April 2017 - Duchess of Richmonds Ball
Members of the Horndean & District U3A met for their regular monthly meeting on Friday 7th April 2017 at Merchistoun Hall. They listened intently to Philip Robinson's account of the "Duchess of Richmond's Ball a commemoration on the Battle of Waterloo". Apologies this account of the talk does not include all of the interesting anecdotes proffered by Philip otherwise it will cover pages and pages.
The Duchess of Richmond's Ball is considered the most significant Ball in history and was held on Thursday 15th June 1815. A prelude to the Battle of Waterloo. The Duchess was born Charlotte Gordon in 1768 and married Charles Lennox on 9th September 1789. Charlotte liked status and was always at the height of fashion. She is purported to have had 1,000 pairs of shoes! She incurred lots of debts. They moved to Ireland where Charles became the Lord Lieutenant.
Following the (almost) end of the war with France people began to travel again. Charles & Charlotte moved to Brussels because the cost of living was less and also to avoid their creditors. They moved into a house on the Rue de la Blanchisserie, roughly translated as Laundry Street and called "The Wash House" by the Duke of Wellington. Charlotte was incandescent with rage with such an unsuitable house. She decided to hold a ball and invite the elite, including the Duke of Wellington who lived nearby and whom they had known from their days in Dublin. However this was thwarted for some time because of the actions of Napoleon.
Napoleon had been exiled to Elba in 1814, retaining his title of Emperor with a salary of 2 million French Francs and accompanied by 600 Imperial Guards. In 1814 Louis 18th returned to France with the intent of taking France to what it had been before the revolution of 1789 however made some unbelievable errors. One of which, he got rid of the majority of the army. Napoleon escaped Elba and arrived in Paris 20th March 1815. Meanwhile in Vienna the Allies (British, Russian, Austrian & Prussians) were holding a peace conference which went on and on. They did not believe that Napoleon had escaped. Wellington arrived in Brussels to spearhead the fight against Napoleon.
Philip showed a famous painting by Robert Alexander Hillingford depicting the Ball but it is incorrect. It was not held in such an elegant establishment but in a coach makers workshop! There were 158 men (90 from the army) and 61 women (31 unattached) at the Ball. Meanwhile Napoleon and his army crossed the border at Charleroi and not at Mons where Wellington had expected him to cross. Wellington at this time took no action.
Napoleon was at Quatre Bra with 200,000 men who covered an area of 2 x 1.5 miles. They suffered a severe storm with incessant rain which made the ground soft which made it impossible to move the canons. When the canons were fired they were absolutely useless because the balls just sunk into the mud. The battle, on Sunday 18th June, actually took place at Mon St Jean not Waterloo. Because of the undulating terrain, Napoleon couldn't see the Allies army behind the top ridge. They galloped 8,500 horses forward thinking that the Allies had retreated, meanwhile the Allies were instructed to shoot the horses (they were slaughtered). Napoleon's attack failed and his health was poor. His final act was to order the Imperial Guard to march forward into the Prussian army. It was mayhem.
The surviving troops plundered the fallen of anything of value - especially for their teeth because they were an expensive commodity (false teeth had not been invented at this time). 47% of the men at the Duchess of Richmond's Ball died. Wellington's final message to his troops was: "Well thank God, I don't know what it is to lose a battle but certainly nothing can be more painful than to gain one with the loss of so many of one's friends"
The Duchess did sterling work caring for the sick and wounded on all sides. When her husband became the Governor of Canada they left Brussels for Canada. In 1819 Charles was bitten by a rabid fox and died. Their son became the 5th Duke of Richmond and lived at Goodwood. In 1839 he died and Charlotte who had became the sole inheritor of her family's estates in Scotland, supported her son at Goodwood, reducing the debts. Over the years a huge amount of money was spent on refurbishing the Goodwood Estate.
At the end of this enthralling talk Philip was asked many interesting questions - too many to report. It was thoroughly enjoyed by all.
Diane Stoner
Speaker Coordinator