Untold lives blog

The Battle of Agincourt was fought between the English and French armies 600 years ago on 25 October 1415, St Crispin’s Day.

And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day.
(Shakespeare’s Henry V Act 4, Scene 3)

Plan of the Battle of Agincourt from The Chronicles of E. de Monstrelet (London, 1840) BL flickr 

St Crispin is the patron saint of shoemakers, cobblers, and leatherworkers.  In the third century two brothers, Crispin and Crispinian, went from Rome to France where they preached Christianity and worked at night making shoes.  The Roman governor had them put to death and they were made saints having been martyrs for their faith.

St Crispin and St Crispinian from William Hone, The Every-day Book (1825) 

Shoemakers traditionally celebrated St Crispin’s Day with a day off work and much merrymaking. Newspapers often published stories of shoemakers ‘on the drink’ as they kept St Crispin’s Day. An old rhyme ran:

The twenty-fifth of October,
More Snobs drunk than sober.

If it rained on 25 October, St Crispin was said to be helping shoemakers by sending weather that made people think of buying new shoes and galoshes.

William Hone tells the story of Emperor Charles V roaming incognito in Brussels when his boot needed mending.  He found a cobbler but it happened to be St Crispin’s Day.  The cobbler refused to leave the jollities to carry out the repair in spite of being offered a handsome tip by the Emperor: ‘“What, friend!” says the fellow, “do you know no better than to ask one of our craft to work on St. Crispin?  Was it Charles himself, I’d not do a stitch for him now; but if you’ll come and drink St. Crispin, do and welcome: we are as merry as the emperor can be.”’ Charles accepted the offer.  The cobbler guessed that Charles might be a courtier and drank a toast to the Emperor. Charles asked if he loved the Emperor: ‘“Love him!” says the son of Crispin; “ay, ay, I love his long-noseship well enough; but I should love him much better would he but tax us a little less”’. The next day, Charles summoned his host to court.  When the man realised whom he had entertained the previous day, he feared his joke about the Emperor’s long nose would cost him his life. However Charles thanked the cobbler for his hospitality and as a reward ordered that the cobblers of Flanders should bear arms of a boot with the Emperor’s crown upon it, and that the company of cobblers should henceforward take precedence over the company of shoemakers in processions.

The Emperor Charles V (1500-1558) from Cassell's Illustrated Universal History (London, 1893) BL flickr

So we wish you a Happy St Crispin's Day!

Ho! workers of the old time styled
The Gentle Craft of Leather!
Young brothers of the ancient guild,
Stand forth once more together!
Call out again your long array,
In the olden merry manner!
Once more, on gay St. Crispin's day,
Fling out your blazoned banner!

From 'The Shoemaker' by John Greenleaf Whittier

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading:
William Hone, The Every-day Book (1825)
British Newspaper Archive

Today, 21 October, marks the anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar, fought by the Royal Navy in 1805 under the command of Viscount Horatio Nelson against a superior combined force of French and Spanish ships commanded by the French Admiral Villeneuve. It was the most decisive naval battle of the Napoleonic Wars, confirming British naval supremacy and ensuring that Napoleon was unable to progress his plans for an invasion of Britain.

In a letter written just before the battle Nelson informed his mistress Emma Hamilton:

'…the signal has been made that the enemy's combined fleet are coming out of Port. We have very little wind, so that I have no hopes of seeing them before tomorrow. May the God of Battles crown my endeavours with success; at all events, I will take care that my name shall ever be most dear to you and Horatia, both of whom I love as much as my own life. And as my last writing before the Battle will be to you, so I hope in God that I shall live to finish my letter after the Battle'.

This was the last letter Nelson would write Emma.  

Horatio Nelson to Emma Hamilton, 19 Oct. 1805. British Library, Egerton MS 1614, f.125

Just before the two sides engaged at about noon on 21 October, Nelson sent round his famous flag signal: ‘England expects that every man will do his duty’. By 5pm the battle was virtually over with the British having captured seventeen prizes and burned another. Admiral Villeneuve was taken prisoner and taken back to Britain. Only eleven French ships escaped back to Cádiz and of those only five were considered seaworthy.

