Officer Personnel, The Kings German Legion

[Bernhard H.Holst]

Hello readers:

A small volume contains a lot of interesting subjects and is titled " Des Koenigs Deutsche Legion, 1803 bis 1816. Darstellung ihrer inneren Verhaeltnisse" by Oberst a.D. Bernhard von Poten, 1905, Or " The Kings German Legion, Description of its internal conditions."

Appeared as the Eleventh Supplement to the Militaer-Wochenblatt in 1905 and was reprinted by the Biblio publisher in 1984.

The author makes an interesting listing of the frequency of names prominent in Hanover among the officer corps as follows:

- 16 with the name of Meyer (surprise, surprise);

-13 named von der Decken as well as Heise ;

-10 named von Hodenberg;

-9 von Uslar;

-8 Baring;

-7 each von Doering and Poten; ( the last one with 6 brothers and one cousin, the latter as the only officer of the Legion participating in the Battle of Nations , also called the Battle of Leipzig. This has already been mentioned. Assigned to the 7th Line Btl. Served as interpreter with the British Rocket Battery;

-the name of Scharnhorst appears twice.

I am certain that some bells may ring reading the above.

During the last years of its existence officers with English names appear more frequently on the rolls, apparently from families unable to come up with the considerable amounts of money necessary to support a career in the British forces.

At the time of its dissolution there were still a total of 775 in its ranks of a grand total of 1350 who were entered on the rolls.the attrition was as follows:

Died in action or of wounds 105; died at sea 28. Died of illness 115. pensioned off as invalid 88. Resigned without pension 136. Stricken from the rolls because AWOL 28. Were gazetted but did not enter active service 24. Transferred to British regiments or to staff positions 44. Discharged under military law 7 of which 4 were paymasters.

Bernhard H. Holst

[Guest Rick Research]

Is there any discussion of promotions from the ranks? That seems to have occurred more often (from what we have seen of medals posted here) than in the British army.

Since the KGL soldiers were all refugees/"defectors" perhaps nobody could afford the British style of rank-by-purchase-- or at least, nobody could escape the French occupation with finances intact too.

[Bernhard H.Holst]

Is there any discussion of promotions from the ranks? That seems to have occurred more often (from what we have seen of medals posted here) than in the British army.

Since the KGL soldiers were all refugees/"defectors" perhaps nobody could afford the British style of rank-by-purchase-- or at least, nobody could escape the French occupation with finances intact too.

Hello Rick:

I have not yet come across that. But Beamish in his listing of officers has entries showing whether the officer comes from the ranks. There are quite a number of them.

I will post something on compensation such as half-pay, prize money and wound compension soon.

Bernhard H. Holst

[Guest Rick Research]

That will be great! I see from reading Peninsular Casualties that while BRITISH wounded officers often (but not at all always) got extra pay, KGL officers virtually never received any. Apparently the Hanoverian part of the United Kingdom was simply written off by the Exchequer for the duration of the French occupation, and no funds were extended out of the island's part of the Hanoverian dynasty's realm.

[jluetjen]

Hello. Forgive me for resusitating an old thread. I'm trying to understand the Officer listing for a potential relative. He is listed on page 661, officer number 1235.

If I interpret the listing correctly, he was...

- A Lieutenant in the 2nd Line Battalion

- Served without permanent rank until the battle of Salamanca, July 1812.

I don't understand the dates that immediately follow this information.

- 21st - 28th Jan. 1806. Resigned 1st March 1806.

At the top of the officer listing under "Marks and Abbreviations" is the note that "...the fist date represents the date of the first commision in the legion; the 2nd date the date of gazettment (announced in the official Journal), or commencment of pay, and the third, the date of brevet rank in the British Army"

Does this mean that he was only in the KGL for only 3 months in 1806? That doesn't make sense because according to the history, from Jan. to March of that year they had a brief expedition to Hannover that didn't result in any action, and then they returned to the UK, having recruited even more troops during their stay in their home country. Not to mention there is the note that he served without perminant rank until 1815. There were some troups who went AWOL 1806 rather then return to the UK, but if this was the case, why would he be listed as "resigned"?

While it's clear that he didn't stay in the Legion up to it's disbandment in 1816, what does this record suggest that he did do???

Edited December 30, 2012 by jluetjen

[Paul_1957]

The date 28 January 1806 was the date of his seniority as a Lieutenant. The gazette announcing his appointment states that it was "with temporary Rank" - his Christian name is not recorded in the gazette. He does not appear in the list of officers serving in the 2nd Line Battalion KGL printed in the War Office Army List for 1807. There is a manuscript note in the War Office Army List for 1806 stating that he had resigned but there is no date shown for the resignation. No-one of the surname Lutjen is listed in a roll of British Army officers who served in Spain/Portugal/France during the period 1808-1814.

