“I have been Eighteen times since that awful day.” the Ker papers, relic collecting, and the origins of battlefield tourism at Waterloo

Abstract

ABSTRACT This paper considers a previously unpublished collection of writings relating to the aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo, fought in Belgium on 18 June 1815. 1 The author of these documents, Thomas Ker, was a Scottish merchant living in Brussels at the time of the battle, and this discussion places his observations on the battlefield in the days following the famous encounter between Napoleon and Wellington in the context of accounts by civilian visitors published soon after the event (mostly between 1816 and 1817). These include works by Sir Walter Scott, Robert Hills, James Simpson, and, importantly also, women, with Charlotte Eaton, Georgiana Capel, and Anne Laura Thorold among them. These writings are used here to provide insight into the transformation of Waterloo from a scene of carnage to a popular tourist attraction, with a particular focus on the role of relic collection in this process.