Thirteenth siege of Gibraltar

Last updated

Thirteenth siege of Gibraltar
Part of the Anglo-Spanish War (1727–1729)
German print of the 1727 Gibraltar Siege.jpg
Die Baya v Gibraltar, unknown author
Date11 February – 12 June 1727 (OS) [1]
Location 36°09′08″N5°20′43″W / 36.152336°N 5.345199°W / 36.152336; -5.345199
Result British victory [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7] [8]
Belligerents
Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors).svg  Great Britain Bandera de Espana 1701-1748.svg Spain
Commanders and leaders
Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors).svg David Colyear
Union flag 1606 (Kings Colors).svg Richard Kane
British-Blue-Ensign-1707.svg Charles Wager
Bandera de Espana 1701-1748.svg Cristóbal Moscoso
Bandera de Espana 1701-1748.svg Jorge de Verboom
Strength
5,500 [9] [10] 17,500 [11] [12]
Casualties and losses
118 killed
207 wounded [13]
392 killed [14]
1,019 wounded [3]

The siege of Gibraltar of 1727 (thirteenth siege of Gibraltar, second by Spain) saw Spanish forces besiege the British garrison of Gibraltar as part of the Anglo-Spanish War. [15] Depending on the sources, Spanish troops numbered between 12,000 and 25,000. British defenders were 1,500 at the beginning of the siege, increasing up to about 5,000. After a five-month siege with several unsuccessful and costly assaults, Spanish troops gave up and withdrew. Following the failure the war drew to a close, opening the way for the 1728 Treaty of El Pardo [16] and the Treaty of Seville signed in 1729.

Contents

Background

On 1 January 1727 (N.S.) the Marquis of Pozobueno, Spanish ambassador to the Court of St. James's, sent a letter to the Duke of Newcastle explaining why the Spanish Crown believed that Article X of the Treaty of Utrecht (the Article which granted Britain perpetual control of Gibraltar under certain conditions) had been nullified by infractions by the British:

The cession which his Majesty [King Philip V] made precedently of that Place is become null, because of the infractions made in the conditions on which it was permitted that the English garrison should remain in the possession of Gibraltar; seeing that contrary to all the protestations made, they have not only extended their fortifications by exceeding the limits prescribed and stipulated, but what is more, contrary to the express and literal tenour of the Treaties, they receive and admit the Jews and Moors, in the same manner of the Spaniards, and other nations confounded and mixed, contrary to our holy religion; not to mention the frauds and continual contrabands which are carried on there to the prejudice of his majesty's Revenues. [17]

The letter was tantamount to a declaration of war. Spain, however, was not in a particularly advantageous position to capture Gibraltar in 1727. At the last attempt to retake Gibraltar in 1704, Spain had a strong navy and the additional assistance of French warships. However, following their defeat at the battle of Cape Passaro and the capture of Vigo and Pasajes, the Spanish Navy was severely weakened. The Royal Navy had complete naval supremacy in the Straits, ruling out a Spanish landing in the south, and ensuring that the British garrison would be well supplied through a siege. Also, any attempt to scale the Rock from the east (as five hundred men under Colonel Figueroa, led by a local goatherd named Susarte, had done in 1704) [18] was now impossible as the British had destroyed the path. The only option of attack open to the Spanish was along a narrow funnel (reduced in width by an inundation) that ran between the sea and the western side of the North Face of the Rock. This narrow strip of land would come under fire from three sides: Willis's battery to the east, the Grand Battery to the south, and the Devil's Tongue Battery on the Old Mole to the west. [19]

A number of Philip V's senior military advisers warned the King that the recapture of Gibraltar was, at the present, near impossible. The Marquis of Villadarias (who had led the previous attempt to capture Gibraltar in 1704) had warned that it would be impossible to take the Rock without naval support. The senior Flemish engineer, George Prosper Verboom, agreed with this opinion, and 'gave it as his considered opinion that the only plan with any possibility of success was of a seaborne attack from the south.' [20] However, the King was impressed by the Count de las Torres de Alcorrín, Viceroy of Navarre, who vowed that he could: 'in six weeks deliver Spain from this noxious settlement of foreigners and heretics'. [21] The disagreement between Verboom and de las Torres was to continue throughout the siege, indeed, so noticeably that later, when the siege was underway, a diarist within Gibraltar (the anonymous 'S.H.') wrote that a Spanish deserter had reported: 'that a dispute hath happen'd betwixt two Generals about storming us, upon which the one... is going to Madrid to complain to the King." [22]

Opposing forces

The Flemish born engineer Marquis de Verboom Marquis de verboom.jpg
The Flemish born engineer Marquis de Verboom

