Ensign Ewart Pub Sign, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh
by Yvonne Johnstone
Title
Ensign Ewart Pub Sign, Lawnmarket, Edinburgh
Artist
Yvonne Johnstone
Medium
Photograph - Photography
Description
Ensign Ewart Pub Sign, Lawnmarket, Royal Mile, Edinburgh, Scotland.
Ensign Charles Ewart lived from 1769 to 23 May 1846. He is remembered for capturing the regimental eagle of the French 45th Regiment of the Line at the Battle of Waterloo on Sunday 18 June 1815.
At the age of 20 he enlisted in the army, joining the Royal North British Dragoons, a cavalry regiment better known as the Scots Greys. Ewart saw action a number of times during the French Revolutionary Wars between 1792 and 1802 and was briefly captured by the French on one occasion. At the time of the Battle of Waterloo in 1815 he was a 45 year old sergeant in the regiment and an expert rider and swordsman.
At the start of the battle the Scots Greys formed part of a heavy cavalry brigade held in reserve by Wellington. They entered the fray by passing through the 92nd Regiment of Foot, the Gordon Highlanders, completely surprising the French 45th Regiment of the Line who were engaging the Gordon Highlanders at the time. The French regiment broke apart and the eagle serving as the regimental standard was seized by Sergeant Ewart. He was ordered to return the captured eagle to safety and took it to Brussels while the battle continued.
Ewart's capture of the eagle rapidly entered folklore and he became a celebrity after being invited by Sir Walter Scott to address a Waterloo dinner in Leith, Edinburgh in 1816. Ewart was promoted to ensign (second lieutenant) and retired from the army in 1821. He moved with his wife to Salford near Manchester where he died in 1846 and was buried in the graveyard of a Salford church.
The area was subsequently redeveloped and the graveyard paved over. Ewart's body was located and exhumed in 1938 and he was reburied beneath a large granite memorial on Edinburgh Castle Esplanade.
Uploaded
November 24th, 2019
Statistics
Viewed 1,437 Times - Last Visitor from Ottawa, ON - Canada on 03/29/2024 at 4:15 AM
Embed
Share
Sales Sheet