A FINE BRONZE PORTUGUESE 'MOUNTAIN GUN' FROM THE BATTLE OF NIVELLE, 1813, PRESENTED TO THE FATHER OF LIEUTENANT W.L. ROBE BY THE EARL OF MULGRAVE with four-stage barrel formed with raised mouldings, impressed '203' on the muzzle face, chiselled with a band of foliage ahead of the muzzle astragal fillet; a large cartouche with the Portuguese inscription VALOR Y LEALDADE above and the crest and motto of the Robe family ('a sabre erect between two branches of laurel crossing at the point and hilt of the sabre'; the motto CUM TOGA HONORIS) beneath; the second reinforce ring interrupted by a sight; the first reinforce chiselled with an early 19th century presentation inscription enclosed by fronds of foliage springing from a scallop shell; a further band of foliage chiselled behind the first reinforce ring and the numbers '379' and the '1.0.7' impressed behind, forward of the vent; chiselled with scrolls around the vent; moulded cascabel drawn-out to a button and a pair of plain trunnions; on a later stepped wooden carriage with four trucks 78cm; 30 3/4in barrel 7.5cm; 3in bore The presentation inscription reads: BROUGHT OUT OF THE FIELD AT THE BATTLE OF NIVELLE 10TH NOVR. 1813 BY LIEUT. WM. L. ROBE OF THE RL HORSE ARTILLERY GIVEN TO HIS FATHER BY THE EARL OF MULGRAVE MASTER GENL OF THE ORDNANCE The donor of this cannon, General Sir Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave, GCB PC (1755-1831) was Foreign Secretary 1805-06, First Lord of the Admiralty 1807-10 and Master General of the Ordnance 1810-18. Its recipient, Colonel Sir William Robe KCB, KCH (1765-1820), served in the West Indies and Canada in the 1780s, in Flanders 1793-94 and 1799 and at Copenhagen in 1807. In 1808 he went to Portugal to command the artillery in Sir Arthur Wellesley's first expedition and, between 1809 and until being invalided home following a severe wound late in 1812, served as a lieutenant-colonel of artillery in numerous battles and sieges in the Peninsular War, eventually receiving the Army Gold Cross with one clasp and being created a Knight of the Portuguese Order of the Tower and Sword (Stearn, 2004). Robe's eldest son, William Livingstone Robe, entered the Royal Military Academy Woolwich as a cadet in 1805 and was commissioned second lieutenant in the Royal Artillery in 1807, immediately joining an expedition to Göteborg and subsequently being posted to Gibraltar. From Gibraltar, he volunteered for service in Portugal, was promoted first lieutenant in June 1808 and joined his father in time to see his first action at the Battle of Vimeiro, 21st August 1808. After accompanying the army on the retreat to Corunna in 1809, Robe returned to the Peninsula to see his next action at the Battle of Pombal, 11th March 1811, and between that date and the ending of the Peninsular War in 1814 was in action against the enemy some thirty times, at the battles of Fuentes d'Oñoro, Badajoz, Salamanca, Nivelle and Nive as well as at lesser-known engagements. Late in 1813, Wellington began planning his assault upon France via the Pyrenees. His artillery commanders, realising that light guns would be needed to deploy in very mountainous terrain in support of the infantry, sought such weapons in order to form a small detachment of 'mountain artillery'. As the regimental historian records: 'Marshal Beresford brought a few 3-pounders from Lisbon; but it was found almost impossible to procure mules for them. Three guns of the same calibre, which had been taken from the French, had been temporarily equipped for single draught, and placed under the command of Lieutenant Robe, the son of the gallant officer who commanded at Roliça and Vimiera...A medley equipment was found for the guns brought from Lisbon, - the Artillery-men being Portuguese, but the drivers and mules being British. These guns were carried on the backs of the mules, and three of them were added to Lieutenant Robe's command.' (Duncan, 1873, p. 376) Robe's effective use of his mountain guns at the Battle