Lord Fitzclarence asked the cook

Lord Fitzclarence interviewed his cook, James Thornton, about his previous employer, the Duke of Wellington. The interview has recently been discovered (see opposite page) and published in a book called ``Your Most Obedient Servant'' by Salem House in the US. How did you cook in the camp, what fire places had you, had you smaller dinners in camp than in quarters?

I had a Room made with poles and a tarpolain, a table on trestles to prepare my dinners in. There was a mound of earth thrown up in the shape of Balloon, and niches cut round this in which we made fires and boiled the sauce pans.

We had a larger niche cut out for roasting, we stuck a pole in the top of that, and dangled the meat, when it rained hard, they had nothing but cold meat and bread. We never had any company to dinner while in camp, except the staff.

There was a sentry always placed at the entrance of the Duke's tent. . . .

How did you travel etc.?

In our march from Waterloo, we had five carriages, the first was the Duke's carriage with four horses, driven by the Head coachman, the second was a carriage for the plate, with the Butler and his Assistants, driven by the second coachman. The third was a sort of carriage for the kitchen furniture, with myself and my assistants, the fourth was the old Nelson with the coachman's baggage, the fifth was the Duke's curricle, drawn by two horses, and there were two led horses ridden by the coachman's lads. These were all independant of the Saddle horses, the Duke rode on horseback all the way.