Magdalen Hall

Magdalene Lady De Lancey (nee Hall) (22 March 1793 – 12 July 1822) wrote A Week in Waterloo, her account of the days surrounding the Battle of Waterloo, during which her husband Colonel Sir William Howe De Lancey died of his wounds. Early life Magdalene was born in East Lothian, Scotland on 22 March 1793, the fourth of six children of Sir James Hall of Dunglass, 4th Baronet (1761 -1832) and his wife Lady Helen Douglas (1762-1837), a daughter of Dunbar Douglas, 4th Earl of Selkirk. She was baptised at Oldhamstocks, East Lothian. Her father was President of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, a geologist and inventor. Her brother Basil Hall was also a noted traveller and author. He rose to post-captain in the Royal Navy and while a lieutenant on HMS Endymion, a ship sent to Portugal at the time of the battle of Corunna, he met and became friendly with William Howe De Lancey, then serving in the army with Sir John Moore. On their return Basil introduced William to his family. In 1814 William was posted to Scotland and married Magdalene in Edinburgh on 21 March 1815. Their honeymoon would be cut short by the escape of Napoleon from Elba. Soon after, her husband was summoned to London and then ordered to Brussels.