Corporal Corporal is a military rank in use by the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. The rank is usually the lowest ranking non-commissioned officer. In some militaries, the rank of corporal nominally corr ...

Thomas Plunket (1785 – 1839) was an Irish soldier who served in

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

during the

Napoleonic Wars {{Infobox military conflict , conflict = Napoleonic Wars , partof = the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars , image = Napoleonic Wars (revision).jpg , caption = Left to right, top to bottom:Battl ...

. Serving as a rifleman in the

95th Rifles The Rifle Brigade (The Prince Consort's Own) was an infantry rifle regiment of the British Army formed in January 1800 as the "Experimental Corps of Riflemen" to provide sharpshooters, scouts, and skirmishers. They were soon renamed the "Rifle ...

, he fought in the

British invasions of the River Plate The British invasions of the River Plate were two unsuccessful British attempts to seize control of the Spanish colony of the Viceroyalty of the Río de la Plata, located around the Río de la Plata in South America – in present-day Argenti ...

Peninsular War The Peninsular War (1808–1814) was fought in the Iberian Peninsula by Kingdom of Portugal, Portugal, Spain and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom against the invading and occupying forces of the First French ...

and

Waterloo campaign The Waterloo campaign, also known as the Belgian campaign (15 June – 8 July 1815) was fought between the French Army of the North (France), Army of the North and two War of the Seventh Coalition, Seventh Coalition armies, an Anglo-allied arm ...

. Plunket is best known for sniping French Brigadier-General

Auguste François-Marie de Colbert-Chabanais Brigadier-General Auguste François-Marie de Colbert-Chabanais (18 October 1777 – 3 January 1809) was a French Army officer who served in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars. He became a general officer of cavalry during the Napoleoni ...

at the

Battle of Cacabelos The Battle of Cacabelos was a minor battle of the Peninsular War that took place on 3 January 1809, at the bridge just outside the village of Cacabelos, Province of León, Spain, as British forces under Sir John Moore making their retreat to ...

with his

Baker rifle The Pattern 1800 Infantry Rifle, better known as the Baker rifle, was a flintlock rifle designed by English gunsmith Ezekiel Baker and used by the British Armed Forces from 1801 to 1837. First seeing action during the French Revolutionary and Na ...

Early life

Thomas Plunket was born in 1785 in Newtown,

County Wexford County Wexford () is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster and is part of the Southern Region, Ireland, Southern Region. Named after the town of Wexford, it was ba ...

. He enlisted the

in May 1805, and in 1807 was sent to South American to participate in the

. During an engagement with Spanish forces in

Buenos Aires Buenos Aires, controlled by the government of the Autonomous City of Buenos Aires, is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Argentina. It is located on the southwest of the Río de la Plata. Buenos Aires is classified as an Alpha− glob ...

, Plunket killed approximately 20 Spanish soldiers while sniping from a rooftop alongside other members of his unit, before retreating when Spanish artillery attacked their position with

grapeshot In artillery, a grapeshot is a type of ammunition that consists of a collection of smaller-caliber round shots packed tightly in a canvas bag and separated from the gunpowder charge by a metal wadding, rather than being a single solid projectile ...

. Plunket also shot and killed a Spanish officer waving a white handkerchief who was possibly attempting to arrange a truce, which resulted in more Spanish artillery bombardments, ultimately contributing to the British surrender and the end of the invasions.

