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Auction: 8023 - Orders, Decorations, Medals & Militaria
Lot: 223

The Superb Waterloo Medal to Captain T.N. Quicke, Who Led A Troop of the 1st King´s Dragoon Guards as Part of the Famous Charge of the Heavy Cavalry, the Household and Union Brigades, at the Battle of Waterloo, 18.6.1815 Waterloo 1815 (Capt. T.N. Quicke, 1st Reg. Dragoon Guards.), with steel clip, lacking suspension ring, nearly extremely fine Estimate £ 5,500-6,500 Captain Thomas Nutcombe Quicke, Commissioned Lieutenant 1808, 1st King´´s Dragoon Guards; Captain, December 1814; embarked with the regiment for Belgium in April 1815, where under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel W. Fuller they were added to the depleted Household Cavalry Brigade. Fuller´´s men consisted of 8 troops forming 4 squadrons, and on the fields of Waterloo, ´´The King´´s Dragoon Guards formed their four squadrons, probably some 530 sabres strong, in the centre of the front rank of the Household Brigade, with two squadrons of the 2nd Life Guards on their left flank, two squadrons of the 1st Life Guards on their right, and the two squadrons of the Blues in reserve. The brigade was stationed on the right-hand side of the main Brussels-Charloi road, with its left flank touching the road and set back about 200 yards from the crest.´´ (And They Rode On, Michael Mann, refers). As the battle progressed Wellington´´s left flank started to crumble under the advance of d´´Erlons divisions against Picton. At this crucial juncture Uxbridge ordered his two Brigades of heavy cavalry, formed unseen behind the ridge of this position, to charge in support of the flagging infantry. The Household Brigade (including Quicke´´s troop) under the command of Major-General Lord Edward Somerset charged down the hill in the centre of the battlefield smashing into the French brigade of Cuirassiers guarding d´´Erlons left flank. They routed the French cavalry, with Lord Somerset commenting, ´´The blows of sabres on the cuirasses sounded like braziers at work.´´ The squadrons positioned on the left of the Household Brigade´´s force rode on to destroy Aulard´´s brigade. Despite attempts to recall them they continued past La Haye Saint and found themselves at the bottom of the hill on spent horses facing Schmitz´´s brigade, which by then was formed in squares. The Union Brigade, under the command of Major-General Sir William Ponsonby, Scots Greys, similarly overstretched themselves in their excitement to get at the French. Napoleon´´s response was swift and brutal. He sent the cuirassier brigades of Farine and Travers and Jacquinot´´s two Lancer Regiments against the exultant but exhausted British Cavalry who were a long way from safety. As a consequence the Household and Union Brigades suffered. Quicke´´s Regiment suffered over 50% casualties during the course of the Waterloo Campaign, and lost their Commanding Officer during this charge. For the Group of Six to Captain A.H. Quicke see Lot 154.

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£11,000