Despite Verboom's doubts, the King gave de las Torres leave to attempt an assault on Gibraltar. The count began to muster the besieging troops at San Roque at the start of 1727, in total thirty infantry battalions, six squadrons of horse, seventy-two mortars, and ninety-two guns (although on occasion some heavier guns were brought from Cadiz). Large parts of the army were not themselves Spanish. Of the thirty infantry battalions nineteen were foreign mercenaries: three battalions of Walloons, three French Belgian, four Irish, two Savoyard, two Neapolitan, one Swiss, one Corsican, and one Sicilian. [20] Serving alongside the Jacobite Irish was the infamous Duke of Wharton. [23] A notorious libertine, alcoholic, and founder of the original Hellfire Club, Wharton had fled England (to escape his creditors following the South Sea Bubble stock market crash) and joined the cause of the Old Pretender. He attained permission from Philip V to serve as volunteer aide-de-camp to the Count de las Torres, and was something of an embarrassment to both sides. [24] 'The Duke of Wharton never comes into the trenches but when he is Drunk, and that then, and only then, he is mightily valiant.' [22] [23] He was to be badly injured in the leg during the siege and he was later declared an outlaw by the British Government. [23]

Both the Governor of Gibraltar (the Earl of Portmore) and the Lieutenant Governor (Brigadier Jasper Clayton) were in England when the Spanish began to amass their forces. Colonel Richard Kane, the British commander of Menorca, was in temporary command of the sparsely defended British garrison of approximately 1,200 men [20] from the 5th Regiment (Pearce's, or the Northumberland Fusiliers  – later the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers), the 13th (Lord Mark Kerr's, or the Somerset Light Infantry- later the Light Infantry), the 20th (Egerton's, or the Lancashire Fusiliers  – later the Royal Regiment of Fusiliers), and the 30th (Bisset's, or the East Lancashire Regiment). [25] Kane expelled the 400 Spanish residents of Gibraltar and continued to improve the defences until 13 February (NS) [26] when Brigadier Clayton arrived with a fleet under Admiral Sir Charles Wager and reinforcements from the 26th Regiment (Antruther's, or the Cameronians), the 29th (Disney's, or the Worcester Regiment  – later known as the Worcester and Foresters Regiment), and the 39th (Newton's, or the Dorset Regiment  – later the Devon and Dorset Regiment). [25]

By early February, Spanish labourers had moved down from San Roque to the isthmus and started to construct battle lines. On 22 February (NS) [27] a warning shot was fired over the heads of the working parties. 'The Governor gave them a Gun, at Four O'Clock, by way of Challenge, and, in an hour, Canonaded them very warmly.' [28] Thus the thirteenth siege began.

Gibraltar under siege

The early siege

Admiral Sir Charles Wager Portrait of Admiral Sir Charles Wager (by Thomas Gibson).jpg
Admiral Sir Charles Wager

The Count de las Torres's first move was, by cover of night, to move five battalions and 1,000 working men forward to take the Devil's Tower and two other abandoned fortifications, and to dig trenches parallel to Gibraltar's walls. Until the invention of the Koehler Gun in the Great Siege (1779–1783), fixed artillery guns could not be depressed below the horizontal, so the Spanish working parties could not be fired upon from the North Face of the Rock. The finished trenches might have provided the attackers with a good foothold from which to assault the town. However, 'Admiral Wager moved his squadron out of the bay to the eastern side of the isthmus, and at point-blank range, yet beyond the reach of the Spanish guns, pounded the men with enfilade fire for three days, inflicting on them perhaps more than 1,000 casualties.' [29] The Spaniards soon built batteries to drive away Wager's ships, but even without naval bombardment the strong winds and heavy rain of February made digging and maintaining the trenches nearly impossible. [30]

Willis's battery, on the North Face of the Rock, gave the Spaniards a great deal of trouble. After a natural cave was discovered in the Rock, a plan was hatched to mine under Willis's Battery and 'excavate a gallery 1.5 metres wide and 1.7 high to a depth of about 25 metres, then a further 20 upwards, and to fill the cavity with 400 barrels of powder.' [29] This activity was noticed by and alarmed the defenders:

They possest themselves of a Cave, under the Rock, in order to undermine it, so as to get into the Town; upon discovery ... our Men made a mine over their Heads and blew up the Rock upon them. [31]

A machine was invented to let a man down the side of the Rock to spy what the Enemy were doing. This was put into execution, in the Night too, with no effect, for the unevenness of the Rock prevented any safe decent, so that we could make no discovery how they propos'd to blow it up. [32]

However, the limestone under Willis's battery was far too solid to mine easily 'in less than the space of eight or ten months and a hazard whether it could be perfected even then or not.' [33]

