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Title: Beresford (1858)
Description: Marx and Engels’s biography of the British general William Carr Beresford, organizer of the Portuguese army in the Peninsular War.
Author: Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels
Date: 1858-04-09
URL: https://marxismo.school/archivo/marx-engels/originales/1858%20Beresford
---


*Written by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels between early March and April 9, 1858, and published unsigned in* The New American Cyclopaedia. A Popular Dictionary of General Knowledge*, edited by George Ripley and Charles A. Dana, vol. III (New York, D. Appleton and Company, 1858), pp. 161-162. Text of the Cyclopaedia, from the public-domain scans in the Internet Archive (newamericancycl21danagoog, University of Wisconsin copy), with the OCR corrected against the page images; collated paragraph by paragraph with the German version in Marx/Engels,* Werke*, vol. 14 (Berlin, 1961), pp. 284-285, and found complete. The breaks that the Cyclopaedia marks with a dash inside the article are given as new paragraphs.* [Traducción al español](https://marxismo.school/archivo/marx-engels/1858%20Beresford)

**BERESFORD**, William Carr, viscount, British general, born in Ireland, Oct. 2, 1768, died in Kent, Jan. 8, 1854. The illegitimate son of George, 1st marquis of Waterford, he entered the army at the age of 16, and served in Nova Scotia until 1790. During this period, he lost one of his eyes from an accidental shot by a brother officer. He served at Toulon, Corsica, the West Indies (under Abercromby), the East Indies, and Egypt, under Baird. On his return, in 1800, he was made colonel by brevet. He subsequently was employed in Ireland, at the conquest of the Cape of Good Hope, and (as brigadier-general) against Buenos Ayres, in 1806, where he was compelled to surrender but finally escaped. In 1807 he commanded the forces which captured Madeira, and was made governor of that island. In 1808 he became major-general, and, having arrived in Portugal with the English forces, was intrusted with the whole organization of the Portuguese army, including the militia. He was one of the commissioners for adjusting the terms of the celebrated convention of Cintra; was present during the retreat on, and battle of Corunna, where he covered the embarkation of Sir John Moore's troops; and, in March, 1809, was appointed marshal and generalissimo of the Portuguese army, soon raised by him into an excellent force, whether of attack or defence. He fought all through the Peninsular war, until its close in 1814, vigorously supporting Wellington. On the only considerable occasion, however, when he held the chief command, at the battle of Albuera, in 1811, he displayed very poor generalship, and the day would have been lost but for the act of a subaltern in disobedience of his orders. He took part in the victories of Salamanca, Vittoria, Bayonne, Orthes, and Toulouse. For these services he was created a field-marshal of Portugal, duke of Elvas, and marquis of Santo Campo. In 1810 he was chosen member of parliament for the county of Waterford (he never took his seat), and, in 1814, was created Baron Beresford of Albuera and Dungannon; in 1823 he was advanced to the dignity of viscount. In 1814 he went on a diplomatic mission to Brazil, where, in 1817, he repressed a conspiracy. On his return, he successively became lieutenant-general of the ordnance, general of the army, and (from 1828 to 1830) master-general of the ordnance. Having assisted Don Miguel, in 1823, he was deprived of his baton as field-marshal of Portugal. In politics, he was actively, though silently, a decided tory. His military efficiency chiefly consisted in his successful reorganization of the Portuguese troops, whom, by great skill and unwearied exertions, he finally rendered sufficiently firm and well disciplined to cope even with the French. In 1832 he married his cousin, Louisa, daughter of the archbishop of Tuam, and widow of Thomas Hope, the millionaire banker, and author of "Anastasius." He left no children, and the title became extinct at his death.