as seen through the Windsor and Eton Express newspaper reports.
Published in Windlesora 31 (2015)
© WLHG
1812 was the year the Windsor and Eton Express was first published, it was also the beginning of Napoleon’s road to Waterloo.
On 1 August 1812, the Windsor and Eton Express was launched with the news, on page two, that Wellington was facing a large French army near Salamanca. The same paper also informed its readers about Napoleon’s progress in Russia, which ‘had not been so rapid as he undoubtedly proposed to himself‘. The following week news of the ‘glorious victory of the Battle of Salamanca of 22 July’ was published:
The army of General Marmont was beaten by Wellington’s army in a battle lasting seven hours.
Wellington wrote in his dispatches, ‘the field of battle for two leagues is covered with dead’.
The news had taken over two weeks to reach England. The ship with Wellington’s dispatches had to put into Tenby in Wales because of adverse winds.
More news from Salamanca came in during the following weeks; Marmont’s army had been destroyed. Some reports said that the French lost 14,000, others 18,000 of which 7,000 were prisoners, four generals were killed and 32 pieces of artillery taken, Marmont lost an arm. Wellington lost 3,000 men, but a British general of French extraction was also killed. He was General le Marchant, the founder of the Royal Military College; his eldest son who was only just 17 years old, was his Aide-de-Camp.
On 22 August the paper published a list of killed and wounded, including numbers of horses killed. What is only hinted at was that Wellington’s army was a mix of British and Portuguese with some Spanish support.
Salamanca was the turning point in the war against Napoleon. He was now fighting on two fronts, and the campaign in Russia was not going well. Windsor was illuminated for three nights in honour of the victory, the Queen gave a sumptuous dinner, and the band of the 29th Regiment fired a salute in the Great Park. The Prince Regent granted a coat of arms to Arthur Wellesley, and the title Marques of Wellington, in recognition of his victory at Salamanca, plus a grant of £100,000 to purchase an estate.
Other news reported in great detail was Napoleon’s progress in Russia, the Battle of Borodino and the occupation of Moscow. Some of these reports were taken from the Paris press, others came in dispatches via Sweden and Heligoland and took nearly 4 weeks to reach England. As expected, reports from Paris were glowing, they were about the great victory at Borodino and Napoleon’s occupation of Moscow, but news from Russia was more damning. A letter from St Petersburg to Marshal Ney said: ‘We have buried 60,000 of your brethren, a horrible task’.
In November of 1812 the 29th regiment arrived back in Windsor from the Peninsula, much depleted, their losses at Salamanca had been severe, and they were given permission to recruit from local Militia regiments. Meanwhile, 1,000 men from the King’s German Legion embarked at Portsmouth to join Wellington in Spain.
At the end of January 1813, news from Russia revealed the truth. Napoleon had to leave his winter quarters in Moscow, as the Russians had destroyed all provisions and burned the town before fleeing east. It was also claimed that Napoleon had abandoned his troops, ordering them to defend themselves, as he did not want his soldiers to get back to France to give a negative review.
Napoleon, back in Paris in February claimed: ‘We triumphed over all the obstacles, even the fire of Moscow’. He also declared that all he wanted was peace, – and then started to recruit and train a new army. He claimed he felt threatened as the central European powers were re-arming themselves.
In May 1813, the Windsor and Eton Express reported that Napoleon had made his way back to central Europe, in response to unrest and anti French agitation in Germany and Holland. The 33rd regiment left Windsor for Harwich to embark for North Germany, which was under French rule but struggling to break free. The Duke of Sussex attended a dinner of the friends to German independence in London. Napoleon took Dresden on 11 July and on 27 August pushed the Allied armies back. The report from the Paris press was of a great victory for Napoleon the ‘enemy was soundly beaten and suffered huge losses’.
Meanwhile in Spain, Wellington was appointed General in Chief of the National Armies. The victory of the combined British, Portuguese and Spanish armies under Wellington, on 22 June 1813 at Vitoria, resulted in the total loss to the French of their artillery, their baggage and stores. The French army had been led by Napoleon’s brother Joseph, whom he had made king of Spain. In the scramble to get away, Joseph left behind valuable booty and abandoned several carriages packed with ladies who had come to watch his victory. Vitoria sealed Napoleon’s fate in Spain. The French reported 8,000 dead, wounded or captured, [although Wellington wrote in his dispatches that he had taken 13,000 prisoners] the allied army had 5,158 casualties. The news of the Battle of Vitoria was reported in Windsor on 4 July, the town celebrated with illuminations, and the Band of the Royal Horse Guards played in the Long, Walk. Wellington was awarded a field marshal’s baton.