First heavy bombardment

Italian print of the siege of Gibraltar in 1727 Siege of Gibraltar in 1727.JPG
Italian print of the siege of Gibraltar in 1727

Failing to create a strong stepping stone for a land assault, and lacking the means for an assault from the sea, de las Torres's only option now was to pound the British into surrender. On 24 March (NS) [34] the Spanish began what they hoped would be a decisive bombardment:

Prodigious firing all last night ... The Spanish General, it seems, has alter'd his opinion of the Rock, and it seems too hard of Digestion, tho' he has a good stomach to it, yet he is too impatient to wait two years to eat a passage to us that way. [34]

Another contemporary account acknowledged that from this point 'it might rightly be said that ours was a gunner's war. We could do nothing but receive the enemy's fire and return it.' [35] The Spaniards did great damage to the northern part of the town, the affluent Villa Vieja, and 'a hundred houses were by that means laid in rubbish.' [36] After the siege the ruins were removed to create present-day Casemates. Despite the structural damage there were few casualties. The greater concern was the number of men the British had available to man the guns, repair the damage to the fortifications, and serve on sentry duty. This proved to be a major problem for the garrison. [37]

The Spanish bombardment continued for ten days. In his entry for 24 March (O.S.) [38] 'S.H.' noted: 'last three Days very heavy rains and some Wind.' [39] The terrible weather caused great problems for the besiegers in the trenches beneath the rock, and the Spanish had to ease their bombardment. A Spanish official journal published in Madrid in 1727 highlights the problems the besiegers were suffering and their frustrations:

Desertion becomes very considerable, the troops greatly diminished by sickness. Some fresh troops are coming from Malaga to ease those in camp who are greatly fatigued by hard duty: no sally yet made from the town, as the constant rains have hindered the advance of our works and it is supposed they [the British] thought their artillery sufficient to check our progress. We have yet dismounted only three of their cannon on the curtain and deserters say they have not had above 15 men killed yet. [40]

Reinforcements arrive

During this relative lull in the Spanish bombardment, much needed reinforcements arrived in Gibraltar. On 7 April (N.S.) [41] the 25th (Middleton's, or the King's Own Scottish Borderers) and 34th (Haye's, or the Border Regiment  – later the Royal Border Regiment) Regiments arrived with a 480-strong detachment from Menorca. Then on 1 May (NS) [42] the Governor, the Earl of Portmore, arrived with ten companies of the First Guards and the 14th Regiment (Clayton's, or the West Yorkshire Regiment  – later the Duke of Wellington's Regiment). [25] Room was made for the new reinforcements by moving troops south. 'Tents were fix'd toward Europa Point and three Regiments encamped to make room in the Town for Middleton and Hayes's who disembarked this day.' [43] Camp Bay derives its name from this siege, when a regiment was encamped above it. [44] 1727 also saw the destruction of the trees which grew on the Rock:

French map of the siege shows British naval bombardments on each side of the peninsula, aimed at Spanish land positions. Gibraltar 1727 map crop.jpg
French map of the siege shows British naval bombardments on each side of the peninsula, aimed at Spanish land positions.

Many trees and vines flourished upon the Mountain when the Spaniards attempted to surprise the garrison over the middle hill [1704]; and many continued till the year 1727, when the regiments who were encamped to the southward had leave to cut some for their firing, which they took in its full latitude and levelled almost the whole. [45]

One of the few sorties of the siege occurred just before the arrival of Lord Portmore. An ingenious plan devised by Clayton, it failed due to the gunners acting too soon:

This morn: early 2 Sergeants each having ten Men sally'd out to the very Trenches, call'd to the Enemy and he'd them advance, at the same time gave them two Volleys which was the Signal appointed by the Governor who was on the battery to give the word, but the Gunmen whose business it was to begin, being either drunk or mad, or both, over eager fired away without the sign, and so spoiled the project. The Sergeants did their duty well and allarm'd the whole army and Trenches, so that there was beating to arms immediately, which was what we wanted, for the when they had been form'd in a Body then our guns shoul'd have done great execution, but the Gunner's Rashness let them know the Stratagem so they dispers'd [46]

Second heavy bombardment

By 7 May (N.S.) [47] de las Torres was ready to launch another heavy bombardment. This caused major damage to the town and batteries, and caused far more British casualties than any earlier point in the siege. S.H. recorded in his journal:

26 April [O.S.] – 'By break of day the Enemy open'd all their batteries, and fired till ten, without intermission. Wounded several and Killed some of our Men... A Ball came, from their Battery, to the new Mole, the place where our ships lie, and carried away the Mast of a Merchantman, which was two Miles Distance.


