Hanoverian Waterloo Medal

The Hanoverian Waterloo Medal was established in December 1817 by the Prince Regent George on behalf of his father, King George III. of Great Britain and Hanover, as a memorial for the veterans of the Battle of Quatre Bras on 16 June 1815 and the Battle of Waterloo 18th June 1815, donated.

Receiver

The medal received " all the warriors of his Guelph hereditary lands, which at the battle of Waterloo on June 18, " had participated, irrespective of their rank or class. In practice, even those Hanoverian soldiers received the medal which had not stood 18th June 1815 in the fire, or who had only participated in the Battle of Quatre Bras on 16 June 1815 the medal. The Hanoverian soldiers who served in the King's German Legion and under Wellington at the above Battles took part, were entitled to the British Waterloo Medal. The medal remained in the possession of the Beliehenen and had not returned after his death.

Description

• Obverse: the flipped to the right head of the founder of the coin, adorned with a laurel wreath. The inscription reads GEORG PRINZ REGENT 1815; in the arm section, the name of the engraver W.WYON.
• Reverse: under a small weapons trophy the words WATERLOO / jun XVIII in the upper half circumscribed with the words HANNOVER SCHER BRAVERY, in the lower framed by two laurel branches tied down.
• The medal is embossed with a high edge on the outside rank, name and part of the troops Beliehenen the time of the ceremony are wrapped in Latin capitals.
• There are also carried copies of this variant, which have no edge engraving.
• Between 1862 and 1866 almost 100 Waterloo medals were from General - adjutant again commissioned as a replacement for lost pieces. These were made from the farm bronze manufacturer C. Bernstorff & Eichwede in Hanover, which is why the original engraver engraving missing it.
• The band ring was attached by a slightly embossed iron eyelet. Since this fixation was not very stable and many may have seemed unattractive, it has been widely replaced by silver frames or bracket.
• The coin is minted from silver having a diameter of 35.0 mm and a weight from 26.7 to 30 g; it was awarded approximately 23,000 times.
• The ribbon is crimson, 37 mm wide and has two 5 mm wide, light blue side stripes.

Carrier

The support of the Hanover Waterloo medals can be relatively easily and successfully research because the State Archives in Hanover, complete rosters, regimental and award lists kept and - for a fee - issued also from the information and copies of draws. In addition, the events surrounding the campaign in 1815, and the battles of Quatre Bras and Waterloo is so often and in detail described that the source location is almost obvious.