''Sharpe's Regiment'' is the seventeenth
historical novel
Historical fiction is a literary genre in which the plot takes place in a setting related to the past events, but is fictional. Although the term is commonly used as a synonym for historical fiction literature, it can also be applied to other t ...
in the
Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 1986. The story is set in England as Sharpe looks for the missing Second Battalion of the
South Essex Regiment needed in Spain to fight in the
Napoleonic Wars
The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...
.
Plot summary
The 1st Battalion, South Essex Regiment, is desperately short of men. The 2nd Battalion, stationed back in England, is supposed to train and send recruits, but Lord Simon Fenner, the secretary of state for war, informs Major General
Nairn
Nairn (; gd, Inbhir Narann) is a town and royal burgh in the Highland council area of Scotland. It is an ancient fishing port and market town around east of Inverness, at the point where the River Nairn enters the Moray Firth. It is the t ...
that no reinforcements will be sent and recommends the unit be broken up. While there is a lull in the campaign as Wellington prepares to invade France, Nairn sends Sharpe back to England to find out what is going on. Sharpe heads to the 2nd Battalion's headquarters with Regimental Sergeant
Harper
Harper may refer to:
Names
* Harper (name), a surname and given name
Places
;in Canada
* Harper Islands, Nunavut
*Harper, Prince Edward Island
;In the United States
*Harper, former name of Costa Mesa, California in Orange County
* Harper, Il ...
, Captain
d'Alembord and Lieutenant
Price
A price is the (usually not negative) quantity of payment or compensation given by one party to another in return for goods or services. In some situations, the price of production has a different name. If the product is a "good" in t ...
and finds only a skeleton staff. However, an old comrade-in-arms stationed there tells him that he saw a South Essex recruiting party with new enlistees in tow, though none of them have shown up for training.
Sharpe is then summoned by
the Prince Regent, where he meets Lord Fenner. Fenner has his mistress, Dowager Countess Lady Anne Comoynes, meet Sharpe to find out what he knows. She seduces Sharpe for her own purposes and warns him to asking questions. Two men are sent to assassinate Sharpe, but Sharpe kills them after visiting an old friend, Maggie Joyce. One of the dead men is wearing the (concealed) uniform of a sergeant of the South Essex.
Sharpe and Harper then enlist in the South Essex Regiment under assumed names. They are taken to a secret and brutal training camp in
Foulness Island, run by the 2nd Battalion's commanding officer, Lieutenant-Colonel
Bartholomew Girdwood. Sharpe learns that Fenner,
Sir Henry Simmerson (the regiment's disgraced founder and Sharpe's old enemy from ''
Sharpe's Eagle
''Sharpe's Eagle'' is a historical novel in the Richard Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 1981. The story is set in July 1809, in the midst of the Talavera Campaign during the Peninsular War. It was the first Sharpe nov ...
'') and Girdwood are
secretly selling trained recruits to other regiments and profiting enormously.
Harper is sentenced to be hunted and killed as training after he objects to a deserter being killed in cold blood. Sharpe rescues him and, with help from Simmerson's niece
Jane Gibbons
Sharpe is a series of historical fiction stories by Bernard Cornwell centred on the character of Richard Sharpe. Cornwell's series (composed of several novels and short stories) charts Sharpe's progress in the British Army during the Napoleonic ...
, whom Simmerson intends to marry Girdwood, they escape to
London
London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...
. Sharpe reports his findings to his former commander, Sir
William Lawford
Sharpe is a series of historical fiction stories by Bernard Cornwell centred on the character of Richard Sharpe. Cornwell's series (composed of several novels and short stories) charts Sharpe's progress in the British Army during the Napoleonic ...
, but Lawford tries to do a deal with Fenner, offering to cover up the matter in exchange for Fenner's patronage and command of a battalion in the Americas for Sharpe. Lady Anne, who has been forced to prostitute herself to Fenner to pay off her late husband's enormous debts, warns Sharpe. Sharpe, Harper, Price, and D'Alembord illegally take charge of the training camp from Girdwood, but they are unable to find evidence of the crime. Jane tries but fails to obtain two incriminating ledgers.
In desperation, Sharpe takes the 2nd Battalion to London and presents them to the Prince Regent at
Hyde Park during a celebration, proving they exist. Fenner brings Sharpe to a meeting where Sharpe tries to present his claims. Fenner, however, is too crafty, and Sharpe is in great trouble. Then Lady Anne arrives, having found the ledgers and rescued them from being burnt. She blackmails Fenner into cancelling her debts and fulfilling Sharpe's demands: The 2nd Battalion would be reformed, the South Essex now renamed "The Prince of Wales Own Volunteers", and Sharpe is allowed to take the trained soldiers, including Girdwood, back to Spain with him. Fenner resigns and Sharpe marries Jane because he loves her and also to protect her from her infuriated uncle.
At the
Battle of the Nivelle
The Battle of Nivelle (10 November 1813) took place in front of the river Nivelle near the end of the Peninsular War (1808–1814). After the Allied siege of San Sebastian, Wellington's 80,000 British, Portuguese and Spanish troops (2 ...
, Girdwood, the regiment's nominal commander, suffers a
complete nervous breakdown after his first experience of battle, leaving Sharpe in command until a new colonel is appointed.
Television adaptation
The novel was adapted as the opening episode of the fourth season of the
''Sharpe'' television series. The adaptation introduced
Abigail Cruttenden
Abigail Lucy Cruttenden (born 23 March 1968) is an English actress.
Cruttenden played opposite Sean Bean as his character Richard Sharpe's wife Jane in several episodes of the TV series '' Sharpe.'' In 2007, Cruttenden joined the cast from the ...
as Jane and
Caroline Langrishe as Lady Anne and guest starred
Nicholas Farrell
Nicholas C. Frost (born 1955), known professionally as Nicholas Farrell, is an English stage, film and television actor.
Education
Farrell was educated at Fryerns Grammar and Technical School in Basildon, Essex, followed by the University o ...
as Fenner,
Mark Lambert as Girdwood,
Julian Fellowes
Julian Alexander Kitchener-Fellowes, Baron Fellowes of West Stafford, (born 17 August 1949) is an English actor, novelist, film director and screenwriter, and a Conservative peer of the House of Lords.
He is primarily known as the author of ...
as the Prince Regent and
Julie T. Wallace
Julie Therese Wallace (born 28 May 1961) is a British actress.
Biography
Julie T. Wallace is the daughter of Scottish actor Andrew Keir and his first wife, Julia Wallace. She is the
sister of actors Sean Keir and Deirdre Keir. She stands tal ...
as Maggie Joyce. It also introduced
James Laurenson
James Laurenson (born 17 February 1940) is a New Zealand stage and screen actor.
Early life
Laurenson was born in Marton, North Island, New Zealand. He was a student at Canterbury University College in Christchurch (now University of Canter ...
as an original character, Major-General Ross, who took on the role given to Nairn in the book. The adaptation was faithful to the novel but omitted D'Alembord and Price along with various scenes, including much of the aftermath of the Hyde Park sequence.
External links
Section from Bernard Cornwell's website on ''Sharpe's Regiment''
{{Bernard Cornwell
1986 British novels
Regiment
A regiment is a military unit. Its role and size varies markedly, depending on the country, service and/or a specialisation.
In Medieval Europe, the term "regiment" denoted any large body of front-line soldiers, recruited or conscripted ...
William Collins, Sons books