WATERLOO AND HELDER CAMPAIGNS Collection relating to the life and career of Field Marshal Sir William Maynard Gomm (1784-1875) of the 9th Regiment of Foot, including his first-hand account of Quatre Bras and Waterloo, and a journal written whilst on the Duke of York's Helder expedition, comprising: i) Manuscript journal titled "My Journal written on the March from Waterloo to Paris in 1815/ WMG" on first leaf, describing "...the Operations of the Army under the Duke of Wellington from the 15th of June to the 8th of August 1815...", describing the departure from Brussels, marching upon Quatre Bras on 16th June ("...the enemy immediately makes a Disposition for attack with the 1st and 2nd Corps, under Ney, and a numerous Cavalry under Kellerman. The British and Hanoverian Brigades draw up in two lines... this wood was in some parts intricate, but passable everywhere for Light Infantry... the Enemy's Cavalry... assailed with so galling and destructive a Fire from the 92nd... driven back in great confusion and considerable loss... the Infantry immediately forms squares by Battalions. The 42nd Regiment... suffers greatly from the Fire of the Enemy's sharp-shooters..."), and French retreat ("...No Baggage, Stores or Wounded fall into the Enemy's hands..."), a violent storm, details of troop positions on the morning of the 18th ("...the whole Front of the Position covered a space of about two miles and a half..."), the French position "...more commanding...", the commencement of battle ("...about midday... a sharp skirmish about the House and Copse of Houguemont..."), much detail on the ebb and flow of the fighting ("...About 2 o'clock the Enemy forms a Battery of from 20 to 30 pieces of cannon... The attack is all along carried on with obstinacy against the post of Houguemont..."), retreat of the enemy from the farm "...having suffered immensely...", then "...the third and desperate attack made upon the British line by the Imperial Guard, had been completely repulsed... all attempts on the part of the Enemy to rally his broken army are vain... the Prussian columns are now acting in concert with the British and the Enemy's Right is completely turned...", casualty numbers and the aftermath ("...many distinguished Persons have fallen..."), on Wellington ("...in the hottest of the Fire during the whole of the action..."), the bravery of the troops ("...constancy and unshaken firmness... the field was more than once irretrievably lost but for the wonderful and almost miraculous exertions of the British Infantry..."), concluding that the battle "...will claim so distinguished a place among the events of modern times...", the final pages comprising daily diary notes ("19th... The Duke of Wellington's army marches upon Nivelles... 26th The King moves to Cambrai..."), ending in Paris "...The white flag hoisted. The King enters Paris this afternoon carried at the Proclamation of the People...", 40 numbered pages, paper covers, title inscribed in ink, 4to (254 x 200mm.), [1815] ii) Autograph memorandum, dated November 1862, referring to the previous account, defending "This sketchy and sadly rusty-looking Memoir long laid to rest" in the light of subsequent accounts by French writers such as "Messeiurs Victor Hugo and Thiers", that it was not "...exaggerating in the heat of exultation...", but written from his perspective ("...limited chiefly to the fortunes of our left of the field... what occurred ... under the immediate eye of the narrator... the rest gather'd... from competent and trustworthy authorities..."), annotated in pencil "To be entered as a footnote at the beginning of the Waterloo journal", 6 pages on two bifolia, dust-staining and marks, creased, 4to, November 1862; with a group of memoranda and notes on a similar vein, responding to published accounts of the battle such as Leeke's history of the 52nd, and including a list of regimental losses, etc., c.35 pages, 4to and 8vo, [1862/70]; Gomm's printed verses on the publication of Wellington's Despatches, annotated in another hand, signed and dated "WM Gomm/1838", 8 pages, sewn offprint, dust-staining and marks, 8vo, [Privately Printed, 1838], all housed in a dark blue portfolio, double fillet gilt panel, decorative stamped floral pastedowns, paper label affixed to upper cover titled "Sir William's original journal – 1815 – to be taken the greatest possible care of. E[lizabe]th Gomm" in ink, slightly rubbed, 4to (257 x 215mm.), [1862 onwards] iii) Manuscript journal kept by Gomm of his first active