Battalion of detachments

They were used to temporarily collect together detached companies or individual stragglers into more manageable-sized formations for logistics purposes or to provide additional fighting forces.

These comprised stragglers left behind following the British withdrawal at Corunna and saw action in the Oporto and Talavera campaigns before they were disbanded and the men returned to their regiments.

Three units of British line infantry were formed from depots in England in 1814 but saw no action before the hostilities ceased after the Treaty of Paris.

[2] The commander of the forces cannot avoid to express his regret upon losing the services of the two battalions of detachments, which are about to join their corps in England.

Brigadier-General Alan Cameron, commanding the British force at Oporto, gathered these men together under the auspices of a temporary battalion of detachments.

This was primarily a means of bringing the men into the organizational structure of the army so that they could be supplied with rations and clothing to reduce the likelihood of them resorting to "every possible excess that could render the name of a British soldier odious to the nation".

[1] The light infantry and rifles detachments were mentioned in dispatches three times for their actions at Oporto and the 1st battalion was commended by Wellesley on 31 July 1809 for gallantry and good conduct.

[1][4] The 1st battalion was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel William Henry Bunbury of the 3rd Foot, who was awarded the Army Gold Medal in recognition of his and his units' exploits.

[5] Outside of the battlefield Wellesley acknowledged that he was disappointed by their conduct, his adjutant-general Charles Stewart claimed "they are the cause of great disorder – no esprit de corps for their interior economy among them, though they will fight.

[7] A shortage of troops, exacerbated by the failure of a scheme to encourage militia soldiers to volunteer for duty abroad, led to the creation of further battalions of detachment in March 1814 by the commander-in-chief Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany.

[1] Battalions of detachments were also formed of British troops for the 1818 assault on Raigad Fort, India and the 1821 Beni Boo Alli Expedition to Eastern Arabia.