Ghastly Relics - A Very Tall Tale of the Potteries

Occasionally, stories related to the Potteries appeared in newspapers both in Britain and abroad that either cannot be proven (at least not yet), grew in the telling, or are so ridiculous that they had obviously been made up. The infamous story of the 'Man and Dog fight' peddled by journalist James Greenwood in 1874 would arguably fall into this category except that scandal it caused and the eventual  unravelling of the tale make for an interesting bit of local history in itself outside of Greenwood's work of fiction. 

At least Greenwood's tale initially had the gloss of truth to it and showed some imagination. Some stories though are simply the bits of nonsensical fluff that authors or reporters throughout history have concocted simply to fill up space. These often sensationalist tales were then repeated verbatim through syndication in other books or papers. The preposterous 'Ghastly Relics of Waterloo' is a prime example of the latter.

 Ghastly Relics of Waterloo.

(Cor. Boston Traveller)

'For the truth of the incident related below I have the most possible proof: George Shaw, a brave Englishman, when surrounded on the field at Waterloo by a number of the enemy, made a gallant struggle for existence, and fought his way back to his comrades over the dead bodies of a dozen Frenchmen whom he had slain. As a reward for his bravery, Wellington sent for the soldier, and in the course of his conversation with him, gave him permission to take home with him whatever relic he chose from the battlefield. Shaw's choice was the skeleton of a French General, killed in the action. The ghastly trophy was safely transported to England and hung in the soldier's closet at Hanley and Staffordshire, England, till he came to regard it is a nuisance and disposed of it to Samuel Bullock, a manufacturer of china. As bones form a large proportion of the ingredients from which English china is made, it occurred to the manufacturer that the remains of the poor General would look much better made up in some handsome ornament than dangling from a peg in an obscure closet; and in accordance with this inspiration, the French General was ground down, and, in due time, was metamorphosed into teacups and saucers; in which condition he adorns to this day the museum at Hawley, appropriately inscribed with the history of his transformation. It happened one day that Marshal Soult visited the museum, and his attention was attracted by the china, which has a bright pink tint and is ornamented with flowers. But when his eye rested upon the label, which enabled him to recognize in the collection the remains of one of his former generals, the marshal was deeply shocked; and, "wrapping his martial cloak around him," walked indignantly away. He did not forget to inform Napoleon, then at St. Helena, of the indignity which had been offered to the memory of their departed countryman. "It is no indignity," quoth Napoleon; "what more pleasing disposition can there be of one's bones after death than to be made into cups to be constantly in use; and placed between the rosy lips of ladies? The thought is delightful!" This was an aspect of the case which had net occurred to the prosaic marshal; but he was forced to content himself with it.'

The story seems to be a bare-faced mix of fact and fantasy the exploits of 'George Shaw' mimicking somewhat the story of Corporal John Shaw, a noted pugilist and artists' model who served with the Life Guards at Waterloo, where he was killed fighting several French cavalrymen. 

Reference: numerous US newspapers, see for instance The Somerset Press (Somerset, Ohio) 11 December 1879, p.1

Ken Ray's Soldiers: Private Philip Yates

Ken Ray, a long-time researcher into the lives of local soldiers has assembled an impressive list of North Staffordshire men who served in the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimea and the numerous colonial conflicts Britain participated in during the 19th and early 20th centuries. He has very kindly given me access to some of his documents which chart the lives and careers of ordinary men from the region who might otherwise have been forgotten. This is one of those stories...

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Private Philip Yates, Royal Regiment of Horse Guards (Oxford Blues)

Napoleonic Wars

The Life Guards and Royal Horse
Guards (foreground) at Waterloo

Philip Yates was born in Stoke or possibly Hanley Green in 1784. His parents remain unknown and nothing is known of his background though he may have received some education in early life as he was later able to sign his name, albeit in a rather shaky hand. He initially worked locally as a plumber and glazier before attesting for the Royal Horse Guards at Nantwich, Cheshire on 13th March 1805 at the age of 21. 

