This book is about a shadow. How could it be otherwise when your General was Wellington and you were only a Captain?

The story is set in the early 1800's at the time of Great Britain's war against Napoleon then being fought in Portugal and Spain. The main protagonists were, on the British side, Sir Arthur Wellesley, later Duke of Wellington and on the French side, the King of Spain (Napoleon's brother), Marshal Nicolas Soult, the Duke of Dalmatia and Marshal Auguste-Frederic Marmont, the Duke of Ragusa. All the above were well connected to their respective governments and communicated in detail their victories and, to a lesser extent, their defeats.
 
This is not their story however no matter how hard it intrudes into this book. This is the story of George Scovell, a fairly junior member of Wellington's staff, a Captain in an infantry regiment, not well connected or of independent means. Just one of the many needed by Wellington and his senior officers on the campaign.

Scovell was born in London 'the son of very respectable parents, though not independent gentlefolks'. He excelled at school, particularly in languages. On leaving school he was apprenticed to an engraver but the emergence of Napoleon as emperor in France, the invasion scares in England, and the consequent expansion of the British Army presented him with the opportunity to join a home defence cavalry regiment as an officer. A stroke of luck then allowed him to transfer his commission into a regular cavalry regiment, the 4th Dragoons, a very fashionable regiment. It was not all plain sailing though. Promotion was slow and 'to jump the queue' Scovell bought a Captain's commission at considerable cost.

The social demands on an officer in the 4th Dragoons were too much for him however, his outgoings being some 3 to 4 times his annual salary. He therefore accepted the advice of those who told him that the only way a man of his talents and limited means could make his way in the army was to join the newly-formed Staff.  Also to ease the financial strain he later exchanged his commission in the 4th Dragoons for a cash settlement with a Captain in the 57th Foot Regiment.

So, although he had studied at the Royal Military College and been one of Britain's most professional and diligent soldiers, he had gone backwards on the promotion ladder and after twelve years was still only a Captain.

His position at the start of the book is that of a Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General, a somewhat insignificant position matching his rank. His job was to assist in translating the General's orders into reality: choosing routes of march, finding fodder, charting the unknown countryside, locating billets and, most importantly, gathering information. The job was vast and unending, repeated again and again each time the Army moved to a new position. He was, however, a hard worker who could be relied on.

The few cavalry resources available to Wellington and the reluctance of the British Government to increase them, brought to the fore a need for a locally raised and trained 'Corps of Guides'. Scovell, having the necessary skills, was requested to take charge, which he did on the promise of being promoted to Major, a promise only fulfilled some 3 years later.

Part of Corps' duties were to service the local irregular partisan bands who, supported by the British, preyed upon the French and their Spanish allies with the consequence that any documents found were passed onto the British.

Initially these communications were 'en clair' or in plain text easily read and understood by those with sufficient language skills. Later, as the French realised that their dispatches were being intercepted, simple codes were used. Scovell, now a Major responsible for codes and ciphers, was given a handwritten copy of The Art of Deciphering by David Arnold Conradus. After reading Conradus anyone with a good knowledge of French and a good brain could attack the simple ciphers being used with a good chance of success. Scovell, and some other officers on Wellington’s staff, had this ability and quickly deciphered these documents.

So it went on. As more documents found their way into British hands more information about the French state of readiness to do battle and about divisions within the French hierarchy became available to Wellington who then used this information in his own battle plans.

Naturally it became apparent to the French that their dispatches were still being read which created the need for a more secure code and a 'grande chiffe' or 'Great Paris Cipher' based on the French diplomatic cipher was created. Unfortunately for the French, this was not used correctly, only parts of a document being encoded the rest being 'en clair'. Consequently, over time, by persistence and good guesswork the code become readable. Scovell was at the centre of this activity and must have been the brains behind its decipherment as some 15 months after being promoted to Major he was again promoted to Lieutenant Colonel.
 
After the Napoleonic wars Scovell stayed on in the Army eventually reaching the rank of Major General and Lieutenant Governor of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst. He lived on into the photographic age and was one of the few survivors of the Peninsular wars to be photographed. Fortunately he was a most methodical officer and had kept a journal and many original and copies of the coded letters he had worked on. He did not write a memoir nor was his fascinating journal published.  But in his will, appreciating the importance of the documents he had retained, he made a specific note of his bequest to his nephew of ‘all my papers on the subject of the Great Paris Cipher’. Otherwise both he and his contribution to the war effort may now have been forgotten.

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