Henri Stavorinus (16 July 1782-18 June 1815) was a colonel of the United Netherlands' army who fought in the Napoleonic Wars. Commanding Dutch Light Dragoons, he was mortally wounded in the Battle of Waterloo.
Biography[]
Henri Stavorinus was born in Brill in the United Provinces (present-day Netherlands) in 1782, and became a cavalryman at the age of 17 in 1799 during the French Revolutionary Wars. Stavorinus accompanied the French army on their campaign against the other nations of Europe during the Third Coalition, but later resigned due to his hatred of the French.
When the United Netherlands gained independence from the French in 1813, Stavorinus was made the colonel of a regiment of Dutch Light Dragoons. He fought in the Hundred Days campaign of 1815 under the command of the Earl of Uxbridge Henry Paget, commanding his dragoons. During the Battle of Waterloo, he led a charge against Napoleon's forces stationed at Hougoumont and was brought up against Young Guards. Stavorinus was bayonetted and mortally wounded, dying later in the day.