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Plas Newydd, located on the Isle of Anglesey, North Wales,
is the country seat of the Marquis of Anglesey.
It is situated in the bank of the Menai strait and has magnificent views of Snowdonia.
The house dates back to the fourteenth century and is the work of James Wyatt.
The first Marquis of Anglesey
Was Field Marshall Henry William Paget.
Military leader,
politician
and Briton.
He is remembered for leading the charge of the heavy cavalry
during the battle of Waterloo,
June 17th, 1815
which he did heroically
bravely and with much masculinity.
One of the last canon shots fired in the battle hit Paget, wounding him.
On his returne home
this wound necessitated the hire of a very clever man called Mr Potts
to invent something for him.
But what was Paget's injury?
and what did the clever Mr Potts
invent for our noble military hero?
This is the Anglesey leg
the world's first articulated prosthetic leg
made from wood, leather and springs.
This particular example was Paget's walking leg.
He also had a dancing leg and a riding leg.
On being hit by the cannon in the battle
legend has it
that he turned to Duke Wellington and exclaimed
"By God sir,
I've lost my leg"
To which Wellington and coolly replied:
"By God sir,
so you have."
Paget's real leg
also went on to have a rather distinguished afterlife in Waterloo.
On receiving his wound, Paget was taken to his headquarters in the village of Waterloo.
A house owned by Monsieur Hyacinth Joseph Marie Paris.
Paris asked if he could bury the leg in the garden
which he did in a tiny coffin
with its own tombstone.
It became an attraction for tourists.
It is said that this is the origin of the phrase "one foot in the grave"
which is how Paget liked to describe his health after the injury.
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