1795 - Captain Jos Budworth - A State of Fatuity
At the time of the Great Siege, Captain Budworth was a lieutenant of the 72nd Royal Manchester Volunteers. In other words he must have joined up at the same time as Lieutenant John Upton ( see LINK ) and Captain John Drinkwater ( see LINK ) who was his friend. His one and only published work - The Siege of Gibraltar, a Poem - allows him join those other British commentator who were actually there at the time.
Recruiting poster
The preface to the poem contains the following comments.
Brave Friend
My countrymen having for an adjutant an officer, who entered the army the fame day I did, and whose conduct was conspicuous on every occasion ; — and I know no one who is a greater honour to his native place than my friend : — this young man, when a Store (Boyd's Store near the Moorish Castle ) in which an amazing quantity of flour was on fire from the enemy, though not on duty, collected the unemployed of the regiment, and, in the midst of the flames and fire, saved a great number of barrels ; for which, the next morning, General Elliot thanked him, and gave him a handsome present to distribute amongst his men . . .
General Eliott
In presenting to you this production of my Gibraltar idle hours, I have in recollection the friendship that subsisted between you and General Elliot, who, it is distressing to think, like the invincible Marlborough, was fallen, almost to a state of fatuity before he died; and we have heard with disgust the malevolent charge him with being ostentatious, when, alas! He has only acted from a relaxed state of intellect.
Baron Heathfield Unfit to be Governor - satirical print - (1790 - S. W. Forbes )
The poem opens with the following page.
The poem continues:
Fought for the noblest gifts — conquest: and life;
Until proud Spain expell'd the tawny host,
To the rude confines of their barb'rous coast ;
Forc'd them from homes, where arts enlight'ned reign'd.
To be - by stupor, and by tyrants chain'd ;
And gave the Nations such apparent hate,
That seem'd to - fix it in the Book of Fate.
But, now allured by the bribe of gold
The faithless Moor, his nat'ral f hatred sold . . .
Author's footnote;
The Emperor of Morocco not only refused to supply the garrison with any more cattle, but he permitted the Spaniards to take some merchantmen, when at anchor in Tangier Bay; and Consul Logie, whose indefatigable attention, to supply provisions, everyone in Gibraltar acknowledges, was not only forced to flee Barbary ; but the Moors spit upon him and treated him with every possible ignominy, though these poor wretches at the same time had the greatest regard for him ; but it was by order of the Emperor. . . .The Kings of Spain and the Emperor Morocco in their coronation oaths swear perpetual war against each other.
. . . The prowling gun-boats waken ev'ry eye,
And to the camp, the teazing bullets fly.
Th' indignant Britons scorn such paltry war ;
Talk of revenge — and hope the time — not far ;
Author's footnote
Their gun and mortar-boats did no material mischief to the garrison, as avowed by their Gazette ; but as they fired indiscriminately at the camp, the hospital, and into Jew Town, which was the retreat of the inhabitants, some men, women and children were killed and wounded.
Admiral Barcelo's Gunboats - ' paltry' but later acknowledged as being enormously effective
. . . While British Soldiers eager to obey —
Destroy'd their outer-works— and then retir'd ;
November 27, 1781. The sortie under the command of Brigadier General Ross went out at three o'clock, and effectually did its duty : the author's Muse presented him with a long poem the morning alter this attack ; this subject gave Mr. Trumbull, an American artist, an opportunity of displaying the chastest skill as a painter ; and from his being formerly on active service he has expressed much military propriety in the action. — Mr. Sharp the engraver is to produce a print from it . . .
November 27, 1781. The sortie under the command of Brigadier General Ross went out at three o'clock, and effectually did its duty : the author's Muse presented him with a long poem the morning alter this attack ; this subject gave Mr. Trumbull, an American artist, an opportunity of displaying the chastest skill as a painter ; and from his being formerly on active service he has expressed much military propriety in the action. — Mr. Sharp the engraver is to produce a print from it . . .
The Sortie ( 1781 - John Trumbull )
. . . How the scorbutic with corroding pain,
Long'd for reviving juice - but longed in vain . . .
Author's Footnote
The scurvy . . carried off many soldiers . .and it the men . . had not luckily taken a vessel laden with lemons we would have been in as terrible situation . sucking the juice and rubbing the wounds with the inside of the skin, was a grand restorative . .
The next great act by red-hot vengeance tried,
Then Mahon's six-gun battery was destroy'd
Author's Footnote
Sept 8 1782 - This is the first time red-hot shot was fired from the garrison; it was at the particular request of General Boyd, and under his direction; but it is to be understood that it was always the intention of the governor to fire red-hot balls upon the floating batteries.
General Boyd's red-hot balls - satirical print ( 1782 - T Colley )
. . . Amidst the fury of the dang'rous hour
Careless of life - and all alive - to save
The victim'd Spaniards from th'impending grave . . .
Authors Footnote
Capt Curtis went out with his gunboats early in the morning . . and saved near 400 prisoners. . . I feel myself obliged to mention . . . though we hope more from ignorance than design; some of btheir guns from the lines fired upon the boats . . the author has some reason to speak with severity - he was at Ragged Staff during the landing of the prisoners . .
Captain Roger Curtis saving Spanish crewmen ( 1781 - C. M. Metz )
The last four lines of the poem
The poem is not overly long yet covers most of the more noteworthy aspects of the Siege. The Sortie - of which it is hard to make out whether he took part in it or not - is well covered, Captain Curtis quite rightly being given pride of place. The mention of Trumbull's picture is a nice touch although the engraver Mr. Sharp does not appear elsewhere in the literature.
The floating batteries are never actually mentioned by name but the author gives the event plenty of space. Unusually Budworth actually offers D'Arcon some sympathy.
D'Arcon t'was thine, whole penetrative mind
First formed the whole, and then the substance join'd;
On such a plan as man had never thought,
Th' idea built - and then pursued the plot.
Such pond'rous efforts in the works conspire,
Altho' they failed, thy genius we admire:
Chevalier D'Arcon's 'floating batteries' ( Unknown 1781 )
Attributing the idea of the 'red-hot balls' to General Boyd rather than Eliott is also unusual, as is his mention of the later's 'relaxed state of intellect' later in life.
The Spanish Admiral Barceló is not mentioned but his gunboats are. The trouble they caused the Jew Town - yet another name for New Jerusalem or more commonly Hardy Town - is also given a mention as is the lack of food, scurvy, Admiral Darby's relief and the role of the Emperor of Morocco in the supply of much needed provisions - or his refusal to do so.
On reading it one is forced to wonder whether his friend John Drinkwater ever read the poem, what he thought of it and whether any advice was ever sought or offered. Indeed, could it have been one of the original books of the Garrison Library?