Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

An interesting Waterloo Medal awarded to Captain and Brevet Major August Kuckuck, 3rd Line Battalion, King’s German Legion, later a Major-General in the Hannoverian service

Waterloo 1815 (Capt. & Bre. Maj. A. Kuckuck, 3rd Line Batt.) fitted with original steel clip and small ring suspension, nearly extremely fine £6,000-£8,000

Dix Noonan Webb, March 2008.

Johann Augustin Julius Kuckuck (known simply while in British service as August Kuckuck) was born at Steyerburg, Lower Saxony, on 18 October 1767, to a family with a long military tradition. He was married at Einbeck on 18 August 1788, and subsequently had five children, three of whom also fought at Waterloo in the 3rd Line Battalion, two of them being wounded. In 1784, aged 17, he enlisted into the 2nd Hannoverian Infantry Regiment, with whom he fought in Flanders under the Duke of York in 1793 and 1794, this being the campaign that gave rise to the old nursery rhyme, ‘Oh, the Grand Old Duke of York’.

Flanders with the 2nd Hanoverian Grenadier Battalion
In a skirmish following the coalition defeat by the French at the Battle of Hondschoote in September 1793, Quartermaster Sergeant Kuckuck joined a company in a bayonet charge against the French who were trying to storm the Esquelbeck Castle on the northern French border, during the Dunkirk operations. His actions left a good impression on the officers of the regiment. The Duke of York had won several notable engagements, such as the Siege of Valenciennes in July 1793, but was defeated at the Battle of Hondschoote in September 1793. During the following retreat Kuckuck helped defend a transport column of wounded. Finally, at the end of December 1793, the much-delayed promotion request was finally forwarded, and he was promoted to Ensign, whilst retaining his post as regimental paymaster. As an educated man he fitted well into the officer’s mess, and was quickly accepted as one of them.

Kuckuck asked his commanding officer to certify the promise the late commander had made to promote him, but it would seem that little was done. Obviously somewhat frustrated, Kuckuck took matters into his own hands and made a personal approach to the commanding general, the Reichsgraf von Wallmoden. The General having heard him out said that “What a Battalion commander has promised in his life has also to be kept when dead, so tell your new commander to send in the request for your promotion”. In addition to the promise of the late commander, no doubt it was also Kuckuck’s bravery at Esquelbeck which helped his case.

Kuckuck joined the newly formed King’s German Legion on 15 September 1804, being appointed, as Captain of a Company, to the 3rd Line Battalion and served in the expedition to Hannover from 1805 to 1806. In 1807 he took part in the expedition to the Baltic and Copenhagen, and from 1808 to 1814 he was stationed on the island of Sicily in the Mediterranean. Promoted to Brevet Major in the 3rd Line Battalion in June 1814, he was stationed in the Netherlands during the latter part of that year, and took part in the campaign of 1815 and the battle of Waterloo.

Kuckuck was promoted to substantive Major in the 5th Line Battalion in September 1815, but did not serve with his new regiment as he was sent to take command of the provisory Hedemann’schen Field Battalion, near Paris. Soon thereafter he was ordered to take command of the Hannoverian General Hospital at Courbevoie, which contained around 1600 sick and wounded. He was placed on half-pay on 25 April 1816, upon the reduction of the King’s German Legion, retaining his rank of Major in the British Army. Returning to Hannover he was re-commissioned into the Hannoverian army as Lieutenant-Colonel on 9 March 1816, and the following year appointed commander of the Münden Landwehr (Militia) Battalion at Hildesheim. In 1821 his request to be discharged was declined, and instead he was placed in the command structure of of the city of Hildesheim, a large and important city in Lower Saxony, where he served for another 20 years. He was promoted Colonel in January 1831, and appointed Platzkommandant (military commander) of the city of Hildesheim in May 1832. On 6 June 1838 he was promoted to Major-General, and now turned his mind to more civilian matters. In 1829, having raised a large amount of money and having gained the support of the King, Ernest Augustus, and his friend the Duke of Cambridge, Kuckuck founded the Taubstummenanstalt (Deaf and Dumb Institute) in Hildesheim and became its Managing Director. In recognition of his philanthropic work he was made the very first honorary citizen of the cities of Hildesheim and Münden in December 1834. The following year he was made a Knight of the Prussian Order of the Red Eagle and, in 1837, he was awarded the Wilhelm Gold Cross for 25 years’ exemplary service. Major-General Kuckuck died at Hildesheim on 18 July 1841, aged 78.

Sold with a fine oval miniature portrait in oils of the recipient in uniform wearing his Waterloo medal, contained in a contemporary red leather case; a copy of Peacock’s Polite Repository or Pocket Companion for 1818, with hand-written eulogy to the K.G.L. with reference to their services at Waterloo given by the Duke of Cambridge, bound in red leather; a wax impression of his official seal as commandant of Hildesheim; a group photograph of officers at Hildesheim, the reverse inscription identifying ‘Grandfather Kuckuck-Walden’ (this surname having been adopted by royal assent by his descendants in 1852). Also a modern copy Order of the Red Eagle, representative of his entitlement, and detailed copied research.