Waterloo veterans honoured with epic grave restoration in touching tribute

Waterloo veterans who fought in the world-changing battle on this day (Sunday) over 200 years ago have been honoured with incredible grave restorations. Private John Russell of the Scots Guards and Captain William Hewett of the 14th Regiment of Foot fought in the titanic culmination of the struggle between Napoleon and Wellington on June 18, 1815. As well as surviving, incredibly both men came away without serious injury, even though Russell was stationed in one of the bloodiest corners of the battlefield.

Russell, who would have been in his mid-20s, fought at Hougoumont Farm which famously held off attack after attack from the French against all the odds and despite being almost burnt to the ground.

Captain Hewett and his men were not far from the farm in an area of the field that saw less fighting, but that was no less dangerous with cannon balls flying around everywhere. Russell would go on to die aged 78 in 1864 and Hewett followed aged 96 in 1891, the latter becoming the oldest surviving English officer to have fought in the conflict.

Waterloo became etched in Britain’s psyche and was known as the Great War, until that title was taken by the enormous bloodshed of the First World War. Since the Second World War that followed, the nation has honoured and commemorated the fallen from both those 20th century conflicts and memorials and graves are rightfully maintained.

For the thousands of graves of those that took part in Waterloo a hundred years earlier, some have fallen into disrepair and there is no official government body to maintain them.

But now thanks to the The Napoleonic & Revolutionary War Graves Charity (NRWGC) and a Southampton cemetery two monuments to veterans of Waterloo have been lovingly restored.

Zack White, from the NRWGC, works with a team of historians and enthusiasts and the families of Waterloo veterans, to transform neglected and tired grave sites into fitting lasting tributes.

As these photographs show, now headstones and plots of John Russell and William Hewett have undergone a painstaking makeover costing thousands.

The descendants of John Russell, and veterans from the Scots Guards, attended a ceremony to honour him on Saturday at a cemetery in Southampton.

Zack said: “Our job as a charity is to recognise that just because someone dies in or fought in what amounts to the ‘wrong war’, doesn’t mean that sacrifice means any less. And in the cases of people like Russell and Hewett, they were the lucky ones, they managed to get back.

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“But it’s still important to remember these conflicts because there would have been veterans who sustained injuries, or were traumatised, and they would have to live with that for the rest of their lives.

“There are other veterans in that cemetery who carried pieces of French lead in them till the day that they died, so whilst these two graves don’t represent the fallen from Waterloo, they are still a really important part of the Waterloo story.

“For us it’s really important that we take these opportunities to show that little bit of gratitude for the service they gave to their country.”

Attending the ceremony on Saturday were Colin Russell, John’s great-great-grandson, his son John and grandson Kit, and extended family.

Colin said: “We the Russell family are delighted that The Napoleonic and Revolutionary War Graves Charity have chosen to honour the memory of my great-great-grandfather, John, by wonderfully restoring his grave and arranging a service to celebrate his life and his contribution to the Battle of Waterloo.

“The memorial service to commemorate John was very moving and we had 15 family members there, it was really special. Just being able to honour great-great-grandfather in that way was wonderful.”

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The NRWGC have restored several grave sites up and down the country and also work on securing the return and proper burials of disinterred veterans from the Napoleonic Wars lying unrecognised abroad in Spain and France.

Zack said John Russell fought at a point on the battlefield Wellington considered one of a few vitally important breakwaters to try and hem in some of the French attacks.

He said: “Over the course of the day Hougomont becomes a siege within a battle, at one point there a very famous break-in where a massive axe-wielding French lieutenant Legros, nicknamed ‘The Enforcer’, smashes his way into one of the courtyards wielding this axe.

“It’s left to some of the guardsmen to force those gates shut, cutting off the French attackers from any reinforcements and ultimately killing the Frenchmen who had managed to find their way inside.

“Later in the battle the French brought a howitzer shell to fire on the complex causing it to catch fire, some of the wounded inside literally had to try and crawl out rather than face being burnt alive.

“The only part of the chateau itself that doesn’t burn down is the chapel, it’s one of those almost fable-like parts of the battle when the soldiers manage to crawl inside the chapel and just about manage to survive because the flames lick around the very narrow entrance to the building.

“The only damage that is done is that the flames singe off one of Christ’s legs from the crucifix above the door, the rest of the chapel survives.

“This was a scene of really bitter, really important fighting and for us to remember somebody like Russell, an ordinary member of the rank and file within that, I think is a really poignant reminder of the significance of the ordinary person in these stories rather than purely focusing on the people at the top, like Wellington or Napoleon.”

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Captain William Hewett, Zack said, was only with his regiment for a few months before being called to Waterloo aged just 20.

He said: “He was Captain for just seven months prior to Waterloo but with his unit for just two. His unit, the 14th Foot isn’t in the thick of the fighting like Russell, it’s a very different story.

“They are posted not all that far from Hougoumont, but it’s a much quieter part of the field, the far right flank and it’s Hougomont that takes the brunt of the fighting.

“That doesn’t change the fact that he takes the risk, there are cannon balls flying around everywhere in this battle, and just because they’re not involved in some of the more famous incidents doesn’t mean that they didn’t play their role within the battle.

“The regiment is very proud of Hewitt, and when the regimental history was recorded later that century, a photograph of Hewett was included within it.”

Both men received a Waterloo Medal after the battle, the first campaign medal minted by the British Army.

Zack said: “All of our work is paid for directly by us and our entire revenue stream is membership and donations, and we’ve invested several thousand pounds at this point in a number of grave restoration projects, they can be extremely expensive.

“Our hope is we can start having conversations with the government about a more financially stable means of funding that will enable us to invest much more proactively and look at permanent maintenance programmes, which is the aim.”

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