27 April [O.S.] – 'On our part, since yesterday two O'clock, several men kill'd and wounded, the Houses beaten down by the exceeding hot fire, insomuch it's scarce possible to walk the Streets. A shell broke at the signal house, more went over into the Town, and as far as the South Port. Willis's Battery's in a manner demolished, the Mole half level with the sea, all the cannon but one at Willis's Battery dismounted... They continue their fire with inexpressible fury.

2 May [O.S.] – 'The same hot work all Night ... Two Thousand Balls and Bombs at us, several die of their wounds in our Hospital. [48]

The damage done to the fortifications in one day could be immense:

They dismounted 16 out of the 24 guns at the Old Mole... and demolished all our batteries in an extraordinary manner. At Willis's all the Guns but two dismounted and the cover so beaten down that the men cannot do their duty. Several gunners and soldiers kill'd and wounded. [49]

The recently arrived British reinforcements, however, allowed the garrison to maintain the batteries, re-mount the guns, and return fire. Lord Portmore, in an attempt to boost the morale and productivity of his infantry turned labourers, increased their pay from eight pence to a shilling a day. [50] On 15 May (N.S.), [51] de las Torres, trying to make a point, sent:

A Flag of Truce to the Governor With a Compliment to inform his Lordship that they have not begun the Siege, and that as yet they were only trying their ordinance, tho' they yesterday sent us, most part into the Town, 119 Bombs and near 1500 Balls and keep still a most dreadfull firing. [52]

Nevertheless, the firing from the Spanish guns began to slacken. After several days' continuous fire the Spanish iron cannon began to burst, whilst the better brass cannon began to drop at the muzzle from overheating. The besiegers were also beginning to suffer from a lack of supplies owing to the poor Andalusian roads. 'Another deserter confirms their being in a miserable state of Health, with great want of Water and Provisions.' [53] The garrison, on the other hand, had ample supplies of provisions, guns, and powder from the sea, and soon began to outgun the Spaniards. The Spanish continued to fire upon Gibraltar, but 'S.H.' wrote: 'We laugh at them for Fools to throw away their Powder Ball and Shells, since they neither fright, kill or hurt us.' [54]

End of hostilities

Frustrated with the Count de las Torres's obstinacy and inability to take his advice, the Spanish senior engineer, Veerboom, had left for Madrid. His proposed overland attack from the north failing, de las Torres asked his remaining engineers (Francisco Monteagut and Diego Bordick) for their opinion. Their response was blunt:

Had we found ourselves in such a position as to be worthy of being asked our opinion of the enterprise before the siege began, as we are now to be worthy of being consulted by your Excellency over its prosecution, we would have voted on nothing more than a diversionary tactic overland ... [the geography and defences of Gibraltar] all combine to make a counter-attack so manifestly unbeatable [55]

On 23 June (N.S.) [56] the Spanish offered a truce.

This night a Colonel of Ireland came to the Head of the Prince's Line and called to let them know he had a letter for Lord Portmore, but the commanding officer let him know unless retired they wou'd fire at him [all parleys between the two forces were supposed to come by sea]. Sometime after the same person came out of the zigzag [trenches] beating a chammade and was admitted into the town and deliver'd Lord Portmore's letters from M. Van der Meer, Minister of the States at the Court of Spain with a copy of the preliminary articles signed by the plenipotentiaries of the several powers of the two alliances for a suspension of arms whereupon his Lordship agreed to it and all hostilities ceased on both sides. [57]

The next day a Colonel from the garrison crossed to San Roque, where a truce was agreed. The Spaniards were to remain encamped outside Gibraltar, but hostilities were to cease. An uneasy truce remained until the end of the Anglo-Spanish War in 1729. [58]

Conditions within Gibraltar

In his journal of the siege, the anonymous 'S.H.' painted an interesting portrait of life during the siege. Although life in the garrison was often dangerous and brutish, 'S.H.' nevertheless noted how civilised, in some aspects, eighteenth century warfare could be:

4 days agoe, the Conde de la Torres sent a present of some choice Fish to Admiral Wager, who gave them to the Governor and came to dine.... Lt. Clarke of the Tiger, having been with a message to the Spanish General and had the honour to dine with the Duke of Wharton and Lady Mrs., brought a present of a whole wild boar and a large basket of fish from an officer to Colonel Anstruther. The fish proved to be bad, but the boar was dressed the next day. [59]

However, he also chronicled (if sometimes rather flippantly) the great dangers facing the defenders during the incessant Spanish bombardment.