So comprehensive was the victory that Nelson’s unorthodox tactics have given rise to a great deal of controversy ever since, with some praising them as a masterpiece of naval strategy while others question how much control he had over his unusual plans. Nelson’s chief aim was to send the enemy into confusion. Twelve days before the Battle of Trafalgar, Nelson sent this memorandum to Admiral Collingwood: the British fleet was to be drawn up ‘in two lines of 16 ships each with an advanced squadron’. The intention was to ‘overpower from two or three ships ahead of the Commander-in-Chief’.  

 
Admiral Lord Nelson’s Battle of Trafalgar Memorandum, 9 Oct. 1805. British Library, Add MS 37953

The victory at Trafalgar came at the cost of many lives including that of Nelson who was hit by a musket-ball fired from the mast of the French ship Redoubtable. In severe pain, he died three hours later at 4.30 pm. His body was preserved in a barrel of brandy for the voyage home.

Celebration of the great victory at Trafalgar was heavily tempered with grief at the news of Nelson’s death. On 9 January 1806 he was interred in the crypt of St Paul’s Cathedral.  Huge, silent crowds lined the streets to watch the cortège go past. Even the captured French Admiral, Villeneuve, was present to pay his respects.  

Lord Nelson’s Funeral Procession by Water, 8 January 1806. British Library, K.Top.27.46.

Nelson's influence continued long after his death with great revivals of interest, especially during times of national crisis in Britain. Though it came at the cost of his life, his comprehensive victory over the Franco-Spanish fleet at Trafalgar ensured his reputation as one of Britain’s greatest naval heroes for many centuries to come.   

Alexander Lock
Curator Modern Archives & Manuscripts 1851-1950

A recent donation to the India Office Private Papers, held at the British Library, gives a fascinating insight into the siege of Lucknow in 1857. Robert Loveday Inglis, a young soldier with the Bengal Army, wrote a series of letters during the siege which formed a kind of journal of life during the struggle for survival at the British Residency in Lucknow during the uprising against British rule in India.

Robert was born in Simla on 14 March 1839 to John Inglis and Louisa Maria Loveday. The family had a tradition of military service in India. Robert’s grandfather on his mother’s side Lambert Richard Loveday was a Lieutenant General in the Bengal Army, and his father John also served in the Bengal Army in Afghanistan, and at various posts around northern India. In November 1856, Robert was accepted as a cadet in the East India Company’s army. He served with the 13th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry during the siege.

From General views and special points of interest of the city of Lucknow  from drawings made on the spot by Lieut. Col. D.S. Dodgson, with descriptive notices (London, 1860). Images Online

Robert’s letters date from 14 September to 20 November 1857, and are addressed to his mother, who was then at Calcutta.  Robert writes about his experiences, the long periods of boredom punctuated by bursts of intense fighting, the lack of food, the plight of the wounded, the horrors of war, and thoughts of his family.

In one letter dated 16 September, he recalls his shock on first visiting the hospital: “I had no idea the number of our wounded was so great. The beds were all arranged side by side down both sides of a long narrow room. Every here and there you would see some poor fellows with only the stump of their legs or arms”. However, he goes on to comment that he had become in some sense used to the sight of death: “Since then I have seen a great deal of death and though not by any means indifferent, yet I have become so accustomed to it that my feelings now are not the same, at any rate I don’t feel the same awe on passing a death bed as I used to”.

Photo 32/12 Residency building after the siege Images Online 

Robert described many instances of fighting, but was also given to examining the psychological effects of war on him. In killing as many of the enemy as he could, he wondered if he was motivated more by a natural feeling of revenge than by a stern sense of duty, and worried about the brutalising effect of war, confessing to a feeling of triumph when he had succeeded in killing any of the enemy or witnessed them being blown up by a mine.

Robert was wounded shortly before the siege ended, and died in Allahabad on 27 December 1857. His letters were carefully preserved by his family, and were passed down the generations. They were kindly donated to the British Library by Christie Taylor, Robert being her great great uncle.

