Lady De Lancey at Waterloo: A Story of Duty and Devotion [Hardcover]

David Miller PhD (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 28, 2001

This is the intriguing and fully authenticated story of the British Army's first professional staff officer, his beautiful Scottish bride, and their doomed marriage. It includes the full text of both the "Narrative" and the little-known "Abridged Version," originally titled A Week At Waterloo in 1815: Lady de Lancey's Narrative: being an account of how she nursed her husband, Colonel Sir W H Lancey, Quartermaster General of the Army, who was mortally wounded in the great battle.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

David Miller is an established author on modern defence matters, but also has a deep interest in history. This led, first, to his well-received book The Wreck of the Isabella, about a shipwreck in the Falklands in 1812 and now to this book. He served in the British Army from 1955 to 1991 and since then has worked as an author and journalist. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 248 pages
• Publisher: Spellmount (May 28, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1862270821
• ISBN-13: 978-1862270824
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.4 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,495,655 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A short but amazing narrative of Waterloo from a non-combatants point of view, September 5, 2005

By 

A. Woodley "Patroness, Janeites, the Austen list" (New Zealand) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Lady De Lancey at Waterloo: A Story of Duty and Devotion (Hardcover)

This is one of the best stories avaialable about Waterloo and its aftermath and it is from the wife of one of the officers in the battle. It is the true story of Madalene DeLancey's Week at Waterloo and I am forever indebted to David Miller who found this incredibly hard to find book and added footnotes and narrative detail to what was a very thin story.

Madalene was encouraged to write this story much later - and so it is done from memory rather than diaries and letters, but the detail is extraodinary. It was shown to Charles Dickens who wept over it. Her writing is very moving. It lacks deliberate pathos and yet it is so moving. She had married only a few months prior to battle of Waterloo and her husband had been called to serve at the last minute, they arrived in Belgium just days before the battle began and her husband was immediately swept into the organisation.

The army was called up on the 15th and marched to Ligny and Quatrebras where the first battles took place. Back in the town no one knew what was happening, the dithering, the panic, the rumours, the deserters galloping through town are all revealed in her narrative.

The most gut-wrenching part is when she finds out her husband has been injured - she hears numerous stories rumours and half-confirmed details until she finally tracks him down, injured near the battlefield. She then must nurse him.

I find myself crying even as I write this review. The story had such an enormous impact. Miller has done a fantastic job of providing detail to throw light on it, without detracting from its power.

One of the best books I have read 5 stars +

A Woodley

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars An Angel at Waterloo, July 3, 2008

By 

Mary Lydon Simonsen "Author-The Perfect Bride... (Valley of the Sun, AZ) - See all my reviews

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This review is from: Lady De Lancey at Waterloo: A Story of Duty and Devotion (Hardcover)

Lord and Lady DeLancey married shortly before the Battle of Waterloo. While others were dancing at the Duchess of Richmond's ball on the eve of the battle, the DeLanceys remained in their hotel, hopefully in each other's arms. Once the trumpets are sounded, calling for all officers to return to their regiments, Lord DeLancey leaves his bride believing that she will make for the port of Ostend to return to England while he moves toward the front to face the reconstituted armies of Napoleon. But her gut tells her to turn back, which was a good thing, because she shortly received word that her husband was grievously wounded and was in a cottage near the battlefield. Lady DeLancey immediately went to her husband and stayed with him until he died three days later. This is a remarkable story, but even more so when you learn that the bride was only about 20 years old. Her ability to stay calm under such circumstances when armed men were walking outside her door and no one knew who had won the battle is a profile in courage. Most of the book is Lady DeLancey's own writings on what happened near Waterloo.