Dr Robin Thomas on the Commissariat Department in Flanders, 1793-95

Описание: Dr Robin Thomas spoke to the Society on November 26th 2024 at 7:00PM GMT.

‘… a Department of such essential importance to the Operations of an Army …’: The Commissariat Department attached to the British expeditionary force in Flanders, 1793-1795.

Synopsis
The talk examines the supply mechanisms utilised by a late-eighteenth century British army in the field. The acquisition of key components (food, forage and cash) is discussed in detail, together with the means by which they were stored, distributed and accounted for to the authorities in Britain. Various factors had a material bearing on these processes, including seasonality, military operations, the attitude of the local population, transportation resources and the technical expertise of those involved, each of which is discussed in relation to its consequences during the campaign. The talk concludes with an assessment of the commissariat in 1793-1795.


Speaker biography
Robin Thomas has a PhD in Archaeology from Southampton University. His published work includes the book ‘No want of courage’: the British Army in Flanders, 1793-1795’ (Helion, 2022) and papers in the Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research and the International History Review. He edited the letters of Colonel Daniel George Robinson, Bengal Engineers, for the Army Records Society and is a contributor to the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. He works in the shipping industry.