The new foyer exhibition at Dumfries Museum has the answer. 200 years ago in June the Battle of Waterloo marked the end of over 20 years of war that ravaged Europe in the late 1700s and early 1800s. Many local men were involved in local defence forces while others went to fight in Europe and some lost their lives there. Those who survived were celebrated for years to come. Monuments to these men were erected all over Britain and include the Waterloo Monument at New Abbey.
The inscription on this monument reads:
Erected A.D. 1816
To record the Valour
Of those British, Belgian
And Prussian soldiers.
Who under WELLINGTON and
BLUCHER
On the 18th of June 1815
Gained the victory
Of
WATERLOO;
By which, French tyranny
Was overthrown;
And peace restored,
To the world.
Napoleon Bonaparte was one of the greatest military leaders in history. The Napoleonic Wars, a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, were waged by Napoleon’s French Empire and its allies against a series of coalitions of other European nations.
In 1808 France began fighting Spain, Britain and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula. Costly French defeats over the next five years drained French military resources and Napoleon’s invasion of Russia in 1812 resulted in a disastrous retreat. The tide started to turn in favour of the allies and in March 1814 Paris fell and the French monarchy returned to the throne. Napoleon was detained on the Mediterranean island of Elba.
In March 1815 Napoleon escaped, marched on the French capital, gathering support as he went, and overthrew the French King Louis XVIII. This began “The Hundred Days War” which ended with a decisive battle near the town of Waterloo in Belgium on Sunday 18 June 1815.
The foyer exhibition at Dumfries Museum includes a Galloway Militia jacket which is on display for the first time following extensive conservation work carried out by students at the Centre for Textile Conservation at Glasgow University. The jacket would have been worn in the early 1800s by an officer of the Galloway Militia, one of the many small forces which were set up to defend local areas in the event of a French invasion. Alongside the jacket is a battered Royal Scots Belgic Shako hat of the type that would have been worn at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. A beautifully detailed model of a 19th Century 90 gun Napoleonic Man-of-War made by a French prisoner of war is also on show. Napoleon would not exchange prisoners, so by 1811 the number of Frenchmen held in England had become overwhelming. It was decided to parole French officers within the Royal Burghs of the south of Scotland and over 2,000 officers were sent to Dumfries, Lockerbie, Lochmaben and Sanquhar. More detailed information about these events is available for visitors to read, including a list of soldiers associated with Dumfries and Galloway who took part in The Battle of Waterloo campaign compiled by local historian Sandy Hall.
Councillor Tom McAughtrie, Chair of the Council’s Community and Customer Services Services, said:
“It is good to see an exhibition showing how the Napoleonic Wars and the Battle of Waterloo impacted on our local area. Dumfries Museum has forged a productive relationship with the Textile Conservation Centre at Glasgow University enabling more of our amazing local history collection to be displayed.
Dumfries and Galloway Council will be holding commemoration events in conjunction with Dumfries’ twin town Giffhorn who also had troops at the Battle of Waterloo and the Community Council in New Abbey are planning to stage an event on 18 June, the day of the 200th anniversary of the battle.”
On Thursday 5 March, 7pm there will be a talk by Geoff Hancock, Honorary Curator of Entomology at the Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow. He will speaking about Captain John Laskey (c1750-1829), soldier and antiquarian.
In 1813 a guide to the Hunterian Museum, University of Glasgow, was written by Captain John Laskey, of the Kirkcudbright and Galloway 21st Militia. This talk traces the story of Laskey from his Devon roots, through his interests in natural history and antiquities, to becoming a career soldier based in Scotland during the Napoleonic wars. As a collector, familiar with the major museums and books of this period of The Enlightenment, Laskey published work on a wide variety of fascinating subjects. Admission to this talk is free but booking is required. Please phone Dumfries Museum on 01387 253374 to reserve a place. Light refreshments will be served.
One partner. No competitors. Full visibility across the region.
