It
all culminated at Hougoumont The letters of Captain John
Lucie Blackman 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards, 1812-15
Published June 2009
ISBN
9781905074945
Softback
or
Limited
Edition Hardback available from
Ken Trotman
Ltd
or
Amazon.co.uk
Anyone
who has walked the battlefield of
Waterloo
and has strolled through the grounds of Chateau Hougoumont,
will know of the simple stone laid to mark the grave of
Captain John Lucie Blackman, Coldstream Guards, lying next to
the grave stone of Edward Cotton of the 7th
Hussars. Neither body actually lies in these graves today, for
both were chosen to be amongst the select few whose bodies
were interred within the impressive but melancholy Memorial at
Evere
Cemetery
in 1889. But what was the story of this young man who died so
tragically that day?
John
Lucie Blackman was the second son of George Blackman, a
director of the Bank of England, who later changed his surname
to Harnage to succeed to Belleswardine House in
Shropshire.
His mother was Mary Harnage, a cousin of his father and the
daughter of Lieutenant Colonel Henry Harnage. John Lucie
Blackman was born on 4
October 1793,
he attended Westminster
School
until 1808 and then joined the 1st Battalion
Coldstream Guards as an Ensign on 5
April 1810.
Initially serving in London,
Blackman was eventually sent to
Spain
in early 1812 to join Wellington’s
army. The Guards were present at all the major engagements but
little used during the campaign of 1812 and 1813; Blackman
arrived in Spain just as Badajoz was stormed and was present
at the Battle of Salamanca and was fully involved in the
abortive attempt to besiege Burgos, where he had many close
escapes. He was a witness to the retreat and subsequent march
to France
in 1813, witnessing the victory of
Vitoria
and the storming of San
Sebastian.
Involved in the early combats of 1814 within
France,
John Lucie Blackman was probably very lucky to return home to
the 2nd Battalion on his appointment as a
Lieutenant & Captain on 11 January and thus missed the
final contest of the war at Bayonne
which proved both costly and a futile waste as Napoleon had
already abdicated. Transferring to his new battalion which was
already in Belgium
in a force under the command of Sir Thomas Graham, he missed
the failed storming of Bergen op Zoom and arrived only in time to settle into
a comfortable billet.
This
idyll was shattered in March 1815, with the reappearance of
Napoleon on the throne of
France.
His early letters from
Belgium
go into detail on the confusion and politics of the day and
then into preparations for war. Unfortunately his last letter
was written on the night of the 15th June as he
prepared to march. He fought in the evening at Quatre Bras and
then marched with his regiment back to that fateful field of
Waterloo.
He fought all day in defence of the Chateau of Hougoumont and
survived unharmed, but death was not to be cheated of his
prize and as the regiment joyfully stepped out from behind the
battered walls and shouts of joy rent the air as they chased
the fleeing remnants of the massed French hordes from the
field; a shot rang out, presumably a last aimed shot from a
French veteran before he also turned and ran. The ball struck
home, striking the temple
of John
Lucie
Blackman,
death was instant; he died in the moment of triumph.
His
death was witnessed by his men (and possibly by Sergeant Major
Edward Cotton of the 7th Hussars) and his body was
identified the following day and he was buried in a shallow
grave, near the spot he had spent all day defending, in the
grounds of Hougoumont. A plaque was erected in the Protestant
church near Brussels
and a simple stone placed over his grave which remains a
poignant reminder of the losses incurred that day although the
grave no longer holds him.
Apart
from his moving story, is there any need for the publication
of yet another set of letters from the Peninsula
and Waterloo
campaigns from an officer in the Coldstream Guards? We already
have the letters of John Mills and John Rous published by Ian
Fletcher and I have already published those of George Bowles,
but yet John Lucie Blackman does have something different to
say. Constantly having to explain his ‘profligacy’ to his
father, he does something which the others don’t do, that is
to explain the minutiae of life as a Guards officer, the costs
involved and the kit that was deemed essential for a life on
campaign. There are also a number of letters sent by his
friend Assistant Surgeon Thomas Maynard, both in defence of
his friends financial position, but also adding much important
information. Much of this is new and revealing; it paints a
very vivid image of the everyday life they led, something
which was too mundane for most correspondents but invaluable
to military
historians.
Blackman,
does also however deal with the fighting that occurred and is
not afraid to criticise his seniors in these private letters
to his father, General Graham for example is clearly viewed as
too old and ‘past it’ in 1813 and the failures in Holland are
firmly planted at his door. Interesting comments are made
about building a defensive line on the Pyrenees; specific
marksmanship training being carried out by the whole battalion
rather than platoon firing and prior warnings having been
received of the sortie from Bayonne amongst
others.
In
fact, there is much of interest within these pages and it has
been a privilege to work on these letters, it was a
bittersweet experience.
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