This Kettle Probably Belonged to an Officer and He Or His Servant Could Use It to Boil Water

George Silvester Maule was an officer in the Royal foot artillery. Our object choices reflect his rank, the weapons he may have used and objects of a type that we know George would have experienced. This kettle probably belonged to an officer and he or his servant could use it to boil water. If soldiers had only a limited time due to constraints of campaign life, they could still cook and eat in a short space of time. In his journal, George Maule wrote about the storm, rain and almost continuous fighting he experienced. A kettle like this would have been an essential item to be able to eat quickly. This is a folding camp (or “campaign”) bed together with its packing box. Officers in the British Army brought their own uniforms and equipment and could take a large amount of baggage on campaign. George Silvester Maule was an officer, 1st Lieutenant and so would have been able to afford to bring items such as this bed and the kettle above. This is a British “Blomfield” cannon used at the Battle of Waterloo. It fired a solid cannonball weighing 9 pounds. George Silvester Maule was part of the foot battery of the Royal Artillery. His Company, led by Major Thomas Rogers had 6 of these guns. This is a cannon ball dug from the battlefield of Waterloo – one of an estimated 42,000 fired by both sides during the long battle on 18 June 1815. The cannon (above right) would have fired a heavier version of this. This is an example of the Congreve rocket, an artillery weapon used by the British Army at the Battle of Waterloo. The rocket case, made of sheet iron, was filled with gunpowder, which burned to make the rocket fly forward through the air. This could have been a weapon George Silvester Maule used during the battles he fought. This is a French cuirass, a breastplate worn as body armour by French cavalry. The hole is from a British cannonball that smashed through the unlucky soldier’s chest. As George was an officer in the foot artillery, he would have been used to seeing this sort of damage created and probably caused a fair amount of it himself. This is a French cannon, captured by the Allied army after the Battle of Waterloo and is therefore the weapon of George’s rivals- Napoleon’s artillery. It is a relatively light 6-pound cannon. George Silvester Maule would have used a slightly larger 9 pound cannon, but both would have caused considerable damage. The Waterloo (left) This musket-ball, or bullet, killed General medal was the Sir Thomas Picton at the Battle of Waterloo. It first medal issued was shot through his head. The musket-ball is to all British dented where it hit Picton’s skull. This soldiers present happened close to where George Silvester at this battle and Maule was fighting. the actions at Quatre Bras and This field bugle sounded the crucial Ligny two days charge of The Household Cavalry at before. George Waterloo. However George Maule Silvester Maule distinctly recalls hearing the sounds of would have the bugle to march between battlefields received this and take position: ‘The bugle soon medal for his sounded the advance and the column service during moved forward again’…. these battles. .

Load more