Conversations with the General Category

Old Soldiers Do Die!

March 15, 2015 - The Chairman

My correspondent in Belgium has sent this picture from the Sphere Magazine to me, as it is of an old Yorkshire soldier. The 14th became the West Yorks.  He was the last officer from Waterloo to survive.  He died in October 1891.  He was outlived by John Hopwood, who allegedly served at Waterloo and lived […]

Waterloo Euro

March 13, 2015 - The Chairman

The General and I had a good laugh at this cartoon over the French reaction to the rejection of the design of the 3 Euro coin. Wellington on the left  is saying: “The Euro is stupid but with Waterloo on it’s a stroke of genius” whilst Napoleon says “What!” “Who made this?” and the gallant Grenadier […]

Mercer Found

March 12, 2015 - The Chairman

Thanks to the blog the General has found a Mercer. That’s a relief all round as it was proving difficult. Of further interest we were in Exeter today, having lunch with an eminent historian and one thing led to another and the General discovered that Cavalie Mercer was buried in St David’s Church. So after lunch […]

History Coming Alive

March 10, 2015 - The Chairman

The General  and I  went to an interesting session the other day in the House of Commons, where about 150 schoolchildren were treated to a talk by Dan Snow on the Battle of Waterloo. He was quite excellent as he decided to make them play the parts in the battle. So if you look at […]

Search for Mercer Descendant

March 5, 2015 - The Chairman

The General has been to a meeting about the St Paul’s Service and asked if I ever came across Captain Mercer who commanded G Troop of the Royal Artillery.  Sadly I didn’t as I am not sure he was at Quatre Bras.  He wrote a extensive journal on Waterloo and a piece is to be […]

A Long Story

March 2, 2015 - The Chairman

Just so you know a bit about me. I  was born in Kendal on May 25th 1788 and later trained as an engineer but in 1809 at the age of 21 I  joined the Militia as a substitute for a man by the name of James Mason (The General thinks its the actor, but it […]

Conversations with the General

March 2, 2015 - Alwyn Collinson

I am Serjeant John Gibson of the 33rd and I am a veteran of the Waterloo Campaign. Although I passed away in my home town of Kendal some 150 years past I have come back in a manner of speaking to converse with the Chairman of Waterloo 200, General Webb-Carter, during the build up of […]

The Duke’s Last Journey

January 10, 2015 - The Chairman

This excellent photo from Friday’s Daily Telegraph shows the Duke on his last journey being carried by Warrant and Non Commissioned officers of the 1st Battalion The Yorkshire Regiment, who were not long ago the Duke of Wellington’s Regiment (33rd and 76th of Foot) of which the Duke was proud to be the only Non […]

Did you know?

January 7, 2015 - The Chairman

The man who made those fantastic pianos we can’t afford to own fought at Waterloo! Henry Steinway, founder of piano manufacturing company Steinway & Sons, was born in Brunswick, Germany in 1797 and was a participant in the 1815 Battle of Waterloo against France. Presumably he was with the Brunswickers. At age 25 he married […]