In the siege of San Sebastián, part of the Peninsular War, Allied forces under the command of Arthur Wellesley, Marquess of Wellington failed to capture the city in a siege. However in a second siege the Allied forces under Thomas Graham captured the city of San Sebastián in northern Basque Country from its French garrison under Louis Emmanuel Rey. During the final assault, the British and Portuguese troops rampaged through the town and razed it to the ground.
The Storming of San Sebastian by Denis Dighton
Louis Emmanuel Rey
An engraving of the siege of San Sebastian (1813)
Colin Campbell leading the 'forlorn hope' at the siege of San Sebastián, 1813. Painting by William Barnes Wollen
Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch
Thomas Graham, 1st Baron Lynedoch was a Scottish aristocrat, politician and British Army officer. After his education at Oxford, he inherited a substantial estate in Scotland, married and settled down to a quiet career as a landowning gentleman. However, with the death of his wife, when he was aged 42, he immersed himself in a military career, during the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars.
Portrait of Thomas Graham from the frontispiece of his biography by Alexander M. Delavoye published in 1880
Thomas Graham, Baron Lynedoch by David Allan.
Bust of his wife, Mary.
The famous portrait of the beautiful Mrs. Graham wearing Jacobean inspired costume by Thomas Gainsborough, 1777.