‘The nearest run thing you ever saw in your life’, that’s how Arthur Wellesley, the 1st Duke of Wellington, described the Battle of Waterloo, a battle that saw the final defeat of Napoleon and shaped the course of European history.
In an event of less historical significance, in 2014 two thirds of the Historycal Roots team visited Perth (in Scotland, not Australia!) with the intention of visiting Scone Palace for an exhibition about Dido Elizabeth Belle. After a fascinating afternoon at Scone, the following day we found ourselves with time on our hands in Perth and decided on the spur of the moment to visit the Museum of the Black Watch Regiment. At the door we were greeted in friendly fashion and asked if we had any particular reason for visiting. We said that we were especially interested in any evidence of black soldiers having served in the Regiment during World War One (a project we were working on at the time). The gentleman thought for a moment and said he regretted he couldn’t think of anything but perhaps we would like to meet George?
‘George’ turned out to be George Rose who served at the Battle of Waterloo.
Up to that point I don’t think it had ever occurred to us that there might have been black soldiers at Waterloo but indeed there were and they were in the thick of the action too. George Rose was one, but there were others.
The battle was, as already noted, a very close run thing and there were heavy losses on both sides. The Duke also commented ‘believe me, nothing except a battle lost can be half so melancholy as a battle won: the bravery of my troops hitherto saved me from the greater evil.’
In 2018 we attended a What’s Happening in Black British History event in Huddersfield where we heard a fascinating talk by John Ellis about the black presence in the British Army in the 18th and 19th centuries. John’s talk reminded us of our ‘meeting’ with George Rose and added a huge amount of information about other men we had been unaware of.
These threads came together for us recently when John contacted and offered to write a piece for Historycal Roots. We were thrilled! As we approach the 205th anniversary of the battle on 18th June there could be no better time to introduce you to the story of James Goodwin, a black soldier at Waterloo. You can find John’s article here: http://historycalroots.com/trumpet-major-james-goodwin-a-black-hero-of-the-battle-of-waterloo