All day at Waterloo, a walled farm called Hougoumont held the right of Wellington's line, and the Foot Guards held Hougoumont. It became a battle within the battle: French infantry threw themselves at the château and its garden and orchard for hours, and the Guards — light companies of the 1st Foot Guards in the orchard, Coldstream and Scots Guards in the buildings — fought them off at the wall and the loopholes. The most famous moment came when a party of French burst the north gate and a handful of Coldstreamers wrestled it shut against them by main force. Wellington said afterward that the success of the battle turned on the closing of those gates. The farm never fell.

The figure stands defending — bayonet fixed and levelled, the red coat and white cross-belts, grey trousers flecked with mud, the black shako and full marching pack. He is built for a hard defensive line, the kind that held a wall or a hedge. Set a British 1st Foot Guard Standing Firing firing over the obstacle beside him and a British 1st Foot Guard Kneeling at the foot of it, and for the Hougoumont orchard bring up the green-coated allies who fought there too — a Nassau Grenadier Kneeling Firing in the line beside them.

W. Britain model 36149. 1/30 scale (approximately 60mm), matte-painted metal. Single foot figure on a sculpted groundwork base. Boxed.