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English Liberator: William Miller and the Independence of Spanish South America
Author(s): John Hemming (Author)
- Publisher: Haus Publishing
- Publication Date: 9 Oct. 2025
- Language: English
- Print length: 360 pages
- ISBN-10: 1914979354
- ISBN-13: 9781914979354
Book Description
‘Hemming has unearthed an adventure story that has escaped nearly all modern English-language sources… English Liberator reads like a period war novel, an enjoyable ride for the history buff looking for unheralded adventure stories bridging the gap between Waterloo and Fort Sumter.’
The Wall Street Journal
‘A meticulous account masquerading as adventure story of the life of the baker’s son from Kent who became pivotal in the struggle against slavery and imperialism.’
The Spectator
‘Miller’s life, now related for the first time in full by the distinguished historian of Latin America John Hemming, reads more like an adventure novel than a biography and reminds us that great men can come from the unlikeliest of places.’
The New Criterion
'Hemming has written a saga that reads like vivid fiction.' COLIN THUBRON
'Miller's epic story is nothing less than the riveting drama of how one gallant and popular Englishman helped unchain a continent from oppressive colonial rule.' NICHOLAS SHAKESPEARE
'John Hemming gives us–for the first time–a complete and magnificent portrait of one of the revolutions’ greatest heroes...English Liberator is essential reading for anyone interested in pivotal alliances that shaped world history.’ MARIE ARANA
During Admiral Thomas Cochrane's demolition of imperial Spain's naval presence in the Pacific during the revolutionary wars for Spanish South America, all the raids were carried out by his marines under a young officer called William Miller. He came from nowhere - one of three sons of a baker in a small village in Kent, with no family influence, money, or even secondary education - but, following his service as a teenaged soldier in Wellington's Peninsular War, went on to have a meteoric rise in the armies that liberated the nations of Chile and Peru.
Inspired by some South Americans' wish to leave Spain's colonial empire, Miller went not to join Simon Bolivar in the north (as did many demobilised European soldiers), but to the south, to Jose de San Martin in Argentina and Chile. By the time of Ayacucho in 1824, the large battle that ended Spanish rule in South America, there were seven generals in the royalist Spanish army and five on the patriot side. Eleven of these generals were Hispanic; Miller was the only foreigner.
Miller was passionately anti-imperialist, anti-slavery, and unusually kind to ordinary people and peasant farmers due to his own humble origins. He was highly regarded by all the leaders of independence and popular with his men and fellow officers, and when he died decades after the battles in which he made his name he was buried in the Pantheon of founding fathers of Peru.
William (or Guillermo, as he is known in South America) Miller is well recognised and loved particularly in modern Peru, but also across the swathe of nations liberated from Spanish rule during this period.
Editorial Reviews
Review
‘William Miller was a baker’s son from Kent who rose meteorically to become an exceptionally brave and daring young general in the liberation of Spanish South America. Miller’s superior officer, Admiral Cochrane, was lost for words to express his respect for a man admired by all who knew him, none more so than the black slaves he had freed. At long last, we can be grateful to the matchless chronicler of the Inca heartlands, John Hemming, for summoning all the authority at his command to voice an appreciation that is vigorously overdue. Miller’s epic story is nothing less than the riveting drama of how one gallant and popular Englishman, idolised by his men, helped unchain a continent from oppressive colonial rule.’
Nicholas Shakespeare‘Capturing the grit, grandeur, and glory of the Spanish colonial wars of independence, historian John Hemming gives us–for the first time–a complete and magnificent portrait of one of the revolutions’ greatest heroes, General William (Guillermo) Miller. Not only did Miller rise from humble English beginnings to become a beloved defender of South American liberty, he served as the indispensable right hand to four of history’s most colourful paladins: José de San Martín, Bernardo O’Higgins, Lord Thomas Cochrane, and Simón Bolívar. Told with propulsive brio as well as painstaking precision, English Liberator is essential reading for anyone interested in pivotal alliances that shaped world history.’
Marie Arana, author of Simón Bolívar: American Liberator‘Hemming has unearthed an adventure story that has escaped nearly all modern English-language sources… English Liberator reads like a period war novel, an enjoyable ride for the history buff looking for unheralded adventure stories bridging the gap between Waterloo and Fort Sumter.’
The Wall Street Journal
‘A meticulous account masquerading as adventure story of the life of the baker’s son from Kent who became pivotal in the struggle against slavery and imperialism.’
The Spectator
‘Miller’s life, now related for the first time in full by the distinguished historian of Latin America John Hemming, reads more like an adventure novel than a biography and reminds us that great men can come from the unlikeliest of places.’
The New Criterion
About the Author
John Hemming is the former Director of the Royal Geographical Society in London. He has travelled in and written extensively about the Amazon region. His previous books include Tree of Rivers: The Story of the Amazon, The Conquest of the Incas and more recently Naturalists in Paradise: Wallace, Bates and Spruce in the Amazon.
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