Charles Pasley

General Sir Charles William Pasley (8 September 1780 – 19 April 1861) was a British soldier and military engineer who wrote the defining text on the role of the post-American Revolution British Empire: An Essay on the Military Policy and Institutions of the British Empire, published in 1810. This text changed how Britons thought their empire should relate to the rest of the world. He warned that Britain could not keep its Empire by its "splendid isolation". Britain would need to fight to gain its empire, and by using the colonies as a resource for soldiers and sailors it grew by an average of per year between the Battle of Waterloo and the American Civil War. Serving in the Royal Engineers in the Napoleonic Wars, he was Europe's leading demolitions expert and siege warfare specialist. Life Pasley was born at Eskdale Muir, Dumfriesshire, on 8 September 1780. He was highly intelligent, capable of translating the New Testament from Greek at the age of eight. In 1796, he entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich; a year later he gained his commission in the Royal Artillery, and he was transferred to the Royal Engineers in 1798. He was present in the defence of Gata, the Battle of Maida, and the siege of Copenhagen. In 1807, then a captain, he went to the Iberian Peninsula, where his knowledge of the Spanish language led to his employment on the staff of Sir David Baird and Sir John Moore. He took part in the retreat to Corunna and the Walcheren Expedition, and received a severe wound while gallantly leading a storming party at Flushing. During his tedious recovery, he employed himself in learning German. After discontinuing service, he devoted the rest of his life to the foundation of a complete military engineering science and to the thorough organization and training of the corps of Royal Engineers. Though only a captain, his great success led him to act as the commanding royal engineer at Plymouth for two years and was given a special grant. Because the events of the Peninsular War emphasized the need for a fully trained engineer corps, the War Office adopted Pasley's views. He was placed at the head of the new School of Military Engineering at Woolwich in 1812. In 1816 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.