Yates saw service with his regiment in the Peninsula War in Spain and France at the battles of Vittoria (1813) and Toulouse (1814). At Waterloo he served in Lieutenant Colonel Clement Hill's troop Royal Horse Guards which with the Life Guards and King's Dragoon Guards formed the Household Brigade of heavy cavalry, Yates's regiment forming the second reserve rank of the brigade. As the reserve, the regiment should have held back to exploit any opportunities missed by the front rank in any charge and then cover the withdrawal, but when great cavalry charge of the Household and Union Brigades was launched to counter the first full-scale French attack on the Allied line, the Blues followed suit, clashing with a large force of French cuirassiers who were advancing in support of the French infantry. Unlike the front line regiments, though, they did not advance too far, maintained their formation and made an orderly withdrawal back to the main line. The Blues also saw plenty of action later in the day, skirmishing repeatedly with the French cavalry during their charges against the Allied line in the late afternoon. 

After Waterloo and Napoleon's abdication, the Royal Horse Guards remained in France until 1816, when they returned to their base at Windsor and the rest of Private Yates' service was at home. On his discharge from the army on 5th February 1827, Yates was described as being 43 years old, 5' 10½” tall, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion; his conduct as a soldier had been good. The reason for his discharge was due to length of service and amounted to 22 years and 43 days with the Colours, plus the 2 extra years service granted to all Waterloo veterans.

Yates returned to the Potteries after his discharge, travelling from Windsor to Hanley Green, where he picked up the threads of his old life, helped on by a Chelsea pension. Five years later on 24th June 1832, he married widow Elizabeth Pope (possibly nee Orton) in Hanley. In 1841 they were living in Brunswick Street, Shelton. Philip was back working as a glazier, Elizabeth's trade is hard to read as too is that of her 15 year old son from her previous marriage, John Pope, though he may have been a pottery packer; the fourth member of the household was Philip and Elizabeth's eight year old daughter Elizabeth. On a personal note, when I looked at the 1841 census entry, I was surprised and pleased to discover that Philip Yates and his family lived only two doors away from my great, great, great grandparents Thomas and Ann Cooper and their family.

One Philip Yates died in 1847 aged 66 and was buried on 26th December 1847. He had lived long enough to apply for the Military General Service Medal, as it was awarded with the two clasps for his Peninsula War service.

Reference: UK, Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1949, Battle of Waterloo 1815, p.23; UK, Military Campaign Medal and Award Rolls, 1793-1949: Napoleonic Wars 1793-1815, p.193; UK, Waterloo Medal Roll, 1815; UK, Royal Hospital, Chelsea: Regimental Registers of Pensioners, 1713-1882, p.58; WO97 Royal Hospital Chelsea: Soldiers' Service Documents;1841 census for Shelton, Stoke-on-Trent.

Ken Ray's Soldiers: Gunner Aaron Wedgwood

Ken Ray, a long-time researcher into the lives of local soldiers has assembled an impressive list of North Staffordshire men who served in the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimea and the numerous colonial conflicts Britain participated in during the 19th and early 20th centuries. He has very kindly given me access to some of his documents which chart the lives and careers of ordinary men from the region who might otherwise have been forgotten. This is one of those stories...

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Gunner Aaron Wedgwood, H Troop Royal Horse Artillery,

Napoleonic Wars

Though not closely related to any of his most famous namesakes, Aaron Wedgwood was certainly a member of the extended Wedgwood family of Burslem that included the great Josiah Wedgwood amongst its notable members. Born in Burslem in either late February or early March 1789, Aaron was the third child and eldest son of Richard Wedgwood and his wife Ann nee Lowndes. Aaron's father was the son of another Aaron Wedgwood, a potter of some repute, some of whose wares are today held in the British Museum collection. As a scion of a lesser branch of the family, the younger Aaron seems to have received little or no education, though in his teens he was apprenticed as an engraver in the pottery industry. However, on 4th February 1806, just before his 17th birthday, he cast all this aside and enlisted in the Royal Horse Artillery at Newcastle-under-Lyme.