A Soldier, not three minutes on his Post, must be peeping over the Wall at the Prince's Line, his curiosity cost him his Head, which a Cannon Ball made bold to carry away without leave. Another, just come on Duty, lost his fire lock off his shoulder in the same Manner. [60]

Discipline amongst the troops was harsh, and infractions such as drunkenness common. 'Our Men were put to allowance of a pint of Wine per Day, to prevent their frequent drunkenness.' [61] 'S.H.' also blamed the failure of the sortie on 28 April (NS) on the drunkenness of the gunners. [46] Although deserters from the Spanish force were welcomed warmly, attempts at desertion by British soldiers were dealt with harshly. After the siege a Cameronian was caught trying to escape to the Spanish lines:

There was found on him a Plan or description of the Strengths and Weaknesses of the Garrison ... He was condemned to have a halter put about his neck, to be whipped under the gallows at the new mole, Southport and Market Place and Water Port – in all 500 lashes by the common hangman. After which he was drummed out of town with the Rouge's march, a rope about his neck, then naked as he was, put on board a ship designed for the West Indies, there to be put on shore as a slave on the plantations never to be redeemed. [62]

Life was also hard for the civilian population. The 400 Spaniards in Gibraltar had been expelled at the beginning of the siege, leaving around 200 adult male Genoese and 100 adult male Jews to help with the defence. [63] 'S.H.' recorded that 'A body of the Jews desire leave to retire to Barbary, because commanded to work for the common Preservation, but answer'd by the Governor that as they had enjoy'd safe and plenty during Peace, if they will not assist for their own safety, they shall be turned over to the Spaniard.' [64] However, another diarist of the siege indicated that the Gibraltarian Jews earned their salt as much as anyone else:

...the Jews were not a little serviceable, they wrought in the most indefatigable manner and spared no pains where they could be of any advantage either in the siege or after it. [65]

Punishments for non-combatants could also be harsh. Female transgressors of the correct codes were forced to endure the 'whirligig'.

A poor Lady, by name Chidley, confin'd to the Black Hole, or Dungeon, for the space of a Night, but next day, to make her some amends for her want of company, she was most formally conducted to a pretty Whim or Whirligig, in form of a Bird Cage, for the greater benefit of air. It contains Room enough for one person, and tho' in length it be ten foot, yet, by the narrowness, I find it does not answer our old saying of "it's as broad as it's long." It is fixed between two swivels, so is turn'd round till it makes the person, if not us'd very gently, a little giddy and Land Sick. This Office was performed by two of the private Gentlemen of the Garrison, for the space of an hour in the Market Place, being well attended. All this was to oblige her for the following good qualities, which she had the goodness to make frequent use of such as giving soft words in smooth language, beating better manners into several men and a too frequent bestowing of her other favours. [34]

This is far more gruesome than 'S.H.' makes clear, for whilst he tactfully wrote that it made the victim a little 'giddy' and 'land sick', George Hills has bluntly noted that 'In fact the centrifugal action caused the victim to empty through every orifice.' [66] Another contemporary source recounted the gruesome way in which two Moorish spies were displayed after their execution:

Two Moors, the chief agents of the Spaniards, were found guilty, and were put to death and afterwards flayed; their skins were nailed to the gates of the town, where they appeared in the same proportion as when alive, and being large, gigantic fellows, as the Moors in general are, they were horrid ghastly spectacles. [67]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Royal Gibraltar Regiment</span> Infantry regiment of the British Army

The Royal Gibraltar Regiment is part of British Forces Gibraltar for the British overseas territory of Gibraltar. It was formed in 1958 from the Gibraltar Defence Force as an infantry unit, with an integrated artillery troop. The regiment is included in the British Army as a defence engagement force. In 1999, the regiment was granted the Royal title. The regiment recruits from Gibraltar, the United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland and the Commonwealth.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Siege of Gibraltar</span> Failed Franco-Spanish attempt to capture Gibraltar (1779–1783)

The Great Siege of Gibraltar was an unsuccessful attempt by Spain and France to capture Gibraltar from the British during the War of the American Revolution. It was the largest battle in the war by number of combatants.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of Gibraltar</span> History of a peninsula on the Iberian coast

The history of Gibraltar, a small peninsula on the southern Iberian coast near the entrance of the Mediterranean Sea, spans over 2,900 years. The peninsula has evolved from a place of reverence in ancient times into "one of the most densely fortified and fought-over places in Europe", as one historian has put it. Gibraltar's location has given it an outsized significance in the history of Europe and its fortified town, established in the Middle Ages, has hosted garrisons that sustained numerous sieges and battles over the centuries.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">North Bastion, Gibraltar</span>

