British Auxiliary Legion

Under the Quadruple Alliance, Great Britain had controlled maritime traffic along the Cantabrian coast since the beginning of the war.

Although the British refused to send troops directly, in June 1835, they decided to form a "military volunteer corps", and that became designated an auxiliary to the Spanish Legion.

By the end of the summer of 1836 a force of 10,000 men under the command of De Lacy Evans had assembled in San Sebastian (Basque Country).

They fought near Hernani and Vitoria, but were pushed back and had to hold the fort on Mount Urgull de San Sebastian, to prevent the Carlists from taking the city.

Their casualties were so heavy, especially during their defeat at the battle of Andoain on 14 September, that in practical terms the new unit ceased to exist as an operational force after this action.

[3] Their presence had not been well received by the Carlists; one former soldier wrote "To our foes, we of the British Legion were the most odious of all; strangers, mercenaries, heretics, scoffers, polluters of their sacred soil; so they did term us.

The battalion was led by Irish-born Spanish Colonel Federico Ricardo Lasaussaye and designed Brigada Auxiliar Británica ("British Auxiliary Brigade").

[10][11][12] Early into its existence, the Brigade was struck by a fever outbreak, which left one soldier dead and 30 hospitalised.