2. Monuments on the Field of Waterloo - 11 Sept 1900 | Glass Plates
Zooming out from the Lion’s Mound examined in our last entry, this second glass plate displays a trio of Seventh Coalition monuments commemorating the Battle of Waterloo. The note that the unknown photographer inscribed for this plate is: ‘2. View of Monuments on Field of Waterloo – 11 Sept 1900’.
To capture this image the photographer would have been standing around half a kilometre east from the Lion’s Mound. Judging from various postcards from the late 19th and early 20th century, this composition was quite popular with tourists as it frames the dominating Lion’s Mound between two of the less conspicuous memorials.
In the foreground on the left is the Hanoverian Monument, and the column to the right – behind the bushes – is the Gordon Monument. As this was taken on the same day as the previous plate, the weather is still looking quite overcast.
If one were to visit today, the view would be changed somewhat by the trees that have grown around the monuments.
Moreover, in the dip between these two raised mounds there is the N5 road, which is reputed as one of the most deadly in Belgium due to it connecting to various country lanes. This is, after all, a rural region with farms dotted across the landscape just as they have been for generations.
At the centre of Wellington’s defence was one farm in particular, La Haye Sainte – just down the road and off-frame to the left of the photo – and it was here that the King’s German Legion, the Hanoverians, made their stand.
Hanoverian Monument
Hanoverian Monument
The Hanoverian Monument commemorates the 42 officers of the King’s German Legion who died defending La Haie-Sainte farm. This legion was led by Major George Baring and made up of troops from Hanover. As noted in the case of the Lion’s Mound, it was not unusual to have continental officers learning the art of war in the British Army, but in the case of the Hanoverians it is a bit more complicated.
To understand why there was a King’s German Legion in the British Army one needs to keep two years in mind.
The first is 1714.
On 1st August 1714, Queen Anne, sovereign of Great Britain and Ireland, died without an heir. As the Act of Settlement 1701 required that the next in line to the throne be a Protestant descendant of James VI and I – disallowing Catholics from the succession, of course – Parliament had identified Electress Sophia of Hanover, the king’s granddaughter, as the heir presumptive. As such, she would have become Queen Sophia had she not died less than two months before Anne. This left her son, Elector Georg Ludwig of Hanover, to become King George I of Great Britain. Thereafter, right up until 1837, Hanover and Great Britain had the same ruler.
The second year of note when it comes to the King’s German Legion is 1803.
It was 1803 that Napoleon ordered General Mortier to invade Hanover, which led to it being incorporated into the Confederation of the Rhine. As the Hanoverian military was dissolved after its defeat, many soldiers and officers chose to travel to Britain to continue the fight against Napoleon, and as such the King’s German Legion was formed to incorporate these German speaking troops into a cohesive unit.
At the Battle of Waterloo, in 1815, the King’s German Legion were at the centre of Wellington’s defence, and therefore prime targets for Napoleon as he eyed any chance to gain advantage throughout the day. At 17:30, after several failed attempts to capture La Haye Sainte farm, Napoleon ordered Marshal Ney to do whatever he could to overwhelm the Hanoverian defenders.
With strong artillery and cavalry support, Marshal Ney, leading a light infantry regiment, assaulted the farm and was able to capture it by around 18:30. The French then used this fortified position in the centre of the British line to bombard the enemy with cannon, while Napoleon prepared to send his veteran Imperial Guard into this centre to overwhelm the British. This was beaten back, and La Haye Sainte was recaptured before 21:00.
The Hanoverian Monument was erected in 1818 to commemorate the deeds of the King’s German Legion and the officers who died. It is a bluestone truncated pyramid of eclectic style with the inscription on the west face:
Original:
"Dem Andenken
Ihrer Waffen Gefährten Welche
In Der Ewig Denkwürdigen Schlacht Von
18ten Juni 1815
Den Helden Tod Hier Starben"
Translation:
“In memory
of your comrades in arms who
in the forever memorable battle of
June 18, 1815
died here as heroes."
Gordon Monument
Gordon Monument
Whereas the Hanoverian Monument serves to commemorate many, the Gordon Monument memorialises one. It honours 29-year-old Scottish officer Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Alexander Gordon, who served as aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington for six years, before he was struck down at the Battle of Waterloo.
Struck down may not be the best choice of words – implying something immediate – as his death took hours.
Not long after the capture La Haye Sainte at 18:30, the Duke of Wellington with Lieutenant-Colonel Gordon by his side were galloping to rally the Brunswickers in the now weakened centre of the British line. While going about his duties, Gordon was struck in the thigh with a cannon ball, and transported away for emergency treatment at the hands of Dr. John Robert Hume.