The North Bastion, formerly the Baluarte San Pablo was part of the fortifications of Gibraltar, in the north of the peninsula, protecting the town against attack from the mainland of Spain. The bastion was based on the older Giralda tower, built in 1309. The bastion, with a mole that extended into the Bay of Gibraltar to the west and a curtain wall stretching to the Rock of Gibraltar on its east, was a key element in the defenses of the peninsula. After the British took Gibraltar in 1704 they further strengthened these fortifications, flooding the land in front and turning the curtain wall into the Grand Battery.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Princess Royal's Battery</span>

Princess Royal's Battery is an artillery battery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located on Willis's Plateau at the northern end of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, just southeast of Princess Anne's Battery. Formerly known as Willis' Battery, and later, Queen Anne's Battery or Queen's Battery, it was renamed in the late 18th century after Charlotte, Princess Royal, the eldest daughter of George III. The battery was active from the early 18th century until at least the mid-20th century. However, it has been decommissioned and guns are no longer present. Princess Royal's Battery is listed with the Gibraltar Heritage Trust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middle Hill (Gibraltar)</span>

Middle Hill is a hill in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located at the northern end of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve. It figured prominently in the early history of the 1704 siege of Gibraltar by the Spanish and French. The artillery battery at Middle Hill had been constructed by 1727 and was active for more than two centuries. In the mid twentieth century, Middle Hill transitioned to use as an aerial farm for the Ministry of Defence. The radio farm was refurbished in 1958. About 1970, the Princess Caroline's Battery Group of Barbary macaques were moved to Middle Hill, where they were provisioned at a group of derelict buildings that were part of the battery complex. In 2005, much of Middle Hill was transferred from the Ministry of Defence to the Government of Gibraltar, and is now managed by the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Middle Hill Battery</span> Artillery battery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar

Middle Hill Battery is an artillery battery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It is located on Middle Hill, at the northeastern end of the Upper Rock Nature Reserve, just south of Green's Lodge Battery and Rock Gun Battery. The emplacement dates to 1727, when a single gun was mounted. By the turn of the twentieth century, six 10-inch rifled muzzle-loading guns were present at Middle Hill Battery. Other buildings documented at that time as part of the battery complex included the Nursery Hut and the Middle Hill Group, the latter a cluster of buildings which perched on the cliff edge. An anti-aircraft Bofors gun had been installed at the battery by the Second World War. After the war, the area transitioned to use as a Ministry of Defence aerial farm. In 2005, the battery and surrounding area were transferred to the Government of Gibraltar. The site is now managed by the Gibraltar Ornithological and Natural History Society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Soldier Artificer Company</span>

The Soldier Artificer Company was a unit of the British Army raised in Gibraltar in 1772 to work on improving the fortifications there. It was the Army's first unit of military artificers and labourers – the existing Corps of Engineers was entirely made up of commissioned officers – and it replaced the traditional but unreliable practice of employing civilian craftsmen. The company was an immediate success and was responsible for upgrading the British fortress's defences before the Great Siege of Gibraltar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Twelfth siege of Gibraltar</span> Siege of War of the Spanish Succession

The twelfth siege of Gibraltar was fought between September 1704 and May 1705 during the War of the Spanish Succession. It followed the capture in August 1704 of the fortified town of Gibraltar, at the southern tip of Spain, by an Anglo–Dutch naval force led by Sir George Rooke and Prince George of Hesse-Darmstadt. The members of the Grand Alliance, the Holy Roman Empire, England, the Netherlands, Pro-Habsburg Spain, Portugal and Savoy, had allied to prevent the unification of the French and Spanish thrones by supporting the claim of the Habsburg pretender Archduke Charles VI of Austria as Charles III of Spain. They were opposed by the rival claimant, the Bourbon Philip, Duke of Anjou, ruling as Philip V of Spain, and his patron and ally, Louis XIV of France. The war began in northern Europe and was largely contained there until 1703, when Portugal joined the confederate powers. From then, English naval attentions were focused on mounting a campaign in the Mediterranean to distract the French navy and disrupt French and Bourbon Spanish shipping or capture a port for use as a naval base. The capture of Gibraltar was the outcome of that initial stage of the Mediterranean campaign.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farringdon's Battery</span> Artillery battery

Farringdon's Battery is an artillery battery in the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. Named after Sir Anthony Farrington, 1st Baronet, it is located above the north face of the Rock of Gibraltar within the Upper Rock Nature Reserve.

