Lodge
St. Andrew Kilmarnock
No.126
Established 1771
"The Ensign ewart"
Charles Ewart of "126"
& Scottish Legend
(cf Extract of minute
in Lodge History dated 30-11-1800)
“The Hero
of the Battle Of Waterloo” Charles Ewart, who, single-handedly captured the
standard of the famous French Invincibles at the Battle of Waterloo. Ensign
Ewart's grave is marked by a granite block on the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle.
The standard he so bravely won can be seen in the castle itself. . On the
18th of June 1815, Charles Ewart was a Sergeant in the Royal North British
Dragoons when he captured the standard of the French 45th Regiment, from which
the badge of the Royal Scots Greys (now the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards) was
derived. He was born at Biddles Farm in Kilmarnock, Scotland, in 1769 and
enlisted in the 2nd Royal North British Dragoons (The Scots Greys) in 1789.
At the time of the Battle of Waterloo, therefore, he was 45 years old and
a veteran of many battles. A giant of a man, various sources place him at
anything between 6 foot. 4 inches and 7 feet tall, he was an expert swordsman.
In the picture above, we see him at the age of 75, in the uniform of an Ensign
of the 5th Royal Veteran Battalion, into which he was commissioned after Waterloo,
by the Prince Regent. On his breast is the Waterloo medal. This medal set
the precedence in the British Army for issuing campaign medals to officers
and other ranks alike.
On
the day of the battle The Scots Greys, alongside the Gordon Highlanders, faced
the French 45th Regiment (The Invincibles). It was late in the day when they
got the order to charge, and with the soldiers of the Gordon Highlanders hanging
on to their stirrups and with a cry of "Scotland Forever!", the Greys swept
down on the enemy. Ewart made straight for the French standard bearer, fighting
his way through. Three Frenchmen threw themselves in the way. In his own words
:- "One made a thrust at my groin, I parried him off and cut him down through
the head. A lancer came at me - I threw the lance off by my right side and
cut him through the chin and upwards through the teeth. Next, a foot soldier
fired at me and then charged me with his bayonet, which I also had the good
luck to parry, and then I cut him down through the head". Thus he made his
way to the Eagle which he grasped firmly and carried off, and earned himself
a name forever as "the greatest and most illustrious Grey in history".
The moment when Ewart captures the standard, as shown by the large painting
by Ernest Hood. Ewart eventually left the Army in 1821. He and his wife Maggie
(Margaret Geddes, of Stockport) moved to Salford. He kept busy teaching swordsmanship.
Ewart moved to a cottage in Bent Lane, Davyhulme, where he spent the last
16 years of his life, on his £100 a year Army pension. When he died in 1846
he was buried in a church in Salford. Eventually the church closed, became
a factory and the burial ground was paved over. It was not until 1938, that
workmen clearing the site found his grave. Ewart's body was exhumed and re-buried
beneath a granite memorial, on the esplanade of Edinburgh Castle. However
that was not the end of his travels. In 1967, repairs became necessary at
the castle, and so with full military honours Ewart's body was once again
exhumed and taken to a temporary resting place at Preston Hall, Midlothian.
Today, however, he is back at the castle.
NOTE: The Greys were raised in 1681 as the Royal Regiment of Scotch Dragoons
and designated as the 2nd (Royal North British) Dragoons in 1751. Because
of their grey horses the regiment became known as the Greys Dragoons. The
name Royal Scots Greys was adopted in 1877, and then eventually they merged
with another regiment to become the Royal Scots Dragoon Guards.
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