Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The Waterloo Medal awarded to ‘Hougoumont Defender’ Private E. Wharton, 2nd Battalion, 3rd Foot Guards

Waterloo 1815 (Edw. Wharton, 2nd Batt. 3rd Reg. Guards.) fitted with original (?) steel clip and split ring suspension, good very fine £2,600-£3,000

Edward Wharton enlisted into the 2nd Battalion of the Third Foot Guards on 18 December 1813, whilst ‘on service’. The battalion had embarked at London for Holland in that same month as part of Sit Thomas Graham’s force and were in action against the French at Bergen-op-Zoom in March 1814. Following Napoleon’s abdication the regiment moved to Brussels, where it remained until his escape from exile, taking part in the Waterloo campaign, fighting at Quatre Bras on 16 June and at Waterloo two days later.

Wharton was a member of Lieutenant-Colonel William Master’s Light Company and was thus a Hougoumont defender, in company with the light companies of the First Foot Guards and the Coldstream Guards, the whole being under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel James Macdonnell of the Coldstreamers. The 2/3rd Foot Guards, in Lieutenant-Colonel Master’s absence, was commanded by Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Dashwood at both Quatre Bras and Waterloo.

At Waterloo these three light companies were allotted the inside defence of the chateau of Hougoumont. Throughout the day the defenders frustrated the attacks by more than 30,000 Frenchmen who failed to take the position, moving Wellington to record in his despatch of the next day that the occupation of the chateau ‘was maintained throughout with the utmost gallantry by those brave troops notwithstanding the repeated efforts of large bodies of the enemy to obtain possession of it.’

Specifically, Sergeants MacGreggor and Aston of the 3rd Foot Guards helped to close the gates, Captain Evelyn was wounded, and Privates Brooker, Clay (who wrote a narrative of these events) and Gann are recorded in various histories. Wharton returned to London with the battalion in January 1816, but is not found on any muster rolls after 24 June 1816. On those where he is named, he is clearly shown as a ‘Waterloo man’ and confirmed on the roll as part of Lieutenant-Colonel Master’s Company.

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