From Fighting Napoleon to the Scottish Military Academy: The Life of Captain John Orr

Based on Captain John Orr's previously unseen campaign diary and personal documents, this is the first biography of the man who would become Superintendent of the Scottish Naval & Military Academy (SNMA).We follow John during his eighteen months in Portugal and Spain informed by his first-hand accounts of the Battle of Salamanca, the siege of Burgos and fighting in the Pyrenees.Later he fought at Quatre Bras and was wounded at Waterloo.He was retired on full pension in 1821. Ten years later, aged 41, resigning himself that he would no longer be commissioned into a regiment, he enrolled as a captain in the Edinburgh Militia.Almost immediately he was asked to become the Superintendent of the Scottish Naval & Military Academy which was situated in Edinburgh.It had been established six years earlier and was struggling after the Directors had made a number of bad decisions.John’s appointment stabilised the SNMA and the enrolment started to grow.He had enthusiasm for his job and managed to m