In February 1809, Lieutenant Lavers was attached to the 1st Battalion of Detachments in Captain Walsh's Company which consisted of 3 officers (Captain Walsh, Lieutenant McDougal, and Lieutenant Lavers), 2 sergeants and 88 men, most of them from the 91st Foot. Lieutenant  Lavers would serve with them at the Douro but was not present at Talavera according to the monthly return of 1st Battalion of Detachments. He was left behind sick.[4b]  

After the 1st Battalion of Detachments was disbanded in September 1809, Lieutenant Lavers returned to Great Britain.  He would be stationed with the 1st Battalion 91st Foot in a variety of places in southern England over the next two years, including Canterbury, Ramsgate, Ashford, and Chatham.[5] 

In the autumn of 1811, Lieutenant Lavers was seconded to the staff as an Acting Assistant Commissary General for the British army in Portugal.[6] This was an unusual appointment and was probably driven by financial reasons.  He was 9th on the seniority list for lieutenants and with both battalions of the 91st Foot stationed in Great Britain, his prospects for being promoted to captain were dismal.  However, as an acting Assistant Commissary General, he would the pay and privileges of a captain.[7]  It is unknown where he served in the Peninsula.  Every infantry brigade, cavalry regiment, and artillery brigade had a commissary officer assigned to it.  Additionally, there were at least 37 supply depots scattered throughout Portugal.  Lieutenant Lavers was probably assigned to one of the depots and not with the divisions.  When the Army General Service Medal was authorized, he received credit for only one battle that was fought in 1812 and 1813 – the Nivelle, which was fought on 10 November 1813.  If he was with a brigade or regiment, he would have most likely had participated in several battles during that time.[8] 

Lieutenant Lavers returned to Great Britain in December 1813 and would stay on detached duty until July 1814, when the 1st Battalion 91st returned.  He would be stationed in Ireland with them until the regiment left for Belgium in April 1815. [9]   Although he was the senior lieutenant in the regiment, Lieutenant Lavers did not participate in the Waterloo Campaign.[10] 

Lieutenant Lavers was promoted to captain by purchase on 8 January 1818.[11] He had been a lieutenant for over 12 years. By 1821, he was the 5th senior captain. He would go with the regiment to Jamaica in 1822, where he commanded the 8th Company. In the regimental history, he is listed as having "survived Jamaica". Of the 9 Captains and the Adjutant who went to Jamaica with the regiment in 1822, 3 died, 3 exchanged into other regiments, 2 retired, and for one, nothing is mentioned. The other survivor was Captain Robert Anderson.[11a]

Captain Lavers returned to the British Isles with the 91st Foot and served with it in Ireland -- still in command of the 8th Company. On 24 May 1834, he is shown as marching from Mallow to Limerick, where he arrived on 27 May.  On 7 January 1835, his company was required to assist the Civil Power at Montmellick, from where they marched to Birr on 24 Jan 1835.[11b]

On 24 July 1835, Captain Lavers retired from the army by the sale of his commission.[12] He had served for over thirty years.  He would emigrate to British Guinea and would be a justice of the peace and a stipendiary magistrate.  Captain Lavers died in New Amsterdam, British Guinea, on 7 November 1849.  The next day, a notice was placed in the Berbice Gazette: 

"Died - At New-Amsterdam, Berbice, on the 7th inst., aged 62, Robert Gresley Lavers, Esquire, J.P. and S.M. late Captain 91st Regiment of Foot.  He was with his Regiment at the passage of the Douro, at Vimiera, Nivelle, and through the brilliant career of that gallant corps on the Peninsula."[13]

Captain Lavers received the Army General Service Medal with claps for Roliça, Vimeiro, and Nivelle.[14]

Notes:

[1] London Gazette: 4 September 1804

[2] Groves: p. 7

[3] London Gazette: 2 November 1805; Army List: June 1809

[4] Groves: pp. 7, 9

[4a] Dunn-Pattison: pp. 35, 79

[4b] Ibid; p. 43

[5] Challis; Groves: p. 11; Army Lists: July 1810

[6] Challis: Army Lists: November 1811

[7] Ward: p. 71

[8] Ward: pp.  83-84; Mullen: 499

[9] Groves: p. 14

[10] Groves: p. 40

[11] London Gazette: 27 January 1818

[11a] Dunn-Pattison: p. 124

[11b] Dunn-Pattison

[12] London Gazette: 24 July 1835

[13] Begbie, Tikwis. “Robert Gresley Lavers Esq.” British Guiana Colonists Index "L" . 29 November 2008.

[14] Mullen: p. 499

Acknowledgment: I would like to thank LTC Gary Donaldson for providing much of the information for this article.

Placed on the Napoleon Series: June 2009; Updated July 2009

[ Not One in Ten Thousand Know Your Name: the Officers of the British 1st Battalion of Detachments in 1809 ]