On balance, the evidence points to Lieutenant Lutjen only having served as an officer in the KGL from 28 January 1806 till 1 March 1806.

The image you posted does not show the comment about Salamanca 1812 - could it be a comment for the officer above or below Lutjen in list you found?

Paul

[jluetjen]

Thanks Paul. It sounds like you have access to additional information that clarifies the situation. The comment about Salamanca refers to the backwards-paragraph symbol just prior to the "21st". It's partially obscured by the yellow adobe acrobat note marker. This ties back to the following explanation from page 528 of the 2nd volume of the history of the KGL.

I wonder if this suggest that he temporarily held the rank of Lieutenant for a few months, and then reverted back to possibly a non-commissioned officer.

BTW - Could you forward to me a copy of the page(s) which you referenced? I can PM to you my email address.

[Paul_1957]

The sources that I referred to are all available on the internet. I don't physically have the documents.

The roll of officers who served in the Peninsula is known as "Challis' Peninsular Roll Call" and is to be found on the web at www.napoleon-series.org. The roll is a series of cards (in alphabetic order) for all officers of the British Army who served in the Peninsula and South of France. The roll includes officers in the KGL as they were an integral part of the British Army. However, there is no card for Lutjen so we can infer that the muster lists do not show him as being present in those countries (as a commissioned officer in the British Army).

The War Office Army Lists for 1806 and 1807 are available for free download via the website of the National Archives in London (www.nationalarchives.gov.uk). Use the Quick Link on their homepage to get to their "Discovery" search engine. The references for these documents are WO 65/56 and WO 65/57. Use these references as search terms in their search engine. You will get to a screen that allows you to add a digital image of the whole book to your shopping basket. There is no fee to pay to download these files. The officers in the individual regiments of the KGL are listed in these books towards the end of the volume.

As for Lujten's entry in Beamish I cannot explain why that symbol is against his name when he had resigned on 1 March 1806. The London Gazette entry for Lutjen says "Lieutenant --------- Lutjen to be a Lieutenant, with temporary rank". I thought it odd that he was already a Lieutenant yet here he was being given the same rank on a temporary basis. I thought perhaps it was a mistake and should have said Ensign -------- Lutjen etc". However, there were other examples in the same Gazette where the same thing was printed (as well as examples of Ensigns being given temporary rank of Lieutenant). It seems odd but it must have been intentional. The London Gazette of 25 January 1806, page 111, contains Lutjen's appointment to the KGL. A copy of that page can be viewed and printed at www.london-gazette.co.uk (use the advanced search option to find that page).

Paul

[jluetjen]

Awesome! Thanks for the help. Since none of my ancestors is English, I'm not very familiar with the British sources, but you've been a great help.

[jluetjen]

Two things that seem curious:

1) There is a notation next to his name which I can't make out,

2) His date of service is not in order with the rest of the officers. Note that they generally appear to be listed in order of their date of rank -- except for Lt. Lutjen. Curious.

Looking at the facing page it looks like there is an additional note. Once again I can't work it out since I'm not familiar with the writing. Note the reference to "28-Jan 1806" which is the date of Lutjen's rank. The only other reference to that date is Ensign Adolphus Hansing -- which doesn't appear to be related. The next hand written note down appears to refer to a "Buerman" dated 12 Jan 1807, and then on the right says "v. Lutjen". Does this mean that "vor (German for "for") Lutjen" or possibly something else?

Looking at the regiment's page in the 1807 listing, as you describe -- Lutjen is gone but there is now Lt. Buerman listed with senority as of 12-Jan 1806.

There seems to be a (minor) story here, but I can't quite figure it out.

Edited January 13, 2013 by jluetjen

[jluetjen]

Looking at the The London Gazette entry, I see a couple of other curious things...

- Lutjen is not listed under "To be Lieutenants", but rather under "To be Ensigns".

- His line also includes "2d Ditto", but I'm not sure what this refers to.

- Lt. Buerman (nor any "Buerman") appears in the Gazette from 1-Jan 1806 through the end of 1816.

Looking at other notations on the page, I believe that the "v. Lutjen" I mentioned earlier refers to "Vice Lutjen", or "instead of..." or "in the place of..." Lt. Lutjen. So it definitely looks like Lt. Lutjen was gone almost as soon as he arrived.

[Paul_1957]

I can answer some of your queries.

The handwritten word that you could not work out is "resigned".

The letter v does indeed mean vice as in "in place of".

The "2nd" is the way the Gazette writer has indicated (lazily) that the promotions that follow refer to the 2nd Battalion KGL. Therefore, Lutjen' s entry does not form part of the "To be Ensign' s" grouping immediately above him.

Paul

[jluetjen]

I guess we've beaten this dead horse enough. Thanks for all of your help. - John