A Light Dragoon’s Life in Archives: The Journey of Lieutenant Francis Hall in the South American Wars of Independence

This article presents in-depth archival research on the military and civilian life of Francis Hall, a lieutenant in the 14 th Light Dragoons and Peninsular War veteran. In 1820, Hall volunteered for Simón Bolívar’s wars of independence and travelled to South America. Although his name appears in multiple sources as an author, an adventurer, a politician, a botanist and even a promoter of Jeremy Bentham’s philosophy, his experiences after landing on the shores of Venezuela are obscure. The following account will examine mostly primary sources and will explore his motivations for entering the military, arguing that they were significantly intellectual. Ironically, it was politics and not warfare what eventually led to his demise.