Charles Felix Smith
Lieutenant-General Sir Charles Felix Smith KCB (1786 – 1858), was an officer of the British Royal Engineers, of which he was colonel-commandant from 1856.
[1] On 16 December 1804, Felix embarked for the West Indies, where he served under Sir Charles Shipley, the commanding Royal Engineer.
In December 1807 he accompanied the expedition under General Bowyer from Barbados against the Danish West India Islands, and took part under Shipley in the operations which resulted in the capture of St. Thomas, St. John, and Santa Cruz.
On 25 October 1810 Smith embarked for the Iberian Peninsula, and joined the force of Sir Thomas Graham at Cadiz, then blockaded by the French.
Smith was left in Cadiz as senior engineer officer in charge of it, as well as of La Isla and the adjacent country, during the operations which comprised the Battle of Barrosa, on 5 March 1811.
Colonel John Skerrett commanded the garrison of drafts from regiments at Gibraltar, with Spanish details, of 2,300 in total.
When, however, a gaping breach was made by the French after a few hours' firing, Skerrett called a council of war, proposed to abandon the defence, to embark the garrison on board the transports lying in the roadstead, and to sail for Gibraltar.
Bad weather and a continuous downpour of rain greatly damaged the French batteries and trenches, and supply became difficult owing to the state of the roads.
[2] Napier, in his History of the War in the Peninsula, points out that though Skerrett eventually yielded to Smith's energy, he did it with reluctance, and constantly during the siege impeded the works by calling off the labourers to prepare posts of retreat.
[2] Smith arrived in Belgium and Holland from the south of France in July 1814, after the conclusion of peace, and reached England in August.
[4] On 19 June 1815 Smith joined the British army in Belgium as Commanding Royal Engineer of the Second Corps, marched with it to Paris, and took part in the entry into that city on 7 July.
A commission sent from England in 1823 to report on requirements in the West Indies recommended the addition of fourteen engineers to the establishment to enable the work to be efficacious.
He commanded the British forces in the West Indies from June 1836 to February 1837, for which he received the commendation of Lord Hill, the general commanding-in-chief.
[6] On 3 November Smith was involved in the assault and capture of St. Jean d'Acre, where he was severely wounded, despite which he was required to repair the fortifications, organise the defence, and administer the Pashalic of Acre.
The Ottoman Sultan Abdulmejid I presented him with the Order of Glory (Nichani Ichtatha) and Diamond Medal and Sword.
He was promoted to major-general in the army on 23 November 1841, and returned to Britain from Gibraltar on 15 May 1842, and was invested as a Knight Commander of the Bath (military division) on 27 September 1843.
