Rifleman Tom Plunkett

95th Rifles

Go to Winchester Cathedral and look up at the splendid Rifle Brigade memorial. Here are commemorated about a hundred officers and men who have served in the Rifle Brigade and the 95th Rifles before them over the last 200 years, many of them Generals or winners of the Victoria Cross. For the Peninsular/Waterloo era you will find the name of only ONE private soldier. He is the legendary Tom Plunkett, one of the great characters of Wellington’s army and the very model of a Peninsular/Waterloo Rifleman. Reputedly the finest shot in the Rifles, he was described by Captain Kincaid, an officer of the 95th Rifles, as “a bold, active, athletic Irishman, and a deadly shot”. Plunkett was born County Wexford and enlisted in Dublin in 1805, aged about 20. He first made a name for himself as a marksman during the attack on Buenos Aires in 1807. Positioned on the roof of a convent, he personally accounted for 20 Spanish soldiers including an officer carrying a flag of truce, the meaning of which he claimed to be ignorant.  The shot was not accidental, however, as he remarked to his comrade, Rifleman Fisher, immediately before taking the shot “I think I’ll have a slap at that fellow with the white handkerchief.”

 

Two years later during the retreat to Corunna at the village of Cacabellos he made his name in the history of the regiment when, lying on his back, he shot and killed the French General Colbert with a shot to the head using a Baker rifle at an incredible range said to be 800 yards, but certainly exaggerated. The true range was probably between 200 and 400 yards, but, bearing in mind the weaponry of the day, this was an amazingly accurate shot. To prove it was no fluke, Plunkett calmly reloaded and shot a second Frenchman who was coming to the aid of the General so the story goes.

 

Plunkett had a chequered disciplinary record, due to his liking for “a drop”. While in camp at Campo Mayor, just after the battle of Talavera, Plunkett, a sergeant at the time, was caught drunk on parade by his captain, the Hon. Captain Stewart, and placed under arrest. Despite being a man 'noted for his good humour and humanity' when sober, in his drunken state Plunkett became bent upon revenge. As soon as he was left alone in the guardhouse, he barricaded the door and seized a rifle and vowed to shoot Captain Stewart. Forewarned, the Captain stayed away and Plunkett was persuaded to surrender by Lieutenant Johnston. Court martialled, he was sentenced to the loss of his stripes and three hundred lashes, of which he received thirty-five. The sentence was cut on account of his previous actions and popularity, with even the colonel, Sydney Beckwith, being reluctant to impose the punishment.

 

Many other stories are told of Plunkett. One of the more famous is this one. While recruiting in one of the 95th's regular haunts, Hythe on the South East Kent coast, Plunkett and his party were aiming to enlist as many of the Militia men stationed in the area as possible to reinforce the battalion after Corunna. This area, nearly opposite the French invasion camps at Boulogne, was an area of major defence works and troop concentrations. Regular battalions were always heavily supported by regiments of Militia, which the army saw as rich recruiting grounds - 48% of the army's recruits in 1809 were from the Militia - and a majority of Riflemen started off in the Militia (Costello in the Dublin Militia). Indeed, when the call went out for 350 more men for the Rifles, 1,282 Militia soldiers volunteered in only a few days. To this end Militia colonels were ordered to place barrels of beer in the streets for all to dip in to, in order to further encourage their men to enlist. Doubtless fortified by the barrels contents and eager to impress the potential recruits, Plunkett climbed on top of an unopened barrel and began to dance a jig (his dancing skills were also well known, dancing the hornpipe on the voyage to Portugal to much acclaim from both soldiers and the crew.) Already attracting attention, all eyes turned to Plunkett as the head of the barrel gave way, leaving him up to his neck in beer. Demonstrating the quick wits encouraged by the 95th in its men, Plunkett heaved himself out of the barrel, and before all present clambered up a chimney in a nearby public house. Descending again, covered in soot, he cried 'd-n your pipe clay, now I'm ready for the grand parade!' Not only did he demonstrate the wit and elan of the 95th, but by turning the situation to emphasise the distinctive uniform and lack of 'pipe clay and button stick which were always hateful to the eyes of soldiers,' two of the very major appeals of joining the 95th, intelligence too.

 

He fought throughout the Peninsular War and at Waterloo where he was wounded. He was discharged from the army in 1817. Now discharged, Plunkett, with his wife, took advantage of a government offer to all veterans and emigrated to Canada with the guarantee of land and four years' pay in return for waiving their pension rights. He returned to England in less than a year, however, complaining that his land had proven to be wild and swampy and unusable, and penniless once more as he had forfeited his pension. This brave soldier continued to be typical of the men of Wellington's army for the rest of his life, rejected after years of service and left with little or no pension. Plunkett and his wife spent the rest of their years wandering the country selling matches, needles, and tapes to scratch a living. He died in Colchester in 1851 or 1852, falling over and expiring in the street. His public death and his wife's unfortunate appearance led to news of the event spreading through the town until it came to the attention of several retired officers who recognised Plunkett's name. They started a collection for the widow, totalling eventually £20, while an officer's wife personally financed his funeral and paid for the erection of 'a handsome tombstone'.

Rifleman Plunkett shoots General Colbert at Cacabellos

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