Battle of Waterloo 200 years ago today

“I saw the regiment of Black Brunswickers pass my window on their way to the field. That was the first intimation of what followed. In a few hours, the dull heavy sound of distant artillery was heard, and in a few more the wounded were brought into Brussels in increasing numbers.”

Extract from ‘Some Notices of My Life’ by John Davy (M 118/4 Raymond Richards Collection, Keele University Library)

This personal account from John Davy’s manuscript memoirs is held in our Archives. John Davy was a doctor and brother of the noted chemist Sir Humphry Davy. He joined the British Army Medical Department and, at the time of the Battle of Waterloo, was attached to the principal military hospital at Brussels as hospital assistant.