Edward Orme (1775–1848)
Historic, military, and naval anecdotes, of personal valour, bravery, and particular incidents which occurred to the armies of Great Britain and her allies, in the last long-contested war, terminating with the Battle of Waterloo…
London: Edward Orme, 1819
Harley-Mason.a.78, plate opposite p. 54

‘Death of Major Genl Sir Wm Ponsonby’. Engraving by M. Dubourg after Franz Joseph Manskirch. Sir William Ponsonby (1772–1815) commanded a brigade of cavalry at Waterloo and led it in a charge against a French infantry column attacking the Allied line. He was killed when French cavalry counter-charged. In his despatch written the day after the battle, Wellington wrote concerning Ponsonby that ‘I have to add the expression of my grief for the fate of an officer who had already rendered very brilliant and important services, and was an ornament to his profession.’ The story that he died handing personal mementos to a fellow-officer to return to his family may be apocryphal.

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