I’ve recently fallen into the Silver Bayonet hole, and I’ve fallen deep! I blame all of this on the brilliant videos put out by Peachy on his YouTube channel PeachyTips. I urge you all to watch them if you’re interested in both the Napoleonic Period and wargaming.

I went out and bought both the Silver Bayonet rules and the British Unit. I’ve also bought some French and Austrians via Etsy for an introductory game with Dave.

The Doctor was the first model I painted for the British unit, and I really enjoyed painting metal models again. The model itself is very detailed and all of them are in great poses.

George James Guthrie (Surgeon)

Born in London on May 1st, 1785. His grandfather, a Scotsman, served with the army at the Battle of the Boyne. His father succeeded his maternal uncle, a retired Naval Surgeon, as manager of a business for the sale of lead plaister. Guthrie learnt French from the Abbé Noel when a boy, and spoke it so perfectly that he is often mistaken for an émigré. At the age of 13 he accidentally came under the notice of John Rush, Inspector of Regimental Hospitals, who had Guthrie apprenticed to Dr Phillips, a surgeon in Pall Mall. He attended the Windmill Street School of Medicine, and was one of those into whose arms William Cruikshank – Dr Johnson’s ‘sweet-blooded man’ – fell when he was delivering his last lecture on the brain on June 27th, 1800.

From June, 1800, to March, 1801, Guthrie served as Hospital Mate at the York Hospital, Chelsea, which then occupied what is now a part of Eaton Square. Surgeon General Thomas Keate issued an order that all hospital mates must be members of the newly formed College of Surgeons. Guthrie presented himself for examination on the day following the issue of the order, was examined by Keate himself, and made such an impression that he was at once posted to the 29th Regiment. He was then 16 years of age; his Colonel was 24 – but, nevertheless, it was generally agreed that no regiment was better commanded or better doctored.

Guthrie accompanied the 29th Regiment to North America as Assistant Surgeon, remained there until 1807, then returned to England with the regiment and was immediately ordered out to the Peninsula. He acted as Principal Medical Officer at the Battle of Albuera, though he was only 26 years old, and one evening had on his hands 3000 wounded with four wagons, and such equipment as regimental surgeons carried in their panniers, and the nearest village seven miles away.

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