Juana Maria de los Dolores de León
Month of April 1812. The city of Badajoz has been besieged by the British army under the command of the Duke of Wellington, an ally of the English. The solid walls are defended by a stubborn French garrison. Men Wellington get to scale the walls and get into the population, achieving the withdrawal of the French. There were a horrifying number of casualties on both sides. The liberators, after his military success, flaunt anything honorable behavior. For three days, turned the city into an orgy of alcohol, mass looting, rapes and indiscriminate killings of civilians. It was a bloody deed that made Wellington crumble and shed tears for the first time in Spain.
But not all unworthy behaved because hundred of them risked their lives trying to stop the disaster, even some were killed by their own comrades who, blinded by alcohol and anger, were willing to be charged with another's pain all the suffering that the war had caused. It was at this stage of human degradation and extreme cruelty where a young British captain named Harry Smith met the woman who would, in his own words, "my absolute comfort and happiness during thirty-three years '.
The 88 th Regiment at the Siege of Badajoz, by Richard Caton Woodville Jr.
When finally managed to restore order, two young women dared to go out in search of protection from British officers. Camped outside the city walls were several of them, and most of the sisters did not hesitate an instant. He grabbed the child by the arm and, turning to the astonished officers, begged one of them take care of his sister, since, without family and his house ransacked and ruined, she was married to a English officer whose whereabouts and unknown fate, he saw no other way of offering a future. The younger sister was our Joan and she was hooked Officer Smith.
A few days later, Harry Smith, twenty-four, he married Juana Maria de los Dolores de León, of fourteen, who belonged to an ancient and noble English family and was a descendant of Juan Ponce de León. The intrepid Juanita, as he called Harry in private, did not allow the sent to England, home of the family of her husband, and chose to follow her husband in the fields of battle no matter the risk or hardship. Adapted to the strenuous marches on horseback, a little food, sleep outdoors or in uncomfortable tents.
Sir Harry Smith
Her beauty, courage, wisdom and gentle nature made it very dear to all officers, including Lord Wellington. Among the troops, was idolized by his acts of generosity and ability to hobnob with generals but also foot soldiers and bartenders. With the exception of the period of Anglo-American war began in 1812, she accompanied her husband to all its destinations. This young Badajoz witnessed the Waterloo campaign, was in Africa and India, where the general and boldly Harry Smith defeated the Sikhs in Aiwal (1846), being congratulated by Parliament and received the Queen Victoria a barony the name of the place of the Punjab, now on the payroll of the great battles of England. Her husband was the officer more years he served the Queen, fifty-four, and survived without a scratch in a hundred battles.
's brilliant military career of Sir Harry Smith led South Africa as governor of Cape Colony in 1847. In honor of their value, and the love he felt for Jane, "the officer named as a town of Ladysmith in KwaZulu region. Jane, Lady Smith converted and, two decades would live in the southernmost region of Africa, while her husband fought battles with native tribes. They had no children but dedication Harry Smith to the woman he loved lasted until the last minute. British Parliament got a pension of 500 pounds on its merits of war so that his wife could face vented their widowhood. He died in 1860 and Juana twelve years later, in October 1872.
This English of breaks and tears is still remembered with awe in the town of Ladysmith. In its museum houses a portrait of him, and a pair of earrings and a comb. Juanita Smith, who never renounced his origins, liked, official receptions, dress with shawl, fandangos and improvise dance popular songs. The Duke of Wellington, to know the life of sacrifices that had been with her husband, said of her: " was a real hero, a worthy successor of Agustina de Aragon." About this woman has written several books as English Bride by Georgette Heyer (1940), African Queens Cristina Morato (2003) and Lady Smith Ruiz-Gallardon Mabel (2008).
Sources:
http://4gatos.es/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/en-el-infierno-antes-del-amanecer-indice.pdf Http://www.fernandoorgambides.com/2010/02/26/lady-smith/
http://servicios.laverdad.es/panorama/reportaje070503-1.htm
http://www.hoymujer.com/
Hoy/Entre-nosotras/extremena-sudafrica-523619112010.html http://www.las4plumas.com/home.php
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