At 2pm on 18th June 1815 Serjeant Francis Styles charged with Wellington’s Heavy Cavalry against the massed ranks of French infantry who were attacking the allied position. Styles and his Squadron Leader, Captain Alexander Kennedy Clarke, found themselves in the midst of desperate fighting where they seized one of the two Eagles captured at Waterloo, writing their names into legend.
Styles’s medal was lost to the Regiment after his early death in 1828, when it disappeared from the record until 2020. Last year it reappeared on eBay for sale by a vendor in the United States. Luckily this was spotted by CoH Richard Hendy and flagged to the Museum who purchased it with the support of numerous kind donations from across the Regimental Family.
The Museum is also putting on a programme of activity around Styles, his Eagle and the heroes of Waterloo he rode with.
This will include special Waterloo walking tours, activity trails and special events. Featuring the long lost Waterloo Medal of Sjt Francis Styles, a new exhibition trail will explore the courage, carnage and controversies of Wellington’s cavalry at the battle that secured almost a century of peace in Europe.
The Household Cavalry Museum
Horse Guards
Whitehall
London SW1A 2AX
UK
Open from Friday to Sundays until restriction are lifted (see website for updates).
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VIDEO > In this 15-minute video General Barney White-Spunner, Waterloo expert, author and former Household Cavalry commander, tells us how the Eagle was captured, who captured it and why it remains important to this day.