William Siborne
Encyclopedia
William Siborne, Sibourne or Siborn (15 October 1797–9 January 1849) was a British officer
and military historian whose most notable work was a history of the Waterloo campaign.
circa 1771.. His father had been wounded at the battle of Nivelle
in the Peninsular War
. William Siborne graduated from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in 1814, having been commissioned as an ensign in the same regiment (renamed the 9th Regiment of Foot
in 1782) on 9 September 1813, before it joined the 2nd battalion at Canterbury
then Chatham and finally Sheerness
in 1815.
's army of occupation, doing duty in the Camp of Boulogne
, near Paris. He obtained the rank of lieutenant in November 1815, but was put on half pay from March 1817, when his regiment was reduced to one battalion. In September 1820, he undertook a secret mission in Germany on behalf of the Treasury.
Two years later, he published his first book, Instructions for Civil and Military Surveyors in Topographical Plan-drawing.
In July 1824, he married Helen Aitken, daughter of a Scottish banker and colonel of the militia. They subsequently had a son and daughter.
On 11 November 1824, he was gazetted to the 47th (Lancashire) regiment, this being backdated to November 1815, and went on leave in Europe.
In March 1826, he was appointed as assistant military secretary to the Commander-in-Chief, Ireland (first Lieutenant-General Sir George Murray, then Sir John Byng
, then Sir Richard Hussey Vivian and finally Sir Edward Blakeney
), holding this post until 1843.
In 1827, he published his second book, A Practical Treatise on Topographical Surveying and Drawing, which was dedicated to his commander-in-chief Sir George Murray.
, then commander-in-chief Britain, commissioned Siborne to construct a model of the battle of Waterloo
. Siborne carried out extensive research, writing to officers in the allied forces present to obtain information on the positions of the troops at the crisis of the battle at 7 p.m. His attempts to get the same information from the ministry of war in Paris were politely ignored, while the Prince of Orange
kindly supplied him with information on the Netherlands forces.
The replies to the circular he sent out and the subsequent correspondence amount to the largest single collection of primary source material on the subject ever assembled. The British Museum
purchased the collection after his death and it is now in the British Library
. He spent eight months at the farm of La Haye-Sainte surveying the entire battlefield.
The actual model took until 1838 to complete, partly because Siborne still had his main military duties to fulfill. Progress was interrupted in 1833, by the new ministry's refusal to allocate new funds. Siborne financed the model himself from then onwards.
During the construction of the Large Model, Siborne earned the enmity of the Duke of Wellington, as Siborne's research called into question parts of the duke's version of events at Waterloo. This led to Siborne's attempts to get the government to honour its obligation to him being thwarted, his attempts to obtain his captaincy being obstructed and a smear campaign being undertaken against him. Even removing 40,000 of the 48,000 Prussians on the model did not placate the duke.
The final total cost was around £3000, which Siborne had considerable difficulty in recovering, as the exhibitor of its first public display in London cheated him of much of his share of the revenues. Siborne also built a smaller model of a portion of the battlefield on a larger scale. The main model was purchased by the Royal United Service Institution after his death, and is now in the Changing the World gallery at the National Army Museum
, London. The smaller, or so-called New Model, is on display at the Royal Armouries Museum.
Siborne made use of the considerable amount of material he assembled to write his third book, a history of the Waterloo campaign. It was first published in 1844, and the 4th edition is still in print today.
On 31 January 1840, he purchased an unattached captaincy, although this was on half pay. He was now exhausted by his efforts and broken by the hostility of the Duke of Wellington, but friends in the army obtained a sinecure
for him as Secretary and Adjutant of the Royal Military Asylum at Chelsea. He took up his post in November 1843, where he remained until his death. He is buried at Brompton Cemetery
. His second son Henry Taylor Siborne
later published a selection of the letters in his collection.
Officer (armed forces)
An officer is a member of an armed force or uniformed service who holds a position of authority. Commissioned officers derive authority directly from a sovereign power and, as such, hold a commission charging them with the duties and responsibilities of a specific office or position...
and military historian whose most notable work was a history of the Waterloo campaign.
