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Auction: 23001 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 10

The Waterloo Medal awarded to Private J. Bruce, 2nd or Royal North British Dragoons (Scots Greys), who was wounded by a sabre cut on that famous day

Waterloo 1815 (James Bruce, 2nd or R.N. Brit. Reg. Drag.), nearly extremely fine

Provenance:
Gaskell Collection, May 1911.

Christie's, March 1965.

James Bruce was born in 1789 and was a native of Bathgate, Linlithgow, Scotland. He joined the 2nd Dragoons at Glasgow on 21 April 1812 and served in Captain Poole's Troop at Waterloo.

On that day, Bruce was in the thick of the action, as his Medical Discharge records:

'Sabre cut of left Elbow joint received 18th June 1815 at Waterloo in action with the enemy.'

Little more need be said of the part played by the Scots Greys at Waterloo; a French officer with the 3rd Division gave his account of their famed attack:

'Just as I was pushing one of our men back into the ranks I saw him fall at my feet from a sabre slash. I turned round instantly – to see English cavalry forcing their way into our midst and hacking us to pieces. Just as it is difficult, if not impossible, for the best cavalry to break into infantry who are formed into squares and who defend themselves with coolness and daring, so it is true that once the ranks have been penetrated, then resistance is useless and nothing remains for the cavalry to do but to slaughter at almost no risk to themselves. This is what happened, in vain our poor fellows stood up and stretched out their arms; they could not reach far enough to bayonet these cavalrymen mounted on powerful horses, and the few shots fired in chaotic melee were just as fatal to our own men as to the English. And so we found ourselves defenceless against a relentless enemy who, in the intoxication of battle, sabred even our drummers and fifers without mercy.'

An officer of the 92nd Highlanders gave his own abridged version:

'The Scots Greys actually walked over this column.'

Finally, Napoleon himself was said to have commented:

'Ah, ces terribles chevaux gris (Those terrible grey horses)'.

Stephen Wood, in his Illustrated History of the Regiment took those words as his title whilst in 1881 Lady Butler's epic oil Scotland Forever! captured the sheer intensity of the action in fine style; that painting is housed at the Leeds Art Gallery.

Treated on the continent, Bruce was evacuated to England and was discharged, with two years' additional service for Waterloo, on 8 October 1815; sold together with copied research and extracts.

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Sold for
£5,500

Starting price
£4800