The ‘Niedersächsisches Hauptstaatsarchiv’ (Lower Saxon State Archives), fittingly situated near the Waterloo memorial in Hanover, contains important documentary material on the Campaign of 1815. Unlike the Prussian War Archives which are considered to have been largely destroyed in the Second World War, the Hanoverian Archives still contains most of its pre-war collection. This has recently been re-catalogued and given new references. Thanks to comprehensive registers, it is an easy task to find material relevant to the Waterloo Campaign

The relevant documents are contained in the following files:

Hann. 38D - Records of the King’s German Legion 1803-1816.
Hann. 41 - Files of the General Command with the Military Files of the London Chancellery of the 18th and 19th Centuries.
Hann. 48a I - Army Lists and Journals of the Hanoverian Forces, 1660, 1733-1867.

The registers themselves contain a detailed listing of the files. Hann. 41, Section XXI for instance contains reports on the Battle of Waterloo from participating officers. These can be found in files 150 - 152. Schwertfeger, in his “Geschichte der Königlich Deutschen Legion 1803-1816” (2 vols, Hanover and Leipzig, 1907) made extensive use of these archives. In this work on the KGL, he obviously uses the pre-war accession marks which makes checking his work a little tedious at times. However, it is clear from the style and content of Schwertfeger’s book that this author is an authority on his subject. Those references the writer of this article has checked are indeed correct. This is to be expected from a historian so renowned and respected as Schwertfeger. Fortunately, David Hamiiton-Williams, in his “Waterloo: New Perspectives” does use the current accession marks which makes checking his references easier. Doing so proved to be an interesting exercise.

One of the references given by the author of this recent work on the Campaign of 1815 several times is the “Dornberg (sic) MS”. He is obviously referring to Dörnberg, a cavalry brigade commander in Wellington’s army. According to Hamilton-Williams, the “Dornberg MS” can be found in Hann. 41 XXI, 150-6. [1] This reference is not quite correct. Dörnberg’s papers are in Hann. 41 XXI, 152 (1). File 152 contains reports from Hanoverian officers on their unit’s participation in the battle of Waterloo. This is a minor error which can easily be excused as a typographic mistake were the reference itself correct or relevant. However, it is not. Hamilton-Williams claims that this file contains “Major-General Dornberg’s own account of the transmission of Grant’s information”. [2] It does not. It is actually Dörnberg’s official report on the participation of his command in the Battle of Waterloo. One does not even need to visit the Archives to establish this fact. The report itself has been published in Pflugk-Harttung’s “Belie Alliance”. [3]

One could excuse this incorrect use of this reference as one of those occasional errors that people are prone to make. However, the “Dornberg MS” is mentioned again by Hamilton-Williams in another reference. [4] This time, we are told this is the same “Dornberg MS” that Pflugk-Harttung refers to in his “Vorgeschichte”. [5] It is not.

Hamilton-Williams is confusing Dörnberg’s Report on Waterloo deposited in the Hanover Archives with his Manuscript which at one time could be found in the Prussian War Archives in Berlin under accession mark VI. E58. This file is missing, presumed destroyed in World War 2. A comparison of the published versions of the Report and the Manuscript would have established that they were not the same documents. Besides, these references to a “Dornberg MS” by Hamilton-Williams are incorrect and not relevant to the point he is trying to make.

Further references by Hamilton-Williams to the Hanover Archives include several to Hann. 38D. [6] According to this author, the “Notizen MS”, “General Commando MS” and “Kielmansegge MS” can all be found under this reference. In a recent letter to me, Dr. Franke of the Hanover Archives told me that “The Manuscripts you mention cannot be identified without more precise details. You may possibly find them in Hann. 38D and Hann. 48aI.” On examining these files recently, I was unable to locate any such manuscripts. The files listed by Hamilton-Williams are 18, 22, 188, 200, 230-43 and 297. These files contain the following material:

18 Order and Correspondence Book
22 General Seniority List 1803-1816
188 Army Lists
200 Report on the Battle of Waterloo
230-43 Various reports, none of which appear to contain the manuscripts listed by Hamilton-Williams.
297 Casualties 1803-1816.