The Waterloo Roll Call
and again from 1st Feb., 1819, to 1823. D. 4th Dec., 1828.
Footnote 4:
Was attached to the Swedish army in 1813–1814, and saw much service.
Recd. a gold medal from the Prince Royal of Sweden for the siege of
Gluckstadt, and made a Knt. of the Rl. Order of the Sword in 1814.
Retd. on f. p. as maj. 15th June, 1840. D. at Malta, 27th Sept., 1840.
Footnote 5:
Afterwards Brig.-Gen. in the Crimea, where he met a soldier’s death at
Inkermann by the bursting of a shell. Served as a subaltern with the
Rocket Troop sent to Germany, and was present at the battles of Goerde
and Leipsic in 1813. K.St.A. of Russia, and the Swedish Order of the
Sword. Dangerously wounded at Waterloo, and his recovery was
miraculous. Eldest son of the Hon. Charles Strangways, by Jane, dau.
of Rev. Dr. Haines. Bn. 28th Dec., 1790. M., 20th July, 1833, Sophia,
eldest dau. of Benjamin Harenc, and had issue.
Footnote 6:
Lost a leg at Tarbes. D. in Dublin, 28th Feb., 1827.
------------------
CAPTAIN MERCER’S TROOP.
Rank in the
——————
SECOND CAPTAINS. Regiment.│Army.
[1] Alexander Cavalié Mercer 3 Dec. 1806 │
[2] Robert Newland 20 Dec. 1814 │
FIRST LIEUTENANTS. │
[3] Henry M. Leathes 1 June, 1806 │
[4] John Hincks 1 Feb. 1808 │
[5] John F. Breton 15 Mar. 1811 │
Footnote 1:
Came of a military race. 2nd son of Gen. Mercer, R.E. Bn. 1783. Served
in South America in 1807–1808. His troop came in for the hottest part
of the battle on Waterloo Day, and suffered considerably in loss of
men and horses. Sir George Wood, R.A., paid the battery a visit on
that memorable afternoon, and was surprised to find so many cannon
balls whizzing round his ears. “D——n it, Mercer,” he exclaimed, “you
seem to be having a hot time of it here.” Hot it was for all parties
concerned, but the gallant way in which the gunners worked their guns
kept the French cavalry from reaching the infantry squares behind
Mercer’s battery. In after years Gen. Mercer published his _Journal of
the Waterloo Campaign_, which is a delightful book in every respect.
Attained the rank of gen. and col.-comdt., and d. at Cowley Cottage,
Exeter, 9th Nov., 1868.
Footnote 2:
Retired by the sale of his commission 5th April, 1831.
Footnote 3:
Of Herringfleet Hall, Suffolk. 3rd son and eventual heir of Maj.
George Leathes, by Mary, dau. of J. Moore. Served in the Pa. Resigned
his commission in 1819. Was distinguished through life for his
benevolence and philanthropy, and was equally beloved by rich and
poor, young and old, soldiers and civilians. He d. at Lowestoft, 16th
Dec., 1864. An interesting obituary notice appeared in the
_Gentleman’s Magazine_ soon after his lamented death. He left issue by
his marriage with Charlotte, dau. of Thos. Fowler, of Gunton Hall,
Suffolk.
Footnote 4:
2nd son of Capt. Thos. Hincks, of Marfield, co. Leicester, by Joanne,
eldest dau. of Lt.-Col. Roger Morris, of York. Retd. as capt. on h. p.
1826. M., 31st May, 1826, Henrietta, dau. of Henry Pulleine, of Crake
Hall, co. York and d. s. p. 14th Oct., 1842.
Footnote 5:
The following anecdote is taken from Gen. Mercer’s _Waterloo Journal_:
“Lt. Breton, who had already lost two horses and had mounted a troop
horse, was conversing with me during a leisure moment. As his horse
stood at right angles to mine, the poor jaded animal dozingly rested
his muzzle on my thigh; whilst I, the better to hear amidst the
infernal din, leant forward, resting my arm between his ears. In this
attitude a cannon ball smashed the horse’s head to atoms, and the
headless trunk sank to the ground!” Retd. on h. p. 1st Oct., 1820, and
d. at Lyndhurst, 17th March, 1852.
MAJOR RAMSAY’S TROOP.
Rank in the
——————
CAPTAIN. Regiment.│Army.