Gunner Wedgwood was enrolled in H Troop Royal Horse Artillery. Armed with lighter cannon and with teams of horses to pull them for rapid deployment into action, the RHA were intended to work in concert with the cavalry, though they often filled in as regular static artillery on the battlefield. Not that Wedgwood saw any early action as H Troop spent the bulk of the Napoleonic Wars on garrison duty in Britain, mostly at Woolwich, Warley or Canterbury. There were two notable breaks from this routine, the first was in 1809 when H Troop took part in the ill-fated Walcheren expedition to the Low Countries, and in 1815 it was one of several troops of the RHA who served in the Waterloo campaign in Belgium. At Waterloo the Troop was placed in support of the soldiers fighting in and around the château complex of Hougoumont on the Allied right. Placed forward on the ridge like other artillery teams, it suffered heavily from enemy fire and the several cavalry and infantry attacks that day. H Troop suffered many dead and wounded, one of the dead being their commander Captain William Norman Ramsay. Command then devolved onto Captain John May.

Following the Allied victory, H Troop was stationed at Amiens, France as a part of the army of occupation, during which time Wedgwood like the other members of the Troop received the Waterloo Medal for his part in the action. In 1817, the Troop moved to Bailleul, where, following a reorganization of the RHA, H Troop became G Troop.

Eventually the Troop returned to Britain and Wedgwood was still with it, but not for much longer. His conduct as a soldier was, it seems, rather patchy and when he was discharged from the army on 30th June 1820, the stated reason was 'irregular conduct', while the section noting his general conduct was left blank. He was sent on his way with 5d a day pension. The discharge papers reveal that Wedgwood was a relatively short man only 5' 5¾” tall, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fair complexion. In total he had served 14 years 182 days in the army.

Though Aaron Wedgwood's discharge papers were signed at Woolwich, there is a pencilled notation on the back sheet that reads '80 miles from Pontefract to Newcastle'. On their discharge soldiers were usually provided with the fare to get them back to the town where they enlisted, though what he was doing travelling from Pontefract is unclear. It may be that he was based there and his discharge was merely confirmed at Woolwich.

Little is known about Aaron Wedgwood after his discharge, though there is some circumstantial evidence to suggest that he did indeed return to the Potteries. He may well have been the man of that name who married one Mary Ann Hudson in Hanley in 1823. There were two other Aaron Wedgwoods married locally a decade later, but these men seem to have survived well into the mid-19th century. That Aaron Wedgwood never applied for the Military General Service Medal perhaps indicates that he died before 1848. One Aaron Wedgwood died locally in 1837, and this may well have been our man.

Ken Ray's Soldiers: Private John Potts

Ken Ray, a long-time researcher into the lives of local soldiers has assembled an impressive list of North Staffordshire men who served in the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimea and the numerous colonial conflicts Britain participated in during the 19th and early 20th centuries. He has very kindly given me access to some of his documents which chart the lives and careers of ordinary men from the region who might otherwise have been forgotten. This is one of those stories...

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Private John Potts, 3rd Battalion 1st Foot (Royal Scots), Napoleonic Wars.

Depending on which document you consult, John Potts was born in either Hanley or Stoke, in either 1784 or 1789, though the latter seems the most likely date as on his discharge certificate the age '32' is crossed out and replaced with '27', putting his birth in 1789. This accords with other documents which seem to agree on that date. Nothing is known of his parentage, but before joining the army he worked either as a printer or a painter in the pottery industry, though on at least one occasion he simply listed his occupation as a potter; Potts was ever fickle with his personal details.