Peninsular War

In 1808, Plunket was sent to the

Iberian Peninsula The Iberian Peninsula ( ), also known as Iberia, is a peninsula in south-western Europe. Mostly separated from the rest of the European landmass by the Pyrenees, it includes the territories of peninsular Spain and Continental Portugal, comprisin ...

to fight against French forces as part of the

. Landing in Portugal, he was part of a British army under Lieutenant-General John Moore which advanced into Spain in late 1808. However, as

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte (born Napoleone di Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French general and statesman who rose to prominence during the French Revolution and led Military career ...

personally arrived to command French forces in the conflict, Moore's army was forced to withdraw from Spain and conducted a fighting retreat to Corunna in early 1809.Hadaway, Stuart.
Rifleman Thomas Plunkett: 'A Pattern for the Battalion.'
' During the

on 3 January 1809, Plunket ran forward from the British line about , lay down in a

supine position The supine position () means lying horizontally, with the face and torso facing up, as opposed to the prone position, which is face down. When used in surgical procedures, it grants access to the peritoneal, thoracic, and pericardium, pericardial ...

in the snow, and killed French Brigadier-General

with his

. He quickly reloaded and killed Colbert-Chabanais' aide-de-camp, Latour-Maubourg, who had rushed to the aid of Colbert-Chabanais, demonstrating that the first shot had not been a fluke. Plunket only just made it back to the British line, avoiding a dozen charging French cavalrymen, but the deaths of the two officers were sufficient to throw the French attack into disarray. The distance of the shots has been debated by historians. The shots were deemed "extraordinary" by the men of the 95th Rifles, who were trained to shoot targets with a Baker Rifle at . Their marksmanship was far better than the ordinary British soldiers, who were armed with a

Brown Bess "Brown Bess" is a nickname of uncertain origin for the British Army's Muzzleloader, muzzle-loading smoothbore flintlock Land Pattern Musket and its derivatives. The musket design remained in use for over a hundred years with many incremental c ...

musket and only trained to shoot into a body of men at with volley fire. The 95th Rifles trained for long distance sniping, and Plunket was among the unit's top marksmen. Most historians agree the range was at least 100 yards, with a likelihood of around 200-300 yards, with Plunket possibly advancing slightly between shots. A historian familiar with the area asserts it was no less than 200 yards, a remarkable feat given the Baker rifle's limitations and the moving target.

Later life

Plunket continued to serve in the British army and eventually fought in the

of 1815, where he was wounded in the head by French forces at the

Battle of Waterloo The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815, near Waterloo, Belgium, Waterloo (then in the United Kingdom of the Netherlands, now in Belgium), marking the end of the Napoleonic Wars. The French Imperial Army (1804–1815), Frenc ...

. Discharged after the battle, Plunket was a given a pension of merely six

pennies A penny is a coin (: pennies) or a unit of currency (: pence) in various countries. Borrowed from the Carolingian denarius (hence its former abbreviation d.), it is usually the smallest denomination within a currency system. At present, it is t ...

per day, which led him to enlist back into the British Army in the

41st Regiment of Foot The 41st (Welch) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1719. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 69th (South Lincolnshire) Regiment of Foot to form the Welch Regiment in 1881. History Early h ...

. The regiment was being inspected by his former commanding officer, Major-General Sir Thomas Sydney Beckwith, when Beckwith recognised Plunket and inquired into what had happened to him. He was invited to the officers' mess that night and the next day was promoted to corporal, and quickly had his pension raised to one

shilling The shilling is a historical coin, and the name of a unit of modern currency, currencies formerly used in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, other British Commonwealth countries and Ireland, where they were generally equivalent to 1 ...

a day due to Beckwith's influence.Holmes, Richard (2001). ''Redcoat: The British Soldier in the Age of Horse and Musket'' Page 416, Harper and Collins Plunket eventually renounced his pension in exchange for four years' pay and land in the

Canadas The Canadas is the collective name for the provinces of Lower Canada and Upper Canada, two historical British colonies in present-day Canada. The two colonies were formed in 1791, when the British Parliament passed the '' Constitutional Act'', ...

, but returned to England after a year, considering the land awarded to him unsuitable for farming. Plunket and his wife, nearly destitute, made a small living as itinerant traders. He died suddenly at

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

in 1839. Several retired officers in the town heard about his death and recognized him; as a result, they took up a collection for his widow and paid for his funeral and gravestone.

Early life

Peninsular War

Later life

References

Further reading