John O’Brien
India Office Records

Further Reading:
Letters written during the siege of Lucknow by Robert Loveday Inglis (1839-1857), Bengal Army, to his mother Louisa Maria Loveday at Calcutta (1857) [Mss Eur F693/1]
Unpublished book by Christie Taylor "Letters Home of Robert Loveday Inglis" (2011) [Mss Eur F693/3]

The battle of Waterloo was fought on 18 June, 1815 ending in the total defeat of the French forces led by Napoleon Bonaparte (1769-1821) by the combined armies of Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (1769-1852) and the Prussian field marshall, Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (1742-1819).

The Battle of Waterloo, also of Ligny and Quatre-Bras described by ... a near observer ... [A narrative by C. A. Eaton, with a sketch by J. Waldie. With other matter... from sketches by Captain G. Jones.] Tenth edition, enlarged and corrected, (London, 1817). G.5651 
Images Online

An interesting insight into conflicting political and personal feelings in the aftermath of the battle can be found in two letters sent by the British politician George Canning (1770-1827) to the Portuguese general Colonel Dom Miguel Pereira Forjaz, 9th Count of Feira (1769-1827). Canning had been British Ambassador to Portugal since November 1812, tasked primarily with improving relations with the Portuguese government. When Napoleon escaped from the island of Elba on 26 February, 1815, the Portuguese refused a British government request to provide troops for the anti-Napoleonic alliance. Canning did his utmost to persuade the Portuguese to cooperate right up until the final victory at Waterloo. That the British were a little displeased with the Portuguese is reflected in Canning’s letter to Colonel Forjaz dated 5 July, 1815 only 17 days after the battle.

As an Englishman, & a friend of the Duke of Wellington, it is necessary to say how much I rejoice on this glorious occasion. I would that I felt no cause for regret as a good Portuguese! But it is mortifying that Portugal should stand forth in the face of Europe the only Power that has directly declined to take any part in the contest so happily begun, &, I think we may say, concluded!

Canning’s understandable triumphalism was to be cut short by the news that his cousin, Charles Fox Canning, one of Wellington’s aide-de-camps, had been killed at Waterloo. In a letter to Forjaz dated 13 July, 1815 Canning writes:

I find on my table your very kind letter of yesterday. The loss of my cousin was indeed a great drawback to me on the joy which the Victory of Waterloo (the final salvation of Europe) was calculated to inspire. He had gone through all Lord Wellington’s Campaigns with Him from the beginning to the end of the Peninsular War, and hitherto had partaken of the good fortune of His Commander, - never being even touched by a ball. In this last battle the Duke exposed himself the whole day to the very front of danger. In consequence but one of his aide-de-camps escaped unhurt. My cousin was one of two who had the glory of falling by his side.

Although the display of grief is quite formal you can still get an idea of Canning, in essence, trying to balance national political interest with a deep personal grief, his own, and that of his cousin’s family.

the good character which I had received of him from Lord Wellington, justified & proved by the manner of his death, makes me deeply sensible of the loss sustained by his family.

The images of the archives are taken from the George Canning Collection, Add MS 89143, which is being catalogued by the author of this blog.

Jonathan Pledge 

Curator, Modern Archives and Manuscripts

Further reading

Explore Archives and Manuscripts

A free display, Waterloo: War and Diplomacy, runs until 6 September 2015 in the British Library’s Treasures Gallery.

To celebrate the second anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo, Strand Bridge was opened by the Prince of Wales (later George IV) and the Duke of Wellington on 18 June 1817. The bridge soon became known as Waterloo Bridge. This hand-coloured etching and aquatint was published by Rudolph Ackermann on 21 June 1817 and is part of King George III’s Topographical Collection.

Maps K.Top.22.40.b. HIS ROYAL HIGHNESS THE PRINCE REGENT and DUKE OF WELLINGTON &c. &c. &c. First visit to Waterloo Bridge, on the 18th of June, 1817 (Taken from Somerset House). Published June 21st 1817 by R. Ackermann, 101 Strand. Etching and aquatint with hand colouring. 

