 Eugène Memoirs p.82.
11 Marlborough to Godolphin 14 April 1704 OS in Snyde
r Marlborough – Godolphin I p.277.
12 Marlborough to Godolphin 18 April 1704 ibid. p.279.
13 Cadogan to Raby 5 May 1705 NS in BL Add Mss 22196 f.17r.
14 Marlborough to Heinsius from Kuhlseggen, just west of Bonn, 21 May 1704 in Marlborough – Heinsius p.105.
15 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough, two undated letters of April 1704 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.273.
16 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 11 April 1704 OS? ibid. p.276.
17 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 24 April 1704 ibid. pp.286–7.
18 J.M. Brereton History of the 4th/7th Dragoon Guards (Catterick 1982) p.57.
19 Marlborough to St John in Murray Dispatches I pp.260–1.
20 Kane Campaigns p.45. The regiment of the Electoral Prince of Hesse was, as Marlborough made clear to the Estates-General on 27 May (Murray Dispatches I p.282), in the king of Prussia’s service, though paid for by English gold.
21 Cadogan to Raby 27 August 1703, Cadogan Papers.
22 Cardonnel to Ellis 14 May 1704, BL Add Mss 28918 f.271.
23 De Vault and Pelet IV pp.18–23.
24 Ibid. p.420.
25 Cardonnel to Robethon 19 and 26 June 1704, BL Stowe Mss 222 ff.243, 248.
26 J.F. Dutems Histoire du Jean Churchill … (3 vols, Paris 1808) II p.293.
27 Churchill Marlborough III pp.337–8.
28 Marlborough to the Elector of Mainz 26 May 1704 in Murray Dispatches I p.282.
29 Chandler Robert Parker p.31.
30 Wilson Journal p.40.
31 Marlborough to Godolphin 24 May/4 June 1704 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I pp.310–12.
32 The Life and Diary of Lieut. Col. J. Blackader of the Cameronian Regiment … (Edinburgh 1724) p.197. Blackader spelt his name thus, and I follow his good example.
33 The Memoirs of Captain George Carleton and the Life and Adventures of Mrs Christian Davies, commonly called Mother Ross … (London 1840) p.288.
34 Chandler Journal of Marlborough’s Campaigns … by John Marshall Deane p.5.
35 Marlborough to Charles Churchill 22 June 1704 in Murray Dispatches I p.321.
36 Derek McKay Prince Eugène of Savoy (London 1977) p.206.
37 Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research No. 36 1958 Vol IV p.162.
38 Nicholas Henderson Prince Eugène of Savoy (London 1964) p.71.
39 Ibid. p.xii.
40 Churchill Marlborough III p.354.
41 Sandby Journal in BL Add Mss 9114.
42 Marlborough to the Prince of Hesse 10 June 1704 in Murray Dispatches I p.303.
43 Marlborough to Hedges 15 June 1704 ibid. p.309.
44 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 29 June 1704 NS in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.326.
45 HMC Coke III p.38.
46 Anne-Marie Cocula (ed.) Mémoires de Monsieur de la Colonie, Maréchal de Camp des Armées de l’Electeur de Bavière (Paris 1992) p.258.
47 Marlborough to Godolphin 3 July 1704 NS in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.327.
48 De la Colonie Mémoires p.264.
49 Wilson Journal p.43.
50 De la Colonie Mémoires p.264.
51 ‘The Letters of Samuel Noyes, Chaplain of the Royal Scots 1703–4’ in Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research No. 37 1959 pp.130–1.
52 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 3 July 1704 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.327.
53 Deane Journal pp.7–8.
54 Noyes Letters p.131.
55 Marlborough to Harley 4 July 1704 in Murray Dispatches I p.341.
56 Deane Journal p.7 fn 10.
57 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 23 July 1704 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.342.
58 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 30 July 1704 ibid. p.344.
59 De la Colonie Mémoires pp.288–9.
60 Wilson Journal p.47.
61 Davies Life and Adventures p.294.
62 Trevelyan Blenheim p.369.
63 James Falkner Great and Glorious Days: Marlborough’s Battles 1704–9 (London 2002) p.53.
64 Marlborough to Heinsius 31 July 1704 in Marlborough – Heinsius p.121.
65 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 10 August 1704 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.348.
66 Marlborough to Heinsius 10 August 1704 in Marlborough – Heinsius p.124.
67 Marlborough to Harley 10 August 1704 in Murray Dispatches I p.387.
68 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 13 July 1704 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.336.
