A little bit of Waterloo in Woolwich

Now I wonder if Mr John Holliday spent his evenings telling friends about his part at the Battle of Waterloo.

I came across him purely by chance when I was researching something else, but his death was significant enough to have been recorded in the Manchester Guardian which recorded that he died “at his residence in St Mary-street, Woolwich on Thursday September 25th, aged 92 years.  

He served in the Royal Artillery during the war with the First Napoleon and was engaged with his battery on the field of Waterloo.”*

I know that he was in the detachment of Captain Hutchesson's Company and he was awarded the Waterloo medal.

And that for now is pretty much it.

He had been born in Norfolk in 1787 and by 1841 was living on Powis Street and worked as a bricklayer.

He was still there at number 14 Powis Street a decade later sharing his house with his son who was thirty and a Elizabeth Brown.

In time there might be more.

He is missing from the 1861 and 71 census and I know that in 1879 he was on St Mary-street.

So it is all still to play for.

Location; Waterloo & Woolwich

Pictures; The Battle of Waterloo: The British Squares Receiving the Charge of the French Cuirassiers, Henri Félix Emmanuel Philippoteaux, 1874 and The artillery in Battle of Waterloo June 18, 1815, George  Jones 1816 

*Manchester Guardian, September 30, 1879.

The continuing story of the Waterloo Medal and the two names engraved on its rim

The Waterloo Medal

I am back with the Waterloo Medal and a story which is one of those that if you made it up people wouldn’t believe you.

The medal was issued in 1816 to every Officer, Non-Commissioned Officer and soldier of the British Army, including members of the King's German Legion who took part in the battles of Ligny, Quatre Bras and the Waterloo.

And this particular one comes from the collection of David Harrop who acquired it some years ago and discovered that the original name had been substituted for another.

We can only speculate on how a treasured medal came to have two names but I suspect the most obvious is that it was sold and then bought by a veteran of one of the battles who had lost his own.

It will be possible to trace the new owner whose name was engraved on the rim and we will be able to find out his rank, regiment and a bit about his life after Waterloo.

Sadly the name of the original recipient was obliterated but I suppose one out of two is not bad.












Picture; the Waterloo Medal, 1816, courtesy of David Harrop

*The Waterloo Medal, http://chorltonhistory.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/The%20Waterloo%20Medal

This day 200 years ago .......... the first day of peace across Europe

The Waterloo Medaql

By now Europe was getting the news that "the Corsican Ogre’s 100 days were over.

The combined forces of Britain and Prussia had stopped the French and finally the long wars with Revolutionary and Napoleonic France were over.

The cost had been high with something like 46,000 dead or wounded on both sides.

And looking back over 21 years of almost uninterrupted war which had torn a continent apart brought down dynasties and redrawn the map of Europe that battle must have seemed pivotal to the future.

Wellington and Blucher would be lorded in their respective countries and many of those who had fought alongside the two generals would themselves be remembered.

The fate of the ordinary British and Prussian soldiers like their French counterpart may not have been so comfortable.

The years after the peace were not easy ones in Britain and against a backdrop of hard times growing class conflict and a demand for an extension of the franchise some of the veterans of Waterloo must have felt left out.

The Waterloo Medal

All of which brings me to the medal from the collection of David Harrop.

It was issued in 1816 to every Officer, Non-Commissioned Officer and Soldier of the British Army, including members of the King's German Legion who took part in the battles of Ligny, Quatre Bras and the Waterloo.

Now David has over the last year and a bit leant me some fascinating material from his collection which always makes its way on to the blog, and so I couldn’t resist showcasing this one.

And not to short change David I shall point to his permanent exhibition at the Remembrance Lodge in Southern Cemetery which contains memorabilia from both world wars.

In time I shall return to the medal with something of its story, but for now on June 19th the day after the battle I shall just reflect on the mixed feelings that must have met the news that the war was over.

And especially the young most of whom would never have known a Europe at peace*

A war  which for  some young people would havenot have known a time of peace.

Picture; the Waterloo medal from the collection of David Harrop

*There had been a brief period of peace between 1802-1803.