“… a page from the London Gazette from June 9 to June 15, 1813, which listed among the missing of the general staff one Captain Justin Francis Sumners, 95th Foot.” (February 1, 1814)

Established in 1665, the Gazette was the first official journal of record. The Gazette published the despatches of British envoys, naval officers, and army generals. These might mention individuals who had distinguished themselves in the field – this is the famous “mentioned in despatches” we come across in some of our favourite novels, including Georgette Heyer’s A Civil Contract. A section for official War Office and Ministry of Defence items included promotions and appointments, giving rise to the term “gazetted”, which was also used, well, figuratively, in such terms as “gazetted fortune-hunter”! Lists of officers killed or wounded were part of the Gazette, too, but I’m not sure if it published lists of the missing, so I made that up. Oddly enough I seem to have got the date wrong – there is no Gazette dated June 9 to 15. The one dated June 12 to 15 doesn’t include any lists of wounded officers, but there is an account of the army’s advance on Salamanca mentioning that “the enemy’s troops were still at Madrid”.