H.S.Blane

29 July 1795 - 14 April 1869

Raine's House, June 1803 - December 1807

By Thoran Landers and Rafe Clements

Contents

Front Page...... 1

Contents...... 2

Background of the Battle & the Napoleonic Wars...... 3

Background of the Battle & the Napoleonic Wars Cont...... 4

The ...... 5

The Battle of Waterloo Cont...... 6

The OC and Charterhouse in London...... 7

Bibliography...... 8

Background of the Battle & the Napoleonic Wars

Napoleon as Emperor: was crowned Emperor of France in 1804 after a period called 'The Terror', where the French King was executed and the French people attempted to build a better country for themselves. However it could be argued that the attempt failed considerably, because they switched from a king to an Emperor. As soon as Napoleon was crowned Emperor he set out to conquer Europe. On 26th May 1805 He was crowned King of Italy. On May 1803 Britain broke the treaty with France and by the end of 1805 Britain was allied with Sweden, Russia and Austria. Multiple Battles were fought and France made a steady advance on Europe.

Invasion of Russia: However in 1812 Napoleon made a fatal mistake. Up until then Napoleon had been in a peace treaty with Russia, however Russia's Leader was under pressure from the Russian Nobility to break off the treaty with Russia. When Napoleon learnt of this he began gathering his troops for an invasion of Russia. On the 23rd June 1812 Napoleon attacked with 450,000 men. Napoleon's plan was to draw out the Russian army to a massive battle, which he thought he might win. However the Russian's employed the scorched earth tactic (Later repeated by Russia in World War II) and refused to meet the French army in a mass battle. The Russians eventually engaged them in combat on the 7th September. 44,000 Russians died and 35,000 French died, which has up until then the bloodiest battle in history. Napoleon eventually reached Moscow, but left 5 weeks later. They began to retreat back to France as winter was coming, but they were not fast enough. On one night alone 10,000 French died. Once they had returned, there was a brief halt in the fighting as Russia and France rebuilt their forces.

Background of the Battle & the Napoleonic Wars cont.

Exile to Elba:

After the French failure to invade Russia, the Prussians joined the Alliance between Britain, Austria, Sweden, Russia and Spain. Napoleon began to gradually be pushed back from his Empire, and back to France. He had around 70,000 men and the combined forces of the rest of Europe had three times that many. He was surrounded in Paris, with the British pushing in from the south, and the remainder of Europe allied against France pushed from the German States. At this point Napoleon tried to accept peace treaty terms offered to him a long time ago, but the Allied forces refused. On the 4th Of April Napoleon was exiled to Elba, where he built up a small army and navy ready for his return.

Return To France:

He landed at France on the 28th of February 1815. On the 7 February he met up with one of his regiments, who shouted 'Vive L'empereur' and joined him once again. Napoleon arrived at Paris on the 20th of March, and ruled for a period called the 'Hundred Days'. With the 200,000 men he had Napoleon marched to divide the Prussians and the British forces, by placing his army in between them.

The Battle of Waterloo

Before the Battle

The night before battle both the Duke of Wellington and Napoleon Bonaparte were 3 miles away from each other, with rain pouring down on the inns they were staying in. Wellington knew that victory the next day greatly depended on his Prussian ally, General Blucher, arriving with his troops to the battlefield whereas as Napoleon was confident he could defeat Wellington and take Brussels.

The First Move Battle Fact File

Wellington created a strong defensive Location: South of Brussels position blocking the road for Napoleon into th Brussels. He knew he was outnumbered Date: June 18 1815 and therefore he was to hold his ground French Side: Led by Napoleon long enough for his Prussian allies to Bonaparte. 74,000 troops and 250 guns. arrive. British, Dutch, Belgian and Prussian Napoleon also knew that because of the Side: Led by the Duke of Wellington, heavy rain the night before it would be very General Blucher and the Prince of hard for him to move his troops and guns Orange. 67,000 troops and 150 guns. into position. He decided to delay his first major land attack and for now he wanted to lure out the British and make a dent in their defenses. Therefore he launched a diversionary attack on Farm.

