Description
English School watercolour, 12 x 20cm (5 x 8in); sold with three wooden campaign boxes and a shaving mirror, two inscribed with the owners name, by repute the property of Captain Thomas Henry Taylor, 10th Hussars; also a commemorative plaque depicting the Duke of Wellington, inscribed TO CAPTAIN TAYLOR; another similar; and a brass inkwell with Russian eagle surmount (8)
Footnote
Note: The picture depicts the charge of the regiment against the Imperial Guard which took place late in the day of the 18th and resulted in the death of the squadron commander Major Howard.
The 10th were well known for their flamboyant dress, crowned with a vivid scarlet shako.
With a strength of 452 on the morning of the 18th June, under the command of Lt Colonel G Quentin, they were brigaded under Major-General Sir Hussey Vivian along with the 18th hussars and 1st Kings German Legion hussars (SEE LOT 93) and positioned on Wellington's extreme left flank.
Captain Taylor's squadron was posted on outpost duty beyond the hamlet of Smohain and it was here that he ran into a Prussian officer bringing news of Bulow's approach to Wellington.
It would seem that Major Howard was the last allied officer to have been killed in action at Waterloo. The British cavalry were ordered forward to attack the French rear-guard as the Emperor's army fled the field. Howard in particular was ordered by Vivian to attack a square of the Old Guard in support of a neighbouring Hanoverian infantry battalion. The Hanoverians however failed to attack and Howard led his squadron forward with Vivian himself. It was a futile attack against a square of formed veteran infantry and the hussars turned at bayonet point having fired their pistols. Major Howard was shot in the mouth and fell from his horse unconscious close to the square. One of the Guards rushed from the square and dashed out Howard's brains with his musket butt. The following morning Howard was buried on the field. The body was later reinterred at Streatham and in 1879 removed to the family mausoleum at Castle Howard in Yorkshire.
Captain Thomas Henry Taylor was born in Combe Royal Devon and educated at Eton and Cambridge. In 1804 he was commissioned into the 6th Dragoon Guards. In 1807 he was military secretary to Lord Minto and in 1810 married Ann Petri, niece of the Governor of Madras. In 1814 he was appointed advisor to HRH Prince William Duke of Clarence and escorted him with King Louis XVIII back to France. The same year he was appointed troop commander 10th Hussars. After Waterloo he was appointed by Wellington Brevet Lt Col and on the staff of General Hill's HQ in Paris.
In 1833 he was appointed Groom of the Bedchamber to King William IV and in 1837 became Lt Governor of the RMA Sandhurst. In 1845 he was promoted Major General and in 1853 appointed Colonel of the 17th lancers. He died on 8th January 1854.
In his well-known collection of published letters dealing with the campaign Captain (later Major General and CB) Thomas William Taylor recounts the loss and recovery of his personal effects:
'Bettignies June 22nd
'…It is very odd that there are two things I have forgot to mention. One is that I have lost all my baggage except a few things in my valise behind the saddle and the writing case. The huge march the first day of course threw the baggage out - in a great wood near Braine le Conte. The retreating heavy ammunitions waggons met it, and it was cut from the horses to clear the road….
Puteaux on the Seine near Neuilly, July 9th, 1815
… I have recovered my linen portmanteau and canteen - a Countess of 'something' found them near her chateau and took care of them and sent them to our Regimental paymaster. Mean to write her a letter and send her a present…'