The Duchess of Richmond's ball was a ball hosted by Charlotte Lennox, Duchess of Richmond, in Brussels on 15 June 1815, the night before the Battle of Quatre Bras. Charlotte's husband Charles Lennox, 4th Duke of Richmond, was in command of a reserve force in Brussels, which was protecting that city in case Napoleon Bonaparte invaded.
Elizabeth Longford described it as "the most famous ball in history". "The ball was certainly a brilliant affair", at which "with the exception of three generals, every officer high in Wellington's army was there to be seen".
The proceedings were interrupted soon after the arrival of the Duke of Wellington, when he was notified of Napoleon's unexpected advance on the nearby crossroads of Quatre Bras, located to the south. This forced him to depart after ordering his officers to leave to join their regiments. Some of the officers would soon die in battle and the poignancy of the drama has provided an enduring theme for artists, novelists and poets.
The ball According to Lady Georgiana, a daughter of the Duchess:
Lady Louisa, another of the Duchess' daughters, recalled:
While the exact order of the dances at this ball is not known, there is a comment from a contemporary critical observer about the season in Brussels:
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington with his intimate staff arrived some time between 11 pm and midnight. Shortly before supper, which started around 1 am, Lieutenant Henry Webster, an aide-de-camp to William, Prince of Orange, arrived with a message for the Prince. The Prince handed it to Wellington, who pocketed it unopened. A short time later Wellington read the message — written at around 10 pm, it reported that Prussian forces had been forced by the French to retreat from Fleurus. As Fleurus is north-east of Charleroi this meant that the French had crossed the river Sambre (although Wellington couldn't tell from this message in what strength) — Wellington requested the Prince to return to his headquarters immediately, and then, after issuing a few more orders, went into supper, where he sat between Lady Frances Wedderburn-Webster and Lady Georgiana Lennox. To his surprise the Prince of Orange returned and in a whisper informed him of another dispatch, this one sent by Baron de Rebecque to the Prince's headquarters at Braine-le-Comte, and timed at 10:30 pm. It informed the Prince that the French had pushed up the main Charleroi to Brussels road nearly as far as Quatre Bras. After repeating to the Prince that he should return to his headquarters, Wellington continued to sit at the table and make small talk for 20 minutes more, before announcing that he would retire to bed. He rose from the supper-table and:
The atmosphere in the room changed when news circulated among the guests that the French were crossing the border:
Katherine Arden, daughter of Richard Arden, 1st Baron Alvanley, described the events towards the end of the ball and the rest of the night:
Ballroom
At the time of the ball no accurate record was kept of the location of the ballroom. In 1887, a plan of the house provided by her younger brother was published by Lady de Ros (daughter of the Duchess of Richmond); both were residents in the house. It was later reprinted in "Reminiscences of Lady de Ros" by the Hon. Mrs J. R. Swinton, her daughter.
Sir William Fraser examined the site and concluded that the room proposed as the ballroom by Lady de Ros was too small a space for the number of people who attended the ball. A short time after his visit, he wrote a letter to The Times which was published on 25 August 1888. He reported that he had likely discovered the room and that it was not part of the principal property that the Duke of Richmond had rented on the Rue des Cendres, but was a coach house that backed onto the property and had an address in the next street, the Rue de la Blanchisserie. The room had dimensions of long, broad, and about high (the low ceiling was a case where reality impinged on one meaning of Lord Byron's artistic allusion to "that high hall").Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, Canto the Third, stanza XXIII.
