An Exceptional & Rare
“HEAVY CAVALRY”
WATERLOO MEDAL.
To:
SAMUEL BULL
1st (King’s) REG. DRAGOON GUARDS
One of the Premier Guards Units to fight at Waterloo.

[THE MEDAL]
The medal is suspended on its original clip with an early replacement split ring. Condition is truly excellent and About EF and is “head and shoulders” above 95% of all the Waterloo medals you will see.

Officially Impressed to:
** SAMUEL BULL, 1st REG . DRAGOON GUARDS .**



Slight knock to “G” of REG.
(See Centre Naming Picture at Left )

[SAMUEL BULL & HIS FAMOUS UNIT]
SAMUEL BULL served in the 1st (King's) Dragoon Guards, commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel W. Fuller. The unit comprised 32 officers and 555 men and it was the largest British heavy cavalry regiment at Waterloo.
They were brigaded with the Household Cavalry under Major-General Lord Edward Somerset, and helped to cover Wellington's retreat from Quatre Bras on 17 June. That night Wellington redeployed his army on the ridge of Mont St. Jean, 11 miles south of Brussels, with the village of Waterloo as his Headquarters. He positioned Somerset's Brigade on the reverse slope just west of the Brussels-Charleroi road.



 When Napoleon launched his main infantry attack at 1.30 p.m. the following day, consisting of D'Erlon's Corps, he sent Milhaud's Corps of Cuirassiers (armoured heavy cavalry) in support. The French Cuirassiers advanced to the left of the Allied-held farmhouse of La Haye Sainte, catching the Hanoverian Luneberg Battalion in line and annihilating it almost to a man. The Cuirassiers were armed with extra-long sabres which enabled them to thrust at wounded men lying on the ground without leaving the saddle.



Just when Wellington's centre appeared to be crumbling, Lord Uxbridge, commander of the Allied Cavalry Corps, ordered both brigades of British Heavy Cavalry to charge.

While Ponsonby's Union Brigade (including the famous 'Scots Greys') made for D'Erlon's infantry, Somerset's Household Brigade engaged Milhaud's Cuirassiers. The Cuirassiers' longer sabres gave them a considerable advantage against their British counterparts, who did not wear cuirasses.

Somerset's Brigade was also heavily outnumbered, but despite these handicaps, the British troopers succeeded in routing the Cuirassiers and saving Wellington's position, but in doing so suffered appalling casualties in this action.

Waterloo was the battle where the British, the Prussians and their other allies finally silenced France after over a hundred years of fighting. Waterloo was the King’d Dragoon Guard’s most significant battle honour and therefore deserves a detailed mention.

The anniversary of this battle, 18th June, is still the day known as “Regimental Day” where the Battle of Waterloo is celebrated with an annual dinner held in the Sergeants’ Mess, to which the officers are invited by the RSM.

This tradition has its roots in the number of casualties sustained by the unit that day. Tradition holds that after the battle there were not enough surviving officers and sergeants to justify separate messing facilities so they sat down shared their rations on the battlefield.

The King’s Dragoon Guards charged no less than 13 times during this action and by the end of the day there were only 15 remaining men in action which included two Officers, the RSM, one Serjeant and eleven Privates, out of the 530 sabres that had started the battle.

A junior captain, Captain Naylor KDG, ended the day commanding an entire Cavalry Brigade. We should remember Waterloo as the Regiment’s greatest battle honour in that its successful contribution helped bring about a victory that had one of the most favourable outcomes for Britain in modern history. It should also be remembered as a bitter tragedy that almost obliterated the King’s Dragoon Guards.















A truly exceptional & greatly historically important medal from a famous Heavy Cavalry unit that just does not show up. Medals to this unit are always rare and in very short supply due to the great number of men killed in action during the battle who never lived to receive the medal.

Original & uncleaned in About EF condition, with an attractive even & natural cobalt grey tone.

£4995

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