拍品专文
The principle behind the Montre à tact was to enable the owner to tell the time by touch in the dark or surreptitiously in one's pocket. In the fashionable circles of the time it was considered a faux pas to check one's watch insinuating that one had a more interesting engagement elsewhere.
NOTES TO BE PLACED ALONGSIDE PORTRAIT:
By all accounts, the 8 July 1815 was, by the Duke's standards, a relatively quite day. The past month had seen him victorious at Waterloo and allied troops had occupied Paris on the previous day. Documentary evidence reveals that Wellington spent the morning working on his dispatches and the afternoon corresponding with General Baron Müffling, the Earl Bathurst, Blücher and the Prince Regent. His letter to his Royal Highness included a gift of Napoleon's spurs, removed by the 16th Prussian Brigade. Wellington's only other commitment for the day was to greet the restored Bourbon Monarch, Louis XVIII, whose triumphant return to Paris was expected later that evening.
With time to spare, Wellington was able to indulge himself, by buying a new pocket watch from Abraham Breguet, whose shop was situated at 79 Quai de l'Horloge.
Abraham Louis Breguet (1747-1823) was a royalist as well as the most renowned and probably the most innovative watchmaker of all time and had created exquisite timepieces for many of the crowned heads of Europe, including Queen Marie-Antoinette, who presented his watches as gifts to those she favoured, and prominent members of George III's Court. Breguet's workshops made a variety of watches to his designs, ranging from perpetuelles and chronometers to simple pocketwatches. In 1816 Breguet was appointed supplier to the French Navy and was later decorated with the title of Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur.
Wellington presented the pocket watch to his Deputy Commissary General, William Booth in 1833. A worthy recipient, Booth had entered the commissariat service in 1808. He sailed with Baird to Corunna in September during the first year of his commissariat, marching with Baird's force to join Sir John Moore. He then took part in the retreat that saw Moore killed at Corunna on 16 January 1809. Returning to the Peninsular after a short spell in England, Booth joined Wellesley headquarters shortly before the battle of Talavera on 28 July 1809. He was to remain on Wellesley's staff until the end of the War. He was appointed controller of the Commissariat accounts with the army in the field in 1812, a position he kept for a further two years. Shortly before Napoleon's armies were driven out of the Peninsular, Booth took charge of the Commissary accounts of the army in the Netherlands. After Waterloo he accompanied the army to Paris, remaining there until the peace treaty was singed in November 1815. He remained in charge of the Commissariat accounts until the final evacuation at the end of 1818.
In 1824, the Duke of Wellington, by then Master General of the Ordnance appointed Booth, Clerk of Survey at the Ordnance Office in Dublin, a position he held from 1832 to 1844.
Booth retired in 1856, after almost 50 years of government service, thirty of the latter years of which were spent in Ireland. He received the Companionship of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath on 17 August 1849, as the Crown's acknowledgement of loyalty, dedication and ability. Ten years later he made his home in Cheltenham where he spend the last fourteen years of his life, dying suddenly at 17 Lansdowne Crescent on 4 May 1880.
It is interesting that the inscription engraved in the watch stating that the watch was worn by the Duke of Wellington during the Battle of Waterloo, is incorrect. The circumstances of the error may never be explained but the receipt for its purchase clearly states that it was acquired by Wellington on 8 July 1815.
NOTES TO BE PLACED ALONGSIDE PORTRAIT:
By all accounts, the 8 July 1815 was, by the Duke's standards, a relatively quite day. The past month had seen him victorious at Waterloo and allied troops had occupied Paris on the previous day. Documentary evidence reveals that Wellington spent the morning working on his dispatches and the afternoon corresponding with General Baron Müffling, the Earl Bathurst, Blücher and the Prince Regent. His letter to his Royal Highness included a gift of Napoleon's spurs, removed by the 16th Prussian Brigade. Wellington's only other commitment for the day was to greet the restored Bourbon Monarch, Louis XVIII, whose triumphant return to Paris was expected later that evening.
With time to spare, Wellington was able to indulge himself, by buying a new pocket watch from Abraham Breguet, whose shop was situated at 79 Quai de l'Horloge.
Abraham Louis Breguet (1747-1823) was a royalist as well as the most renowned and probably the most innovative watchmaker of all time and had created exquisite timepieces for many of the crowned heads of Europe, including Queen Marie-Antoinette, who presented his watches as gifts to those she favoured, and prominent members of George III's Court. Breguet's workshops made a variety of watches to his designs, ranging from perpetuelles and chronometers to simple pocketwatches. In 1816 Breguet was appointed supplier to the French Navy and was later decorated with the title of Chevalier de la Légion d'Honneur.
Wellington presented the pocket watch to his Deputy Commissary General, William Booth in 1833. A worthy recipient, Booth had entered the commissariat service in 1808. He sailed with Baird to Corunna in September during the first year of his commissariat, marching with Baird's force to join Sir John Moore. He then took part in the retreat that saw Moore killed at Corunna on 16 January 1809. Returning to the Peninsular after a short spell in England, Booth joined Wellesley headquarters shortly before the battle of Talavera on 28 July 1809. He was to remain on Wellesley's staff until the end of the War. He was appointed controller of the Commissariat accounts with the army in the field in 1812, a position he kept for a further two years. Shortly before Napoleon's armies were driven out of the Peninsular, Booth took charge of the Commissary accounts of the army in the Netherlands. After Waterloo he accompanied the army to Paris, remaining there until the peace treaty was singed in November 1815. He remained in charge of the Commissariat accounts until the final evacuation at the end of 1818.
In 1824, the Duke of Wellington, by then Master General of the Ordnance appointed Booth, Clerk of Survey at the Ordnance Office in Dublin, a position he held from 1832 to 1844.
Booth retired in 1856, after almost 50 years of government service, thirty of the latter years of which were spent in Ireland. He received the Companionship of the Most Honourable Order of the Bath on 17 August 1849, as the Crown's acknowledgement of loyalty, dedication and ability. Ten years later he made his home in Cheltenham where he spend the last fourteen years of his life, dying suddenly at 17 Lansdowne Crescent on 4 May 1880.
It is interesting that the inscription engraved in the watch stating that the watch was worn by the Duke of Wellington during the Battle of Waterloo, is incorrect. The circumstances of the error may never be explained but the receipt for its purchase clearly states that it was acquired by Wellington on 8 July 1815.