The vantage point depicted is unusual as it conflates a view across the bridge with another along the River Thames to Westminster Abbey and beyond. This perspectival trick allows the viewer to take in two aspects of the event. The Prince travelled along the River Thames in the royal barge surrounded by a flotilla of boats, before landing at Waterloo Bridge. The royal barge can be seen to the left in the foreground with the other boats moving along the Thames from Whitehall to the right. The Prince was met by the Duke of York and the Duke of Wellington and was escorted across the bridge surrounded by soldiers, before returning to Whitehall by water. The perspective employed in this print allows the viewer to experience the narrative of the event and follow the route which the Prince took from Whitehall by boat and across the bridge on horseback.

The print also enables to viewer to link the celebrations to the Battle of Waterloo itself. Smoke billowing from below the bridge evokes cannon fire while the marching soldiers call to mind the battlefield, reminding the spectator of the military success being commemorated. The celebration, and indeed the print itself, continue the tradition of the use of the River Thames as a site of drama and the setting for grand military and royal performances.

Another view from King George III’s Topographical Collection shows Ackermann’s shop at 101 Strand, from where this print would have been sold.

Maps K.Top.27.16.1. ACKERMANN'S REPOSITORY OF ARTS, 101 STRAND. Drawn by Augustus Pugin and Thomas Rowlandson. Published by Rudolph Ackerman, January 1809. Etching and aquatint with hand-colouring.

Ackermann’s shop was only a few metres away from Somerset House and the site of the new bridge. A map published on 1 July 1817 by William Darton shows new Waterloo Bridge.

Maps 198.b.72. An entire new plan of the cities oif London & Westminster, & borough of Southwark; the West India Docks, Regents Park, New Bridges &c &c with the whole of the new improvements of the present time. Published 1 July 1817 by William Darton.

It is possible to see just how close 101 Strand was to the bridge. It is between the letters ‘S’ and ‘R’ of ‘STRAND’ on the map, marked as (a). The vantage point from which the view is taken at Somerset House is marked as (b). The new Waterloo Bridge is marked as (c) and Whitehall as (d).

Ackermann’s print of Waterloo Bridge was published just three days after its opening, showing his ability to  respond quickly to popular subject-matter and events. It was only available with hand-colouring and sold for four shillings. In reality, it is likely that Ackermann had ordered printmakers to begin working on the copper printing plate before the event, as etching, aquatinting, printing and hand-colouring was a lengthy process. Similarly, Ackermann didn’t advertise the print in his Repository of Arts until 1 July (Vol IV, 1 July 1817, No XIX) showing that it wasn’t available until after this date, despite the plate being lettered in June. This accounts for the time it took to print the image and then add hand-colouring.

Alexandra Ault
Cataloguer of Coloured Views, King's Topographical Collection

A free display “Waterloo: War and Diplomacy” runs until 6 September 2015 in the British Library’s Treasures Gallery.

John Malcolm left his school and family in Scotland at the age of 13 and joined the East India Company. He rose through the ranks, eventually becoming Governor of Bombay.  During the Mysore war of 1798, he formed a lifelong friendship with the governor-general Lord Wellesley’s brother Arthur, the future Duke of Wellington.

After spending time in Persia as a British envoy and then returning to India, Malcolm returned to England for five years’ furlough. Wellington advised him to try to get into Parliament. 

Just after the Battle of Waterloo, Malcolm received a personal invitation from the Duke of Wellington to join him in Paris to celebrate the victory.  On his way to Paris, in July 1815, Malcolm passed by Waterloo. From his diaries we can read his account of the visit of what had already become in a month ‘one of the most celebrated battle-fields ever named in the history of the world’.

  

The Battle of Waterloo from The Wars of Wellington, a narrative poem by Dr. S. (London, 1819)  Images Online

On the morning of 20 July, Malcolm rode out to Waterloo. It was with no ordinary emotion that he contemplated the scene, an expanse of farm-land which had suddenly risen out of  obscurity. His feelings were those of mingled exultation and regret. A glorious victory had been achieved, and he had not been there even to witness it.

