The Company of St Barbara

[anteros_lmc]

I've done a bit of digging to see what I could find out about the mysterious Amazonian Company of St Barbara that so impressed Cuddy. It appears that the company were a brigade of Irish women, commanded by Lucy Fitzgerald, who fought at the Third Siege of Girona during the Peninsular War from 1808 - 1809. At the start of the siege the town was

Comments

[elin_gregory]

What a fabulous story! Thanks for sharing.

[anteros_lmc]

It's an amazing story isn't it? I would love to know more about Lucy Fitzgerald. She sounds like an incredible woman. Also can't help thinking this would make a great film.

[esteven]

What a story! How wonderful you have unearthed it, and what shame that we might not have known of it, had you not read about Collingwood's diary. May it profit research, whoever buys it. *sighs*

[anteros_lmc]

Yes, the Company of St Barbara and the indomitable Lucy Fitzgerald really deserve to be better known. I'm very glad to have come across her story.

[esteven]

Will you post about this find in anything_aos. Might I link from DW!Anything_AoS, unless you feel you would like to make the posts yourself?

[anteros_lmc]

Hello my dear, apologies for the delay in replying. I'd be happy to cross post this to anything_aos and feel free to post this to DW if you haven't already done so :)

[azdak]

Heroines indeed! The other day I was imagining Eric Bogle's "And the band played Waltzing Matilda" being sung by a woman nurse rather than a soldier, and up pop exactly the sort of woman I had in mind.

I confess, though, to a slight disappointment that the Company of St Barbara weren't actually shooting people.

[anteros_lmc]

"And the band played Waltzing Matilda"
Gosh, I'd forgotten about that song! Yes I can quite imagine it being sung by battlefield nurses like Lucy Fitzgerald and her ilk.

I confess, though, to a slight disappointment that the Company of St Barbara weren't actually shooting people.
I suspect, given the carnage at the end of the siege that the Company of St Barbara may well have been shooting people!

[stevie_carroll]

Fascinating stuff.

[anteros_lmc]

Another one of those if-you-made-it-up-no-one-would-believe-you stories.

[aletheiafelinea]

Amazing. I'm often amazed how many surprises is in the history when one takes a closer look. Even only a bit closer.