Diary of Edmund Wheatley
This page is from the journal of Edmund Wheatley, an officer in the King’s German Legion who fought at the Battle of Waterloo.
Lieutenant Wheatley joined the Legion in 1812, at the age of 20, and his diary describes the next three years of near-constant warfare, in Spain and France. Wheatley also illustrated his diary with watercolour sketches. This sketch shows Wheatley “skulking like an outlaw in a thicket” after the Battle of Waterloo. Wheatley had been injured and captured by the French at Waterloo, and escaped by hiding in some woods south of the battlefield.
Edmund Wheatley was a rare English officer in the King’s German Legion, which was formed originally of Hanoverians for King George III’s kingdom in Germany. By the time Wheatley joined the Legion as an Ensign in 1812, over a decade of war left its ranks severely depleted. The Legion was forced to recruit men from across Europe, including exiled Poles, Hungarians, and Russians, who were considered poor soldiers by the British generals. However, it had an experienced officer corps of Germans and Britons, and the Duke of Wellington thought the King’s German Legion were some of his most reliable troops.
At Waterloo, the Legion fought courageously, but were ordered into a suicidal charge on the French by the inexperienced Prince of Orange. Most of Wheatley’s battalion was killed, with just 19 men making it back to the Allied lines. Wheatley himself was captured and, after a horrifying forced march alongside the retreating French army, he escaped and hid in a wood.
“My beard was of five days’ growth; my feet cut and pricked with flints and thorns; my clothes tattered, damp and chilly. Skulking like an outlaw, rejected and despised by all society in a thicket, in a wood, in an unknown foreign country… hungry and no prospect of food.”
Wheatley’s French captors had taken his shoes and stockings, forcing him to walk barefoot. Therefore:
“Taking the oil cover [off] my cap I put it over my head. My sash I tore in half and bound over each foot, and laying my hat under my head I placed my feet against a tree and endeavoured to sleep.”
Wheatley was able to evade the French long enough to rejoin his own army, and returned to England after the end of the Waterloo campaign.
Wheatley’s diary was not just a personal record, but was also a gift to a young lady, Eliza Brookes. Wheatley was deeply in love with Eliza, but her parents had forbidden him to see her – as a poor junior officer in an unfashionable regiment, he was not considered a suitable husband. Wheatley sent this diary to Eliza partly to explain his life in the army, but also as a sort of love letter. Despite her family’s opposition, the two were married in 1820.
The diary can be seen as part of the National Portrait Gallery’s Wellington: Triumphs, Politics and Passions exhibition until 7 June 2015.
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Curatorial info
- Originating Museum: Private collection
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You can download and use the high resolution image for use in a non-profit environment such as a school or college, but please take note of the license type and rights holder information below
- Rights Holder: Private collection.
- License Type: All Rights Reserved
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This object is in the collection of National Portrait Gallery