New memorial marks final resting place of Waterloo hero
At the moment of death a winged Victory descends to place a wreath in the hand of the fallen hero. He is half kneeling next to his prone horse, the grip loosening on his sword and staring up at the comforting face of the goddess. The classical scene forms the magnificent monument to Major General Sir William Ponsonby in the crypt at St Paul’s Cathedral in London. The inscription notes that “he fell gloriously in the battle of Waterloo”.
A few miles west across town, a more modest memorial has recently been unveiled (July 2015). This one was carved by a descendant of the man who led the Union Brigade of heavy cavalry in a charge at Waterloo that sped from success to tragedy. The purpose of this new tribute near the entrance of a Kensington church is to record the final resting place of one of the battle’s key figures. The Major-General’s death was brutal, his horse mired in mud. Should such a senior officer have led from the front and was his groom to blame for not preparing his best horse that day and giving him a smaller mount? The charge, or more like a canter, had started well - smashing into the confused retreating columns of D’Erlron’s I Corps. But carried away by their initial success the brigade failed to rally and continued out of control into the French “Grand Battery”. The famous Scots Greys in particular, forgetting their supporting role and ignoring the “recall”, charged on in disordered groups, reaching the French guns.
By this time their horses were tired and a swift retribution followed in the form of a counter-attack by the 3rd and 4th Lancers, who used their weapons with deadly force against the scattered brigade.
It was effectively destroyed and could contribute little more to the battle. Ponsonby rode too far, became isolated from his staff, and with his bay hack mired in mud of a ploughed field was set upon by the lancers. He was said to have been finished off by Sergeant Urban of the 4th, who dismounted to take his sword. Minutes beforehand Ponsonby had given his watch and a miniature of his wife to his aide-de-camp but he too was killed. The Major-General’s body was found the next day beside his horse with seven lance wounds. His body was returned to London and placed in his wife’s vault at St Mary Abbots Church in Kensington. But during redevelopment in the 1860s, a period when it was fashionable to rebuild Britain’s churches, the grave was apparently lost. Today the church yard forms a small park area with the headstones placed against the perimeter walls. A school playground also occupies this small space. It was fitting that the job of creating the new stone plaque at St Mary Abbots fell to Lottie O’Leary, for Sir William was her great-great-great-great-grandfather. Ms O’Leary’s profession is hand carving stone monumental and architectural masonry. She created it at her studio near the Welsh border market town Knighton, Powys, with the financial support from other Ponsonby descendants and had travelled to the battlefield for the Waterloo 200 re-enactments.