A SUPERB DEFENDER of
"HOUGOUMONT FARM" WATERLOO MEDAL.


To:
PTE THOMAS NEWBY. 2nd BATT COLDSTREAM GUARDS.
One of the famous defenders of the North Gate at Hougoumont Farm

TOOK PART IN THE VICIOUS HAND TO HAND FIGHTING AT HOUGOUMONT FARM" DURING THE FAMOUS "CLOSING OF THE GATE", THE PIVOTAL ACTION OF THE BATTLE.

Private Thomas Newby was part of the 2nd Guards Brigade and was one of the famous defenders of the North Gate at Hougoumont Farm when the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards defended and held Hougoumont throughout the day of the battle.

During the famous action at HOUGOUMONT FARM the 2nd Bn COLDSTREAM GUARDS experienced their finest hour.

The battalion suffered 55 men killed and 249 wounded.

Thomas Newby served under the direct command of Lt Col James Macdonnell in his own company, and as such would have been with his C.O. right at the North Gate during this vicious struggle with the French.

It's a very rare occasion when one can conclusively say that a particular man was in a particular place during a famous battle, but this is one of them.

The night before the battle of Waterloo, Wellington sent Macdonell with the guards to occupy the Château de Hougoumont. Macdonell held this key position against overwhelming French attacks during the early part of the battle. When French troops were forcing their way into the courtyard, Macdonell, aided by a sergeant, closed and held the gates by sheer physical strength. Chosen by Wellington for the award of £1,000 as the “bravest man in the British Army,” Macdonell insisted upon sharing the sum with his sergeant.

(THE MEDAL)
As with all Waterloo medals issued to surviving recipients, they are all individually different. Time and proud wearing has insisted that one individual medal is never the same as the next. This medal is in very nice GVF/GVF condition with light contact marks through wearing. The original 'clip & ring" suspension is still present.

[CELEBRATED TO THIS DAY]
The defence of the North Gate is considered one of the greatest ever achievements of the regiment, and an annual ceremony of "Hanging the Brick" is performed each year in the Sergeants' Mess to commemorate the efforts of Cpl James Graham and Lt-Col James Macdonnell, who shut the North Gate after a French attack.

The Duke of Wellington himself declared after the battle that "the success of the battle turned upon closing the gates at Hougoumont".

[A GROUP OF 'CRIMEA' COLDSTREAM GUARDSMEN]
(The men in this picture would look almost identical to the men who fought at Waterloo)

The unit comprised of some 400 men who were split into nine companies under the overall command of James Macdonell of the Coldstream Guards, who, like his brother company commanders in the Guards, ranked as a captain in his own regiment but enjoyed the army rank of lieutenant-colonel.
GENERAL MIGUEL DE ALAVA, (who's privately presented Waterloo Medal we currently have in stock...listed below this on the menu !) and who had served as a Spanish liaison officer on Wellington’s staff in the Peninsula, had attached himself to the Duke for the Waterloo campaign.

Alava, who's uncle was the Vice Admiral of the Spanish fleet in 1805 was able to claim the unique distinction of having fought against Britain at Trafalgar and with Britain at Waterloo.

While acting as ADC to Wellington he drew attention his to the importance of Hougoumont Farm, and suggested that it should perhaps be more heavily defended.

‘Ah,’ replied the Duke, ‘I’ve put Macdonell into it........
You don’t know Macdonell.... Do You !"

[THE ACTION AT HOUGOUMONT FARM]
Two farms dominated the battlefield; La Haye Saint and Hougoumont. Both were substantial affairs, with thick high walls and plenty of outbuildings and attached orchards, and they were quite obviously going to be useful in the forthcoming battle. Wellington planned to use the farms as forward strongpoints to break up and disrupt French attacks across the shallow valley.

Hougoumont was predominantly manned by British Guardsmen (these were the days the Guards were still élite fighting troops), consisting of the light companies of 2nd Battalion, Coldstream Guards, and the 2nd Battalion, Third Guards. The two light companies of the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, First Guards, were positioned in the surrounding orchards and grounds. In addition to the British troops, there were the 1st Battalion of the 2nd Nassau Regiment, with detachments of jägers (riflemen) and landwehr (militia) from the 1st (Hanoverian) Brigade. The farm was in overall command of Lieutenant-Colonel James Macdonnell of the Coldstream Guards.

The quality of the troops garrisoned in the farm gives a hint as to the importance Wellington placed on the outpost. He fully expected that it would draw Napoleon's troops in an attempt to silence it rather than having to attack past it with the garrison firing away at them. These attacks would give Wellington what he needed the most, a breathing space to allow the Prussians to join him. In the event, the Iron Duke was proved quite correct in his assumptions.

Napoleon's aim was almost the reverse of Wellington's, in that he intended his attacks on the the farm to draw the Allied reserves and attention to the right of the battlefield so that the French attacks could then be made on the weakened centre and left. The battle for Hougoumont proved to be a very costly miscalculation.

The attack started either at 10am or about 1130, depending on which account you read (part of the discrepancy may be down to the opposing sides having their watches set at their own local time), with an artillery bombardment and an attack by the French 1st Brigade of the 5th Division which cleared the exposed orchards and grounds but drew the attentions of the British artillery which threw the attack back and killed the 1st Brigade's commander, Maréchal de Camp Bauduin. The artillery then became embroiled in an artillery duel with their opposite numbers (rarely a successful or efficient venture at this stage of warfare) and this allowed the French to redouble their attacks on Hougoumont.

One such attack resulted in a famous encounter which Wellington later described as being the incident on which the entire battle hinged. A small group of French soldiers of the 1st Brigade of the 6th Division managed to break into the farm courtyard. Led by Sous-Lieutenant Legros who was swinging a pioneer's axe, they broke the gate and poured in, with the rest of the 1st Brigade behind them. At that point, Lieutenant Colonels Macdonnell and Wyndham, Ensigns Gooch and Hervey and six other Guardsmen (including Corporal James Graham, described as the "bravest man in the army" in the regimental tribute and awared a special medal for his deeds at Waterloo) charged the French and somehow managed to force the gates shut again, trapping both Legros and around 30 other Frenchmen inside. These were killed to a man except for a disconsolate drummer boy who had bravely entered with the others.

The farm managed to hold out for the remainder of the battle, thanks in part to the successful defence of a sunken approach road through which the Allies managed to slip supplies and ammunition. By the end, when the Prussians arrived and the battle turned, the French had committed 14000 men to its unsuccessful capture and, although they rotated fresh troops throughout the day, the British had never had more than around 3500 troops committed at any time. Casualties were proportionate (1500 Allied to 5000 French) but the distraction had almost certainly cost Napoleon both the battle and the war, thus ending his career.

THE "ULTIMATE" WATERLOO MEDAL TO A SURVIVOR OF THE DEFENCE OF HOUGOUMONT FARM .

A MOST IMPORTANT PURCHASE & ADDITION TO YOUR COLLECTION DURING THE 202nd ANNIVERSARY YEAR.

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