Research by lawyer P. Duvivier and published by Fleischman and Aerts in their 1956 book Bruxelles pendant la bataille de Waterloo put forward an alternative theory. It proposes that, unknown to Fraser, the coach house used as a ballroom had been demolished by the time of his investigations and that the building he assumed was the ballroom was built after 1815. cites List of invitations The following were sent invitations to the ball:
General Prince of Orange (wounded at Waterloo) Prince Frederic of Orange-Nassau Duke of Brunswick (killed at Quatre-Bras) Prince of Nassau-Weilburg Duc d'Arenberg Prince Auguste d'Arenberg Prince Pierre d'Arenberg Baron Joseph van der Linden d'Hooghvorst (Mayor of Brussels) Duc and Duchesse de Beaufort-Spontin, and their daughter Duc and Duchesse d'Ursel Marquis and Marquise d'Assche Comte and Comtesse d'Oultremont Comtesse Douairière d'Oultremont, and her daughters Comte and Comtesse de Liedekerke-Beaufort Comte and Comtesse de La Tour du Pin Comte and Comtesse de Mercy-Argenteau Comte and Comtesse de Grasiac Comte de Belgade Comte de la Rochefoucauld Comtesse de Luiny Comtesse de Ruilly Baron and Baroness d'Hooghvorst, and their son and daughter Baron and Baroness van der Capellen Baron de Herelt Baron de Tuybe Baron Brockhausen Lieutenant-General Carlo Pozzo di Borgo (Russian envoy; wounded) General Karl von Vincent (Austrian envoy; wounded at Waterloo) Lieutenant-General Miguel Ricardo de Álava (Spanish ambassador to The Hague) General d'Oudenarde Colonel Ducayler Colonel Tripp, ADC Colonel Jakob von Washington Major Ronnchenberg, ADC Captain de Lubeck, ADC to the Duke of Brunswick Field-Marshal Duke of Wellington Lieutenant-General Earl of Uxbridge (commanded the cavalry; lost a leg at Waterloo) Lieutenant-Colonel Earl of Portarlington, 23rd Light Dragoons Captain Earl of March, 52nd Foot, ADC to the Prince of Orange Earl and Countess Conyngham, and their children Viscount Mount Charles, Hon. Francis Conyngham and Lady Elizabeth Conyngham Countess of Mountnorris, and her stepdaughter Lady Juliana Maxwell-Barry Dowager Countess Waldegrave Viscountess Hawarden Lieutenant-General Lord Hill (commanded the II Corps) Lord Rendlesham Lord Apsley Lady Alvanley, and her daughters Hon. Frances Arden and Hon. Katherine ArdenLady Alvanley, and daughters Katherine and Fanny . Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Saltoun Ensign Lord Hay, ADC to Major-General Maitland (killed at Quatre Bras) Major-General Lord Edward Somerset (commanded the Household Brigade of Cavalry; wounded at Waterloo) Lieutenant-Colonel Lord FitzRoy Somerset (brother of Lord Edward; lost an arm at Waterloo) and Lady Fitzroy Somerset (neither were present) Major Lord John Somerset, ADC to the Prince of Orange (brother of Lord Edward), and Lady John Somerset Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Robert Manners, 10th Hussars (wounded) Captain Lord Charles FitzRoy, 1st Foot Guards Captain Lord Arthur Hill, ADC Lieutenant Lord George Lennox, ADC to the Duke of Wellington (brother of Earl of March) Lord and Lady George Seymour, and their daughter Lady Frances and Mr Wedderburn-Webster Lady Caroline and Mr Capel, and their daughter Lady Charlotte and Mr Greville Admiral Sir James Gambier Admiral Sir Sidney Smith and Lady Smith, and Miss Rumbolds Rear-Admiral Sir Pulteney Malcolm Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Clinton (commanded the 2nd Division) and Lady Clinton Lieutenant-General Sir John Elley (deputy Adjutant-General of Cavalry; wounded at Waterloo) Lieutenant-General Sir Thomas Picton (commanded 5th Division; killed at Waterloo); Major-General Sir Edward Barnes (Adjutant-General; wounded at Waterloo) Major-General Sir John Byng (commanded the 2nd Brigade of Guards) Major-General Sir James Kempt (commanded the 8th Brigade) Major-General Sir Denis Pack (commanded the 9th Brigade; wounded) Major-General Sir William Ponsonby (commanded the Union Brigade of