Willis' Battery is a former artillery battery on the north side of the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar. It overlooks the isthmus between Spain and Gibraltar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fortifications of Gibraltar</span> Defensive military constructions at the Rock of Gibraltar

The Gibraltar peninsula, located at the far southern end of Iberia, has great strategic importance as a result of its position by the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. It has repeatedly been contested between European and North African powers and has endured fourteen sieges since it was first settled in the 11th century. The peninsula's occupants – Moors, Spanish, and British – have built successive layers of fortifications and defences including walls, bastions, casemates, gun batteries, magazines, tunnels and galleries. At their peak in 1865, the fortifications housed around 681 guns mounted in 110 batteries and positions, guarding all land and sea approaches to Gibraltar. The fortifications continued to be in military use until as late as the 1970s and by the time tunnelling ceased in the late 1960s, over 34 miles (55 km) of galleries had been dug in an area of only 2.6 square miles (6.7 km2).

Cristóbal de Moscoso y Montemayor, also known as the Count de las Torres, was a Spanish noble and military officer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Inundation, Gibraltar</span>

The Inundation was a flooded and fortified area of ground on the sandy isthmus between Spain and Gibraltar, created by the British in the 18th century to restrict access to the territory as part of the fortifications of Gibraltar. It was originally a marshy area known as the Morass at the far south-western end of the isthmus, occupying the area adjacent to the north-western flank of the Rock of Gibraltar. The Morass was dug out and expanded to create an artificial lake which was further obstructed by iron and wooden obstacles in the water. Two small fortifications on either side controlled access to Gibraltar. The only road to and from the town ran along a narrow causeway between the Inundation and the sea which was enfiladed by batteries mounted on the lower slopes of the Rock. The Inundation existed for about 200 years before it was infilled and built over after the Second World War.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lines of Contravallation of Gibraltar</span>

The Lines of Contravallation of Gibraltar, known in English as the "Spanish Lines", were a set of fortifications built by the Spanish across the northern part of the isthmus linking Spain with Gibraltar. They later gave their name to the Spanish town of La Línea de la Concepción. The Lines were constructed after 1730 to establish a defensive barrier across the peninsula, with the aim of preventing any British incursions, and to serve as a base for fresh Spanish attempts to retake Gibraltar. They played an important role in the Great Siege of Gibraltar between 1779 and 1783 when they supported the unsuccessful French and Spanish assault on the British-held fortress. The siege was ended after the lines of contravallation were attacked by British and Dutch forces under the command of the Governor of Gibraltar, General Augustus Eliot. The attack caused the Spanish forces to retreat and abandon the fortifications and the combined British led forces virtually destroyed all the Spanish gun batteries and the enemy cannon and munitions either captured or destroyed. This attack is still commemorated to this day and is known as 'Sortie Day'.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">King's Lines</span>

The King's Lines are a walled rock-cut trench on the lower slopes of the north-west face of the Rock of Gibraltar. Forming part of the Northern Defences of the fortifications of Gibraltar, they were originally created some time during the periods when Gibraltar was under the control of the Moors or Spanish. They are depicted in a 1627 map by Don Luis Bravo de Acuña, which shows their parapet following a tenaille trace. The lines seem to have been altered subsequently, as maps from the start of the 18th century show a more erratic course leading from the Landport, Gibraltar's main land entrance, to the Round Tower, a fortification at their western end. A 1704 map by Johannes Kip calls the Lines the "Communication Line of the Round Tower".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen's Lines</span>

The Queen's Lines are a set of fortified lines, part of the fortifications of Gibraltar, situated on the lower slopes of the north-west face of the Rock of Gibraltar. They occupy a natural ledge which overlooks the landward entrance to Gibraltar and were an extension to the north-east of the King's Lines. They run from a natural fault called the Orillon to a cliff above the modern Laguna Estate, which stands on the site of the Inundation, an artificial lake created to obstruct landward access to Gibraltar. The Prince's Lines run immediately behind and above them on a higher ledge. All three of the Lines were constructed to enfilade attackers approaching Gibraltar's Landport Front from the landward direction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">10th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery</span> Military unit

10th Heavy Anti-Aircraft Regiment, Royal Artillery was an air defence unit of the British Army that served in the Mediterranean Theatre during World War II. Having been formed in Gibraltar early in the war, it moved to Malta where it defended the island during the Siege of 1940–43.

Jonas Moore was an English army officer and military engineer in the British Army. Commissioned as probationer engineer in 1709, he was appointed sub-engineer at Gibraltar in 1711, chief engineer and commander-in-chief of the train of artillery at Gibraltar in 1720, and sub-director of engineers in 1722. He was distinguished at the Siege of Gibraltar in 1727. He was appointed chief engineer of the British expedition to Spanish America in 1740, and was mortally wounded in the attack on Carthagena.