service titled "List of Remarkable Occurrences since joining the 9th Regt as Lieutenant, August 13th 1799 with their dates", with detailed daily entries from the landing at Helder, describing the Battle of Bergen (19 September 1799) ("...the British advancing by degrees, but not very regularly; the plain being intersected every 20 yards nearly with small canals... wading through being too wide to leap... in the greatest disorder... H. H. Prince William of Gloucester has now joined us... great slaughter being made on both sides... Nearly the whole of our Ammunition was now exhausted..."), the Battle of Alkmaar ("...attacked the enemy in the sandhills..."), march to Helder where "...received orders to cease throwing up any further works, an Armistice having taken place..."; much on life in the battalion; departure for Spain on the Brailsford, violent storms of Cape Finisterre, smuggling produce aboard ship ("...we disguise ourselves as sailors..."), arrival at Cadiz, copy of Abercrombie's General Orders given 5th October 1800 from the Foudroyant, landing at Gibraltar ("...a miserable hole..."), etc., with loose manuscript map of "Cadiz Road and Bay", in pen, ink and wash, 74 pages, dust-staining, marks, discolouration and wear, map 165 x 205mm., brown calf, 'W M Gomm/ 9th Foot/ 1st Batt' blind embossed on upper cover, paper label with "1799/1804." in ink, scratched and worn, 8vo (187 x 120mm.), [1799 to 1804] iv) FRANCIS CULLING CARR-GOMM (EDITOR), Letters and Journals of Field-Marshal Sir William Maynard Gomm, G.B.E, four pages with autograph correction slips tipped in, numerous marginal annotations in ink, red half morocco, Gomm arms in gilt to front board, spine gilt in compartments, 4to, London, John Murray, 1881; with volume of printed galley proofs marked "2nd Proof", editor's manuscript annotations, extra typed and printed notes loosely inserted, on blue paper, bookplate of Francis Culling and Emily Blanche Carr-Gomm, brown half-calf, gilt arms to upper cover, marbled ends, folio, [1880] v) Group of fifteen letters to various members of the Gomm family, the majority to Richard S. Gomm from his cousin William Gomm, on various family matters such as the death of Sir Robert Gomm in Jamaica, their ancestry, speedy travel from London to Bath (12 hours), and much else, c.56 pages, dust-staining and marks, red wax seals, seal tears, 4to and 8vo, Bramdean, 18 April 1800 to 18 December 1835; with collection of correspondence to Lady Gomm, including a large quantity of letters of condolence on the death of her husband (including one on behalf of Queen Victoria), over 100 letters, 8vo, [1875] (collection) 'TWO HOSTILE ARMIES HAVE SELDOM IN MODERN WARFARE, FOUGHT SO CONTINUALLY HAND TO HAND, AS ON THIS HARD CONTESTED DAY': A FIRST-HAND ACCOUNT OF WATERLOO AND QUATRE BRAS FROM A DISTINGUISHED CAREER SOLDIER. Gomm was commissioned as an ensign in the 9th Regiment of Foot in May 1794 at the tender age of nine, in recognition of the services rendered by his father, Lieutenant-Colonel William Gomm of the 46th Foot, who was killed in the attack on Guadeloupe the month before. He joined the regiment proper in 1799 after leaving school, and was first deployed to the Netherlands during which time he kept the journal included in this collection. There he fought under the Duke of York & Albany at the battles of Bergen and Alkmaar in 1799, and was with Sir James Pulteney's expedition to Ferrol in Spain, where our journal ends. During the Peninsular Campaign Gomm served as assistant quartermaster-general, and was present at key events such as the battles of Corunna (with Sir John Moore), Bussaco, and Salamanca, and the sieges of Cuidad Rodrigo and Badajoz. Our eye-witness account of Quatre Bras and Waterloo, written 'while actually on the march to Paris' was included in Gomm's posthumously published Letters and Journals, 1881 (pp.351-368). However, our diary pages giving his account of the days following Waterloo until his entry into Paris, were not included in the final publication. The collection also includes the galley proofs, editor's notes and a copy of the book marked up with corrections for a potential second edition. After Quatre Bras and Waterloo, Gomm was awarded the Russian Order of St. Anna. He served as Commander of the Troops in Jamaica in 1839, Governor of Mauritius (1842) and was sent to India to become Commander-in-Chief in 1850, only to discover on arrival that Sir Charles Napier had been appointed in his stead. Provenance: Private collection, U.K.