WATERLOO - LA FERME DU CAILLON (sic)

WATERLOO

That should read La Ferme du Caillou.

Spelling!

The Millers were in Belgium in 1907. I believe they were in France some time beforehand. I have quite a few cards collected by them in Paris on the theme of the Emperor Napoléon; by extension then the Battle of Waterloo saw the end of Napoléon Bonaparte’s dream of Empire. That happened on Sunday June 18, 1815.

The Battle of Waterloo was the end of what we call these days the Napoleonic Wars which began around 1803. A century later these events were celebrated much in the same way as we today are readying ourselves for the Centenary of World War I.

Perhaps the Millers were tourists visiting the sites that were already part of the myth of Waterloo. Certainly the cards they chose show some knowledge of the events of 1815.

So where is Waterloo? The Battle of Waterloo was fought just thirteen kilometres south of Brussels. A day trip away from their stay in Brussels?

Perhaps they knew of people who had fought at Waterloo? Uncles, grandparents?

Or perhaps it was their fascination for horses: the role of the cavalry in warfare?

The French army had 14,000 cavalry and the English had 11,000 there that day in 1815.

This is a card that shows Napoleon's ‘Last Headquarters’ – Le Caillou. Napoleon spent a bad, sleepless night there on the 17 – 18 June, 1815.

It lies south of the battlefield. It is now furnished as a museum with four rooms and includes among other things the emperor's tent.

Address: Chaussée de Bruxelles 66, B-1472 Vieux-Genappe, Belgium.

Love the tourists at the entrance to the Caillou!

A card published by Nels of Brussels. Series 7, No. 5. c.1905.

"This publishing house was founded by Edward Nels in 1898. Their goal was to spread geographic knowledge while producing maps, guide books, and photographic and printed souvenirs. They soon became the largest producer of postcards in Belgium, and they also published many cards of the Congo and of Luxembourg. Though they produced a variety of card types, most were as collotypes, many of which were hand colored in a dull pallet. Ernest Thill, who had ben the manager of the firm took over from Nels in 1913 and added his name to the company. In the 1960’s to 1975 they were purchased by a French firm, but they are now publishing postcards under their own name again, though for the most part they are now printed in Italy." http://www.metropostcard.com/publishersn.html