It was not the first time she had thought of writing a book about Smith, however. Scovell’s personal diaries were likely the inspiration that prompted Heyer to write the story of Harry Smith and his adventures during the Napoleonic Wars. staff throughout the Peninsular War” and, while she predicted that his diaries might be “dull in the main”, she was hopeful they would be “packed with army information” and described the offer of the diaries as “Rather nice, don’t you think”. As Georgette noted, Scovell was on the “Q.M.G. He proved to be a brilliant code-breaker and was a key figure in deciphering the Grande Chiffre – the French army’s secret codes used to relay information about their military plans and operations during the Peninsular Campaign – and he later became Wellington’s chief cipher officer. On March 25 1939, Georgette Heyer told her agent that she had “been offered Sir George Scovell’s diaries to read – never published.” Scovell had been an officer during the Napoleonic Wars and a member of the Intelligence Branch of the Quartermaster General in Spain. The 1939 Heinemann first edition of Georgette Heyer’s final book about War, The Spanish Bride.
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