Early life
William Siborne was the son of Benjamin Siborne, a captain in the 9th (East Norfolk) regiment born in GreenwichGreenwich
Greenwich is a district of south London, England, located in the London Borough of Greenwich.Greenwich is best known for its maritime history and for giving its name to the Greenwich Meridian and Greenwich Mean Time...
circa 1771.. His father had been wounded at the battle of Nivelle
Battle of Nivelle
The Battle of Nivelle took place in front of the River Nivelle near the end of the Peninsular War . After the Allied siege of San Sebastian, Wellington's 80,000 British, Portuguese and Spanish troops were in hot pursuit of Marshal Soult who only had 60,000 men to place in a 20-mile perimeter...
in the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
. William Siborne graduated from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst in 1814, having been commissioned as an ensign in the same regiment (renamed the 9th Regiment of Foot
9th Regiment of Foot
The 9th Regiment of Foot was a infantry line regiment of the British Army from 1751 to 1881. It became the Norfolk Regiment following the Army reforms of 1881.-Early history:...
in 1782) on 9 September 1813, before it joined the 2nd battalion at Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
then Chatham and finally Sheerness
Sheerness
Sheerness is a town located beside the mouth of the River Medway on the northwest corner of the Isle of Sheppey in north Kent, England. With a population of 12,000 it is the largest town on the island....
in 1815.
Military Career
In August 1815, he was sent to France to join the Duke of WellingtonDuke of Wellington
The Dukedom of Wellington, derived from Wellington in Somerset, is a hereditary title in the senior rank of the Peerage of the United Kingdom. The first holder of the title was Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington , the noted Irish-born career British Army officer and statesman, and...
's army of occupation, doing duty in the Camp of Boulogne
Boulogne-Billancourt
Boulogne-Billancourt is a commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris. Boulogne-Billancourt is a sub-prefecture of the Hauts-de-Seine department and the seat of the Arrondissement of Boulogne-Billancourt....
, near Paris. He obtained the rank of lieutenant in November 1815, but was put on half pay from March 1817, when his regiment was reduced to one battalion. In September 1820, he undertook a secret mission in Germany on behalf of the Treasury.
Two years later, he published his first book, Instructions for Civil and Military Surveyors in Topographical Plan-drawing.
In July 1824, he married Helen Aitken, daughter of a Scottish banker and colonel of the militia. They subsequently had a son and daughter.
On 11 November 1824, he was gazetted to the 47th (Lancashire) regiment, this being backdated to November 1815, and went on leave in Europe.
In March 1826, he was appointed as assistant military secretary to the Commander-in-Chief, Ireland (first Lieutenant-General Sir George Murray, then Sir John Byng
John Byng, 1st Earl of Strafford
Field Marshal John Byng, 1st Earl of Strafford, GCB, GCH, PC was a British peer, politician and soldier.-Early years:...
, then Sir Richard Hussey Vivian and finally Sir Edward Blakeney
Edward Blakeney
Field Marshal Sir Edward Blakeney PC GCB GCH was a British Army Field Marshal.-Background:Born at Newcastle-upon-Tyne, Blakeney, was the fourth son of Colonel William Blakeney, who sat in the Parliament of Ireland, and his wife Sarah née Shields...
), holding this post until 1843.
In 1827, he published his second book, A Practical Treatise on Topographical Surveying and Drawing, which was dedicated to his commander-in-chief Sir George Murray.
History of Waterloo
Early in 1830, Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount HillRowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill
General Rowland Hill, 1st Viscount Hill of Almaraz GCB, GCH served in the Napoleonic Wars as a trusted brigade, division and corps commander under the command of the Duke of Wellington. He became Commander-in-Chief of the British Army in 1829.-Early career:Educated at a school in Chester, Hill was...
, then commander-in-chief Britain, commissioned Siborne to construct a model of the battle of Waterloo
Battle of Waterloo
The Battle of Waterloo was fought on Sunday 18 June 1815 near Waterloo in present-day Belgium, then part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands...