The uniform of the 1st Regiment of Foot (Royal Scots)
at the time of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

There is a hint that Potts may have been a member of the Staffordshire Militia before joining the regular army as when he attested for the 1st Foot at Windsor on 1 February 1808, he did so with several other men from Staffordshire who all indicated previous military service in Staffordshire. John Potts, however, did not specify how long his service had been. After several months of training, he was assigned to the 3rd Battalion 1st Foot on 25 June 1808.

Potts went on to see service in the latter half of the Peninsula War  One John Potts later earned two clasps for the Military General Service Medal (awarded to surviving veterans of the Napoleonic Wars in 1847-48) for the storming of  Badajoz in 1812, and the Battle of Vittoria in 1813. This may have been our man, but to further muddy the waters of his service record there were two John Potts in the 3rd Battalion 1st Foot (the other hailed from Roxburgh in Scotland) and the surviving records for both give no indication which of them this was. Our John Potts certainly suffered serious injuries during his service, with gunshot wounds to the head, right arm and leg and left knee. As the Royal Scots only suffered two casualties at Badajoz, (two wounded officers) then John may have got his wounds at Vittoria where the Royal Scots took a severe mauling. However, there is an excellent memoir of the Peninsula War written by Corporal John Douglas of the 1st Foot that mentions a Private John Potts having a miraculous escape from death, but suffering serious injuries, at the siege of San Sebastian in late 1813; and as his account indicates, this was almost certainly our man. We join the story just as the 1st Foot and other regiments are launching an attack against the southern walls of San Sebastian, which was a fortress town situated on a rocky peninsula.

'On the 25th July the breaches were pronounced practicable, but waiting for the tide to be sufficiently low to admit the men to reach the breach, it was daylight ere we moved out of the trenches; and having to keep close to the wall to be clear of the sea as possible; beams of timber, shells, hand grenades and every missile that could annoy or destroy life were hurled from the ramparts on the heads of the men; to shun which, if they kept further out in the tide, showers of grape and musketry swept them away by half companies. Those who scrambled onto the breach found it was wide and sufficient enough at the bottom, but at the top there was not sufficient room for one file at the curtain and from thence to the street was at least 20 feet. This was a house which was on fire close to the breach, and through which our poor fellows were forcing their way when a shell from our 10-gun battery at the passage side struck the gable and buried nearly a company in the burning ruins. One man alone escaped. The sides of the door being stone fell towards each other, and formed a letter A over him. Though his life was saved by this providential circumstance, he was, I might say, half-roasted, but survived. (I saw him in June 1817, after returning from France, near the potteries in Staffordshire, on the banks of the canal. His face then resembled a new-born infant. His name was John Potts.'

- John Douglas, Douglas's Tale of the Peninsula & Waterloo 1808-1815, pp. 79-80.

Potts' rejuvenated appearance was probably the result of new flesh and scar tissue covering the burns he had received in this closest of shaves.

The 1st Foot also took part in the Waterloo campaign in 1815 as part of General Picton's division, a Private John Potts served in Captain Robert Dudgeon's N° 8 Company, being awarded the Waterloo Medal for his service in the brief but dramatic campaign. There is evidence that the other John Potts in the ranks of the 1st Foot may have been stricken ill with eye problems on the march from Ghent to Brussels, which may perhaps have put him out of action for the duration, but again as with the Peninsula War clasps there is no clear indication as to which John Potts it was who saw action at Waterloo.

Potts was in France with the army following Napoleon's final overthrow and it was whilst stationed at Valenciennes that on 16 May 1816, he was discharged from the army due to being worn out by the effects of his numerous wounds. He was described at the time as being about 32 (sic) years of age, 5 feet 11 inches tall, with brown hair, grey eyes and a fresh complexion. Another document added the detail that he had a long visage. Having made his way back to Britain, on 9 August 1816 Potts was duly examined at the Royal Hospital, Chelsea to secure a soldiers' pension. This he did, being awarded a shilling a day as an out-patient.

