Captain R. Shaw: 4th Foot in 1814

[Ulsterman]

In 1998 the 'Friends of the White House', a group of mostly elderly ladies (including my Mum) bought a miniature on ivory

portrait of a British infantry Captain and a belt plate of the 4th Foot for $4,675. The portrait indicated that it was of "Captain R. Shaw, Honored by firing the American Capital 1814". The back of the brass belt plate indicated that Shaw burned the White House.

The 4th Foot (one of my favorite regiments) barely made it to the field of Waterloo after disembarking and marching all night. They had taken part only a few months earlier in the disaster at New Orleans and shortly before that, helped rout the US forces outside Washington D. C. (including my g.g.g. Grandfather, whose flight earned him a 120 acre land grant in Tama, Iowa @ 30 years later as punishment).

I find NO mention of Shaw in my Waterloo lists. Does anyone here (Bear?) have access to the New Orleans casualty lists?

The Friends of the White House VERY much want to know.

Successful acquisition of Shaws' biographical information may well lead to a personal White House Xmas ornament-free! Michelle Obama is the Chair of the White House Friends' Committee.

[Bear]

Are you sure it's the 4th and not the 44th. Or maybe a typo.

I found this fella at Waterloo.

Captain Jason Shaw - 44th Foot

R Shaw :speechless:

Edited May 11, 2009 by Bear

[Ulsterman]

No-definitely the 4th Foot.

[paul wood]

No-definitely the 4th Foot.

Roll has Captain Shaw's Co no 1 for 1st Batt. 4th Foot but not in the Waterloo Roll call but in the 1815

Army list as large as life.

Hope this is of some help, presumably HP after Waterloo.

Paul

[leigh kitchen]

Great stuff.

[peter monahan]

The London Gazette is nopw available on line. The search engine is, according to those who use it a lot for WWI stuff, not 100% reliable, but I've found it very useful and all the despatches from the 1812-14 War that I've seen list at least officer casualties by name. Bracket the date of the battle - say Jan 30 - August 30 1815 and look for "Shaw" + "$th". He may pop up in the body of the despatch - the famous "Mentioned in Despatches" or in one of the appendices to the relevant despatch. Good luck!

Peter

[Bear]

Battle of New Orleans

Names of Officers killed, wounded, and missing, in the action of the 8th of January 1815.

Capt. H.E. Shaw, 4th Foot (British Marines) (slightly wounded)

another pub. listed as

Capt. Henry Thomas Shaw 4th Foot (Brigade Major) (slightly wounded)

another pub.

History of the war in France and Belgium, in 1815

List of Captains in the 4th Foot

4th Foot - Lt. Col. F. Brook

4th Foot - Capt. H. T. Shaw

remaining Captains in the 4th in 1815

Wilson

Edgell

Wood

Fletcher

Erskine

Craig

Kirwan

Browne

September 1825

Major Shaw, 4th Foot, to be deputy quartermaster-general in the Windward and Leeward Islands, with rank of Lt. Col. in the army

[Bear]

I would guess that the officer in the miniature portrait is Captain Henry Thomas Shaw.

Lt. Col. Henry Thomas Shaw(21 Feb 1788/ 20 June 1832)

Admiral Sir George Cockburn(1772-1853) was given the credit for burning down the White House. I just can't see a British Captain running around with a torch. A very ungentlemanly act. Maybe orders down the chain Admiral to Colonel to Major to Shaw to Lt. to Sargent to Corporal to Private. But then again maybe he did torch it.

Battle of Waterloo/ List of Officers

4th Foot

Lt. Col. F. Brook

Captains

Capt. H. T. Shaw

Wilson

Edgell

Wood

Fletcher

Erskine

Craig

Kirwan

Browne

Edited May 12, 2009 by Bear

[Ulsterman]

Egad!!

I think that's the man!

Can anyone tell from an army list if he had the Waterloo medal? I didn't see him in my Waterloo Roster.

Anyway, thankee sir!

I shall inform Mum that he's been identified and put you in for a Meritorious White House Christmas Tree Decoration.

[Bear]

Google Books

The Battle of Waterloo

http://books.google.com/books?id=k4dJAAAAM...qPxNovKNdv-tYUC

Notice the note at the bottom of the page.

[censlenov]

What about Captain R Henry Shaw who joined the 4th on Exchange from the 60th in January 1808. Gazetted the 23rd of January 1808. What happened to him??

[Bear]

It might be the same person. Everywhere I look he has different intials.

An Example: When I've gone through the old papers looking for French Marshal Lannes(Lannes, Lannas, Lonnas, Lasnes, Lanne, Lanse, ect...) and that's the French Papers. You would think that they would have got his name right.

Henry Thomas Shaw

H. E. Shaw

R. Henry Shaw

Edited May 12, 2009 by Bear