Introduction
This is the story of a coach and a man. Both are closely related to the story of Napoleon Bonaparte. Introduction of Johannes Horn, a native of Bergen op Zoom, who will lead an incredible life, travelling with Napoleon. His memoirs were written in 1816. Introduction of the bullet-proof travelling-coach of Napoleon, which was a mobile home avant la lettre. It contained a bed, a change of clothes, maps and telescopes and all other things an emperor might need on campaign.
Chapter 1 - 1787 - 1814 - In the Emperors Service
Bergen op Zoom in 1787, Johannes Koenraat Horn is born. His father dies young, his mother provides for them both. A cousin of Horn's father dies in the tropics, leaving no heirs. Horn's mother decides to leave for France to try to claim the heritage. Without connections, this proves to be impossible. Horn has to find employment and as he has worked with horses in his youth, he applies for a post in the Imperial Stables. After some trials, he is taken on, and will serve Napoleon from then on (1805).
Description of travel arrangements of Napoleon. The campaigns on which Horn drove the travelling-carriage, including the battles of Jena and Friedland, the Spanish campaign of 1808, the Austrian campaign culminating in the victory at Wagram and the Russian campaign of 1812 and its disastrous retreat. The abdication of Napoleon in 1814.
Chapter 2 - Spring 1815 - The Hundred days & Waterloo
March 1, 1815: Napoleon returns to France, and marches to Paris without opposition. Horn returns to his post and an exact copy of the earlier travelling carriage is ordered. Preparations of Belgian campaign.
On June 18th the celebrated battle between Napoleon and Wellington is fought at Waterloo. Horn awaits the outcome at Napoleons headquarters. Near the end of the battle, the carriage is taken, while Horn is driving it to safety. Differing accounts of what happened. Horn is severely wounded. Carriage is taken by a Prussian major Eugen von Keller, who sends it to his wife to be taken care of.
Chapter 3 - 1815-1816 - The Victors parade
The coach is sold by von Keller to the British Prince Regent. He in turn sells it to mr. W.M. Bullock, one of the first 'showmen' in Londen, for 2,500 pounds. Bullock has built a new museum for his extensive collection of natural curiosities in Piccadilly, London, some years previous. The coach is exhibited here for nearly a year. The coach is the hit of the London season - caricaturists mock the scene.
A year after Waterloo, we find Horn in London. Reunited with the carriage, but in very different capacity. He is now a guide at Bullocks museum. As he does not speak English, Bullock writes his memories for him, and sells them at the museum. After Waterloo Horn was brought to Ostend and released from captivity. He walked to Paris, where he presumably met Bullock.
Chapter 4 - Gallomania
After having been isolated from the continent for eleven years, because of the Napoleonic wars, the English craved to travel again. Waterloo was relatively close by, and people flocked to see 'the glorious scene'. The first guidebooks were written about this time, Waterloo was a fore-runner of modern mass-tourism. Lively trade in souvenirs.
Also great admiration for Napoleon in England.
Chapter 5 - 1816-1818 - The triumphal tour
After everybody who could pay a shilling had seen the coach in London, Bullock decided to let it make a tour through England. The four Norman horses which had pulled the coach at Waterloo, went with the coach to England. Horn, with his one arm, drove these horses to Edinburgh, Bath etc. Thousands more saw the coach, according to Bullock more than 800,000 people came to see it. He earned 35,000 pounds by it.
Chapter 6 – 1819 and further - The parting of ways / Flames of glory
In 1819 Bullock sells all his effects, to free his money for new exhibits. The coach is sold for under two hundred pounds to a gentleman in Holborn. Horn returns to France, where he soon is in debt. After 1821 he cannot be traced (yet).
In 1843 the coach comes into the possession of Madame Tussauds. There it is successfully exhibited until 1925, when a great fire ruins a large part of the museum. Of the carriage, only a heat-warped axle remains. It was presented to the Napoleontic museum at Malmaison.
Epilogue
Elsbeth Kwant, kwant.elsbeth@gmail.com
November 3, 2008