Captain Edward Hawkins Cheney – A Hero of Waterloo

Waterloo Medal and snuff box of Captain Edward Hawkins Cheney, acquired by the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum in 2018 with an NFA grant of £10,000.

Captain Cheney was pivotal to the leadership of the 2^nd Dragoons during the charge of the Scots Greys at the Battle of Waterloo. On the battlefield, Napoleon I famously referred to the charge of the Scots Greys as ces terribles chevaux gris (those terrible grey horses). The charge of the Union Brigade, including the Scots Greys, decimated the French Infantry and led to the capture of two French Eagles before forward momentum took the Greys as far as the French artillery; by that time, however, most of the Greys’ horses were ‘blown’ and the Regiment suffered serious casualties from counter-attacking French lancers.

Waterloo medal awarded to Captain and Brevet Major Edward Hawkins Cheney, 2nd Royal North British Horse (Scots Greys)

The charge of the Scots Greys was later immortalised in two Victorian paintings: Richard Ansdell’s Fight for the Standard (1841) and Lady Butler’s Scotland Forever (1881). The film Waterloo (1970) also helped cement the Scots Greys’ place in Scottish popular historical identity.

Edward Hawkins Cheney was born in Derbyshire in 1776 and joined the 2^nd Dragoons as a cornet in September 1794. By 1803 Cheney had been promoted to captain and in 1812 was a brevet-major. In 1811 Cheney married Elizabeth Ayre of Gaddesby, Leicestershire.

Agate and white metal table snuff box engraved with Captain Cheney’s initials and the Cheney family crest

At the Battle of Waterloo, on 18^th June 1815, Cheney commanded the Regiment after the commanding officer was killed and the two majors seriously wounded. Cheney was in executive command for the last three hours of the battle, having four horses killed under him and a fifth wounded.

The importance of Cheney’s role in the battle was recognised almost immediately afterwards when he was given the brevet rank of lieutenant-colonel (although at the time he was still only a captain in the Regiment) and made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) on the personal recommendation of the Duke of Wellington. It is therefore evident that both the Prince Regent and the British military authorities held Cheney in high regard.

Cheney’s medal, as that of the senior surviving officer present throughout the battle, must rank as next in importance to the Waterloo Medal of Sergeant Charles Ewart (who captured the French Eagle and standard), which is now in the collection of the National War Museum. The Eagle and Standard of the 45^th French Regiment of the Line are on permanent display in the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum in Edinburgh Castle.

Sculpture by Joseph Gott depicting Captain Cheney astride a wounded horse at the Battle of Waterloo, part of a monument erected to his memory in St Luke’s Parish Church, Gaddesby, Leicestershire

Cheney spent his entire active service career with the 2^nd Dragoons until retiring to half-pay in 1818. Following his death in 1848, a large and impressive monument to his memory was erected in the parish church of St Luke in Gaddesby, Leicestershire, where Cheney and his wife lived. It is said to be the only equestrian monument in a British parish church.

 

Edwin Rutherford
Curator
Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum

https://www.scotsdgmuseum.com/

 

 

A Waterloo Pistol?

A 1796 pattern Other Ranks heavy cavalry pistol acquired by The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum in 2015 with an NFA grant of £4,000.

1796 pattern Other Ranks heavy cavalry pistol of the 2nd (or Royal North British) Dragoons

In 2015, the bicentenary of the Battle of Waterloo, The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards Museum acquired a pistol which has particular significance for the collection. Regimental markings on the trigger guard link the pistol to the 2^nd (or Royal North British) Dragoons, better known as The Royal Scots Greys, which is one of the regiments whose history is interpreted by the museum. The Greys formed part of the ‘Union’ cavalry brigade at the battle and, at a critical moment, charged into columns of French infantry, wreaking havoc and halting their advance upon the British and Allied line. During that charge, the Greys’ Sergeant Charles Ewart captured the standard and Eagle of the French 45^th Infantry Regiment: both standard and Eagle are preserved in the regimental museum today.

Detail showing the engraving of Regimental markings on the trigger guard

The pistol is of the type that would have formed part of the personal side-arms of soldiers of the 2^nd Dragoons at the Battle of Waterloo. It is a single-shot, muzzle-loading, flintlock weapon with a calibre of 16 bore. This type of pistol was issued singly to Other Ranks (enlisted men) and was carried in a heavy leather holster fastened to the front of the soldier’s saddle on the off-side. It had a maximum effective range of about 50 yards but was most deadly when its lead ball was fired at very close range into the body, or horse, of an adversary.

Paul Newman
Assistant Curator
The Royal Scots Dragoon Guards (Carabiniers & Greys) Regimental Museum

http://www.scotsdgmuseum.com/