cavalry; killed at Waterloo); Major-General Sir Hussey Vivian (commanded the 6th Cavalry Brigade) Colonel Sir Colin Campbell, ADC Colonel Sir William Howe De Lancey (died of wounds received at Waterloo) and Lady De Lancey (neither were present) Colonel Sir George Wood, Royal Artillery Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Andrew Barnard (commanded the 1st Battalion the 95th Foot (Rifles); wounded) Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Henry Bradford (wounded) Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Alexander Gordon, ADC (killed at Waterloo); Grandson of George Gordon, 3rd Earl of Aberdeen . Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Robert Hill (brother of Lord Hill; wounded) Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Thomas Hill (brother of Lord Hill) Lieutenant-Colonel Sir George Scovell (commanded the Staff Corps of Cavalry) Sir George Berkeley and Lady Berkeley Sir James Craufurd and Lady Craufurd, and their daughter Sir William Johnstone and Lady Johnstone Sir Charles Stuart (Minister at Brussels) and Mr Stuart Lady Sutton and Miss Sutton Hon. Mrs Wellesley-Pole Colonel Hon. Frederick Ponsonby (severely wounded) Colonel Hon. James Hamilton Stanhope, Guards Colonel Hon. William Stewart (wounded) Hon. Colonel Abercromby, Guards (wounded) Hon. Colonel Acheson, Guards Major Hon. George Dawson (wounded) Major Hon. Henry Percy, ADC to the Duke of Wellington (delivered news of the victory to London along with two Imperial Eagles and dispatches) Captain Hon. O. Bridgeman, ADC to Lord Hill (wounded) Captain Hon. George Gore, 85th Foot, ADC to Sir James Kempt Captain Hon. Francis Russell, ADC Lieutenant Hon. George Cathcart, ADC to the Duke of Wellington Ensign Hon. Seymour Bathurst, ADC to Major-General Maitland Ensign Hon. Hastings Forbes (killed at Waterloo); Ensign Hon. John Montagu, Coldstream Guards (wounded) Ensign Hon. William Stopford Hon. Ensign Edgecombe Hon. Ensign Forbes Hon. Lionel Dawson, 18th Light Dragoons Hon. John GordonGrandson of George Gordon, 3rd Earl of Aberdeen . Hon. Mr Percival General Francis Dundas Lieutenant-General George Cooke (commanded the 1st Division; lost his right arm at Waterloo) Major-General Frederick Adam (not present; commanded the 3rd Infantry Brigade) Major-General Peregrine Maitland (commanded the 1st Brigade of Guards) Colonel Edward Bowater, 3rd Foot Guards (wounded) Colonel John Cameron, 92nd Foot (killed at Quatre Bras) Colonel Cumming, 18th Light Dragoons Colonel Robert Dick, 42nd Foot (wounded) Colonel Fremantle, ADC Colonel William Fuller, 1st Dragoon Guards (killed at Waterloo) Colonel Felton Hervey-Bathurst, ADC Colonel Charles Rowan, 52nd Regiment of Foot (wounded) Colonel Robert Torrens, 1st West Indies Regiment Colonel Alexander Woodford Colonel Henry Wyndham, Coldstream Guards (severely wounded) Lieutenant-Colonel D. Barclay, 1st Foot Guards, ADC to the Duke of York and Albany Major Thomas Hunter Blair, 91st Foot (wounded) Major Chatham Horace Churchill, 1st Foot Guards, ADC to Lord Hill and QMG Major James Gunthorpe, 1st Foot Guards, ADC to Major-General Maitland Major Hamilton, 4th West Indies Regiment, ADC to Sir Edward Barnes Major Thomas Noel Harris, Brigade-Major to Sir Hussey Vivian (lost an arm at Waterloo) Captain C. Allix, 1st Foot Guards Captain George Bowles, Coldstream Guards Captain F. Dawkins, 1st Foot Guards, ADC Captain Disbrowe, 1st Foot Guards, ADC to Lieutenant-General Cooke Captain Henry Dumaresq, 9th Foot, ADC to Sir John Byng (wounded in the chest by a musket ball while delivering a dispatch to the Duke of Wellington) Captain James Drummond Elphinstone, 7th Hussars (taken prisoner on 17 June) Captain Charles Augustus FitzRoy, Royal Horse Guards Captain James Fraser, 7th Hussars (wounded) Captain John Gurwood, 10th Hussars (wounded) Captain Robert Bamford Hesketh, 3rd Foot Guards (wounded) Captain Clement Hill, 1st Foot Guards (brother of Lord Hill; wounded)