Ensign Thomas Wedgwood, 3rd (Scots) Foot Guards
A Waterloo Medal & Miniature awarded to Ensign Thomas Wedgwood Circa 1816-1817. Estimate: £6,000-8,000. This piece is offered in Fine Antique Arms and Armour and Sporting Guns on 17 December at Christie’s in London
Thomas Wedgwood (1797-1860), grandson of master potter Josiah Wedgwood, survived Waterloo having spent the day fighting at the Hougoumont farmhouse.
He attained his Ensigncy on 11 January 1814, was promoted to Captain on 28 December 1820 and to Lieutenant Colonel on 31 December 1830. A letter written by Wedgwood to his mother the day after Waterloo describing the battle survives in the Wedgwood Museum Collection.
Lieutenant William Turner, 13th Light Dragoons
A ‘Pattern 1796’ Light Cavalry officer’s sword with handwritten presentation note. By Osborn & Gunby, sword cutlers to His Majesty, circa 1810. Estimate: £3,500-4,000. This piece is offered in Fine Antique Arms and Armour and Sporting Guns on 17 December at Christie’s in London
The handwritten note accompanying this lot states: ‘This Sword was on the memorable 18 June 1815 drawn in defence of the liberties of Old England on the Plains of Waterloo and wielded by a powerful arm carried destruction into the ranks of the inveterate foe. It was presented to Mr Thomas Cooper as a mark of high respect and esteem by his affectionate friend and cousin. Herbert Turner.’
The only Turner listed in the light cavalry at Waterloo is Lietenant William Turner of the 13th Light Dragoons. It has been suggested, given the third-party nature of the handwritten note, that the signatory Herbert Turner was a relation of William. William Turner wrote a detailed account of the 13th Light Dragoons’ involvement at Waterloo which was reproduced by C.R.B. Barrett in his 1911 book History of the XIII Hussars (William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London).
Lieutenant Francis Fownes Luttrell, 1st (Grenadier) Foot Guards
A silver Hunter case verge pocket watch & Regimental Pattern Officer’s gorget. The first THO’s Farr, Bristol, No. 2149, London silver hallmarks for 1813. In plain case engraved ‘This Watch was worn by my Father Lieut. Francis Fownes Luttrell 1st. Ft. Gds at the Battle of Waterloo’. The second circa 1815. Estimate: £7,000-9,000. This piece is offered in Fine Antique Arms and Armour and Sporting Guns on 17 December at Christie’s in London
Lieutenant Francis Fownes Luttrell (1792-1862) came from Dunster Castle in Somerset. Having taken his Ensigncy in December 1811, he was present at Nivelle and Nives before taking part in the Flanders Campaign.
Serving in the 2nd Battalion, 1st Foot Guards, which formed part of Lieutenant Colonel Pack’s Light Company at Waterloo, he was posted near Hougoumont and was wounded during the battle. There is also reference to him having engaged Jerome Bonaparte in close combat fighting at one stage of the battle.
Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Clinton, Commander 2nd Division
A very fine ‘Pattern 1803’ infantry officer’s sword. THO.S Gills, Gun & Sword Manufacturer, 83 St. James’s Street, London, circa 1810. Estimate: £8,000-12,000. This piece is offered in Fine Antique Arms and Armour and Sporting Guns on 17 December at Christie’s in London
Sir Henry Clinton’s division was held in reserve at the right of the line by Wellington during the battle of Waterloo. Towards the end of the day with the arrival of the Prussians, the 2nd Division advanced into the British forward line and, formed into squares, withstood the massed and relentless attacks of Marshal Ney’s cavalry.
Clinton was a very experienced field officer and was present or directly involved in many famous battles and campaigns of the French and Napoleonic Wars. He came from an illustrious military family, his father arguably the most successful British Commander in the War of American Independence.
Under Wellington he commanded the 6th Division during the Peninsular War and fought at Salamanca, Burgos, Vitoria, Nivelle, Nive, Orthez and Toulouse. At the end of the war he was made a Lieutenant-General. Swordmaker Thomas Gill is recorded at 83 St. James’s Street between 1809 and 1816.
Captain Alexander Kennedy Clark, Royal Dragoons
A presentation baton bearing a miniature of the Imperial French Eagle of the 105th Régiment D’infantrie de Ligne. Presented to ‘Captain Clarke by the officers of the Royal Dragoons Waterloo 1815’. Early 19th century. Estimate: £7,000-10,000. This piece is offered in Fine Antique Arms and Armour and Sporting Guns on 17 December at Christie’s in London
Controversy has surrounded the capture of the Colour and Eagle of the 105th Régiment D’Infantrie de Ligne by the Royal Dragoons during the famed charge of the Union Brigade at the Battle of Waterloo. Both Captain Clark and Corporal Styles claimed or were credited with its capture.
Clark stated in numerous post-battle accounts that he spotted a French officer carrying the standard attempting to rejoin a large body of French infantry after becoming separated in the face of the British cavalry charge. He claims to have ordered his squadron to attack with the words ‘Right shoulders forward, attack the Colour’, and also that he ran the French officer through with his sword.
