This, our latest book is now published and available from this website.
In 1880 Gertrude Cobbold (1855-1936) (#300 on the family tree) married Noel Algernon Humphreys (1837-1923) at St. Saviour’s Church, Paddington, London. He was the Assistant Registrar General for England and Wales and spent much of his life designing and developing the Census.
Noel Algernon’s grandfather, James Humphreys (1776-1833) (#10378) is the author of these letters which have been edited and contextualised by the Trust’s author in residence, historian Clive Hodges. Here is a summary:
‘When James Humphreys, a businessman from Birmingham, arrived in Brussels in March 1815, he could not have foreseen the momentous events which would unfold a few miles south of the city just three months later. His letters home to a friend and to a family member provide a civilian’s perspective of Waterloo, of the panic which spread through the streets of Brussels as the battle raged and of its horrific aftermath, described in grisly detail as Humphreys wandered the blood-stained battlefield.
This important collection, published here for the first time, includes a letter from a young Scottish sergeant, Alex Cummings, who lodged with Humphreys prior to the battle during which he received a serious facial wound.
Interlaced with dramatic accounts of the battle, Humphrey’s letters also address more prosaic matters: his business activities; his concern for his wife and children at home in England and the peculiarities of life as an Englishman abroad. In addition, they convey his strident opinions on European politics and on the punishment he felt should be meted out to Napoleon upon his eventual defeat’.
Dr. Louise Carter, Lecturer in History at University Campus Suffolk says in her Foreword ‘On every level then, this is a rich and multi-layered source, and military and social historians alike will find much to savour in this collection’.
This book will appeal also to our many friends and family members, and the Trust need hardly remind readers that their purchases of this and other books and cards from this website help finance the Trust’s work.