. Siborne carried out extensive research, writing to officers in the allied forces present to obtain information on the positions of the troops at the crisis of the battle at 7 p.m. His attempts to get the same information from the ministry of war in Paris were politely ignored, while the Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange
Prince of Orange is a title of nobility, originally associated with the Principality of Orange, in what is now southern France. In French it is la Principauté d'Orange....
kindly supplied him with information on the Netherlands forces.
The replies to the circular he sent out and the subsequent correspondence amount to the largest single collection of primary source material on the subject ever assembled. The British Museum
British Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
purchased the collection after his death and it is now in the British Library
British Library
The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom, and is the world's largest library in terms of total number of items. The library is a major research library, holding over 150 million items from every country in the world, in virtually all known languages and in many formats,...
. He spent eight months at the farm of La Haye-Sainte surveying the entire battlefield.
The actual model took until 1838 to complete, partly because Siborne still had his main military duties to fulfill. Progress was interrupted in 1833, by the new ministry's refusal to allocate new funds. Siborne financed the model himself from then onwards.
During the construction of the Large Model, Siborne earned the enmity of the Duke of Wellington, as Siborne's research called into question parts of the duke's version of events at Waterloo. This led to Siborne's attempts to get the government to honour its obligation to him being thwarted, his attempts to obtain his captaincy being obstructed and a smear campaign being undertaken against him. Even removing 40,000 of the 48,000 Prussians on the model did not placate the duke.
The final total cost was around £3000, which Siborne had considerable difficulty in recovering, as the exhibitor of its first public display in London cheated him of much of his share of the revenues. Siborne also built a smaller model of a portion of the battlefield on a larger scale. The main model was purchased by the Royal United Service Institution after his death, and is now in the Changing the World gallery at the National Army Museum
National Army Museum
The National Army Museum is the British Army's central museum. It is located in the Chelsea district of central London, England adjacent to the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the home of the "Chelsea Pensioners". The National Army Museum is open to the public every day of the year from 10.00am to 5.30pm,...
, London. The smaller, or so-called New Model, is on display at the Royal Armouries Museum.
Siborne made use of the considerable amount of material he assembled to write his third book, a history of the Waterloo campaign. It was first published in 1844, and the 4th edition is still in print today.
On 31 January 1840, he purchased an unattached captaincy, although this was on half pay. He was now exhausted by his efforts and broken by the hostility of the Duke of Wellington, but friends in the army obtained a sinecure
Sinecure
A sinecure means an office that requires or involves little or no responsibility, labour, or active service...
for him as Secretary and Adjutant of the Royal Military Asylum at Chelsea. He took up his post in November 1843, where he remained until his death. He is buried at Brompton Cemetery
Brompton Cemetery
Brompton Cemetery is located near Earl's Court in South West London, England . It is managed by The Royal Parks and is one of the Magnificent Seven...
. His second son Henry Taylor Siborne
Henry Taylor Siborne
Major-General Herbert Taylor Siborne was a British Army officer and military historian. He was the second son of the officer and historian William Siborne and in 1891 edited and published some of the letters his father had received in his research for his Battle of Waterloo model as Waterloo...
later published a selection of the letters in his collection.
Further reading
- Guide to the model of the Battle of Waterloo: [now exhibited at the Egyptian HallEgyptian HallFor the Glasgow building see The Egyptian Halls.The Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly, London, was an Exhibition hall built in the ancient Egyptian style in 1812, to the designs of Peter Frederick Robinson.-History:...
, Piccadilly]. [18--] - Letters from the Battle of Waterloo: the unpublished correspondence by Allied officers from the Siborne papers; edited by Gareth Glover. London: Greenhill, 2004 ISBN 1853675970
- Waterloo Letters: a selection from original and hitherto unpublished letters bearing on the operations of the 16th, 17th, and 18th June 1815, by officers who served in the campaign; edited by H. T. Siborne. London: Cassell & Co., 1891.