Scotland Forever

Surely one of the most famous cavalry charges in history – the charge of the Scots Grey’s at the battle of Waterloo. Here my Hinton Hunt Scots Grey’s troopers are about to collide with the French 45th Infantry Regiment. Sergeant Ewart (that must be him on the horse out front) is just moments away from snatching the Eagle from the hands of the French.

The Scots Grey’s were brigaded with the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons and the 1st (Royal) Dragoons to make up the famous Union Brigade at Waterloo. There were six troops present commanded by Lieutenant Colonel Hamilton and they suffered over 200 casualties on that one day of action. Interestingly the Grey’s spent the whole of the Napoleonic Wars except the last 100 days at home in blighty. I haven’t been able to find out exactly what they did during that time but I guess they must have been employed on policing duties. No wonder they were a bit keyed up by the time they finally got to make that charge.

There was a rumour that the Grey’s were drunk at the time of their famous action although some believe it may just have been a mix up in the translation of the word grey into French. I am half Scottish myself and many years ago had the experience of being in the middle of Glasgow at closing time on a Friday night. I can confirm that the average Scot has difficulty negotiating Sauchiehall Street on foot after a wee dram so I think galloping about on a big grey horse is definitely out of the question.