628 
HORSE ARTILLERY GUNS AT WATERLOO. 
A memo. 1 2 accompanying the above says, “ every troop and brigade 
was engaged on the 18th, except Major Brome's that was with the 4th 
Division at Hal, 3 and Major Smith's that did not arrive in time." 
As there were, therefore, four 6-pr. troops at Waterloo, and each had 
as part of its equipment a 5^-inch howitzer, 3 it follows that there were 
twenty 6-prs. in action at the battle, and not five only. 
The troop that joined in the pursuit with Sir Hussey Vivian's cavalry 
brigade, to which it had been attached all day, and which harassed the 
retreat of the enemy, was Lieut.-Colonel Sir Robert Gardiner's, 4 and 
not Major Brome's, who on the contrary commanded a 9-pr. brigade, 
Royal Artillery, and was eight miles away from the field of battle. 
Thatched House Lodge, 
Richmond Park, 
12th October, 1898. 
Dear Major Abdy, 
I observe an erroneous statement at p. 522 of the October 
Number of the “ Proceedings," viz.: “No (R.A.) field guns under 9-prs. 
were engaged at Waterloo, except the 6-prs. of Capt. Joseph Brome's 
Troop, R.H.A., which were employed at the close of the battle in 
harassing the retreat of the French." 
Lieut.-Colonel Sir Robert Gardiner's Troop, “ E" R.H.A., which 
had marched through Spain in the van of the Army attached to the 
Hussar Brigade in the last Peninsular campaign, ending with Orthes 
and Toulouse, and after marching through France embarked at Calais 
for England in 1814, was again attached to the same Brigade for the 
Waterloo campaign, and was certainly armed with 6-prs. at Waterloo. 
I never heard my father mention Captain Brome's troop as having 
been so armed, 5 but I have heard him praise the foresight of the Duke 
of Wellington in having all the troops of Royal Horse Artillery armed 
with 9-prs. for Waterloo, except the two troops specially attached to 
cavalry on the extreme flanks of the Army, viz.: Webber Smith's 
“F" on the right and “E" on the left. 
My father's troop was the last to leave the ground at Quartre Bras 
on the 17th June. 
The infantry on the extreme left were suffered to retire unmolested 
covered by one of the Hussar Brigades to which “E" Troop was 
attached. In order to give the troops in their rear ample time to retire, 
the Brigade remained drawn up and the guns in action for a consider¬ 
able time, expecting a charge from the cavalry in their front, but no 
movement was made until the guns limbered up and the Hussars turned 
1 For the full test of this memo, see R.A.I. “ Proceedings,” Vol. XVI., No. 12. 
2 See Duncan’s “Royal Artillery History,” Vol. II., p. 433 in support of this. 
3 See Adye’s “ Pocket Gunner,” 1813, p. 3. Also, Mercer’s “Waterloo Campaign,” p. 158. 
4 See Siborne’s “Waterloo Letters,” p. 201. 
5 Captain Brome’s name is new to me. It does not appear in the records of the Royal Horse 
Artillery, and it is probably meant for Major Bean, who did command a 6-pr. troop at Waterloo, 
and was killed there. 
