HORSE ARTILLERY GUNS AT WATERLOO. 
631 
being at the time engrossed in the preparation of the “ Brome 
Memoirs.” 
But Colonel Whinyates also asserts that four troops with 20 6-prs. 
were engaged at Waterloo, and adduces, in support, a tabular Return 
stated to have been compiled in 1816 by direction of Lieut.-Colonel 
Sir John May, A.-A.-G. 1 2 Now let us examine this return. It will 
afford a fair example of the circumspection required before accepting 
“ authorities ” in historical investigations, and will prove unreliable for 
the purpose adduced. It will be observed that this is a Return of 
R.H.A. armaments previous to the battle of Waterloo, not on the 18th 
June. 
How frequent were the changes in R.H.A. armament “ previous to 
the battle ” may be gathered from contemporary journals :— Mercer 
writes (Yol. I., page 159), a We were ordered to send our light 6-prs. 
to Ghent to be replaced by heavy 6-prs.: in a few days the heavies were 
to be sent back and replaced by 9-prs., which we eventually kept.” 
Sir Augustus Frazer —who commanded the whole of R.H.A.—writes 
(p. 159), on Saturday, 25th May, “I have promised Lord Uxbridge that 
the six troops shall be new armed and equipped on Monday; ” and, 
again, on 31st May, “ I cannot but smile at the changes back and 
forwards.” 
The Return is inaccurate with regard to armament on the 18th June, 
for it shows Beam’s troop with 6-prs. Now, the D.-A.-G., R.A., on 
15th May and 2nd June, wrote to Sir George A. Wood, “ Ross's and 
Bean’s troops will make up the eight demanded by the Duke; but 
have poor horses (Irish): Bean’s takes 6-prs., but these can be changed 
at Ostend for 9-prs.” Bean’s troop arrived at Ostend on 10th June, 
and, accordingly, at once exchanged its 6-prs. for 9-prs. {see “ History 
of the Royal Artillery,” Yol. II., p. 418, and Mercer’s Journal, Yol. I., 
p. 158). 
We have, also, before us Sir John May’s statement that Webber 
Smith’s 6-pr. troop was not engaged on 18th June 3 at Waterloo, as it 
“ did not arrive in time.” 
There remains only Capt. E. C. Whinyates’s rocket and 6-pr. troop 
to be disposed of. This troop not being with the Hussar brigade of 
light cavalry, there was nothing available, at date of the Report, 
beyond the statement on p. 418, Yol. II. of the “ History of the Royal 
Artillery,” to prove that by 18th June it had not also exchanged its 
6-prs. for 9-prs.—according to the declaration of Sir A. Frazer on 
20th June (Frazer Letters, p. 551)—as Sir George Wood’s despatch of 
18th June did not enter upon the subject. 
Among some volumes of Board of Ordnance Returns lately sent to 
the Record Office, there is one dated 1st July, 1815, showing this troop 
on that date with five 6-prs., I am happy to say. 
Thus, it will now have been proved that only ten light 6-prs. were 
engaged at Waterloo. 
There is reason to hope that before long the history of the 6-prs. at 
Windsor Castle will be brought to light ,• and we may rest assured that 
some of them will be found to have been of Waterloo and others of 
Vittoria celebrity. 
1 The original copy is not in R.A. Record Office in Sir John May’s Official letter book. 
2 It had been assigned a position at Nivelles {Frazer, p. 557). 
