Waterloo veterans remembered in Leamington on bicentenary of the battle

A short act of remembrance took place at All Saints’ Parish church this morning where the wreaths were laid in memory of Maj-Gen Alexander MacDonald and Col Charles Gold of the 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery, Sgt-Maj William Lawton of the 15th King’s Hussars and Lt-Col John Clement Wallington of the 10th Prince of Wales’ Own Hussars who served in the battle and all had links to Leamington.

The service, lead by the Rev Christopher Wilson, included a playing of the Last Post by a bugler while the laying of wreaths was played in by a piper.

Members of the 1st Regiment Royal Horse Artillery were among those who laid a wreath along with Kingsley School pupils - who had attended a talk about the battle and its veterans before the service - military historian David Eason and Derek Billings, who is the great great grandson of Sgt-Maj Lawton.

Among the readings he gave, Mr Wilson spoke of the impact the Battle of Waterloo, in which 25,000 French and 23,000 allied soldiers died, had on small communities but the positive effect the years of peace which followed had on Europe and, in turn, Leamington.