This section captures information on the capture of the island of Capri from the British by French and Neapolitan forces in October 1808. The prompt for this was a short chapter in The Forgotten War Against Napoleon by Gareth Glover.

The British had held Capri since 1806 as part of their military position in the Mediterranean and support for the Bourbon Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. Napoleon had overthrow the Bourbons on the mainland in 1806 and placed his brother Joseph on the throne, replacing him in 1808 with Joachim Murat.

The island is fundamentally divided into two parts with Capri to the east and Anacapri to the west, with significant high ground and a valley in between. At the time there was only one set of steep steps leading down from Anacapri from the Capo di Monte to Capri, although Captain Church was able to lead his detachment down the precipice from the Monte Solaro during the battle.

The British garrison of the island since 1806 was the Royal Sicilian Rangers. At least some of these were seemingly rifle armed. Captain Richard Church had commanded three companies as the garrison of Anacapri for 2 years but had recently been replaced by the Royal Regiment of Malta. During the French attack Church was sent back to Anacapri with three companies to reinforce Anacapri.

I haven't been able to find many resources online for either of these regiments. The Royal Sicilian Rangers were uniformed like the 95th Rifles but with red facings and slate grey or pale blue trousers.

The Royal Regiment of Malta were dressed in red as a British light infantry regiment with dark blue facings.

• Glover, Gareth The Forgotten War Against Napoleon (Pen and Sword Books Ltd, Barnsley, 2017)
• Knowles, Less The British in Capri, 1806-1808 (Forgotten Books Ltd, London, 2018)