Brussels Cemetery - The British Waterloo Campaign Monument

The British Waterloo Campaign Monument

The idea of bringing together the remains of British officers that had been killed during the Waterloo Campaign of 1815, was first suggested in 1861. In 1882, the City Council of Brussels approved a suggestion to donate 30 square metres of the cemetery to re-bury British officers whose graves were in Brussels or around the battlefields of Waterloo and Quatre Bras. In 1888, a public subscription was launched by Queen Victoria in the United Kingdom to finance a suitable monumemt. The resulting sculpture by Jacques de Lalaing is a large edifice of bronze figures on a plinth of rusticated stone blocks. It depicts Brittannia with lowered hemet and trident, surrounded by discarded British weapons, uniforms and equipment. Three lions lie at her feet; one is sleeping. Attached to the sides of the plinth are circular shields bearing the names of the regiments that fought in the campaign. Amongst the inscriptions is "MORITUORUM PATRIA MEMOR". The monument was unveiled in 26 August 1890.

Below the monument is a crypt with 16 niches containing 17 bodies, which were transferred there between 1890 and 1894. Four of these were killed at Quatre Bras, the remainder at Waterloo. The exception, and the only Non-Commissioned Officer, is Sergeant-Major Edward Cotton (7th Hussars), who survived the battle to become a guide for tourists to the battlefield and was buried at Hougomont after his death in 1849. The remainder are all British Army officers and include Colonel Sir William Howe de Lacy (the Quartermaster-General of the British Army), Colonel Edward Stables and Lieutenant-Colonel William Henry Milnes (both 1st Foot Guards), and Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Alexander Gordon (3rd Foot Guards).