| "It gives me the greatest satisfaction to assure your Lordship that the army never, upon any occasion, conducted itself better", the Duke of Wellington in the Waterloo dispatch to the British government. |
The British government received reparations of 25 million francs from the French following the victory at Waterloo. This prize money was divided into 16 equal shares for distribution to every survivor of the conflict.
Four shares were split between the rank-and-file, two of the shares were distributed among the non-commissioned officers, and so on up through the ranks of subaltern, captain, field officer and general officer. Wellington, as Commander in Chief, received a single share equivalent to over £3.25 million today. A nice little earner!
To put this into context, the prize money was worth 5 months pay to an Ensign, 6½ months for a Captain, 18 months for a Major and 17 months for a Lieutenant!
Unclaimed money was donated to the Chelsea Hospital
Identify the prize money for each of the following ranks, and apply values to pounds, shillings & pence (£.s.d - ignore fractions).
Assume N51 & W000
£.Sergeant + General.s
£.Subaltern * (Subaltern.s + Sergeant.d) + Private.s - £.Colonel
£.Captain / Colonel.s
(£.General/£.Corporal) + (Sergeant.s * Colonel.d) + Captain.s
Additional Notes
Terrain: I first visited the area in April, and the ground was still quite muddy in places, however just a few weeks later, and the ground was rock hard with the nettles above waist height. I do not recommend shorts for a couple of the caches at this time of year!
Caches in the series