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‘The precepts laid down are the result of the experience acquired in the war in the Peninsula, from the first battle of Roliça in 1808, to the last in Belgium, of Waterloo in 1815…They have been the means of saving the lives, and of relieving, if not even of preventing, the miseries of thousands of our fellow-creatures throughout the civilized world.’

George James Guthrie is one of the unsung heroes of the Peninsular War and Waterloo, and of British military medicine. He was a guiding light in surgery. He was not only a soldier's surgeon and a hands-on doctor, he also set a precedent by keeping records and statistics of cases.

While the innovations in the medical services of the French Republic and Empire have been publicized, a military surgeon of the caliber of Guthrie has been largely ignored by students of the period – until now.

Michael Crumplin, in this comprehensive and graphic study of this remarkable doctor, follows him through his career in the field and recognizes his exceptional contribution to British military medicine and to Wellington's army.