How the Waterloo carriage was acquired--A chance conversation
on London Bridge--The strange adventures of an Emperor’s
equipage--Affidavit of Napoleon’s coachman.
The account of how we became possessed of the Waterloo carriage reads
like an interesting chapter from fiction.
In the collection are two other Napoleon vehicles, namely, the Milan
and St. Helena carriages. They are all strongly built, ponderous, and
suitable for a great campaigner.
[Illustration: NAPOLEON’S MILITARY CARRIAGE, CAPTURED ON THE RETREAT FROM
WATERLOO
This was discovered by Mr. Joseph Tussaud in London in 1842 and purchased
for the Tussaud collection.]
But what we are particularly concerned to tell at this moment is the
story of the strange coincidence by which the Waterloo carriage was
secured for the Exhibition. In all the wonderful happenings associated
with this place, possibly none is quite so simple and yet so surprising
as this. Mr. Joseph Tussaud, the elder son of Madame Tussaud, was a great
lover of London, and it was his delight to roam leisurely about the
Metropolis, studying the streets and byways and the people who traversed
them.
In one of these peregrinations during the spring of 1842 he found himself
leaning over the parapet of London Bridge, watching the movements of
the diversified craft on the river, when he observed by the wharves of
Billingsgate a carriage being hoisted ashore from the deck of a ship like
a huge spider hanging from its web.
That in itself was probably a fairly frequent occurrence, and it would
have passed from Mr. Tussaud’s memory except for what followed. There
were numbers of people looking over the bridge--as may be seen to-day,
and will be seen for many a day to come--and my great-uncle suddenly
heard the voice of a countryman next to him saying, “That’s a very fine
carriage, but I know where there’s a finer that some people would give a
lot to have. I could take you to a place where you could see the selfsame
carriage in which Napoleon tried to escape from Waterloo.”
This was news indeed to a Tussaud--the one man in all London to whom it
mattered most--and it may be imagined that the countryman was encouraged
to go on with his story and show the way to the coveted relic. The
carriage, which has since been of inestimable value to Madame Tussaud’s,
was traced to a repository in Gray’s Inn Road, belonging to one Robert
Jeffreys, “a respectable coach manufacturer, who took the carriage in
part payment of a bad debt,” as explained in a contemporary news-sheet.
Did ever time play a trick like that with the carriage of an Emperor? “In
part payment of a bad debt!” Who the debtor was, there is no telling now;
it is, however, known that the carriage had been bought at a Tattersall
auction, when short-sighted speculators let Napoleon’s chariot go cheap.
Previously the carriage had earned a fortune for Mr. William Bullock,
who took it round the country as an exhibit, which the people flocked
in their thousands to see, till the novelty wore off and the carriage
was rolled into the repository of Jeffreys, the coach-builder, where it
remained for years with none to do it reverence. An early cartoon by
Cruikshank, in November of the Waterloo year, portrays a clamorous crowd
surrounding the carriage when on view at the Egyptian Hall, and, it must
be admitted, treating it with scant respect.
The carriage had been sent as a present to George IV when Prince Regent,
and in due time it arrived at Carlton House with four high-stepping
Normandy horses. _Blackwood’s Magazine_ of March, 1817, states that
“Bonaparte’s military carriage has excited more interest as an exhibit
than anything for a number of years.” The manner in which the four horses
were driven through the city by the French coachman, Jean Hornn, who lost
his right arm when the carriage was captured, proves the excellent manner
in which the horses were broken in. Mr. Bullock, in whose hands this
splendid trophy of victory was placed by the Government, is said to have
cleared £26,000 by his exhibition of it.
There is a letter in existence by Mr. William Bullock in which he states
that
… the celebrated Carriage, taken by the Prussian troops about
fifteen miles from Waterloo on the evening of the great
Battle, was afterwards purchased by me from his late Majesty
George IV for the sum of £2,500, and exhibited by me at the
Egyptian Hall, Piccadilly, London, as well as in the principal
Cities in Great Britain and Ireland, by the Authority of the
Government, and is the identical carriage I have just seen in
your possession. The Diamonds found in the Carriage … were
purchased by Mr. Mawe, diamond merchant in the Strand, from
Baron Von Keller, the Officer that captured them. The present
one, with others, was purchased by me from Mr. Mawe.
I am, Dear Sir,
Your most obedient Servant,
WILLIAM BULLOCK.
It is not known what Mr. Joseph Tussaud paid Mr. Robert Jeffreys, the
Gray’s Inn Road coach-builder, for it; but this much may be said, that
the carriage which proved so good an investment for Mr. Bullock has
fulfilled all expectations at Madame Tussaud’s, where it is pre-eminently
the right thing in the right place.
