Words of Command

Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Hervey returns to take command of the 6th Light Dragoons in his 12th enthralling adventure

January 1830, one of the hardest winters in memory. The prime minister, the Duke of Wellington, bruised by his volte-face over Catholic Emancipation, is in no mood to give way to the growing calls for parliamentary reform. Violent unrest in the countryside is on the increase, and violent protest for reform is threatening. There are no police outside London, and most of the yeomanry regiments—the volunteer cavalry to whom the magistrates traditionally turn when disorder threatens—have been disbanded as an economy measure. It is against this tense background Lieutenant-Colonel Matthew Hervey, recently returned from his assignment with the Russian army in the Balkans, takes command of his regiment, the 6th Light Dragoons—at Hounslow. His fears that Hounslow will be a dull place to serve are quickly dispelled by vexatious officers, difficult choices over which NCOs to promote, and incendiarists on the King’s own doorstep. But the real excitement comes when the Sixth are sent to Brussels for the 15th anniversary celebrations of the battle of Waterloo, and find themselves in the middle of the Belgian uprising against Dutch rule. Will Hervey be able to keep out of the fighting—the "Belgian War of Independence" that will lead, a century later, to Britain’s involvement in World War I—while trying to safeguard British interests? Not likely!