Vlll 
MEMOIR OF GENERAL SIR ROBERT 
Gardiner again exchanged for active service, and joined the army assembling at 
Cork under Sir Arthur Wellesley. Landing with it at Mondego Bay, and advanc¬ 
ing from Lavaos on the 10th of August, in command of a half-battery, he was 
engaged at Roleia on the 17 th, and in the crowning success against Junot at 
Vimiera on the 21st, followed by the capture of Lisbon on the convention of 
Cintra. 
Sir John Moore having relieved Sir Arthur Wellesley in Portugal, Captain 
Gardiner was called to head-quarters as Brigade-Major of Artillery, and participated 
in the prolonged struggle called the Corunna retreat, which commenced on the 24th 
of December, atBenavente, and ended on the 15th January, 1809, at Lugo. After 
witnessing the death of his much loved friend and General, he returned to 
England, and was immediately appointed Brigade-Major to the Artillery commanded 
by Brigadier-General John Macleod, with Lord Chatham’s army of the Scheldt. 
He was present at the capture of Middleburg and Flushing, and returned with 
the expedition to England in 1810, having been prostrated by the Walcheren 
fever. Three months later he elfected a third exchange for active service, and 
joined the division of the Peninsular Army under Sir Thomas Graham. The 
monotonous defence of Cadiz was relieved by the expedition to Tarifa, terminating 
in the battle of Barrosa, in which his battery bore a conspicuous part. 
In November, 1811, Captain Gardiner was promoted to first captain, and in 
February 1812, he proceeded to join the main body of the army under Lord Welling¬ 
ton before Badajoz. He was mentioned in Lord Wellington’s despatches for his 
services in the trenches, and received a brevet majority in April, 1812. In May he 
joined a field battery with the First Division, and commanded it through the cam¬ 
paign in the battle of Salamanca and at the capture of Madrid. At the siege of 
Burgos Major Gardiner volunteered with several of his men for the trenches, and took 
part in the operations till the siege was raised, when he resumed his field duties 
throughout the arduous movement and frequent engagements, known as the Burgos 
retreat, from the 28th October to the 19th of November. While in winter canton¬ 
ments he was nominated to the command of ‘ E ’, afterwards 4 D ’ troop, Royal 
Horse Artillery (now ‘ A ’ battery, c B ’ brigade), which he immediately joined, and 
marched into Spain with Lord Dalhousie’s division. In June, 1813, he was 
attached to the Hussar Brigade, and was engaged w T ith them (and mentioned by 
Lord Wellington) at Morales. The chief actions in which he took part in the 
triumphal march through Spain and France were—Vittoria, the affairs in the 
Pyrenees from the 27th to the 30th July, Orthes (for which he received a lieutenant- 
colonelcy), Tarbes, and Toidouse. Proceeding through France after the peace, he 
embarked at Calais for England in June, 1814, and was shortly afterwards created 
Knight Commander of the Bath. 
During the corn riots in 1815, Sir Bobert Gardiner’s troop was stationed in the 
gardens at Carlton House, and remained there till the mobs dispersed on the news 
of Napoleon’s escape from Elba. Landing with his troop at Ostend in April, 
1815, he was again attached to the Hussar Brigade. The troop was most severely 
pressed in covering the left of the army on the retreat from Quartre Bras on the 
17th, and took part in the great battle of the 18tli, and in the capture and 
occupation of Paris. 
[Returning home in January, 1816, Sir Robert was suddenly called upon to change 
the life of camps for that of a court. On the marriage of the Princess Charlotte 
of Wales with Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg he was selected for the post of 
