The Peninsular War – Women At War
Rhyfel Iberia – Merched yn y Rhyfel
Women played their part in the Peninsular War and they had
many roles.
Wives of soldiers could go on campaign. All who wished
to embark with the battalion would gather at the quayside
for the ballot. Six wives were allowed to accompany each
company of a hundred men. Those who drew a ‘not to go’
ticket had to stay behind. Their future was no less uncertain
for they would be unlikely to see their husbands again for
several years, if ever. The 23rd Regiment of Foot (Royal Welch
Fusiliers) left Falmouth for Corunna in 1808 with 48 women
and twenty children.
These ‘lucky’ wives helped with camp chores – lighting fires,
cooking, milking, sewing, and caring for the sick, children,
casualties and presumably their husbands. Mrs. Reston
helped out at the siege of Cadiz carrying water and supplies
to the gunners. The women received half rations and
endured more than their share of privations. Although few
were killed in action; hundreds died and many were taken
prisoner on the desperate retreat to Corunna in 1808. Many
women were soon inured to the fortunes of war: the wife
of Sergeant Dunn (68th Regt.) married another sergeant
following her husband’s death at the Battle of Salamanca.
Her case was not unusual.
Women also undertook professional roles. In the French
army, les cantinières saw to the food and drink on campaign
and dished out wine and ammunition to soldiers on the
front line; while les vivandières took care of the laundry
and clothing repairs. Both armies had matrons and nurses
working in their field hospitals. Matron was responsible for
soap, linen, clean bedding, the keeping of accounts, visiting
the wards and overseeing the nutritional value and quality
of hospital food. Nurses dressed the soldiers’ wounds,
cleaned the wards and were paid from 9d to one shilling
a day. A private in the infantry earned a shilling a day.
Wherever there are young soldiers, there is an oversupply of
testosterone. The relations between the British army and the
women of Portugal and Spain ranged from the criminal to
the romantic. The rape and pillage that followed the siege
of Badajoz revealed the worst of war. However, there were
gentlemen in the ranks and among the officer class.
Harry Smith, an officer in the Light Division, met Juana Maria
de los Dolores de Léon in Badajoz when he rescued her from
a gang of marauding British soldiers. He fell instantly in
love and they married three days later. Harry called her his
guardian angel and Juana followed him for the rest of the
campaign. He later became governor of South Africa and the
city of Ladysmith is named in her honour.
The last survivor of the Battle of Waterloo was a woman,
Mrs. Watkins, who died in 1903. As a five-year old girl she had
helped with the wounded on the battlefield, dripping water
into the parched mouths of the injured and dying.
Fe chwaraeodd merched eu rhan yn Rhyfel Iberia ac roedd
ganddynt lawer o swyddogaethau.
Gallai gwragedd milwyr fynd ar ymgyrch. Byddai pawb oedd
yn dymuno byrddio gyda’r bataliwn yn casglu ar lan y cei
ar gyfer y bleidlais. Caniatawyd i chwech o wragedd fynd
gyda phob cwmni o gant o wŷr. Roedd y rhai a dynnodd
tocyn ‘peidio â mynd’ yn gorfod aros ar ôl. Nid oedd eu
dyfodol ddim sicrach oherwydd y byddent yn annhebygol
o weld eu gwŷr eto am flynyddoedd, os o gwbl. Gadawodd
23ain Catrawd y Troedfilwyr (Ffiwsilwyr Brenhinol Cymreig)
Falmouth i hwylio i Corunna yn 1808 gyda 48 o ferched ac
ugain o blant.
Cynorthwyai’r gwragedd ‘lwcus’ hyn gyda gorchwylion
gwersyll – cynnau tanau, coginio, godro, gwnïo, a gofalu
am y cleifion, plant, anafusion ac, yn ôl pob tebyg, eu gwŷr.
Helpodd Mrs Reston yng ngwarchae Cadiz wrth gludo
dŵr a chyflenwadau i’r gynwyr. Cawsant hanner dognau
gan ddioddef mwy na’u rhan o gyni. Er mai ychydig a
laddwyd yn y frwydr; bu farw cannoedd a chymrwyd
llawer yn garcharorion yn y cilio gwyllt i Corunna yn 1808.
Cynefinodd llawer o ferched â hynt a helynt rhyfel: priododd
gwraig Sarjant Dunn (68fed Catrawd) ringyll arall yn dilyn
marwolaeth ei gŵr ym Mrwydr Salamanca. Nid oedd ei
hachos yn anghyffredin.
Roedd gan ferched swyddogaethau proffesiynol hefyd. Ym
myddin Ffrainc, gofalai les cantinières am y bwyd a diod yn y
maes a dosbarthu gwin a bwledi a chetris i filwyr ar y rheng
Women cared for the many casualties of war. Illustration shows the injured from the Battle of
Gofalai merched am liaws anafus rhyfel. Dengys y darlun y clwyfedig o Frwydr Waterloo’n cael eu
Waterloo being unloaded at La Grande Place, Brussels, published: 1816
dadlwytho yn La Grande Place, Brwsel, cyhoeddwyd: 1816
© Wrexham Heritage Service/Crumplin Collection
© Gwasanaeth Treftadaeth Wrecsam / Casgliad Crumplin
flaen; tra gofalai les vivandières am olchi a thrwsio dillad.
Roedd gan y ddwy fyddin fetronau a nyrsys yn gweithio
yn eu hysbytai maes. Metron oedd yn gyfrifol am sebon,
lliain, dillad gwely glân, cadw cyfrifon, ymweld â’r wardiau
a goruchwylio gwerth maethol ac ansawdd bwyd yr ysbyty.
Nyrsys fyddai’n rhwymo’r clwyfau a glanhau’r wardiau am dâl
o 9d i swllt y dydd. Roedd milwr traed cyffredin yn ennill swllt
y dydd.
Ble bynnag y bo milwyr ifanc, mae testosteron gormodol.
Amrywiodd y cysylltiadau rhwng byddin Prydain a merched
Portiwgal a Sbaen o’r troseddol i’r rhamantus. Dangosodd
y trais ac anrheithio a ddilynodd gwarchae Badajoz ochr
waethaf rhyfel. Fodd bynnag, roedd bonheddwyr yn y
rhengoedd ac ymysg y swyddogion.
Cyfarfu Harry Smith, swyddog yn y Light Division, â Juana
Maria de los Dolores de Léon yn Badajoz pan achubodd
hi rhag ciwed o filwyr Prydeinig ysbeiliol. Syrthiodd
mewn cariad ar unwaith ac fe’u priodwyd dri diwrnod yn
ddiweddarach. Galwai Harry hi’n ei angel gwarcheidiol a
dilynodd Juana ef am weddill yr ymgyrch. Yn ddiweddarach
daeth yn llywodraethwr De Affrig ac fe enwyd dinas
Ladysmith er anrhydedd iddi.
Menyw a fu farw yn 1903, Mrs Watkins, oedd yr olaf i
oroesi Brwydr Waterloo. Fel merch bump oed roedd wedi
cynorthwyo gyda’r clwyfedig ar faes y frwydr, yn diferu dŵr i
gegau sychedig yr anafedig a’r rhai oedd yn marw.
Women had to keep up with the soldiers on the long
Roedd y merched yn gorfod symud ar gyflymder y milwyr
and difficult marches. Their trials and tribulations are
ar yr ymdeithiau hir ac anodd. Dychanwyd eu helyntion a
lampooned in this cartoon.
chaledi yn y cartŵn hwn.
© National Army Museum, London
© Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Fyddin, Llundain