It was certified at the time that M. Simon, of Brussels, built the
carriage, and that most of the contrivances for economising space and
ensuring comfort and convenience were suggested by the Emperor himself
and his second wife, Marie Louise; also that this was the carriage which
picked up Napoleon on his retreat to Paris after the burning of Moscow.
Scarcely less singular than the coincidence of my great-uncle meeting
with the countryman on London Bridge was my acquiring, sixteen years ago,
from a second-hand bookseller in Margate, an original official letter
relating to the carriage. The letter, it will be seen, bears a date
about five months after the Battle of Waterloo. It reads:
_Downing Street,
27th Nov., 1815._
SIR,
I am directed by Lord Bathurst to request that you would
receive into the King’s Mews the travelling carriage of General
Bonaparte, together with all its appurtenances, and also the
four horses and the harness taken from the same, and keep them
from public view till further notice.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
Your most obedient humble servant,
HENRY GOULBURN.
William Parker, Esqre., &c., &c., &c., Royal Mews.
The following affidavit sworn by Jean Hornn at the Mansion House before
the famous Lord Mayor, Sir Matthew Wood, on the 9th of March, 1816, is
of peculiar interest, containing as it does several important historic
details:
AFFIDAVIT OF JEAN HORNN.
JEAN HORNN, a native of Bergen-op-Zoom in Holland, and now of
Piccadilly in the County of Middlesex, aged twenty-eight years,
maketh oath:--
THAT about ten years ago he entered into the service of
Napoleon Bonaparte, the late Emperor of France, and attended
Napoleon in the capacity of his military coachman, through the
campaign which was distinguished by the battle of Jena--
THAT he attended Napoleon, in the same capacity of military
coachman, during the subsequent campaigns, through the greater
part of Prussia, Spain, Germany, and Russia, and in his
excursion to Italy--
AND this Deponent saith, that he drove the military Carriage of
the said Ex-Emperor from Paris to Waterloo; in which Carriage
the Emperor travelled thither, accompanied by General Bertrand--
THAT on the evening of the day on which the battle of Waterloo
was fought, he, this Deponent, was attacked while with the
said Carriage, by a detachment of Prussian lancers, and
other infantry, who captured the Carriage, together with the
Necessaire, and other articles it contained for the personal
use of the Ex-Emperor--
THAT whilst this Deponent was remaining with the Carriage, in
a field about thirty paces from the road, endeavouring to pass
round Jenappe (which was blocked up in the confusion of the
retreat) he, this Deponent received ten wounds in various parts
of the body; three of which were in his right arm--
THAT having then no appearance of life, he was left among the
dead--
THAT a few days afterwards, and whilst this Deponent was lying
in great agony at Jenappe, he was removed by a British officer;
who conveyed him to Brussels, and who obtained the amputation
of this Deponent’s arm, as well as surgical care of his other
wounds--
THAT he afterwards returned to Paris; and has received from the
present Government of France a small annual pension--
AND this Deponent saith, that he hath inspected the Carriage,
Horses, Necessaire of Gold and Silver, their respective Cases,
the Pistols, Wearing Apparel, and other Articles now exhibiting
at the London Museum, in Piccadilly (and which this Deponent
hath been informed have been received there from the British
Government), and that they are the same Carriage, Horses,
Necessaire, and other Articles which belonged to the late
Emperor of France, and were personally used by him--
AND that the Carriage is the same in which the Ex-Emperor
proceeded to Moscow; and which Carriage was driven by this
Deponent, with the Ex-Emperor therein, twenty-four leagues
beyond that City, on the road to Chotillowo--
THAT after the French army evacuated Moscow, and in the retreat
toward France, the same Carriage was removed from off the perch
and wheels, and placed on a sledge, and that the Ex-Emperor
travelled therein, and was driven by this Deponent--
AND this Deponent also saith, that he hath seen and examined
the Grey Surtout Coat, lined with Sable Fur, which is also at
the London Museum; and that it is the same which this Deponent
hath frequently seen worn by the said Ex-Emperor during the
Russian campaign; and that the parts of the coat which appear
to have been burnt and scorched were chiefly so burnt and
scorched by the fires, before which it was frequently placed
during that campaign--
AND this Deponent saith, that the Fur Travelling Cap, and the
several other Articles of Wearing Apparel (exclusive of those
which came from the British Government, and which are also at
the London Museum) were parts of the personal Wardrobe of the
Ex-Emperor of France; and were frequently used and worn by him--
AND this Deponent was present when the said Surtout Coat,
Travelling Cap, and other last-mentioned Articles were
purchased by Mr. Bullock, at Paris, of Guste Maitrot, who was
keeper of the Wardrobe to the late Emperor of France.
JEAN HORNN.
Sworn at the Mansion House, London, the 9th day of March, 1816;
having been first interpreted to the Deponent, JEAN HORNN, by
ADAM BRIEFF, who was sworn duly to interpret and explain the
same to him.
Before me, MATTHEW WOOD, Mayor.