By September 1813 reports from central Europe were of turmoil, and of French troops retreating after the battle at Toeplitz. The Prussian army, led by Blücher, claimed a great victory at Toeplitz. The dispatches reached England in a record 72 hours and were reported in the WEE on 19 September to much acclaim. The same paper carried news of Wellington’s siege of San Sebastian.
Toeplitz gave the European powers the incentive to try again, Prussia, Russia, Austria and Sweden formed a coalition. At Leipzig between 16 and 19 October allied troops of six nations finally beat Napoleon. It was called the Battle of the Nations and involved over 600,000 soldiers, making it the largest battle in Europe before World War One. The Swedish army had under their command a British Rocket Brigade armed with the recently developed Congreve rockets.
The news of the victory was reported in the WEE on 31 October:
The victory of General Blücher upon the 16th has been followed on the 18th by that of the whole of the combined forces over the army of Bonaparte in the neighbourhood of Leipzig.
There were the usual celebrations in Windsor, with illuminations and a ball at the Town Hall where the band of the 55th Regiment played. However, one shopkeeper had his windows smashed ‘for showing a lack of candles’.
During November 1813, Holland and Dresden were liberated, and Hanover was restored to the Duke of Cambridge. The Windsor and Eton Express wrote:
The Duke of Cambridge and suite left for Ramsgate where he will embark for Hanover, the whole number of horses amounted to 66.
Wellington still had been busy in Spain with battles at San Sebastian (31 August), and a retreat to Tarragona, after French troops had overpowered the combined King’s German Legion, a brigade of Portuguese artillery, and three Spanish regiments. The French, now under the command of Marshal Soult, were desperately trying to stop Wellington crossing into France, however, on 7 October Wellington did just that. Marshal Soult withdrew to Toulouse, and built elaborate defences.
It seems that Wellington made it briefly home for Christmas 1813, although there are no official reports about this. However, the Windsor and Eton Express wrote on 19 December, that Slough butcher Mr Shirley killed an oxen for Lord Wellington and sent it to him, and Wellington wrote him a letter of thanks. Back in France, he attacked Toulouse on 10 April, and after another long and bloody battle, the last of the Peninsula War, Wellington entered the town on 12 April. It was there that he learned that Napoleon had abdicated on 4 April. Wellington arrived in Paris on 4 May, just in time for the allied victory parade, but not in time to meet the man himself, who had been dispatched to Elba.
Windsor celebrated as before with illuminations, the bands of West Kent Militia and 5th Regiment marched through the streets. In April 250 French prisoners, some of whom had been in England for over 11 years, were allowed to return home. Wellington was made a Duke for his success in the Peninsula. In July 1814 he was granted the freedom of the town of Windsor, and reviewed his regiment, the Royal Horse Guards.
During Napoleon’s first exile, the Allies met in Vienna to decide on the fate of Europe. It was here that they received the news of Napoleon’s landing at Antibes on 1 March. England, Austria, Prussia and Russia signed a treaty to defeat Napoleon, and Wellington rushed to Brussels, where he arrived on 2 April. The Royal Horse Guards stationed in Windsor left town to join him there.
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on 18 June. According to Wellington it was ‘a close run thing’. The day was saved by the arrival of Marschall Blücher, who had survived a battle against French troops at Lingy two days earlier. (see separate article on Bücher).
England anxiously awaited Wellington’s dispatches with news of the
battle, but again as with Salamanca, there was a delay because of adverse weather in the Channel. This is how the news was brought to London by a civilian. The Windsor and Eton Express reported:
Mr Sutton, a gentleman of Colchester, the proprietor of the passage vessels sailing between Calais and Ostend was at Ostend when the official news arrived there and with great zeal and alacrity ordered one of his vessels to sea without waiting for passengers, and made the best of his way to town, to relieve the anxiety of government and the public by the earliest information.
Wellington’s dispatches, dated Waterloo 19 June 1815 were published the following week:
Bonaparte attacked with his whole force the British line supported by a corps of Prussians, which after a long sanguinary conflict terminated in the complete overthrow of the enemy’s army.
Napoleon fled to the west coast. He was captured by the British navy and taken to England, but was not allowed to disembark; instead he was taken directly to St Helena. Wellington again missed seeing the man he so much wanted to meet.
Dr Brigitte Mitchell
Sources:
Winsdor and Eton Express newspaper files.
Napoleon (Scott/Michaelis) (Gibson Square) 2014
Windsor Local History Group 