James Graham (British Army Soldier) - "The Bravest Man at Waterloo"

"The Bravest Man At Waterloo"

Wellington's respect for those who served in Hougoumont was well known. After the battle he wrote: "You may depend upon it, no troops could have held Hougoumont but the British, and only the best of them." But among those "best soldiers", Graham stood out as being exceptional. In August 1815, John Norcross, the Rector of Framlingham, sought to make over the income from a freehold farm to the "most deserving soldier at Waterloo"; he approached the Duke of Wellington, who nominated Graham. Graham received an annuity from the farm of £10 a year for two years until the vicar became bankrupt. Wellington's Supplementary Dispatches (Vol. 11) make mention of Graham:

assisted Lieutenant-colonel Macdonnell in closing the gates, which had been left open for the purpose of communication, and which the enemy were in the act of forcing. His brother, a corporal in the regiment, was lying wounded in a barn, which was on fire, and Graham removed him so as to be secure from the fire, and then returned to his duty. He had been 3 2/12 years in the regiment.

This honour is noted in his service record now held at the Public Record Office, with the words: "The most valorous NCO at the battle of Waterloo selected by the Duke of Wellington."

The Reverend Norcross died in 1837. It was reported in a number of books and newspapers in the years following that Norcross had recovered his fortunes enough to leave £500 in his will to "the bravest man in England" and that, once appealed to, Wellington again turned to the events in Hougoumont, selecting Colonel Macdonnell. Macdonnell apparently split the bequest with Graham, since they had shut the gate together. There remains some doubt concerning this second bequest. Graham's entry in the Dictionary of National Biography records only the initial annuity, and states that "various apparently incorrect versions of the Norcross gift have been published." Archibald Murray (in 1862) made reference to "the alleged sum of £500" given to Colonel Macdonnell and reported investigations made by a fellow researcher who could find no proof of this bequest; Murray concluded that the reports arose from a misrepresentation of the original annuity. In his history of Waterloo, Colonel Siborne provided a full account of Graham's action at Hougoumont and the later annuity, but made no reference to the second bequest, despite reporting Graham's own death at Kilmainham Hospital. Siborne had personally interviewed Graham.