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Scotland forever!’– this was the cry of the Royal Scots Greys as they charged Napoleon’s troops at Waterloo – a decisive moment in an epic battle in which Scottish heroism played a crucial role. After her marriage in 1877 to Sir William Francis Butler (1838–1910), an officer of the British Army, from Ireland, Butler traveled the far reaches of the Empire with her husband.
Later again, they were moved to London. Ironically most of them were destroyed during the WWII German Blitz of London.
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Scotland Forever! by Elizabeth Thompson depicts the start of the charge of the Royal Scots Greys, a British cavalry regiment that charged alongside the British heavy cavalry at the Battle of Waterloo in 1815. Butler was inspired to paint the charge as a response to the aesthetic paintings that she saw - and intensely disliked - on a visit to the Grosvenor Gallery. She had developed a reputation for her military pictures after the favourable reception of her earlier painting The Roll Call of 1874, on a subject from the Crimean War and her 1879 painting Remnants of an Army, on the 1842 retreat from Kabul. The painting takes its name from the battle cry: "Scotland for ever!" A portrait of James, also by Raeburn, hangs in the Museum of the Isles at Armadale. It is ironic that while James’s portrait is hardly seen and little known, it is he who was the genuine hero, rather than his stay-at-home brother with his Highland fancy dress and warlike fantasies, whose painting in Edinburgh, seen by millions, has become one of the icons of Scottish culture.
Waterloo was rich in both. Napoleon’s last stand cannot be turned into a modern conflict like the first world war. It happened in an age of artillery, but also of swords and horses, as depicted in Scotland Forever! The cavalry here could almost be ancient Romans or medieval knights – the technology was much the same. So are the codes of chivalry and honour that coexisted with slaughter and cruelty in traditional warfare. In the 1874 Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, her painting “The Roll Call” became so popular that a policeman had to be stationed next to the picture to regulate the crowds that came to see it. At a time when Scotland seems on a road that leads ultimately out of the union, it’s worth remembering that Waterloo did much to create the British patriotism that is now disintegrating. “Scotland Forever!” was these riders’ battle cry, but they were not calling for independence. Rather they were proudly articulating a Scottish identity within the British army. Their courage at Waterloo helped seal the image of Scottish military toughness within the mythology of the British Empire. Lady Butler painted Scotland Forever! in 1881, at the height of empire. The connection between kilts and courage would be a cliche of British imperialism right through to the 1968 film Carry On Up the Khyber.
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He was referring to an episode early on in the battle, when the north gate of the chateau that formed the key defensive position on his right flank was forced shut after having been breached by the French. Had Napoleon’s troops taken the chateau, they would have dominated the flank and would simply have rolled up Wellington’s army. Lady Butler was one of Britain’s leading history painters – and she specialised in battles. In 1880, she painted The Defence of Rorke’s Drift during the Zulu war. She was not uncritical of either empire or war. Her painting Remnants of an Army depicts the last survivor of the British retreat from Kabul in 1842. In 1879, Butler came within two votes of becoming the first woman to be elected as an Associate Member of the Royal Academy (apart from two founder Members, Mary Moser and Angelica Kauffman; ultimately, the first female Associate Member was Annie Swynnerton, elected in 1922, and the first full Member was Laura Knight in 1936). Manipur violence: Prohibit civil society organisations from ‘interfering’ with compensation process, says SC panel The painting was exhibited at the Egyptian Hall in Piccadilly in 1881. Tzar Nicholas II of Russia and Kaiser Wilhelm II of Germany both received copies and later during the First World War both the British and the Germans used the image in their propaganda material, with the Scots Greys transformed into Prussian cavalry by the Germans. [1]
The Charge of The Dorset Yeomanry at Agagia, 26th February, 1916 (1917 – [The Keep Military Museum, Dorchester]) In 1815, on the vast battlefield of Waterloo, an iconic moment unfolded that would be immortalised in history and art. It was here that Elizabeth Thompson, a talented British artist, captured the essence of courage and patriotism in her masterpiece “Scotland Forever!” The painting portrayed the stirring charge of the Royal Scots Greys, a gallant British cavalry regiment, alongside their heavy cavalry comrades, as they prepared to face the chaos and uncertainty of war. The title itself, “Scotland Forever!”, derived from the resounding battle cry of the soldiers, who with hearts ablaze, shouted, “Now, my boys, Scotland forever!” before plunging fearlessly into the fray. Thompson’s artistic brilliance lay not only in her ability to depict the battle’s onset but also in her keen observations of charging horses. Interestingly enough, having never experienced a real battle, she drew inspiration from watching her husband’s regiment during their training manoeuvres. Why did the fame of “Scotland Forever!” reach far and wide, crossing national boundaries? And is it historically accurate? The Battle of Waterloo and its Significance Rohit Bal is ‘critical, on ventilator’, says treating doctor: ‘He has a heart condition and some infection’ This glorious vision of British martial manhood was painted by a woman, Lady Elizabeth Butler, born Elizabeth “Mimi” Thompson, and it is called Scotland Forever!
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Butler was included in the 2018 exhibit Women in Paris 1850–1900, [7] whilst the 2023 play Modest covered her life from Roll Call to her rejection as an Associate of the Royal Academy. [8] Paintings [ edit ] Scotland Forever!, 1881, Leeds Art Gallery The Return from Inkerman (1877), Ferens Art Gallery, Kingston upon Hull Remnants of an Army (1879), Tate Britain, showing the supposed only British survivor of the 1842 retreat from Kabul Balaclava, 1876, Manchester Art Gallery The lead rider is arguably either Lt Col James Hamilton who led the first charge but was killed in the second smaller charge, or Captain Edward Cheney who had his horse shot from under him five times in the battle, once on each charge, who was promoted to Brevet Colonel in the field due to the death of both Hamilton and Sir William Ponsonby, and led the 3rd, 4th and 5th charge. The painting is not intended to be a portrait of either. I would like to offer an alternative view: that Waterloo was arguably in large part a Scottish victory. There are two reasons behind this assertion. Wellington, when asked how the battle was won, said without hesitation that it all hung on ‘the closing of the gate at Hougoumont’. After became a Roman Catholic, she initially concentrated on religious subjects. Still, upon going to Paris in 1870, she was exposed to battle scenes by famous French artists and switched her focus to war paintings.
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