Chris Huhne

Napoleonic-Era Soldiers Storm Eastleigh Town Centre

A time machine came to Eastleigh this week as a group of enthusiasts re-enacted a recruiting party of the 95th rifles at the time of the Napoleonic wars against France.

Eastleigh MP Chris Huhne, pictured here with Helen Jiggins and Emma Rayfield dressed as camp followers, was on hand to welcome the history buffs to the Eastleigh rec. “They took the town by storm” said Chris.

Chris Huhne also met Dennis Rayfield, pictured, who was acting as the lieutenant in charge of the party resplendent in his own tent with antiques of the sort that a real officer would have used in 1812.

Mr Huhne said: “There is nothing like re-enactment to give a real sense of living history and a feel for what it was like to live at the beginning of the nineteenth century. Many children who visited the camp and saw the parades were fascinated”.

The 95th Rifles were at the time of the Napoleonic wars an experimental group of infantry that specialised in skirmishing and reconnaissance ahead of the main army.

They fought on board ship at the Battle of Copenhagen in 1801 and then saw service both at home and in the storming of Montevideo in Uruguay in 1807. Later, the Rifles served under the Duke of Wellington in the Peninsula war and later at Waterloo.