Your Most Obedient Servant: Cook to the Duke of Wellington

What an odd little book! A few years ago this written interview between Lord Frederick Fitzclarence and a cook called James Thornton was uncovered on a dusty shelf. Thornton was was not just any cook, he was Wellington's cook for much of the time of Peninsular Wars, and Thornton followed him around on campaign. Elizabeth Longford has written a helpful introduction which fleshes out the rather short interview. I found the book a little frustrating as Thornton describes some parts of campaign life in detail (the numbers of donkey's he was allotted, how the house-holdstaff got themselves from point to point) but on other things the detail is quite lacking such as the invasion of France, and the Waterloo campaign. Perhaps this was because the interview was conducted in the early 1850's just before the Duke of Wellington's death - Thornton had not worked for him for over 30 years and the events he was talking about were sometimes over 40 years old. Mostly this book provides tantalising brief glimpses of the Duke's domestic life in the peninsular - the boiled eggs he carried in his pockets, the number of servants he had, who he fed, and the balls and parties he gave. Definitely interesting for Peninsular War or Wellington fans.