The Attack on Hougoumont:

Napoleon begun the attack with a large cannon-based attack on Wellington’s most well defended garrison. 5000 troops, led by Napoleon’s brother, attacked against the 1500 that Wellington had in Hougoumont. Despite the numbers, the walls made the farm an extremely strong fortress. The troops inside Hougoumont were able to shoot at the French through holes in the walls meaning that many French were killed with nothing they could do. Despite this Napoleon carried on the attack throughout the day and at 12:30pm he managed to break through the gate, but it was rapidly closed again, and the 40 French troops that were trapped inside were instantly slaughtered.

Napoleon’s Advances:

With the attack on Hougoumont taking place, Napoleon sent 18,000 troops down the road to Brussels to make a decisive attack on Wellington. They captured the farm of Papelpotte and the area surrounding La Haye Sainte which meant that if they could capture La Haye Sainte it would give a close range attack on the center of Wellington’s defense. It was at this time that Napoleon spotted the Prussians and Wellington had sent reinforcements to La Haye Sainte to drive back the French. Lord Uxbridge, Wellington's cavalry commander spotted Napoleon's men advancing towards the British line, and charged with his cavalry against the French infantry. Napoleon’s line was greatly weakened but Wellington’s left flank was also damaged. The Battle of Waterloo Cont.

Napoleon and Blucher at Plancenoit:

Napoleon’s cavalry finally reaches the Prussians near Plancenoit which was a village 5 miles east of the battlefield. The Prussians attacked hard, forcing the French to commit more troops and even though the Prussians did not reach Wellington knew that they had created their own strong line forcing the French to split their resources.

The Battle of La Haye Sainte:

Napoleon’s forces were split between the east and west while Wellington had set up a central stronghold. For two hours heavily armored French cavalry charged at Wellington’s line. In response the British army split into square formation which managed to hold of Napoleon’s force of 4000 strong cavalry men. Unluckily for Wellington, after hours of defense of his most prized garrison, La Haye Sainte fell, giving Napoleon victory. Napoleon could now bring cannons and troops forward while all Wellington could do was hope for Prussian reinforcements.

The End of the Battle:

Napoleon prepared for his final push in which he sent 6000 troops toward the ridge that Wellington held. The troops on the left suffered from fire of Wellington’s held fort of Hougoumont but the troops on the right were fine as they were passing Napoleon’s fort of La Haye Sainte and managed to make it over the ridge unharmed. Napoleon’s men charged at Wellington, breaking his front line, but Wellington gave orders to stand strong and fire meaning that the British tore through French soldiers until they were forced to retreat. General Blucher’s and his forces had now finally arrived on Wellington’s left side and after one final decisive attack by Wellington and the Prussians, 10,000s of men were killed and quest for European dominance had been halted.

The OC and Charterhouse in London

Charterhouse in London:

Charterhouse in London started off as a small monastery, but when the monks who lived there refused to abolish the place for Henry VIII, the King took it and put it into his own lands. This land was then given to Lord North, who made it into a large house, and then it was given to Lord Norfolk, who made the house even larger. Eventually in 1611 the place was sold to Thomas Sutton, who then set the place up to become a school and a hospital. It grew in fame, mostly as a very good hospital, due to a very famous physician who worked there called Henry Levett. The school was eventually moved to a different site, in Godalming in 1872.

H.S.Blane

H.S.Blane was the son of Sir Gilbert Blane, who was an eminent physician. Gilbert Blane was also a baronet. H.S.Blane was at Charterhouse from June 1803 to December 1807, and he stayed in Raine's House. When he fought at the battle of Waterloo, he was a lieutenant colonel. He married Eliza Armit in 1832 and died in Derby on the 14th April 1869.

Bibliography

Websites: www.bbc.co.uk/timelines/zwtf34j en.wikipedia.org www.nam.ac.uk/waterloo200 www.britishbattles.com www.dailymail.co.uk

Other Sources:

Charterhouse Archives

DJM

Book – Charterhouse in London, Gerald S Davies

Book – Charterhouse Old and New, Wilmot & Streatfield