Brigadier-General Luis Roberto de Lacy y Gautier | |
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 Posthumous lithography, 1881 | |
| Born | (1775-01-11)11 January 1775 San Roque, Cádiz, |
| Died | 5 July 1817(1817-07-05) (aged 42) Bellver Castle,Palma, Majorca |
| Buried | Cementiri de Sant Andreu,Barcelona |
| Allegiance |  Bourbon Spain 1789 to 1803 France 1803–1808 Kingdom of Spain |
| Years of service | 1789–1817 |
| Rank | Brigadier-General |
| Commands | Capitán-General Catalonia, 1811–1812 Galicia, 1813–1814 |
| Battles / wars | |
Brigadier-General Luis Roberto de Lacy, 11 January 1775 – 5 July 1817, was a Spanish professional soldier of Irish descent, who served in the Spanish andFrench Imperial armies.
He played a prominent role in the 1808 to 1814Spanish War of Independence and held a number of senior military positions but was executed in 1817 for leading a failed revolt against the government ofFerdinand VII. In 1820, theCortes or Spanish Parliament, declared him a hero of Spanish democracy and installed a plaque to his memory in thePalacio de las Cortes, Madrid, where it remains.
Luis Roberto de Lacy was born 11 January 1775, inSan Roque, Cádiz, to Lieutenant-Colonel Patrick de Lacy, an officer in theUltonia, or Ulster, Regiment, a foreign unit orInfantería de línea extranjera of the Spanish army. Patrick died sometime before 1785, and his wife Antonia remarried Jean Gautier, another Ultonia officer.[1]
His grandfather, General Patrick de Lacy y Gould (1678-?), came fromLimerick; along with many relatives, he was part of the post-1691 Irish diaspora known as theFlight of the Wild Geese. His brother,Peter (1678–1751), was a general in theImperial Russian Army, whose son,Count Franz Moritz von Lacy (1725–1801), became anAustrian Fieldmarshall.[2] Patrick himself settled inBarcelona and commanded the Ultonia during the 1701 to 1714War of the Spanish Succession.[3]
De Lacy's uncle, Francis Anthony de Lacy (1731–1792), commanded Spanish forces in the 1779 to 1783Great Siege of Gibraltar and later served asenvoy to Sweden and Russia. He was created a Knight of the order of Carlos Tecera and appointedCapitán-General ofCatalonia in 1789.[1] An aunt marriedGeorge Browne, another Irish exile who was Governor-General ofLivonia, Russia.[4]
While serving with theImperial French army, de Lacy was based inQuimper, Brittany, where he met Emilia du Guermeur.[5] HerRoyalist family disapproved of her relationship with an officer inNapoleon's army but she accompanied de Lacy when his unit was posted toHolland. They apparently had a child but his wife disappears from the record after 1807.[6]
De Lacy was commissioned into the Ultonia regiment when he was 10, although his age was recorded as 13 to satisfy minimum requirements. Issuing commissions to children was not unusual, as they were considered private investments and often used to provide pensions for orphans. Although by now the Ultonia was no longer 'Irish', many of the officers were Spanish-born descendants of the original Irish emigrants, including his uncle Francis and various cousins.[7]
In 1789, de Lacy joined an expedition toPuerto Rico, accompanied by his stepfather. They apparently quarrelled and on their return, de Lacy walked toPorto, in Portugal, intending to take ship to theMoluccas, before his stepfather brought him home.[1]
Promoted captain, he took part in theWar of the Pyrenees against France, which ended with the April 1795Peace of Basel. He was posted to theCanary Islands in 1799, where he fought a duel with the localCapitán-General. Despite being transferred toEl Hierro, he continued their feud; he was court-martialed as a result and sentenced to one year in the Royal Prison at the Concepción Arsenal atCádiz.[8]
His jailers allegedly considered him mentally unbalanced; as a result, De Lacy was stripped of his commission, and barred from re-enlisting in the Spanish army. He moved to France in order to continue his career and was appointed captain in theIrish Legion, a French army unit formed inBrittany and intended to support anIrish rising. Although many of its officers wereIrish exiles or of Irish descent, like De Lacy, the rank and file were mostly Polish.[9]
