Congreve rockets were first used on October 8, 1806, for the first time in combat. Fired in salvos from specially-built boats, they were very effective in burning down much of the town of Boulogne. More than 2,000 Congreve rockets were fired without the French returning a single shot.

“The Congreve rocket was a type of rocket artillery designed by British inventor Sir William Congreve in 1804. The design was based upon rockets deployed by the Kingdom of Mysore against the East India Company during the Second, Third, and Fourth Anglo-Mysore Wars. Lieutenant general Thomas Desaguliers, colonel commandant of the Royal Artillery at Woolwich, was impressed by reports of their effectiveness, and undertook several unsuccessful experiments to produce his own rocket weapons. Several captured Mysorean rockets were sent to England following the annexation of the Mysorean kingdom into British India following the death of Tipu Sultan in the siege of Seringapatam.

The project was continued chiefly with William Congreve, who set up a research and development programme at the Woolwich Arsenal’s laboratory. After development work was complete the rockets were manufactured in quantity further north, near Waltham Abbey, Essex. He was told that “the British at Seringapatam had suffered more from the rockets than from the shells or any other weapon used by the enemy.” “In at least one instance”, an eyewitness told Congreve, “a single rocket had killed three men and badly wounded others.” The rockets were used by the British, the Russians and Paraguay during the nineteenth century.” Wikipedia

Although the British Army had experimented with rockets designed by Sir William Congreve, comptroller of the Woolwich Laboratory, prior to the Battle of Waterloo (1815), the Duke of Wellington was always suspicious of their merit and he only allowed one rocket troop to take part in the campaign. They were equipped with six 12, 18 and 24 pounder rockets. Their performance at Waterloo was mixed. One observer noted that:

“most of them, on arriving about the middle of the ascent, took a vertical direction, while some actually turned back upon ourselves – and one of these, following me like a squib until its shell exploded, actually put me in more danger than the fire of the enemy throughout the day.” Charles Hamilton Smith

There seem to be a general opinion that they were not an effective weapon. See this extract:

These are all Miniature Figurines 25mm figures from way back in the day when we used to go to work with club in hand.

The British were not the only army to use rockets during the Napoleonic wars.

Austrian Rocket Corps

The Austrian Rocket Corps was established by Austrian Engineer Vincenz Augustin who went to Denmark to acquire the technology in return for political support at the Congress of Vienna in 1814. He seems to have been quite a strong character, and his rocket corps expanded after the war, with improved designs.

Vincenz von Augustin 1780 -1859

The Austrian Rocket Corps used Hale rockets, and even set up a special Corps with distinctive uniforms. The Corps was sufficiently advanced to serve in the Hundred Days campaign, present at the siege of the fortress city of Hunigue, though not actually used.

Given the Austrians are my favourite army I will have to paint up a set of my own. The Brunswick Horse Artillery figure is close enough to get away with, and I think I have a few left.