Corporal James Graham

 

3rd Foot Guards

Garrison commander, Lieutenant-Colonel James Macdonnell became aware of the emergency. He called to three of his officers, Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Wyndham and Ensigns James Hervey and Henry Gooch to follow him. As they reached the area of the draw well they were joined by another six men, including CORPORAL JAMES GRAHAM and his brother Corporal Joseph Graham. The group rushed forward to the open gates and, with a combination of luck and brute force, managed to push them closed in the faces of the onrushing French. Whilst all this was going on, the hand to hand fighting in the courtyard ended in the French soldiers being slaughtered to a man, save for one drummer boy, whose life was spared. The giant Lieutenant Legros died with his Sapper’s axe still in his hand.

 

After the gates had been shut, the men set about barricading them to prevent a repetition of what had just occurred. CORPORAL GRAHAM had handed his musket to Lieutenant Colonel Wyndham and was carrying something, probably a timber, for the barricade. Wyndham was astonished to see the head of a French Grenadier appearing over the wall. He was standing on the shoulders of a comrade. One account states that Wyndham said, “Do you see that man, Graham?” He replied “Yes, Sir”, dropped his log and took back his musket, just as the Grenadier was swinging his musket over the wall and aiming at Wyndham. Graham and the Grenadier fired simultaneously, but it must have been Graham who fired first, probably only by a split second, bearing in mind the point blank range, as the Frenchman’s musket ball which whistled past Colonel Wyndam, while the Grenadier, himself, fell back shot through the head by Graham’s ball.

 

Some three hours later CORPORAL GRAHAM saved the life of his own brother, who lay wounded in a burning building.  He obtained Colonel Macdonnell’s permission to leave his post in the firing line, went into the burning building, conveyed his brother to a place of safety and then immediately returned to his post. Unfortunately the brother, Private Joseph Graham, died of his wounds five days later.

 

Graham would certainly have received the Victoria Cross had it been available at the time. What he did receive was immediate promotion to sergeant and a special medal for gallantry from the Sergeants of the Regiment. That medal together with his Waterloo medal and a chunk of the original North Gate are today displayed in the Guards.

 

After the battle, John Norcross, the Rector of Framlingham, wished to give an annuity of £10 to a deserving soldier and Graham was chosen by the Duke of Wellington himself to receive the annuity. Unfortunately, Graham received the annuity for only two years. It ceased when the rector went bankrupt.

 

However, the financial fortunes of the rector obviously recovered and on his death he left the then enormous sum of £500 to be given to the “bravest man in England”. Wellington elected Colonel Macdonnell and it is said that he very generously gave half the sum to Graham.

“The most valorous NCO

at the Battle of Waterloo”

 

James Graham was one of three Irish brothers who fought at Waterloo. He distinguished himself as one of the men who closed the gates at Hougoumont and by saving the life of Lieutenant Colonel Wyndham by shooting dead a French grenadier. Later he saved the life of his own brother, Corporal Joseph Graham, who lay wounded in a burning building at Hougoumont. He received immediate promotion to sergeant. He later transferred to the cavalry as a private. He was discharged 1830.  He died in 1845, aged 53.

 

Closing the gates of Hougoumont

This was probably the most famous incident of the entire battle and undoubtedly the most important in terms of the battle. Wellington himself stated that the outcome of the entire battle hinged on the closing of the North Gate at Hougoumont. Why? Well it was a bit more complicated than this but it was because the capture of Hougoumont would have provided Napoleon with a forward platform from which he could have brought up artillery to enfilade the British line from close range and Wellington’s position would have become untenable.

 

So what was the story of the closing of the North Gate?

 

In the early afternoon a giant French Lieutenant called Legros, who was nicknamed “L’Enforceur” led a party of men forward to the North Gate. He seized an axe from one of the pioneers and swung it against the gates. They to force the gates open and a group of about 30 or 40 managed to burst into the courtyard. Desperate hand to hand fighting ensued and the French came under intense fire from the farm and chateau buildings.

Hougoumont

 

by Robert Gibb

Extract from James Graham’s service record held at the Public Record Office in London

If you have surfed directly to this page you might be

interested to know that this is part of the web site of

Waterloo Battlefield Tours

For details of our tours click on Rifleman Coleston’s top hat