Richard Simkin (1850–1926)
The boy’s book of British battles from 1704 to 1882
London: George Routledge and sons, [1890?]
1890.10.49, centre pages

Waterloo was given pride of place on the centre pages of this compilation of captioned pictures of victorious episodes in British military history, which ranged from the War of the Spanish Succession to the expedition recently sent to subdue Arabi Pasha’s revolt in Egypt. The artist and author, Richard Simkin, was a prolific illustrator of the uniforms of the British Army, specialising in watercolours. His account of Waterloo follows the standard late nineteenth-century British version, acknowledging the importance of the Prussian attack on Napoleon’s flank but attributing the final French collapse to Wellington’s advance following the repulse of the Imperial Guard.