A WATERLOO medal awarded to a St Arvans soldier who was at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815, sold for £2,160 at an auction last Thursday (23rd April).

The silver medal, with its distinctive crimson and dark blue-edged ribbon, was awarded to Private William Brooks, who lived at Moss Cottage,Windcliff, St Arvans. 

Private Brooks served with the 1st Life Guards, who played a key role at the Battle of Waterloo, where the Lifeguards formed the front charging line of the Household Brigade and staged the famous charge against the French Cuirassiers, powerfully-built men on big horses, that saved the British centre from being over-run.

Private Brooks was one of the youngest men at the Battle of Waterloo on 18th June 1815, as he was only 19 years old at the time.

He was lucky to have survived the battle because 43,000 men were killed or wounded in the one day battle, which took place nine miles south of Brussels, Belgium.

The sale of Private Brooks' Waterloo medal at Spink in Bloomsbury, coincided with the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo in nine weeks' time.

The battle was won by the British army and its allies led by the Duke of

Wellington and the French army. It ended Napoleon's reign as Emperor of France.

If Private Brooks had been wounded at Waterloo his medal would now be worth more money. If he had been killed in action at Waterloo, the medal would be worth hundreds of pounds more.

Private Brooks, born at Almondbury near Huddersfield in 1795, was in the army for 32 years and 290 days, until he was discharged in July 1844.

In 1851,he and his London-born wife Ann and their five daughters: Eliza, Elizabeth, Ann, Jane and Charlotte were living at Windcliff St Arvans, where Private Brooks spent the rest of his life.

He was in his mid-60s when he died in 1861.

By living until at least 1847 – three years after he left the army – meant that Private Brooks was entitled to another medal, the Military General Service Medal, which was introduced on 1st June 1847, and was awarded to British soldiers who took part in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars between 1793 and 1814 or the Anglo-American War of 1812.

The medal was only awarded to surviving claimants in 1847, who then had to actively apply for it.

Private Brooks was also present and may have fought at the Battle of Toulouse in France on the 10th April 1814,the year before the Battle of Waterloo.

595 British and allied soldiers died in that one day battle.