Description
Waterloo Medal, 1815, Private Thomas Dobinson, Light Company, 2nd Coldstream Guards, a defender of Hougoumont under Colonel Wyndham.
Provenance of this medal:
First traced as sold in Spink, during 1893 for 30/-
Glendining, December 1913, 40/-
C&H, July 1961, £7.
Officially impressed: “THOMAS DOBINSON 2nd BATT, COLDSTREAM GDS.”
All the original impressing is clear and intact, the medal with contact marking and general wear, fitted with contemporary replacement clip and split ring suspension.
With copy service records and other research.
During the Battle of Waterloo, Private Thomas Dobinson, was a member of Lieutenant Colonel Wyndham’s Light Company.
He was one of the more seasoned of the men on the field, having been a Coldstream Guardsman since 1799, and had seen prior service in “Spain and Holland” before Waterloo.
It is remembered that the Light Company under Wyndham was responsible for the guarding of the Chateau of Hougoumont.
His commanding officer on the day, Lt Col & Captain Henry Wyndham, later General, Sir and KCB, was one of the Officers who took part in the famous “Closing of the Gates” at Hougoumont, apparently from the horrors of the day, which including cutting down the entire French party that had squeezed in through the gate, he would never close another door in his life (another 45 years), rather sit in a howling draught than risk recalling that day.
It was also a fellow 2nd Coldstream Guards man, Corporal James Graham, who sealed the gates and is remembered as “The bravest man in the army.” for his actions that day, including shooting dead a French Sniper moments from shooting Lt Col Wyndham.
Including in the French Intruders, was a man called Lieutenant Legros, who was wielding a hefty Axe, and had the nickname “L’Enforceur” or the “Smasher”, a giant hulk of a Frenchmen. By the end of the struggle, the Coldstream Guards left behind only a Drummer Boy, as the sole survivor.
In the attached photograph is a painting of Monsieur Legros wielding his axe, storming into the gates whilst the Coldstreams desperately attempt to stop the flow of incoming Frenchmen.
THOMAS DOBINSON, COLDSTREAM GUARDS FROM 1799-1816
Thomas was born in Woolsingham, Durham, circa 1774.
First attested for service, being a former Shoemaker, with the Colstream Guards on 20th October 1799 – 12th October 1802, and after a short discharge served again from 15th August 1803 – 6th March 1817.
Total service 16 years 197 days, with another 2 years added on for Waterloo, totalling 18 years 197 days of service.
Discharged in consequence of “He is infirm, his general health being bad the effects of service in SPAIN, HOLLAND.”
Given his early attestation date, it is possible he was also with the contingent that were shipped to Egypt for the Invasion of Egypt during 1801.
The note in his service papers that he did however served in both Spain and Holland, would show that he served also during the Peninsular Wars.
In 1809, the Battalion sailed to Portugal under Sir Arthur Wellesley, they spent a long time there and in 1814 fought in the Battle of Bayonne.
The 2nd Battalion would also join the ill-fated Walcheren Expedition in the Netherlands (Likely the Holland being referred to), which had a mysterious effect on the health of the soldiers involved which was commonly called the “Walcheren Fever”.
After the end of the Waterloo campaign, he was discharged as being no longer fit on 6th March 1817.
Although he was over 40 at the Battle of Waterloo, after his discharge he still had plenty of time to wear the medal.
His is later found many years later on the 1851 Census.
A “Pensioner” aged 78, named Thomas Dobinson, lived with his wife Elizabeth Dobinson