John Potts disappears from the records after this, though we can presume from John Douglas's account that he returned to the Potteries following his medical exam. There is some circumstantial evidence that he may have been the John Potts listed in the 1841 census as living in Joiners Square, Hanley. This man was was 52 years old (born in 1789 as the soldier seems to have been) and he worked as a pottery painter (one of Pott's suggested pre-army trades). He was married, his wife Elizabeth being 45 years old, though they had no children. A decade later, though, the fuller census of 1851 revealed that the couple had suffered a serious downturn in their fortunes. John had gone blind and he and Elizabeth were listed as beggars lodging with a family in Bow Street, Northwood. By the time of the 1861 census, John Potts was 72 years old, his wife was 64 and they now had their own house at 34 Bow Street, where they lived with John's niece. The census noted that John had been blind for 14 years. This, though, was the last census he would appear on and a John Potts was listed as having died in Stoke-on-Trent in the last quarter of 1862.

Was this man really our old soldier fading away? We will probably never know for sure, but if so, the tale of his later years makes for a sad counterpoint to the high dramas of his youth.

Ken Ray's Soldiers: Corporal George Ball

Ken Ray, a long-time researcher into the lives of local soldiers has assembled an impressive list of North Staffordshire men who served in the Napoleonic Wars, the Crimea and the numerous colonial conflicts Britain participated in during the 19th and early 20th centuries. He has very kindly given me access to some of his documents which chart the lives and careers of ordinary men from the region who might otherwise have been forgotten. This is one of those stories...

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Corporal George Ball, 2nd Life Guards, Napoleonic Wars

Two babies named George Ball were born in Burslem within a year of each other. The first was the son of Charles and Esther Ball of Burslem, who was baptised there on 10th September 1786; and the second, son of Charles and Mary Ball of Burslem was baptised on 12th August 1787. If the several ages given on George Ball's future army documents are correct, then the earliest of these two is likely to be the future soldier, though there is seemingly no way to be absolutely sure.

Young George seems to have received some education (he could write his name) though whether he learnt his letters as a child or whilst in the army is unknown. Before joining the army he did briefly work as a potter, but that is all that is known about his early life save for the fact that on 8th February 1805, he enlisted in the 2nd Life Guards at Newcastle-under-Lyme, aged 19. His service in the regiment was dated from 25th December 1805.

George had joined the army at a critical time during the Napoleonic Wars when it seemed that Britain might possibly be invaded by the hitherto victorious French army. The immediate threat to the country had been crushed by Nelson's decisive victory over the French and Spanish fleets at Trafalgar in October that year, but the country still found itself at bay against a very dangerous enemy. At first, though, there was little Britain could do on land as the continent was largely allied against them. So, for the first few years of his army career George served at home. As a trooper and later corporal of the prestigious Life Guards, part of the sovereign's bodyguard, his lot would have been much better than most recruits to the army or navy at the time and much would have been given over to ceremonial duties.

In 1808, though, things changed, Napoleon invaded Spain and Portugal, prompting a popular uprising in the two countries that Britain quickly moved to support sending troops under Sir John Moore and Sir Arthur Wellesley to help against the French. Though the expedition got off to a near disastrous start, during which Moore lost his life, Wellesley, later ennobled as Lord Wellington, returned at the head of his army and spearheaded the broader campaign against the French occupiers that became known as the Peninsula War (1808-1814).

The 2nd Life Guards in action at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815.

Many British regiments got drawn into the conflict including the 1st and 2nd Life Guards, who in 1812 sent two squadrons each to Spain. George Ball was one of these men and saw action in two battles, later being awarded clasps for Vittoria (1813) and Toulouse (1814). The 2nd Life Guards also served at the battle of Waterloo in 1815 where they formed part of the front line of the Household Brigade which charged the French cavalry supporting Napoleon's first great attack on the allied line. Together with the simultaneous charge by the Union brigade they effectively smashed the French attack. Like all the soldiers involved in this climactic campaign, Corporal Ball later received the Waterloo Medal.

