Orders, Decorations and Medals

An invitation to Lieutenant-General Sir George and Lady Scovell to attend a Buckingham Palace Ball, together with other family papers and items of Waterloo interest, including a cutting of hair taken from Sir George’s charger at Waterloo: the invitation from the Lord Chamberlain for a ‘Full Drefs.’ Ball to be held at the Palace on 26th June 1850; the cutting of hair from Sir George’s Waterloo charger contained in an envelope with old ink inscription, ‘Hair of Waterloo Horse ridden by my uncle Sir George Scovell at the battle in 1815’, and accompanied by a printed Copy of Memorandum of Service at the Battle of Waterloo by General Sir George Scovell, G.C.B., ‘For Private Circulation Only’, n.d., and a printed pamphlet with explanatory notes in respect of Captain Siborne’s model diorama of the Battle of Waterloo (1851); the assorted family letters / papers, including items in Sir George’s own hand, a family tree and a delivery card from the Marquess of Anglesey, generally in good condition (Lot) £150-200

George Scovell was born in London in March 1774 and was appointed a Cornet in the 4th Dragoons in 1798.

A member of the Quarter-Master’s Staff during the Peninsular War, he is most remembered for his part in breaking French codes with the assistance of a mixed team of linguists, or ‘Army Guides’, the whole enlisted for their local knowledge. In the Spring of 1811 the French commenced using a code based on a combination of 150 numbers known as the ‘Army of Portugal Code’; Scovell cracked the code within two days. As a consequence, the enemy created the ‘Great Paris Code’ which was based on 1400 numbers derived on a mid-eighteenth century diplomatic code - the Grand Chiffre - a code which contained meaningless figures at the end of letters. Yet by December 1812, after a letter had been intercepted from Joseph Bonaparte to Napoleon, Scovell and his team were able to decipher sufficient text to uncover the former’s account of future French plans. In fact, the information gleaned from the letter proved invaluable in securing Wellington’s victory at Vittoria in June 1813; for the full story, see Mark Urban’s The Man Who Broke Napoleon’s Codes (2001).

Towards the end of the Peninsular War, Scovell raised and commanded the Staff Corps of Cavalry, the first formal unit of military police in the British Army. He was appointed K.C.B. in January 1815 and was present at Waterloo on Wellington’s staff. He subsequently served as Lieutenant-Governor (1829-1837) and Governor (1837-1856) of the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, and was promoted to G.C.B. in May 1860. He died in January 1861 and was buried at the college.