With the advent of the Fifth Coalition he established a corps of ‘Black Brunswickers’ at his own expense, dressed in black in mourning for their occupied country. In 1809 after the loss of Braunschweig he fled to Britain seeking employment with his brother-in-law The Prince Regent. The Brunswickers were then shipped to the Peninsular to fight under Wellesley gaining a good reputation for themselves in the process.
The Brunswickers were heavily engaged at Quatre Bras on 16 June 1815. Towards late afternoon the Leib-Battalion found themselves hemmed in by cavalry whilst taking artillery fire and suddenly gave way running towards the Namur Road. The Duke halted the battalion and was in the process of rallying them when a musket ball knocked him from his horse. Some of his staff carried him to the rear in a blanket hoping he was not badly injured, but he died shortly afterwards.
The figure is BRN/30 The Duke of Brunswick, in Death’s Head shako and braided coat (on horse BNH/11).
13 comments:
Looks every inch the hero!
Ross - yes, let's see how he fares on the table!
Lovely
What a fabulous figure. You've done him proud, Ian
I simply can't guess what you're going to do next!
Best regards
WM
WM - yes what can it be?
Very nice. The decoration, lace and blue really stand out.
I enjoyed painting this one - the blue does give a very nice contrast to the black I think.
Elegant - very nicely done. Black, of course, is the new red.
The Duke of Brunswick and Von Lutzow are the original men in black.
Very nicely done. Are you planning some more Brunswickers to add your Brunswick cavalry so your Duke has something to lead?
Mark - the Leib-Battalion is up next and I'm thinking the Duke should have a +1 to rally!
I've seen all the HH personality figures in the past - apart from this one, I believe. I've never seen the D of B before seeing your photo, though I've seen him listed in the catalogue. Is the figure especially rare? The only other one I'd never seen until recently was Lasalle.
Tony - It's taken me 10 years to get this figure so from my perspective it is the most rare of the personality figures. This completes my collection of them but I still have a fair few to paint!
Perhaps a +1 to rally if he dies doing it? Lovely figure and nice to see him in other than the 'forage cap' he is often shown in; the shako is far more Ducal.
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