George Ball continued to serve with the 2nd Life Guards after the war, finally being discharged on 24th January 1828. His discharge was in consequence of him having completed his third term of service and most tellingly he had become too heavy for the regiment. In total, his service amounted to 24 years 136 days (including the 2 years extra service awarded to all Waterloo soldiers). His conduct as a soldier had been good. At the time of his discharge he was described as being 41 years of age, 6 feet tall with dark hair, dark eyes and a dark complexion; we can doubtless assume that he was also rather corpulent.

After this, George Ball vanishes from the record. There is no evidence that he returned to the Potteries and he may instead have settled in London and married. There are several candidates on the 1841 and 1851 censuses who may be our man, but to choose any in particular would be idle speculation. Certainly George survived until 1847 when he applied for his Military General Service Medal with its two Peninsula War clasps, but what life or family he had is unknown, as too is the date of his demise.

A Local Waterloo Veteran

The French attack on Hougoumont.

After three days of fighting and manoeuvring between the opposing sides, on 18 June 1815 the Battle of Waterloo was fought twelve miles south of Brussels in modern-day Belgium. Here the French army of Napoleon Bonaparte clashed with an Anglo-Dutch army under the Duke of Wellington and a Prussian army under Field Marshal Blucher in a fight that would decide the future of Europe. Probably over a dozen men from the Potteries served in the ranks of the Duke of Wellington's army during the battle. One of these was 35 year old Private John Oulcott of Burslem, a soldier in the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Foot Guards, a unit that was heavily involved in the ferocious fighting around the farm of Hougoumont.

John Oulcott was born in Burslem in 1780, though nothing certain is known of his parentage and definite information on his early life is speculative at best. For instance, he may have been the John Oulcott of Burslem who on 18 October 1800 married Martha Heath at Stoke-upon-Trent parish church and they went on to have four children together. The last of these was born in 1811 and he may have been widowed that year as on on 16 June 1811, a collier named John Oulcott married Maria Broad at St John's in Burslem and they later had a son together. Those, however, are the only items noting a man of that name in the area at that time.

The next we hear of John Oulcott of Burslem was when he attested for the 3rd Regiment of Foot Guards at Knightsbridge, Middlesex on 6 December 1813 at the age of 33. On joining the regiment he gave his trade as a brick maker, though there is no indication as to how or why he had travelled so far from his home town and possibly abandoned his children, though poverty and lack of work are the most likely reasons.

John Oulcott's records indicate that he served in Holland in 1814 and 1815 and then at the battle of Waterloo. He was a member of Lord Alexander Gordon's company and like most of the battalion saw action in the woods and fields around the château complex of Hougoumont on the Allied right, the scene of some of the fiercest fighting on the whole battlefield. Like all those present, he was subsequently awarded the Waterloo Medal for his service there.

Above: Three views around Hougoumont farm.

After Waterloo, Oulcott's served at home. As a member as one of the prestigious Guards regiments he would have been involved in various ceremonial duties. However, he was never promoted and was eventually dismissed from the army due to ill health. On 13 July 1830, his discharge papers noted that he was 'wholy unfit for service in consequence of Asthma from repeated attacks of inflammation of the chest and is much emaciated.' The Chelsea commissioners awarded him a pension of 9d a day commencing the next day. The discharge papers also offered a description of the man. John Oulcott was described as being 49 years of age, 5 feet 7¾ inches in height, with sandy hair, hazel eyes and a fresh complexion.

After his discharge Oulcott returned to Burslem. However, dogged by ill health he did not get to enjoy a long retirement on his pension. Less than a year after leaving the army John Oulcott died, being buried in Burslem on 29 June 1831.

Reference: http://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/C8703923
Pictures: Author's collection.