Internal politics within the Royal Dragoons split the regiment into two camps, some supporting Clark, others backing the claim of Corporal Styles
His accounts go on to state that as the French officer was falling mortally wounded, he managed to touch the Colour with his left hand but couldn’t get a firm grip. Corporal Styles had followed his officer into the melee and a witness to the incident maintained that Styles ‘snatched it up and galloped off to the rear’. Clark’s account stated that he had ordered Styles to take the Colour to the rear and put his name on it.
That Styles took the Eagle to the rear was never disputed, but on doing so he either claimed credit for its capture or created the impression that he had taken it himself. Internal politics within the Royal Dragoons spilt the regiment into two camps, some supporting Clark’s claim, others backing the claim of Corporal Styles. The engraving on this lot indicates that at least some fellow officers of Clark’s regiment thought he was deserving of more recognition than officially granted. it has also been suggested that the wooden haft of the baton is actually part of the original haft from the contested eagle.
Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry Hardinge, the Duke of Wellington’s liaison officer
A fine and important French gold-hilted sword (Glaive) carried by Field-Marshal The Duke of Wellington, presented by him to Lieutenant Colonel Sir Henry Hardinge as a Sword of Honour and said to have been made for the Emperor Napoléon I. By Biennais, Orfire Rue St. Honoré No. 283 a Paris, Paris Titre Mark of 1809. Estimate: £60,000-80,000. This piece is offered in Fine Antique Arms and Armour and Sporting Guns on 17 December at Christie’s in London
This sword is of a very similar unadorned form to the Biennais silver-gilt mounted sabre carried by Wellington at Waterloo that is retained by the family and usually displayed in Apsley House, London.
Sir Henry Hardinge (1785-1856) was an illustrious soldier who repeatedly distinguished himself in the Peninsular Wars. Wellington took Hardinge onto his personal staff for the Flanders Campaign and tasked him with tracking Napoléon’s progress at the outset of the ‘Hundred Days’. He was appointed as Wellington’s liaison officer on Field Marshal Blücher’s staff, and it was while with the Prussians at Ligny that on 16 June 1815 a stone driven up by roundshot shattered his left hand.
The amputation of his hand prevented Hardinge from being present at Waterloo, although he managed to compile a much-needed report
The subsequent amputation of his hand prevented him from being present at Waterloo two days later, although he managed to compile a final and much-needed report for Wellington.
After Waterloo, at the Grand Review of the Prussian Army near Sedan in 1817, it was noted that Wellington took from his own side Napoléon’s sword and presented it to Hardinge. Hardinge went on to serve as Governor-General of India and succeeded Wellington as Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in September 1852.
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, Commander-in-Chief of the British Army
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, A Field Marshal’s Bicorn. By C. Smith, Late Smith and Trimnell, gold laceman, embroiderer, etc., to Their Majesties, No. 12 Piccadilly. Dated ‘1834’. Estimate: £100,000-250,000. This piece is offered in Fine Antique Arms and Armour and Sporting Guns on 17 December at Christie’s in London
It is thought that this is the hat modelled for the monumental bronze statue of Wellington sitting astride Copenhagen, the horse he rode at Waterloo, which was originally placed on the Wellington Arch and is now sited outside the garrison town of Aldershot in Hampshire.
It is also believed to be the hat (along with the Prosser sword, see below) depicted in William Salter’s 1839 portrait of the Duke which is the property of the National Portrait Gallery.
A fine Field Marshal’s ‘Pattern 1831’ general officer’s sword. Prosser, maker to the King & Royal Family. London, circa 1831-1837. Estimate: £30,000-40,000. This piece is offered in Fine Antique Arms and Armour and Sporting Guns on 17 December at Christie’s in London
Although this sword bears no specific monogram or crest, Wellington was the only active Field Marshal who was not a member of the Royal Family during William IV’s reign. He appears in a number of period images with a 'Pattern 1831' sword.
Cavalry Commander Henry Paget, British heavy cavalry
A silver chamber pot, early 19th century, possibly Spanish. Engraved with later Anglesey coat of arms. Estimate: £2,500-3,000. This piece is offered in Fine Antique Arms and Armour and Sporting Guns on 17 December at Christie’s in London
This pot reputedly belonged to Lord Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey and later Earl of Uxbridge, and was used by him on campaign with Sir John Moore’s army in Spain in 1808-1809. Further Peninsular service under Wellington proved impossible due to Paget’s liaison with Lady Charlotte, wife of Henry Wellesley, the Duke’s brother.
Despite Wellington’s resentment regarding Lady Charlotte, Lord Paget was commander of cavalry under him at Quatre Bras and Waterloo. Paget was hit in the right leg by grapeshot towards the end of the battle, which led to the limb being amputated. The injury prompted a famous exchange between the two men: ‘By God, Sir, I’ve lost my leg’, to which Wellington is said to have replied, ‘By God, Sir, so you have!’
The amputated limb was placed in a coffin and interred in the Belgian village of Waterloo, where it became a somewhat macabre tourist attraction.
Aquatint by M Dubourg after John Heaviside Clark (1770-1863), The Field of Waterloo as it appeared the Morning after the Memorable Battle of the 18th June 1815, 1817. National Army Museum, London/Bridgeman Images
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