69 Marlborough to Harley 14 August 1704 in Murray Dispatches I p.391.
70 Montingy-Languet in Trevelyan Select Documents p.130.
71 Tallard to Chamillart 4 September 2004 ibid. pp.118–24.
72 For a useful discussion of relative strengths see Ivor F. Burton The Captain-General (London 1968) p.67.
73 Kane Campaigns pp.111–12.
74 J.A. Houlding Fit for Service: The Training of the British Army 1715–1795 (Oxford 1981) p.174.
75 For infantry tactics of the age see David Chandler at his best in Art of Warfare pp.114–24.
76 Michael Orr Dettingen 1743 (London 1972) p.65.
77 Ibid. p.64.
78 Mérode-Westerloo p.164.
79 Sandby Journal in BL Add Mss 9114.
80 Tallard to Chamillart 4 September 1704 in Trevelyan Select Documents p.122.
81 Sandby Journal in BL Add Mss 9114.
82 Deane Journal p.11.
83 Falkner Great and Glorious p.69.
84 Tallard to Chamillart 3 December 1704 in Trevelyan Select Documents p.126.
85 Unnamed French officer to Chamillart ibid. p.128.
86 Baron de Montigny-Languet 24 August 1704 ibid. p.133.
87 Cardonnel Mss circular describing Blenheim in BL Add Mss 28918 f.288.
88 Millner Journal p.55.
89 H.H.E. Craster (ed.) ‘Letters of the First Lord Orkney’ in English Historical Review XIX 1904 p.311
90 Mérode-Westerloo p.169.
91 Anonymous officer in Trevelyan Select Documents p.128.
92 Chandler Robert Parker p.42.
93 Trevelyan Blenheim p.387.
94 Cardonnel to Ellis 17 August 1704, BL Add Mss 28918 f.294.
95 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 13 August 1704 in Marlborough – Godolphin I p.349. Virginia-born Dan Parke was rewarded with a diamond-set picture of the queen and a thousand guineas. He was appointed governor of the Leeward Islands the following year, and murdered there by rebels in 1710: there is no armour against fate.
CHAPTER 6:
The Lines of Brabant
1 Queen Anne to Duchess of Marlborough 10 August 1704 OS in Coxe Marlborough II p.38.
2 Sarah Duchess of Marlborough Account of the Conduct p.146.
3 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 20 October 1704 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.385.
4 Gregg Queen Anne p.193.
5 Ibid.
6 Marlborough to Godolphin 9 July 1705 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.455.
7 Sarah Duchess of Marlborough Private Correspondence I p.181.
8 Ailesbury II pp.523, 586.
9 Gregg Queen Anne p.195.
10 Blenheim Palace (Norwich 2006) p.5.
11 Marian Fowler Blenheim: Biography of a Palace (London 1989) p.59.
12 Gregg Queen Anne p.329.
13 Fowler Blenheim p.60.
14 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 25 August 1702 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.358.
15 Marlborough was formally invested with the principality on 24 May 1706, and in 1713 Mindelheim was exchanged for the county of Mellenburg (then created a principality) in Upper Austria.
16 Murray Dispatches V p.154.
17 Gregg Queen Anne pp.195–6.
18 Kane Memoirs p.57.
19 Cardonnel to Ellis 7 November 1704, BL Add Mss 28918 f.323.
20 Marlborough to Godolphin 3 November 1704 in Snyder M
arlborough – Godolphin I p.391.
21 Marlborough to Harley 28 November 1704 and attached Mémoire de My Lord le Duc de Marlborough in Murray Dispatches I pp.545–6.
22 Eric Gruber von Arni Hospital Care and the British Standing Army 1660–1714 (Aldershot 2006) pp.126–7.
23 These are the words I learnt as a boy, though there are many versions, some of which call the soldier ‘Billy’ or ‘Willie’. Polly decides not to follow her man, but curses the events that ‘pressed my Harry from me, and all my brothers three/And sent them to the cruel war in High Germany’. The date of the song is conjectural, though it is certainly eighteenth-century, and the title suggests an early date, for ‘Low Germany’ was a more usual stamping ground for the redcoat later in the century.
24 Gruber von Arni Hospital Care p.131.
25 Scouller Armies of Queen Anne p.235.
26 British officers and sergeants carried staff weapons and swords for the rest of the century, though the demands of soldiering in North America told against the practice. Nevertheless, on either side of the Grand Entrance to Old College at RMA Sandhurst are racks designed to hold the sergeant’s half-pike that replaced the halberd at the end of the century and did not itself disappear till the 1830s.
27 Gruber von Arni Hospital Care pp.209–10.
28 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 14 April 1705 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I p.415.
29 I am grateful to Dr Christopher Everett and Dr Hugh Bethell for their long-range diagnosis of Marlborough. The former also deserves my thanks for having preserved me from the terminal hypochondria which threatened my early career.
30 Marlborough to the Margrave of Baden 25 April 1705 in Murray Dispatches II p.23.
31 Marlborough to Harley ibid. p.55.
32 Cardonnel to Ellis 2 June 1704, BL Add Mss 28918 f.355.
33 Marlborough to Godolphin 16 June 1705 in Snyder Marlborough – Godolphin I pp.442–3.
34 Marlborough to Duchess of Marlborough 16 June 1705 ibid. pp.443–4.
35 Marlborough to Heinsius 18 June 1705 in Marlborough – Heinsius pp.184–5.
36 Blackader Life and Diary p.247.
37 Marlborough to St John 9 July 1704 in Murray Dispatches II p.159.