De Militaire Willemsorde (MWO)

 

(‘Military Order of William’)

 

By Geert van Uythoven

The young Kingdom of the Netherlands barely existed when Napoleon returned from Elba and came to power in France again. As was to be expected, the raw Netherlands army would have to fight for the existence of their fatherland. Therefore, in April 1815 it was thought necessary by King Willem I of Orange-Nassau to create a Military Order, to distinguish those soldiers who showed exemplary bravery and courage in upcoming battles. This became the Militaire Willemsorde (MWO), created by decree on 30 April 1815 in Brussels. Comparable with the French Légion d’Honneur, the MWO was an order of merit, and therefore open to everyone regardless of rank and nobility, and not only those that were in Netherlands service, but also foreigners. The MWO would exist of four classes:

 

1. Ridder Grootkruis (‘Knight’s Grand Cross’)

 

 

2. Commandeur (‘Commander’)

 

 

3. Ridder derde klasse (‘3rd class knight’)

 

 

4. Ridder vierde klasse (‘4th class knight’)

 

 

For the Waterloo campaign alone, over a thousand persons became a member of the MWO. The first MWO’s were granted on 8 July 1815 by Royal Decree:

 

Koninklijk Besluit No. 15

 

Wij, Willem, enz.

 

Gezien de Wet van den 30sten April 1815 houdende de instelling van de Militaire Willemsorde;

 

En willende den luister dier Orde vestigen door hare eerste decoratiën te schenken aan de veldheeren en krijgslieden wier beleid en moed het grondgebied der Nederlanden verlost en den algemeenen vijand op eene onherstelbare wijze vernederd hebben;

 

Hebben besloten en besluiten:

 

te benoemen, zoals bij deze benoemd worden:

 

Art. 1.

Tot Grootkruissen:

Onzen beminden Zoon den Prins van Oranje;

Z.K.H. Prins Wilhelm van Pruissen;

den Veldmaarschalk Hertog van Wellington;

den Veldmaarschalk Prins Blücher von Wahlstadt;

den Generaal Grave von Bülow-Dennewitz;

den Generaal Grave von Gneisenau;

 

Art.2

enz.

 

 

 

 

 

In order to become a member of the MWO, one had to be nominated by a superior officer ( for an example see here). However, it was possible for men, if they held to opinion that they themselves or others should have become a member as well, to send in a request. In a number of cases, men did become a member years later.

 

Linked below are the lists of the persons that became a member from the creation of the MWO until 1829: until 1850, there was no official register of the members of the order, and also not of the reasons for which membership was granted. Therefore, in many instances reason that someone became a member is impossible to ascertain. However, the number and date of the ‘Koninklijk Besluit’ (KB, ‘Royal Decree’) will give an indication of the reason for membership:

 

Initial members and Waterloo Campaign

KB No.15, 8 July 1815:              The first Royal Decree regarding the MWO (see above). With this decree, 6 Knight’s Grand Crosses MWO, 6 Commanders MWO, 27 3rd Class Knight’s MWO, and 107 4th Class Knight’s MWO were appointed.

KB No.16, 8 July 1815:              The second Royal Decree regarding the MWO, appointing 3 Knight’s Grand Crosses MWO, 18 Commanders MWO, 11 3rd Class Knight’s MWO, and 13 4th Class Knight’s MWO, person who were rewarded for services done earlier, especially during the years 1813-1814. To these, an additional six 4th Class Knight’s MWO were added with:

La.G.C., 29 September 1815     The bulk of the men participating in the Waterloo Campaign however became a member with the following Royal Decrees:

KB No.68, 18 July 1815            

KB No.17, 11 August 1815       

KB No.77, 17 August 1815        Later, more persons became a member for their service during the advance into France and the sieges of several fortress-cities. This is the Royal Decree of:

KB No.88, 14 September 1815

 

According to De Bas & T’Serclaes de Wommerson’s “La Campagne de 1815 aux Pays-Bas”, 6 Knight’s Grand Crosses MWO, 8 Commanders MWO, 54 3rd Class Knight’s MWO, and 936 4th Class Knight’s MWO, thus a total of 1004 memberships have been granted for the Waterloo Campaign. In addition, some men became a member much later, as a result of requests being made.

 

Algiers, 1816

La.N3, 22 October 1816             In this year, a naval squadron, consisting of British and Netherlands ships, attacked the city of Algiers to end the piracy deriving from this city and to free Christian slaves. For this faith of arms, a number of naval officers, NCO’s and sailors became a member of the MWO. These names have not been added below!

 

Southern Frontier 1823

KB No.118, 12 May 1823          As a defence line against possible French aggression in the future, fortresses were designed and build along the southern frontier of the Netherlands, by a number of military engineers and engineer-officers led by Lieutenant-General Baron Krayenhoff. King William I of Orange used the opportunity to appoint Krayenhoff the Knight’s Grand Crosses MWO, and of the officers 8 3rd Class Knight’s MWO, and 13 4th Class Knight’s MWO, “for their guidance and design of the fortess building at the Southern Frontier”. These appointments led to protests among military circles, which held the opinion that an MWO could not be earned in times of peace. it seems that King William I of Orange wanted to use this opportunity to award the engineer corps, which did not have much chance to distinguish itself during the Waterloo Campaign.

 

Dutch East-Indies

After the Dutch East-Indies had been returned to the Netherlands by the British on 16 August 1816, until 1910 their was continuous fighting at one place or another. Some Royal Decrees relate to important expeditions or battles, as for example:

KB No.56, 12 September 1818           For the expeditions of 1817 and 1818 to the Molukken;

KB No.92, 15 July 1821                      For Banka;

KB No.15, 14 November 1821            and

KB No.29, 11 May 1822                      The 1819 and 1821 expeditions to Palembang;

KB No.103, 27 May 1824                    The 1824 expeditions to the highlands of Padang;

KB No.104, 27 May 1824                    The 1824 expedition to the west coast of Borneo;

KB No.163, 4 June 1824                     For the expedition to the west coast of Borneo or the highlands of Padang;

KB No.28, 22 November 1828            For the expedition to Celebes 1825 and the war on Java;

KB No.29, 22 November 1828            For the war on Java.

 

 

The lists of members are composed out of the official lists of members, and official documents regarding them. Although as has been stated there is no complete list, I believe that at least 98% of the persons that became a member during this period are listed below. In addition, the official lists and documents are not without errors, and in many cases contradict each other in the way names are written. I already found and corrected many errors in birth dates, which especially seem to contain many errors. I will continue to work on this list, first adding all the names I have, after that augmenting the data by including the specific units members were in when they were granted an MWO, and whenever available the reason for receiving it.

 

Italics are foreign officers; given are the last name in alphabetical order; rank / position; unit (birth year – died); (No. of Royal Decree, date of MWO granted).

 

 

- RIDDER GROOTKRUIS (‘KNIGHT’S GRAND CROSS’) & COMMANDEUR (‘COMMANDER’)

 

- RIDDER DERDE KLASSE (‘3RD CLASS KNIGHT’)

 

- RIDDER VIERDE KLASSE (‘4TH CLASS KNIGHT’)

 

 

© Geert van Uythoven