Letter from Lieutenant Edward Teasdale to his mother Mrs Jane Teasdale, Stony Hill, Jamaica, 10 September 1808

At the beginning of the nineteenth century a posting to the Caribbean was considered a death sentence. During the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars over 90% of the 45,000 officers and men who died there were killed by disease rather than enemy action. This terrible toll was revealed in this letter by Lieutenant Edward Teasdale of the 54th (West Norfolk) Regiment to his mother during his service in Jamaica in 1808:

'I have to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 1st of April last, and I am extremely happy to find that amidst the number of those whose death you have mentioned I have not to lament any of my immediate relations - your list of deaths certainly makes a very formidable appearance on paper but it has small effect upon the mind [here] when the loss of one is almost forgot before your attention is called to that of another. We do this business much quicker here; for a man must have a very good character in his company if he is particularly remembered a week after his death....The flank companies about a fortnight ago were marched down from Stony Hill to Kingston (I am a lieut in the light company) and since that time we have become rather sickly. We marched down 200 strong and upon average have lost a man a day, but we buried two yesterday and there is one dead already to day.'

Teasdale himself was stricken with yellow fever and died just a few months later.