I look forward to delivering a lunchtime talk tomorrow at the National Army Museum in London, England (12 noon). The lecture will explore the life of Shadrack Byfield, a War of 1812 veteran who lost an arm, wrote multiple memoirs, and designed his own prosthesis.
Please visit the museum’s website to register to attend either in person or online. A recording of the talk will be also made available afterwards on the museum’s YouTube channel.
Talk Synopsis
Join Dr Eamonn O’Keeffe as he explores the War of 1812 through the eyewitness account of a disabled British veteran of the conflict.
The military memoirs of Shadrack Byfield, a Wiltshire weaver and war amputee, have long enjoyed a prominent place in the story of the Anglo-American War of 1812. As one of the few eyewitness accounts of the conflict from a rank-and-file British soldier, his autobiography has been widely quoted in books, documentaries and museum displays. Yet very little is known about the man behind the memoir.
Drawing on original research, including a newly discovered second autobiography, this talk investigates Byfield’s efforts to navigate civilian life, secure veterans’ benefits and publish accounts of his experiences. It chronicles the ex-soldier’s invention of a prosthesis to enable a return to work and analyses his shifting and sometimes contradictory self-presentation in print.
O’Keeffe uses Byfield’s lively and often moving story as a case study through which to explore the broader experiences of British veterans returning home after the Napoleonic Wars.
1812 and all that 