When the proposed rebellion failed to materialise, the Legion was posted to theNetherlands, where it remained until theWar of the Third Coalition ended in 1806. De Lacy was appointedcommandant of the second battalion, which participated in the 1807invasion of Portugal. In March 1808,Charles IV of Spain abdicated in favour of his son,Ferdinand, who was replaced in May byJoseph Bonaparte and held in France.[10]
De Lacy arrived inMadrid shortly before the May 1808 revolt known as theDos de Mayo; he deserted, and was reinstated in the Spanish army as colonel of the Burgos regiment.[11]
In July 1809, de Lacy was given command of theIsla de León, an important defensive position in Cádiz, home of theRegency Council that ruled Spain in Ferdinand's absence. He led the 1st Division at theBattle of Ocana on 19 November 1809; the collapse of the Spanish cavalry underManuel Freire de Andrade exposed him to a flank attack that practically annihilated his division. A second defeat atAlba de Tormes on 29 November left the Spanish unable to confront the French in open battle and they resorted to guerrilla tactics.[12]
Although Cádiz wasbesieged by the French from February 1810 to August 1812, support from theRoyal Navy allowed the Council to send small amphibious expeditions intended to bolster resistance elsewhere. De Lacy led landings inAlgeciras,Ronda,Marbella andHuelva and although unable to hold them, this absorbed French resources. In March 1811, de Lacy's troops supported an Anglo-Spanish attempt to break the siege of Cádiz; the resultingBattle of Barrosa was a significant victory, although command failures meant the siege continued.[13]
After the loss ofTarragona in June 1811, de Lacy replaced theMarquess of Campoverde as Capitán-General of Catalonia, a position held by his uncle Francis from 1789 to 1792.[14] French efforts to captureValencia weakened them elsewhere and provided the Spanish opportunities for partisan warfare. De Lacy led a series of incursions into the Frenchdepartments ofHaute-Garonne andAriège; these restored local morale and forced the French to send reinforcements.[15]
Most major towns, including Barcelona, Tarragona andLleida, remained in French hands and in early 1812,Napoleon made Catalonia part of France. The focus on guerrilla tactics led to an increasingly bitter war of reprisals and executions by both sides, which severely impacted the civilian population. Many of the partisan bands were beyond central control and their operations often indistinguishable from simple brigandage.[citation needed]This led to conflict between de Lacy and local Catalan leaders and in January 1813, he moved toSantiago de Compostela as Captain General of theKingdom of Galicia. He assumed command of the Reserva de Galicia, which he focused on disciplining and reorganising. Following Allied victory atVitoria in June 1813, the French withdrew from Spain and Ferdinand returned to Madrid in April 1814.
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Ferdinand rejected a previous commitment to accept theSpanish Constitution of 1812 and established anabsolutist regime; Spain also facedcolonial wars in the Americas, which began in 1810 and continued until 1833. This destabilised the regime and led to a series of attempted coups, by military officers like de Lacy backed by progressive civilian elements, often linked byFreemasonry.[16]
Following failed attempts in 1815 and 1816, de Lacy returned to Barcelona and assisted by a former subordinate,Francisco Milans del Bosch, planned another. This began on 5 April 1817 but quickly collapsed; de Lacy was captured, court-martialed, and sentenced to death. Following public protests against the sentence, he was secretly taken toPalma, Majorca, held atBellver Castle and executed there by firing squad on 5 July 1817.[17]
In 1820, a revolt led by ColonelRafael del Riego forced Ferdinand to restore the 1812 Constitution; this began theTrienio Liberal, a period of liberalisation that ended in 1823, when aFrench army allowed Ferdinand to re-assert control. However, in 1820 the reconstitutedCortes Generales declared de Lacy a martyr; along with others including Riego, he is commemorated on a plaque in thePalacio de las Cortes, Madrid, which can still be seen today. De Lacy was buried at the Cementiri de Sant Andreu, in Barcelona. The Calle General Lacy inAtocha, Madrid, is named after him.
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