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Orme, Edward: : Death of Major General Sir William Ponsonby

Aquatint with original colour, 25.5 x 32.5 cms, engraved by Dubourg after Manskirch, marginal soiling not affecting image, from “Historic military and naval anecdotes of ... the last long-contested war”. The plates were issued 1815-1818, and published for the first time in book form in the following year. A second edition was published in the 1830s.

As commander of the Union Cavalry Brigade at Waterloo, Ponsonby was among the senior officers who presided over one of the great British cavalry disasters. His cavalry, including the Scots Greys, turned an initially successful counter attack into bloody annihilation when they pushed too far without full infantry support. Mired in the mud, their horses spent, the Brigade was effectively destroyed by fresh French cavalry and played no significant further part in the battle. Ponsonby shared the fate of so many of his men: with his horse bogged down near the enemy lines he presented an easy target for French lancers., Abbey: Life, 376.

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