Set In 1797, Those Least Remembered – The Battle Of Fishguard By Steven Elvy, Acquaints Readers With Britain’s Little Known And Last Invasion

On The Table Read Magazine, “the best book magazine in the UK“, historical novel, Those Least Remembered – The Battle of Fishguard by Steven Elvy, is the true story of the French invasion of Britain in 1797.

Those Least Remembered – The Battle Of Fishguard

Steven Elvy’s Those Least Remembered – The Battle Of Fishguard is based on a true war story that has been largely lost in the annals of time, delighting fans of historical fiction, and anyone with an interest in Napoleon Bonaparte.

Set in 1797 when Great Britain has been at war with Republican France for four years, Those Least Remembered sees Napoleon Bonaparte having won great victories over his Austrian opponents, before turning his attentions to a new expedition in Egypt, intending to strike at the British in her overseas territories

Meanwhile, French General Lazare Hoche has initiated another plan against the British by dispatching an armada of ships to land 15,000 men at Bantry Bay in Ireland and further troops at Newcastle and Bristol. When the vessels bound for Ireland flounder and are turned around in impossibly atrocious seas and then those headed for Newcastle are scuppered by onboard mutinies, only the Bristol contingent is left to fulfil Hoche’s plan.

This group is made up of four ships with 1,400 men of the Legion Noire onboard, a notorious penal unit with 800 of its cohort being men taken from French jails, all either convicts or deserters. When they, too, are unable to land at Bristol due to high seas, the Legion Noire instead stumbles across the quiet fishing village of Fishguard.

Terrorised by drunken, marauding Frenchmen intent on looting and rape, the local volunteer and militia forces, together with the common, working people, must band together and somehow try to stop the French invaders in their tracks.

After watching an episode of Michael Portillo’s Great British Railway Journeys, Steven Elvy felt inspired to learn more about this unexpected French landing and set about finding out all that he could about how Bonaparte’s plans went awry.

This page turning story is told through the eyes of both the invaders and the defenders, with a host of memorable characters, but true the star of this historical recounting has to be Jemima Nicholas. Armed with a pitchfork, Jemima is in part credited with thwarting the efforts of the French invaders, ultimately resulting in a peace treaty being signed just days after the French army surrendered.

A gripping story from start to finish, Steven Elvy’s new book ensures that this story is not forgotten and will be appreciated by many.

Steven Elvy

I have worked in various roles as a film librarian, a chef, a labourer, a plastics recycler, a salesman and, for the last twenty years, as an independent recruitment consultant.

I have always been a voracious reader, particularly of history and historical fiction, and I have written and published five novels plus a short story collection.

I have lived in some lovely parts of the UK, including Rye in East Sussex and the Lake District in Cumbria. For the past thirty years I have lived in a picturesque village in the heart of the Ribble Valley in Lancashire.

-Steven Elvy

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