Chairman’s Blog Category
1940 – The man who remembered Wellington’s funeral
November 28, 2016 - The Chairman
We seem to have gone rather sonic all of a sudden, here is another clip (sound only) of a man, Frederick Mead, who spoke in 1940 about his memory as a child as his father went to The Great Duke’s funeral. Today St Paul’s holds 2500 or thereabouts, in 1852 it held something like 25,000. […]
Sean Bean documentary on Waterloo
November 27, 2016 - The Chairman
I came across this clip whilst browsing and it’s rather fun. Caught sight of our resident surgeon Mick Crumplin. Just click on the centre of the image to watch it. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0P0NLRFYz0
The curse of the Tipu’s ring
November 24, 2016 - The Chairman
Seeing the recent entry on social media about the ring which contains hair from Napoleon reminded me of the ring which was sold by Sotheby’s in May 2014. The ring illustrated here, with the name of Rama, a Hindu God in raised Devanagari script, was allegedly taken from the hand of Tipu Sultan, The Tiger of […]
Julian Paget – Waterloo Historian – RIP
November 23, 2016 - The Chairman
On behalf of the Waterloo Association and Waterloo 200 I attended the Memorial Service for Julian Paget who died in September. He had been a great authority on Waterloo and the battle around Hougoumont for many years. His book on Hougoumont (http://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/Hougoumont-Paperback/p/278) is the popular choice for those who wish to specialise in this part of […]
Wellington’s mounting block
November 18, 2016 - The Chairman
Thinking of Wellington’s charger Copenhagen the other day as I was writing a piece on that famous horse (watch out for a new object in our 200 iconic items collection) when I thought of the mounting block placed outside the Athenaeum Club in Waterloo Place. The Athenaeum was started as a club in the 1820s […]
A little known portrait of the Duke of Wellington
November 15, 2016 - The Chairman
This interesting picture of the Great Duke was thought to have been painted by George Henry Harlow (1787-1817) and hangs in a private address in London. George Harlow was a pupil of Sir Thomas Lawrence and copied a larger Lawrence of Wellington and therefore this is entirely plausible. But there is a problem. George Harlow died […]
Famous 1927 Napoleon Film Restored
November 8, 2016 - The Chairman
Very shortly the famous Abel Gance silent epic on Napoleon made in the 1927 will be re released as a DVD and Blu ray. This has been completed by the British Film Institute after a long and exhaustive search of cinema collections and libraries by the film historian Kevin Brownlow. It is however five […]
Richard Holmes Remembered
November 5, 2016 - The Chairman
Recently Richard Holmes was remembered at the historic site he so valiantly fought to save and succeeded. He once said that “I will save Hougoumont even if it kills me”. The sad thing is that he did indeed die prematurely but we can’t blame Hougoumont. He would have been thrilled by the result of his […]
The sad tale of Quatre Bras Farm
October 23, 2016 - The Chairman
This is the sad spectacle of the farm at the crossroads at Quatre Bras which is being demolished. This spot is iconic of the period of the battle on 16th June 1815 when Marshal Ney attempted to bounce the Allies on and near this spot. This destruction has been threatened for many years and I […]
LE VIZIR – NAPOLEON’S HORSE
July 5, 2016 - The Chairman
This horse has recently hit the news, (See Daily Telegraph of 4 July). It is the stuffed body of Le Vizir which lay in the cellars of The Louvre for many a year. It has recently been re found and will be restored and placed in the Les Invalides to be seen by all. The […]
