Thread by @ajcdeane

#Deanehistory 161. Hat tip @LiliLapis30

Lord Arthur Hill was a British soldier, devoted to the Duke of Wellington. Wellington valued his services in return, but had a lot on his plate preparing to fight Napoleon & seemingly forgot to put Arthur’s name to the team sheet.

Thus it was that, a mere two days before the Battle of Waterloo, Arthur received a message to come at once to the Duke's side to serve as his Aide-De-Camp. Being in London when the message reaching him, he sped immediately to Dover.

There were no sailings available – perhaps because the climax of the conflict was looming? – so Arthur hired a rowboat for the then rather large sum of £22, and with the owner to help him, promptly rowed himself across the Channel.

He reached the Duke and his army on the eve of the battle. Naturally his comrades asked him how he’d managed to make it. Upon hearing his account, Wellington expressed no surprise – instead, he simply told his staff officers: “if there had been no boat, Arthur would have swum.”

Lord Arthur went on to become a General, and also became the second Lord Sandys of Ombersley Court. His descendants still own the boat’s £22 bill, enclosed in an envelope with a letter to his mother Arthur dashed off to reassure her he was OK the day after Waterloo.

Complete contents of said letter: "My dear Mama. I have just time to say that I am quite well after the hardest battle that ever was fought. Bonaparte was present and completely beat."

Grade I Listed building Ombersley Court stands magnificently in its beautiful gardens in Gloucestershire today, as it did in Wellington’s time. The Iron Duke often visited the Sandys family after Waterloo; during & since those visits the great house has boasted “the Duke's Room.”

In pride of place in front of the Court stands an enormous Wellingtonia tree planted by the Duke. Moreover, a perfect replica of La Haye Sainte, the farmhouse around which the Battle of Waterloo was fought, also remains intact upon the estate, too.

Anyway. “If there had been no boat, Arthur would have swum.” How much more than gushing praise such words meant. A fine epitaph for a loyal fighting man.

Coda. I was working from some old accounts of this episode when I wrote it up and was not aware that the Sandys line had finally died out, very recently. Vale. I hope that some distant relative keeps the bill and letter safe.