Sir William Francis Patrick Napier, a British author, brother of Sir Charles James Napier, born in Castletowm, county Kildare, Ireland, in 1785, died at Clapham Park, near London, Feb. 12, 1860. He entered the army at 15 years of age, and became a captain in 1804. After serving in the expedition to Copenhagen in 1807, he accompanied Sir John Moore to Portugal in 1808, and during the next six years was an active participant in the peninsular war. In 1811 he became major and in 1813 lieutenant colonel. He was repeatedly wounded during the war, particularly at Almeida, and in following the retreat of Massena from Portugal in 1811. He became major general in 1841. Between 1842 and 1848 he was lieutenant governor of Guernsey, and in 1848 he was created knight commander of the bath. In 1851 he became lieutenant general, and in 1859 general. He is best known as a writer of military history. His principal work is "The History of the War in the Peninsula and in the South of France from 1807 to 1814" (6 vols., London, 1828-'40). In the preparation of this eminent work he was supplied with materials and documents by the duke of Wellington, Marshal Soult, and other officers, English and French. His wife, a niece of Charles James Fox, deciphered for him the secret correspondence of Joseph Bonaparte. The critical and positive character of this work subjected it to much animadversion, calling out several replies from the author, which were appended to the later editions under the title of "Justificative Pieces." In 1855 he published a volume entitled "English Battles and Sieges in the Peninsula," consisting principally of extracts from his large work, with portions rewritten.

He also published " The Conquest of Scinde " (1845), and " The Life and Opinions of the late Sir Charles Napier" (1857).