£1,600
** ODIHAM (HANTS.) - BATTLE OF WATERLOO P.O.W's LETTER TO FRANCE WITH OVAL "TRANSPORT/[Crown]/G.R./PRISONERS OF WAR"; Veery fine 21 July 1815 EL (sealed) from "Peyrolleux, Light Infantry Officer on the 46th Regiment of the Line, Prisoner of War at Odiham, Hants." to a friend in "Bourg St. Anderol" charged "8" and then "9" (routed via Calais and Paris) with "P" in triangle and a mainly very fine oval "TRANSPORT/[Crown]/G.R./PRISONERS OF WAR" all on the front. Peyrolleux writes that he was captured at the Battle of Waterloo ("I am a POW since the 18 July") and gives a graphic account of his experiences at the Battle; "One part of the day on which I was captured was very sad for me. I had in my Shako [helmet] a small box which contains the ring that my father gave me, as well as another which was very dear to me, when a cannonball blasted my Shako into a thousand pieces; I fell to the ground having been tumbled over without having been injured. At that moment the English Cavalry made a charge, and I was captured. The whole Regiment suffered this same fate or remained [dead] on the battlefield". He then asks the addressee to ask his father to send some money as he is penniless and has few clothes. The only recorded Odiham POW cover with a rare description of the Battle of Waterloo. [See MFPWE, p.183.] Cross Reference: FRANCE, HAMPSHIRE, MILITARY - P.O.W. MAIL, BELGIUM
Fees apply to the hammer price:
Free Registration
24% inc VAT*
