First Commercial Map of the Waterloo Campaign
This is a map showing the battles of the Waterloo campaign. It depicts the area of Belgium from Brussels south to the Sambre River, and shows the French, Prussian and Anglo-Allied armies that fought in this area on the 15th – 18th June 1815. This map was published in London less than two months after the Battle of Waterloo had taken place, on August 1 1815. This meant that this was, for thousands of British people, the first view they had of the famous battle.
A wide variety of maps were printed after the Battle of Waterloo. Most interesting, perhaps, would be the map used by the Duke and his staff at the Battle of Waterloo. This is exhibited at the Royal Engineers Museum at Gillingham. Historically, the most well-known map was that produced in 1816, by Willem Benjamin Craan, a Dutch (later Belgian) surveyor and cartographer.
This early commercial map is particularly interesting and there is some mystery attached to it. It is undoubtedly an early map, dated 1 August 1815, which is 43 days – or about 6 weeks – after the battle. It is black and white printed, embellished with watercolours. In many ways it is a rather naïve rendition of the battle.
The annotation at the top of the map is interesting. It was clearly privately produced and marketed. Lieutenant William Tyler served in the 2nd Garrison Battalion (GB). He did not apparently serve at Waterloo. Did he take the data for the map from combatants or did he make a visit to the battlefield?
The map was on sale for two shillings and sixpence (around £10) in today’s money – quite expensive. In fact, was this the first commercially available map of the Battle of Waterloo produced in Britain?
-
Use this image
- License Type: All Rights Reserved
Private Collection
Some objects - such as this one - are owned by private collectors. Waterloo 200 cannot give information on the ownership or location of these items.