Lt. General Philip Sandilands
1790 - 1869
Royal Artillery – Justice of the Peace – Deputy Lieutenant for Kent – JP for Hythe
Fought at the battle of Waterloo as part of Capt. Norman Ramsay’s troop.
After Ramsay had been killed and Alexander MacDonald and William Brereton wounded, Sandilands was left in command of the troop. Sandilands served with the army of occupation until 1818, he also served at Walchren 1809 & Malta 1827 – 1828, retiring on full pay in June 1846. Lived at Elm Terrace, Hillside Street, Hythe. Mayor of Hythe 1852 – 1854.
Sandilands' coffin was carried to Saltwood Parish Church on an Artillery gun carriage draped in a Union Flag, and drawn by twelve horses and horsemen from the Royal Artillery.
Buried at the church of St. Peter and St. Paul Saltwood
Waterloo Letters
‘A Selection From Original and Hitherto Unpublished Letters Bearing on the Operations of the 16th, 17th, and 18th June, 1815, by Officers Who Served in the Campaign’. Published 1891.
Major W. N. Ramsay's Troop. 9-Pounders.
CAPTAIN P. SANDILANDS, R.H.A.
Lieutenant R.H.A.
Woolwich, December 15th, 1834.
I beg to return you the Plan of Waterloo. I commanded Major Ramsay's Troop of Horse Artillery at seven o'clock, the period of the Battle which you have selected for representation, and I think I may say that its position and formation at that hour (viz., oblique échelon to the left) is accurately marked on the Plan. The fire of Major Ramsay's Troop I caused to be directed against the Enemy's attacking Columns from the moment of their formation near La Belle Alliance until their arrival on the crest of our position near La Haye Sainte; it then ceased, as the Duke of Wellington, who had brought up three Infantry Regiments from the right, deployed them on the flank of the French Columns, and shut them out from our view.
I have, &c.,
Philip Sandilands,
Captain Royal Horse Artillery.