"As I approached this field of fame," he wrote in his journal, “my feelings of exultation as an Englishman were checked by a recollection that I had personally no share of the glory of that wonderful day. To have been even a spectator in such an action must give fame for life." General Adam sent his aide-de-camp to explain to Malcolm “the particulars of the position of the two armies". Malcolm spent three hours on the field, and jotted down in his note-book many particulars of the great battle.

Malcolm was one of the first tourists visiting Waterloo’s battlefield and his account shows an early sacralisation of the site. The Battle modified the itinerary of European travel from Britain after 1815, with Thomas Cook later promoting it as a destination. Even today Waterloo is still one of Belgium’s most important tourism sites.

Having thus visited Waterloo, Malcolm proceeded onward to Paris to spend about a month with the Duke of Wellington.  His old friend received Malcolm cordially and invited him to all the celebratory activities being held in the French capital.

After his return to London, Malcolm became a literary celebrity on the publication of his History of Persia.  He sailed again for India the following year.

Malcolm eventually returned to the UK and became a Member of Parliament in 1831, supporting his friend Wellington during his time as Prime Minister.

Valentina Mirabella
Archival Specialist, British Library/Qatar Foundation Partnership

The Life and Correspondence of Major-General Sir John Malcolm, G.C.B., late envoy to Persia, and governor of Bombay; from unpublished letters and journals. British Library: T 36845 vol. 2, in Qatar Digital Library

More on John Malcolm  - Diamonds at the Court of the Shah 

A free display “Waterloo: War and Diplomacy” runs until 6 September 2015 in the British Library’s Treasures Gallery.

 As soldiers of the Welsh Regiment were waiting on the platform at Cardiff Station in September 1904, an old man appeared.  He wore a tin placard round his neck:
‘This is to certify that John Vaughan was born in March 13th, 1801, and is 103 years of age.  He is licensed to sell bootlaces and other articles’.

Vaughan claimed that he had been a bugler in British Army, serving in the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimea, and the Indian Mutiny.  At the age of just fourteen, he had the honour of conveying to Wellington the welcome news that Blucher and his forces were approaching, and had then led General Blucher onto the field at Waterloo.

 

William Hamilton Maxwell, Stories of Waterloo (London, 1880)  BL flickr

Stories about Vaughan appeared in many local newspapers as he tramped round the country peddling his wares, popping up in places as far apart as Yorkshire, Wales, Durham, Somerset, and Merseyside.  He said that he needed to work as a hawker as his military pension of 1s per day had lapsed and he preferred the freedom of the open air to the confines of a workhouse.  People often gathered to hear Vaughan’s tales and he gladly accepted offerings of small change whilst not actually begging.

John Vaughan said he was the son of a Colonel in the Warwickshire Regiment. He had joined the 17th Lancers as a bugler, transferring after the Battle of Waterloo to the 24th Fusiliers. The ulcers on his legs were the result of wounds received at Waterloo. Reporters who met him variously described him as ‘intelligent and communicative’, ‘very slow and deliberate in his speech’, and as ‘a venerable warrior’ with ‘a wonderful memory of the graphic scenes at Waterloo’.

However, discrepancies in Vaughan’s story began to appear. At first these were put down to his memory being unreliable because of his advanced years. Then a journalist with the London Evening Standard contacted the War Office about the authenticity of Vaughan’s claims.  The King heard about Vaughan and ordered an inquiry into his case.

In 1874 a commission had been appointed to find all the Waterloo survivors with the aim of increasing their pensions. The youngest traced was a drummer aged ten in 1815. Vaughan had not appeared in the list.  Most importantly, the 17th Lancers had not fought at Waterloo.  A doctor also confirmed that Vaughan’s ulcers were not caused by gunshot wounds. Vaughan was not nearly as old as he claimed.