[1] Wm. Norman Ramsay, K. 17 Dec. 1813 │Maj., 22 Nov. 1813
SECOND CAPTAIN. │
[2] Alexander Macdonald, W. 1 Oct. 1812 │
FIRST LIEUTENANTS. │
[3] Wm. Brereton, W. 1 June, 1806 │
[4] Philip Sandilands 1 Feb. 1808 │
[5] Wm. L. Robe, K. 28 June, 1808 │
Footnote 1:
This officer’s name has been immortalised by Napier in his _Peninsular
War_. He came of a Scottish family, and was the eldest of three sons
of a retired naval officer who resided in Edinburgh. He was the pride
and glory of the branch of the army to which he belonged, and the
beau-ideal of what a Horse Artilleryman should be. He served with
great credit in Maj. Bull’s troop of R.H.A., in the Pa., from 1811 to
1813. It was in the campaign of 1811 that he performed the brilliant
action which Napier’s facile pen has so strikingly illustrated. This
happened on 5th May, 1811, when, the British cavalry out-guards being
far outnumbered near Fuentes d’Onor, were driven in upon their
supports, and Capt. Ramsay found himself cut off. It is a matter of
history how Ramsay, at the head of his battery, charged like a
whirlwind through the French squadrons who intervened between his
handful of men and the British troops, and rejoined the latter in
safety when given up for lost. And at the battle of Vittoria, Ramsay
again distinguished himself, but, by an unfortunate act of
disobedience to Wellington’s orders, he incurred the Iron Duke’s iron
displeasure. The story has been told as follows by a well-known
author, and differs somewhat from the account given by Col. Duncan in
his _History of the Royal Artillery_:—“I remember hearing a striking
instance of what, perhaps, might be called severe justice, which he
exercised on a young and distinguished officer of artillery in Spain;
and though one cannot help pitying the case of the gallant young
fellow who was the sacrifice, yet the question of strict duty, to the
very word, was set at rest for ever under the Duke’s command, and it
saved much after trouble, by making every officer satisfied, however
fiery his courage or tender his sense of being suspected of the white
feather, that implicit obedience was the course he must pursue. The
case was this: The army was going into action. The Duke posted an
officer, with his six guns, at a certain point, telling him to remain
there until he had orders from him. Away went the rest of the army,
and the officer was left doing nothing at all, which he didn’t like;
for he was one of those high-blooded gentlemen who are never so happy
as when they are making other people miserable, and he was longing for
the head of a French column to be hammering away at. In half an hour
or so he heard the distant sound of action, and it approached nearer
and nearer, until he heard it close beside him; and he wondered rather
that he was not invited to take a share in it, when, pat to his
thought, up came an aide-de-camp at full speed, telling him that Gen.
Somebody ordered him to bring up his guns. The officer asked, ‘Did not
the order come from Lord Wellington?’ The aide-de-camp said ‘No,’ but
from the gen., whoever he was. The officer explained that he was
placed there by Lord Wellington, under command not to move unless by
an order from himself. The aide-de-camp stated that the general’s
entire brigade was being driven in, and must be annihilated without
the aid of the guns, and asked, ‘Would he let a whole brigade be
slaughtered?’ in a tone which wounded the young soldier’s pride,
savouring, as he thought it did, of an imputation on his courage. He
immediately ordered his guns to move, and joined battle with the
general; but while he was away an aide-de-camp from Lord Wellington
rode up to where the guns had been posted, and, of course, no gun was
to be had for the service which Lord Wellington required. Well, the
French were repulsed, as it happened; but the want of those six guns
seriously marred a pre-concerted movement of the Duke’s, and the
officer in command of them was immediately put in arrest. Almost every
general officer in the army endeavoured to get this sentence revoked,
lamenting the fate of a gallant fellow being sent away for a slight
error in judgment while the army was in full action; but Lord
Wellington was inexorable, saying he must make an example to secure
himself in the perfect obedience of officers to their orders, and it
had the effect.”—Mr. Lover’s _Handy Andy_. To a man of Norman Ramsay’s
highly honourable and sensitive nature the circumstances of his
arrest, coupled with the omission of his name from the Vittoria
despatches, and the loss of a brevet he had well earned, may be said
to have inflicted a wound which neither time nor subsequent honours
could heal. Three weeks after his arrest he was restored to the
command of his battery, to the great joy of the whole army in Spain,
and after the battle of the Bidassoa he was promoted bt. maj. At
Waterloo he commanded the H Troop R.H.A., and his forward gallantry in
that battle attracted the fatal bullet which put an end to his noble
life. He was buried on the field by his great friend Sir Augustus
Frazer, during a momentary lull in the battle, but three weeks later
was disinterred and his body sent to Edinburgh, as the only
consolation to his aged father, half-demented with grief, who was
fated to lose his three gallant sons in the short space of eight
months. Norman Ramsay m., 14th June, 1808, Mary Emilia, eldest dau. of
Lt.-Gen. MacLeod, of Macleod. Sir Augustus Frazer erected a monument
to Ramsay’s memory on the field of Waterloo. The hero’s remains were
subsequently interred in Inveresk Churchyard.
Footnote 2:
Brother to Gen. Sir John Macdonald, Adjt.-Gen., and to Col. Robert
Macdonald, 1st Foot. Aftds. Lt.-Gen., C.B., and K.St.A. Served at the
capture of the in 1806, and was taken prisoner at Buenos Ayres in
1807. Served in the Pa. and distinguished himself at Busaco and San
Sebastian. Was sev. wnded. at Waterloo. Bt. Maj. D. at
Aix-la-Chapelle, 31st May, 1856.
Footnote 3:
Aftds. Lt.-Gen. and K.C.B. Also K.H. and col.-comdt. R.A. Served in
the Pa., and was sev. wounded at Waterloo (bt.-maj. in Jan., 1819.)
Served as maj.-gen., and was second in command of the expedition under
M.-Gen. D’Aguilar, who assaulted and took the forts of the Bocca
Tigris in the Canton River. Served with the fleets off Sebastopol in
Oct., 1854, and directed the rockets fired from the _Britannia_
against the city and forts. D. 27th July, 1864.
Footnote 4:
Retired on f. p. 23rd June, 1846. D. as lt.-gen. at Hythe, Oct., 1869.
Footnote 5:
Son of Col. Sir Wm. Robe, R.A., a distinguished officer. He obtained
his first commission 3rd Oct., 1807, and in the same year accompanied
the expedition to Gothenburg. Served throughout the Par. War with much
distinction. “He had the singular honour, as a subaltern, to be
mentioned for his distinguished conduct by Wellington, and in
consequence the gold medal and clasp for the battles of Nivelle and
Nive were forwarded to his family after his death.” An account of his
death at Waterloo is given in a letter from Capt. Alex. Macdonald, of
Ramsay’s battery, to Sir Wm. Robe. (_See_ Appendix.)
LIEUT.-COLONEL SIR HEW D. ROSS’S TROOP.