An interesting headstone in the Churchyard of All Saints is that of William Brown who fought and survived 4 battles of the Napoleonic War, Orthez, Genappe, Toulouse & Waterloo. He died on the 6th June 1879 aged 85.

I can imagine him sat in one of the Collingham Inn's, his tankard of ale in hand telling his tales of daring do's.

"I told Wellington to attack their left flank", "Ok, Bill". He said".

On 17 June 1815 a troop of the 7th Hussars was on the high road from Genappe to Quatre Bras. The regiment was covering the British march from Quatre Bras to Waterloo, and was left outside the town, to hold in check the advancing French cavalry while the main body of the regiment was proceeding in file across the narrow bridge of Genappe and up the steep street of the town. A severe cavalry combat ensued when the French lancers reached the top of the town, in which the 7th Hussars made a gallant charge, with considerable loss.

The Battle of Waterloo was fought thirteen kilometres south of Brussels between the French, under the command of Napoleon Bonaparte, and the Allied armies commanded by the Duke of Wellington from Britain and General Blücher from Prussia. The French defeat at Waterloo drew to a close 23 years of war beginning with the French Revolutionary wars in 1792 and continuing with the Napoleonic Wars from 1803. There was a brief eleven-month respite when Napoleon was forced to abdicate, exiled to the island of Elba. However, the unpopularity of Louis XVIII and the economic and social instability of France motivated him to return to Paris in March 1815. The Allies soon declared war once again. Napoleon's final defeat at Waterloo marked the end of the Emperor's final bid for power, the so-called '100 Days', and the final chapter in his remarkable career.