By this time, Vaughan had been admitted to the ward for ancients at the Birkenhead workhouse.  He did not take kindly to being revealed as a fraud: ‘Pressed further for definite replies to questions, Vaughan became unruly, and attempted to leave his bed and fight’. Perhaps he had come to believe his own yarn? The Lancashire Evening Post concluded: ‘He may be able to blow his own bugle; in fact he seems to have done so to some purpose - but he never did it at Waterloo’.

Margaret Makepeace
Lead Curator, East India Company Records

Further reading:
British Newspaper Archive – for example: Gloucester Citizen 23 September 1904; Aberdeen Journal 6 July 1905; Dundee Courier 17 & 19 August 1905; Lancashire Evening Post 18 August 1905; Northampton Mercury 18 August 1905; Edinburgh Evening News 19 August 1905; Taunton Courier and Western Advertiser 23 & 30 August 1905.

A free display “Waterloo: War and Diplomacy” runs until 6 September 2015 in the British Library’s Treasures Gallery.

It is 200 years since the Battle of Waterloo was fought in fields south of Brussels, on 18 June 1815. The battle saw the expansionist ambitions of the French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte shattered, with his defeat by the Duke of Wellington’s Anglo-Allied army, and the Prussian army under Marshal Blücher.  The British Library is marking the anniversary with a display of 16 unique historical documents, artworks, literary manuscripts and rare printed texts. Here is a taste of what is on display.

Napoleon had conquered much of Europe before being beaten and exiled to the island of Elba in 1814. On 26 February 1815 he escaped and returned to Paris, intent on regaining his empire. This satirical etching, probably by George Cruikshank, depicts Napoleon as a fox running towards Paris. Geese carry the news to the Congress of Vienna, which had been developing a peace plan for post-Napoleonic Europe.

 
  The fox and the goose; or, Boney broke loose! (1815). Maps 185.r.2.(2.)  Images Online

The Congress immediately branded Napoleon an outlaw. The original draft of their ‘Declaration of Outlawry’ is on display alongside the etching.

The centrepiece of the display is the Duke of Wellington’s own account of the Battle of Waterloo, which he probably partly drafted on the battlefield and completed in Brussels.  In his ‘Waterloo Despatch’, Wellington wrote that ‘the attack succeeded in every point; the enemy was forced from his positions on the heights and fled in the utmost confusion, leaving behind him as far as I could judge 150 pieces of cannon with their ammunition which fell into our hands’.

Also featured is this early plan of the battlefield drawn by John Wilson Croker, a close friend of the Duke of Wellington and therefore someone with access to accurate information. Wellington’s forces are shown in red, and the Prussians in black. The various stages of the French advance are depicted in blue. To the centre left is the farmhouse at Hougoumont, which was fiercely contested during the battle.

  Plan of the Waterloo battlefield by John Wilson Croker (1815). Add MS 40183, f. 285r

The army officer and military historian William Siborne was commissioned in 1830 to build a model of the Battle of Waterloo. He sent a circular to surviving officers requesting information on the layout of the battlefield. The replies he received provide unique eyewitness reports of the battle. In this one, Captain Charles Fairfield describes – and illustrates – a ‘sort of “defense” which was erected inside the wall at Hougoumont’.  

Sketch by Charles Fairfield of Hougoumont defences (1836). Add MS 34706, f. 130r

After the battle, Napoleon was captured by the British. This sketch by John Elliott shows the formation of ships while Napoleon was being transferred to the HMS Northumberland, before being transported to St Helena.  The list of wine provided to Napoleon on St Helena is also on display.

‘The form in which the ships lay, while removing Buounaparte from the Bellerophon to the Northumberland’ (1815?). 
Add MS 60335, f. 48v

With Napoleon’s defeat came a period of relative peace and stability in Europe, but one gained at an enormous price, as both sides suffered terrible losses. The final section of the display is devoted to literary and musical responses to the carnage of Waterloo, and includes original manuscripts of Lord Byron and Thomas Hardy.

Sandra Tuppen
Lead Curator, Modern Archives and Manuscripts, 1601-1850

The free display “Waterloo: War and Diplomacy” runs until 6 September 2015 in the British Library’s Treasures Gallery.