References

  1. 22 February – 23 June 1727 (NS)
  2. Simms p.211
  3. 1 2 Dodd p. 183
  4. Sayer p. 213
  5. Duro p.178
  6. Monti p. 114
  7. Montero p. 315
  8. Falkner p.10
  9. Monti p. 110
  10. Sayer p. 203
  11. Miranda p. 160
  12. Montero p. 304
  13. Sayer p. 212
  14. Dodd p. 182
  15. Simms p.198
  16. Simms p.210-11
  17. 21 December 1726 (O.S.), Letters and Memorials... between Ministers of the Courts of Great Britain, France and Spain (London: 1727) cited in Hills, G., p.262
  18. "History". Information Services. Government of Gibraltar. Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 7 August 2012.
  19. Jackson, W.G.F., pp.128–9
  20. 1 2 3 Hills, G., p.263
  21. Coxe, W., Memoires of the Kings of Spain in the House of Bourbon...1700 to 1788. Vol. 2 (London: Longmans, Hurst, 1812), cited in Jackson, W.G.F., p.124
  22. 1 2 S.H. (Anon.), 5 April 1727 (O.S.) p.11
  23. 1 2 3 Lawrence B. Smith, 'Wharton, Philip James, duke of Wharton and Jacobite duke of Northumberland (1698–1731)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, January 2008 accessed 7 August 2012
  24. Hills, G., p.270
  25. 1 2 3 Jackson, W.G.F., Appendix C, pp.334–5
  26. 2 February 1727 (O.S.)
  27. 11 February 1727 (O.S.)
  28. S.H. (Anon.), 11 February 1727 (O.S.), p.1
  29. 1 2 Hills, G., p.267
  30. Jackson, W.G.F., p.129
  31. S.H. (Anon.), 13 February 1727 (O.S.), p.1
  32. S.H. (Anon.), 9 March 1727 (O.S.), p.5
  33. The Late Siege of Gibraltar ... humbly offered to the Hon. George Shirley (BL Add. MSS 36686), cited in Hills, G., p.268
  34. 1 2 3 S.H. (Anon.), 13 March 1727 (O.S.), p.7
  35. An impartial account of the late famous siege of Gibraltar by an officer who was at the Taking and Defence of Gibraltar by the Prince of Hesse of glorious memory and record during the siege (London 1728), cited in Hills, G., p.26
  36. An impartial account ... cited in Kenyon, E.R., p.48
  37. Jackson, W.G.F., p.130
  38. 4 April 1727 (N.S.)
  39. S.H. (Anon.), 24 March 1727 (O.S.), p.9
  40. Cited in Sayer, F., History of Gibraltar (London: Saunders and Otley, 1862), itself cited in Jackson, W.G.F., p.130
  41. 28 March 1727 (O.S.)
  42. 20 April 1727 (O.S.)
  43. S.H. (Anon.), 28 March 1727 (O.S.), p.10
  44. Kenyon, E.R., p.47
  45. James, T., The History of the Herculean Straits, now called the Straits of Gibraltar vol.2, (1771) p. 294, cited in Kenyon, E.R., p.47
  46. 1 2 S.H. (Anon.), 17 April 1727 (O.S.), p.12
  47. 26 April 1727 (O.S.)
  48. S.H. (Anon.), pp. 13–15
  49. S.H. (Anon.), 1 May 1727 (O.S.), p.15
  50. Jackson, W.G.F., p.131
  51. 4 May 1727 (O.S.)
  52. S.H. (Anon.), 4 May 1727 (O.S.) p.16
  53. S.H. (Anon.), 18 May 1727 (O.S.), p.19
  54. S.H. (Anon.), 20 May 1727 (O.S.), p.19
  55. Archivo Militar MS. 4001, ff.3–4, cited in Hills, G., p.276
  56. 12 June 1727 (O.S.)
  57. S.H. (Anon.), 12 June 1727 (O.S.) p.25
  58. Jackson, W.G.F., p.132
  59. S.H. (Anon.), 11–17 April 1727 (O.S.) pp.11–13
  60. S.H. (Anon.), 4 March 1727 (O.S.) p.5
  61. S.H. (Anon.), 26 February 1727 (O.S.) p.2
  62. S.H. (Anon.), 24 December 1727 (O.S.), pp.54–5
  63. Hills, G., p.273
  64. S.H. (Anon.), 16 February 1727 (O.S.) p.1
  65. An impartial account of the late famous siege of Gibraltar by an officer who was at the Taking and Defence of Gibraltar by the Prince of Hesse of glorious memory and record during the siege (London 1728), cited in Kenyon, E.R., p.46
  66. Hills, G., p.272, fn.34
  67. An impartial account of the late famous siege of Gibraltar by an officer who was at the Taking and Defence of Gibraltar by the Prince of Hesse of glorious memory and record during the siege (London 1728), cited in Hills, G., p.274

Primary sources

Secondary sources