I needn’t go into detail here about the precarious situation of any military patient, officer or infantryman, on the battlefield pre-antibiotics and anaesthetics. Dr. Hume amputated Gordon’s leg in the evening, and the patient died at 03:30 the following morning.
The bed Gordon died in is still preserved in the Waterloo Museum.
After loses of around 17,000 men from Wellington’s Army, the Duke was already leaving the battlefield that night with a heavy heart, and it seems that news of Gordon’s death the next morning, in particular, overshadowed any sense of victory.
This poignant passage is Dr. Hume’s description of events:
“I came back from the battle with Sir Alexander Gordon, whose leg I was obliged to amputate on the field late in the evening. This distinguished officer died rather unexpectedly in my arms about half-past 3 o’clock in the morning of the 19th; and as I was anxious to inform the Duke as early as possible of the sad event; and was standing at the door hesitating whether to disturb him or not; Sir Charles Broke Vere came up to me; and asked me, if I knew whether the Duke was awake or not; as he wished (he being Quartermaster-general) to take his orders relative to the movement of the troops. On this I decided to see if he was awake; and going up stairs to his room, I tapped gently at the door, when he told me to come in.
He had, as usual, taken off his clothes; but had not washed himself; and as I entered the room he sat up in his bed; his face covered with the dust and sweat of the previous day, and held out his hand to me, which I took and held in mine; whilst I told him of Gordon’s death, and related such of the casualties as had come to my knowledge. He was much affected. I felt his tears dropping fast upon my hands, and looking towards him, saw them chasing one another in furrows over his dusty cheeks. He brushed them suddenly away with his left hand, and said to me, in a voice tremulous with emotion; ‘Well! Thank God! I don’t know what it is to lose a battle; but certainly nothing can be more painful than to gain one with the loss of so many of one’s friends.”
- Dr. John Robert Hume, quoted by Major Montague Gore in Lecture on the Character of the Late Duke of Wellington (1852)
This sense of lose following the Battle of Waterloo is similarly reflected in this quote written in a letter by the Duke:
“My heart is broken by the terrible loss I have sustained in my old friends and companions and my poor soldiers. Believe me, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won: the bravery of my troops hitherto saved me from the greater evil; but to win such a battle as this of Waterloo, at the expense of so many gallant friends, could only be termed a heavy misfortune but for the result to the public.”
- Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington, June 1815
To paraphrase: with victory the public may celebrate, but whether you win or lose, the soldiers are left to mourn.
Arthur Wellesley never commanded on the battlefield again after Waterloo, although his later political career was fairly fraught.
The Gordon Monument is the oldest on the battlefield, having been raised in July, 1817 by Gordon’s family. The memorial is 5m in height and of neoclassical design, and takes the form of a broken column on a pedestal to symbolise a life cut short.
The bas-reliefs around its base include the arms of the Scots Guards and the coat of arms of Lord Aberdeen. His older brother, George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, later became Prime Minister.
On the pedestal’s north face is an inscription describing his deeds, and on the south is the same in French.
As mentioned in the previous post, the Lion’s Mound is said to have altered the landscape considerably, and I’ve seen reference to the fact that the mounds that both the Gordon Monument and that to the Hanoverian’s stand on reflect the original height of the ground in the area, but I have been unable to verify this to the point where I would comfortably call it fact. Suffice it is to say that the land may have been higher when these were erected, and the Lion’s Mound certainly altered the view considerably.
Time and the Degrading Image
As I end this post, I will just add here that – more so than the Lion’s Mound plate – this image shows the degradation that the plates have suffered in the last 121 years. On this image you can see blotches and grainy spots, and two sizable scratches either side of lion statue.
While these marks of age can add charm, it is also nice to see these images as they would have appeared when they were first captured. Fortunately, with the wonderful digital technology we have at our fingertips nowadays – we can have both.
This is why my collaborator on the project, photographer Aleksandar Nenad Zecevic (https://zeko.no/), is diligently working his way through restoring the photographs, which we’ll show in the future.
For the time being though, I hope you’ll join me again as we explore the history of the landscape that this unknown photographer navigated. Thank you.
References
Lecture on the Character of the Late Duke of Wellington, Delivered at Wells, September 1852 by Major Montague Gore (London: James Ridgway, Piccadilly, 1852)
1900 Glass Plates: This project explores a series of glass plates from the year 1900 with the eventual goal of travelling the same route as the photographer. It will be a varied journey that will stretch from simple blog posts examining each photo to videos and more. This project is in collaboration with photographer Aleksandar Nenad Zecevic, who’ll be restoring the photographs to bring out details dimmed by time. More to follow.
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