Woodford's 1818 Explorations

 

John George Woodford was born on 28 February 1785 the second son of Lieutenant-Colonel John Woodford and Lady Susan Gordon (daughter of Cosmo Gordon, 3rd Duke of Gordon). He died on 22 March 1879 aged 94, allegedly the last English survivor of the Battle of Waterloo where he worked with Wellington as one of his aids. His brother Alexander George Woodford was sent by Wellington to hold Hougoumont Farm during the battle of Waterloo and eventually ultimately became Field Marshal. John George obtained the rank of Major General.

In 1818 John George was appointed to the command of the army of occupation, France until its final evacuation in October of that year. He took advantage of his position to obtain leave to make a survey of the field of the battle of Agincourt and its vicinity and to carry out excavations. (https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Woodford,_John_George_(DNB00).

During his excavations he recorded in a notebook, the location, the area investigated and what he discovered. Unfortunately, this notebook is now missing. In fact very little remain of his notes and artefacts for public scrutiny,  leaving some to question how much of this information is authentic. 

Two letters, which he wrote to his brother Alexander describing the excavations, survive. In the first letter dated 20 February 1818, Woodford stated that he found artefacts ‘...in the ground where the knights were buried, amongst a quantity of bones & the remains of sculls – particularly teeth’. (Warwickshire County Record Office, Newdegate of Arbury, CR 764/240)

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His annotated map of the battlefield, dated 1818 can be found in the British Library. He describes on his map annotations the ‘Place of Interment of 5800 French Knights’ which lies at the site of the present Calvary.

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He began his excavation on 20th February 1818, the day of his first letter and ceased on 25th of the same month three days prior to his 33rd birthday, which was the date of his second letter. In his first letter he states that by the end of the first day he had already found ‘...two coins in the highest preservation...–They are of Charles’s reign – (Charles 6th – I suppose) very thin & apparently very pure gold like a ducat.’ By the end of the excavation, according to Woodford’s biographer Crossthwaite, he had allegedly found,

 

‘...several gold crowns—ecus d'or of Charles VI... He found four gold rings, which were destroyed by a fire at the Pantechnicon. He also found on the battlefield a very large drinking horn, having engraven on the brass collar in old French, the following inscription :— QVI + NE + DOVT  TOVT )1 RECOMECE. +  which may be translated  thus:—"Who does  not drink it all must drink again."  (Crosthwaite 1881, 30)

 

The finger rings and other artefacts have been observed by others and noted in various publications. These included an article in ‘The Naval and Military Magazine’ (Nicolas 1827) which stated that,

 

‘The Roll of Agincourt revives amongst us all the old enthusiasm which the digging up of the ground itself, by Colonel Woodford, after our last continental victories, excited in every Englishman’s breast. We remember, then, handling the relics he found, with as much awe as interest: and particularly a ring, enamelled with the little blue flower we in England call “forget-me-not.” There were also gold coins, and fragments of military weapons.’

 

The ring with the flower is discussed and illustrated in Woodford’s second letter to his brother (Woodford 1818b) and another ring is briefly described in the Archaeological Journal (Jones 1847), as follows,

 

‘Sir John "Woodford is in possession of a gold ring, found on the field of Azincourt, which bears the inscription Buro: Berto: Beriora. These mystic words occur likewise in the charm against tooth-ache, given in the Stockholm MS.’

 

On September 30th, 1874 (Crosthwaite 1881) - prompted by the fire at the Pantechnicon, a large warehouse in London used to store the collections of wealthy people - Woodford wrote to the Duke of Richmond with the following disturbing information,

 

‘Major-General Sir John Woodford presents his compliments to the Duke of Richmond and begs to inform His Grace that the fac similes of four gold rings, found on the field of battle of Agincourt in 1818, and now in the library at Goodwood, are the only remains recording the existence of those rings, the originals having been unfortunately destroyed in the late fire at the Pantechnicon [foot note - 1874 The Illustrated London News http://www.iln.org.uk/iln_years/year/1874.htm].  There is with them a panoramic view of Agincourt, Maisoncelles, Framecourt, and Ruisscanville, done by Captain Harding of the Royal Engineers [footnote - possibly based upon the illustrations in the Cartouche des Albums de Croy], together with one of the gold coins then found.  There is an inscription on the inside of one of the rings—buro X berto X beriora— which has never been satisfactorily explained."

The above memorandum is in Sir John Woodford's handwriting.’

 

Woodfords first letter stated that he found at least ‘two coins in the highest preservation’ and the provenance of these coins may be explained as follows. It is known that one gold coin had already been illustrated, prior to 1874 - the date of the above letter - by the artist William Turner with the annotation ‘A gold coin fund at Agincourt Presented to Walter Fawkes Esq. Maj’r Genl Sir Edward Barnes KCB 1823’. As this coin still resides within the Fawkes residence - the location in which it was painted - it should not be regarded as the same artefact as that relating to Goodwood which was described much later.

 

A description of one of the copies of the ring is given in a catalogue entitled Inventory and Valuation, of artefacts at Goodwood House dated 1903. 'A gold ring made in imitation of one found at Agincourt'. The ring was still on display there in 1907, as described in another Goodwood inventory. This ring was subsequently acquired by Dame Joan Evans and now resides in the Victoria and Albert museum, London. There it is described as 'Gold ring, the hoop inscribed inside in black letter + buro + berto + beriara (a charm against toothache). England, 1400-50,' with a note which reads 'ex Sir John Woodford Collection'. They are apparently unaware that the ring they posses is a copy and not a medieval finger ring.

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The descriptions of several of Woodford’s artefacts are therefore available to corroborate his version of events. A letter to a Ravier, (Head of National Army Police Force) dated ‘Montreuil 20th March 1818’ lists Woodford’s actions at Azincourt confirming that excavations did take place and that ‘The bones were re-interred the 12th of this month [March 1818] in the presence of the Prefect of Saint Pol and the Mayor of Bucamp’ (Leroi 1818).

 

In 1870 a Calvary was erected, ‘at the burial place indicated by Woodford, ...by the Vicomte de Tramecourt and his wife in memory of the French soldiers who had fought so bravely in 1415,’ (Curry 2000, 383), thereby memorialising the location of the mass graves.