Yet Another Ancestor – we all have them. This year it’s the two hundredth anniversary of the Battle of
Waterloo and my great-great-grandfather was there.
Henry Dumaresq was then a twenty three year old Major in
Wellington's Army. He joined the Army as an Ensign in Portugal in 1807 and
served without a break, rising through the ranks and finishing up as Major and
ADC to General Byng of the 2nd. Brigade of Guards. He fought at all the major
battles in the Peninsula and in France.
Henry had no fortune behind him. His father had served in the
Army for twenty years in Canada. He returned to England, married and settled
down, running the militia in Worcester for some years before dying of liver
cancer.
Because of his service in the Army, the War Office offered to
educate Henry and his brothers and they all went into the Army as “Ensigns,
without purchase”. Henry went into the 9th. Foot, now the Norfolk Regiment.
Henry was also at the Duchess of Richmond's Ball, on the eve
of the battle. The news of Napoleon's advance over the border reached
Wellington at the ball late at night. He borrowed a map from his host, and
decided then and there that he would stop him at Waterloo.
The officers famously all left the ball and returned to their
duties. Henry would have been inordinately busy as ADC to a brigade commander.
He was involved with the defence of Hougoumont, a large
farmhouse which spent a long time being assaulted by the pick of Napoleon's
troops. He took a musket ball through the lungs, but stayed on his horse long
enough to deliver a despatch to Wellington. The musket ball was never removed
and led to his premature death twenty three years later
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| Castle of Hougoumont |
Dumaresq is a Jersey name, and Henry was the only Jerseyman
recorded as being at the Battle.
Georgette Heyer wrote of both the ball and battle in her
impeccable historical romances, An Infamous Army, and The Spanish Bride. (two
of my personal favourites of any books)
After the battle, Henry made a remarkable recovery, all be it
with the ball still in him. One of his sisters, Elizabeth, married General
Ralph Darling who went out to Mauritius, and thence to New South Wales, as
Governor. He took Henry with him as his Military secretary. Darling's name is
perpetuated in New South Wales, with Darling Harbour in Sydney and the
Murray-Darling River complex. The Dumaresq River separates Queensland from New
South Wales.
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| Henry Dumaresq |
In June 1827 Henry returned to England and married Sophia,
daughter of Augustus, Earl of Lanesborough. They went back to Australia and
bought land in the Hunter Valley and ran sheep. (Now, if only they had made
wine!) This was never a success, and Henry's physical condition worsened. He
eventually died and is buried at Muswellbrook. The local town, Armidale, is now
called Armidale Dumaresq after him.
They had three sons and four daughters. There are still
Dumaresqs in Australia, mostly in Victoria and Tasmania. I've met some of them
over the years. One of them, Martin, still farms on the family farm in
Tasmania, on one of the oldest farms there. They still have the convicts’
quarters on the farm, now unoccupied.
The Duchess of Richmond's Ball was revived some years ago and
is held in Brussels under the auspices of the British Embassy. It is VERY posh
and raises substantial funds for charity. This year's Ball is completely sold
out, and the waiting list closed.
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