The Private Journal of F.S. Larpent - Vol. II

Wellington added a Judge-Advocate-General to his staff in 1812 “to ensure that courts-martial were conducted with proper forms and due appreciation of the validity of evidence – in which the commander-in-chief considered that they had often failed . . . Larpent, who has left an interesting diary of his duties and his personal adventures [he was captured briefly in 1813 but immediately exchanged], discharged the function of this office . . . down to the end of the war” (Oman, Wellington’s Army pp