7th Queen's Own British Regiment of Light Dragoons, Waterloo, 1815

On the eve of the Battle of Waterloo the 7th were honoured by General Henry Paget, by being given the charge on the advancing enemy, the French 2nd Regiment of Lancers - Colonel Sourd's in the action at Genappe. After a spirited and fearless succession of charges only nineteen of the 120 men of the 7th Hussar squadron were left in the saddle.

For the Battle of Waterloo itself, the 7th were on the extreme right of the allied line, 300 yards north of the Chateau of Hougoumont. Until 5pm they were not used, but then they charged more than twelve times. Standish O'Grady, 2nd Viscount Guillamore, then a lieutenant in the 7th Hussars mentions this in a letter to his father: "We charged twelve or fourteen times, and once cut off a Squadron of Cuirassiers, every man of whom we killed on the spot except the two officers and one Marshal de Logis, whom I sent to the rear".

In 24 hours the 7th Hussars had lost two Officers killed, and eleven wounded, sixty two other ranks killed and 109 wounded, while Uxbridge lost his leg to enemy artillery. According to anecdote, which is probably apocryphal, Uxbridge was close to the Duke of Wellington when his leg was hit, and exclaimed, "By God, sir, I've lost my leg!", to which Wellington replied "By God, sir, so you have!"
(source - wikipedia)

310gm Limited edition of 50 c/w authentication certificate
Illustration by David Higham