to which is prefixed a ‘Reply to Various Opponents, together with Observations illustrating Sir John Moore's Campaign,’ vols. i. to iii., London, 1832–3, 8vo. No more appears to have been published of this edition; 3rd edit. of vols. i. to iii., London, 1835–40, 8vo; 4th edit. of vol. i., London, 1848, 8vo. A new revised edition, in 6 vols., appeared in London, 1851, 8vo; another edition, 3 vols. London and New York, 1877–82. Various epitomes and abridgments of the ‘History’ have appeared, the most valuable being Napier's own ‘English Battles and Sieges in the Peninsula,’ 1852, 8vo; 2nd edit. 1855. 2. ‘The Conquest of Scinde, with some Introductory Passages in the Life of Major-general Sir Charles James Napier,’ &c., 2 vols. London, 1845, 8vo. 3. ‘History of Sir Charles Napier's Administration of Scinde and Campaign in the Cutchee Hills,’ with maps and illustration, London, 1851, 8vo. 4. ‘The Life and Opinions of General Sir C. J. Napier,’ 4 vols. London, 1857, 8vo; 2nd edition same year. In addition Napier wrote innumerable controversial pamphlets and articles in the ‘Times’ and other newspapers. He contributed ‘an explanation of the Battle of Meanee’ to the tenth volume of the ‘Professional Papers of the Royal Engineers’ (1844).
[The main authority is Bruce's (Lord Aberdare's) Life of General Sir W. F. P. Napier, with portraits, 2 vols. London, 1864; but War Office Records and Despatches have been consulted for this article. The controversies excited by Napier's writings are mainly dealt with in the following works:—Smythe's Lord Strangford: Observations on some passages in Lieutenant-colonel Napier's Hist. of the Peninsular War, 1828; Further Observations occasioned by Lieutenant-colonel Napier's Reply, &c., 1828; Sorell's Notes of the Campaign of 1808–9 in the North of Spain in reference to some passages in Lieutenant-colonel Napier's History of the War in the Peninsula, 1828; Strictures on Certain Passages of Lieutenant-colonel Napier's History of the Peninsular War which relate to the Military Opinions and Conduct of General Lord Viscount Strangford, 1831; Further Strictures on those parts of Colonel Napier's History of the Peninsular War which relate to Viscount Beresford, to which is added a Report of the Operations in the Alemtejo and Spanish Estramadura during the Campaign of 1811, by Sir B. D'Urban, 1832; Gurwood's Major-general Gurwood and Colonel Gurwood, 1845; Reviews of the work entitled ‘The Conquest of Scinde’ … by … W. F. P. Napier, &c. (republished from the ‘Bombay Monthly Times’ of March 1845), Bombay, 1845, 8vo; The Scinde Policy—a few Comments on Major-general W. F. P. Napier's Defence of Lord Ellenborough's Government, 1845; Perceval's Remarks on the Character ascribed by Colonel Napier in his History of the War in the Peninsula to the late Right Hon. Spencer Perceval; Beresford's Refutation of Colonel Napier's Justification of his Third Volume, 1834; Long's Reply to the Misrepresentations and Aspersions on the Military Reputation of the late Lieutenant-general R. B. Long, contained in Further Strictures on those parts of Colonel Napier's History of the Peninsular War which relate to Viscount Beresford, &c., 1832; Buist's Correction of a few of the Errors contained in Sir W. Napier's Life of Sir C. Napier, 1857; Cruikshank's (the Elder) A Pop-gun fired off by George Cruikshank in defence of the British Volunteers of 1803 against the uncivil attack upon that body by General Sir William Napier, 1860; Holmes's Four Famous Soldiers, 1889. An admirable criticism of Napier's History, in which Napier is described as the compeer of Thucydides, Cæsar, and Davila, was contributed by Mr. Morse Stephens to the 9th edit. of the Encyclopædia Britannica.]
NAPIER, WILLIAM JOHN, eighth Lord Napier (1786–1834), captain in the navy, eldest son of Francis, seventh baron Napier [q. v.], was born on 13 Oct. 1786, and entered the navy in 1803 on board the Chiffonne, with Captain Charles Adam [q. v.] During 1804 and 1805 he was with Captain George Hope in the Defence, and in her was present at the battle of Trafalgar. He was then for a year in the Foudroyant, carrying the flag of Sir John Borlase Warren [q. v.], and was present at the capture of Linois's squadron on 13 March 1806. From November 1806 to September 1809 he was in the Imperieuse with Lord Cochrane, during his remarkable service on the coasts of France and Spain, and in the attack on the French fleet in Aix roads [see Cochrane, Thomas, tenth Earl of Dundonald]. He was promoted to be lieutenant on 6 Oct. 1809, and for the next two years served in the Kent, on the Mediterranean station. He was afterwards with Captain Pringle in the Sparrowhawk, on the coast of Catalonia, and being promoted, on 1 June 1812, to the command of the Goshawk, continued on the same service till September 1813. He then went out to the coast of North America in the Erne, and, though promoted to post rank on 4 June 1814, remained in the same command till September 1815, when the Erne returned to England and was paid off.
In the following March Napier married Elizabeth, daughter of the Hon. Andrew James Cochrane Johnstone [q. v.], and cousin of his old captain, Lord Cochrane, and, settling down in Selkirkshire, applied himself vigorously to sheep-farming. In January 1818 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh. With great personal labour,
