The American Revolutionary War in the south: Further Reflections from a British perspective in the light of The Cornwallis Papers

About Ian Saberton

Ian Saberton was educated at Firth Park Grammar School Sheffield and at the Universities of Birmingham and Warwick in the UK. He holds a PhD in history from the latter having previously graduated with a BA (Hons) in Russian from the former. After translating technical Russian for the British Library he entered the UK Government Service.Perhaps of greatest relevance to his writing about the war in the south was his service as an adviser on constitutional and political affairs machinery of government contingency planning devolution and the like in the Northern Ireland Office (NIO) at the height of the troubles. Part of his duties as the highways and byways of the world were searched for lessons to be learnt was to write historical papers of an applied nature for the benefit of Ministers. It is then that he became keenly interested in the American Revolution. Overall what his service in NIO has brought to his re-evaluation of the southern campaigns is hands-on experience in dealing with a quasirevolutionary situation. There are despite the passage of years distinct parallels to be drawn between the troubles and the revolutionary war in America.