Peer Among Princes

This authoritative biography chronicles the life and achievements of the Victorian era politician and hero of the Napoleonic Wars. Sir Thomas Graham, Lord Lynedoch, is best known for his exceptional military career during the Napoleonic Wars. In the struggle for the Iberian Peninsula, he won a major victory at the Battle of Barrosa, conducted the siege of San Sebastian, and acted as the Duke of Wellington's second in command. But Graham was much more than a soldier. An innovative Scottish landowner, politician, sportsman, and traveler, he was a remarkable man of his age. In A Peer Among Princes, Philip Grant does justice to his life and reputation. Lord Lynedoch only took up his military career in 1792 when he was outraged by the violation of his wife's coffin by French revolutionaries. Determined to fight them, he raised his own regiment and soon establishing himself as an outstanding leader and field commander. He saw action at Toulon, made a daring escape from the siege of Mantua, served in Malta and Egypt and with Sir John Moore during the Corunna campaign. With quotes from Graham's vivid letters and diaries, Grant weaves an absorbing and detailed narrative of his long and varied life.