A gold trinket box presented to an officer famous for losing his leg at the Battle of Waterloo has sold for more than £100,000 . The 18-carat gold rectangular piece was a gift to Lord Uxbridge , whose stoic exchange with the Duke of Wellington after losing his leg to a cannonball has become etched in history . In a famous example of the British stiff upper lip , after realising he was gravely wounded Uxbridge turned to the British military commander and said 'by God , sir , I 've lost my leg ' , to which Wellington replied 'by God , sir , so you have ! ' Auctioned : This gold trinket box , presented to Lord Uxbridge for his heroics in The Battle of Waterloo , was sold to a private collector for more than £100,000 . His leg was buried near the battlefield but later dug up and used as a macabre tourist attraction . The gold Irish Freedom Box was given to the aristocrat , who was by then Marquess of Anglesey , in 1828 by Trinity College Dublin when he served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland . The top has a finely embossed coat of arms with a frame of rocaille shells and foliage around it and the base has another coat of arms with a similar border . The cover coat of arms is Lord Uxbridge 's , otherwise known as Field Marshal Henry William Paget . The coat of arms on the base is that of Trinity College Dublin . Famed for losing his leg : Lord Uxbrige commanded 13,000 Allied cavalry and 44 guns of horse artillery at the Battle of Waterloo . Piece of history : The 18-carat gold Irish Freedom Box was given to the aristocrat , who was by then Marquess of Anglesey , in 1828 by Trinity College Dublin when he served as Lord Lieutenant of Ireland . The box is about three-and-a-half inches long and weighs just six ounces . It was sold by Bonhams to a private collector for £100,900 . Jon Baddeley , managing director at Bonhams Knightsbridge , said : 'The battle of Waterloo was one of the most significant military encounters of the 19th century and the outcome had a profound effect on the future of Europe so not surprisingly there was a lot of public interest is this sale and the bidding from collectors was fierce . ' Lord Uxbrige commanded 13,000 Allied cavalry and 44 guns of horse artillery at the Battle of Waterloo . At around 2:30pm , at a crucial stage in the battle , he led a charge of the 2,000 heavy cavalry of the Household Brigade and the Union Brigade to push back the French . The charge succeeded in sweeping the French infantry away but Lord Uxbridge was unable to rally his troops , who ran on in pursuit and were cut up by counter-attacking French cavalry . First ever prosthetic leg : When Uxbridge lost his leg he is said to have stoically remarked 'by God , sir , I 've lost my leg ' . This wooden limb , the firtst ever articulated wooden limb , was designed for him and remains in the Cavalry Museum at Plas Newydd , on the Isle of Anglesey , Wales . He spent the rest of the battle leading a series of charges by British light cavalry formations , and had eight or nine horses shot from under him . One of the last cannon shots fired on June 18 1815 hit his right leg - requiring it to be amputated above the knee . After being wounded , Lord Uxbridge was transported to his headquarters in the village of Waterloo . The remains of his leg were removed by surgeons - without antiseptic or anaesthetics . Bloody encounter : A painting of the Battle of Waterloo by William Holmes Sullivan . Another famous anecdote records the officer as saying 'the knives appear somewhat blunt ' as he underwent the horrendous procedure . In recognition of his gallantry , the Prince Regent created him Marquess of Anglesey and made him a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath five days after the battle . On the one day of fighting at the Battle of Waterloo there were close to 55,000 either killed , wounded , or missing in action from both sides . The staggering density of the injured men - around 2,291 per mile on the front line - compared with 234 over the same area on the first day of the Battle of the Somme in 1916 - meant that a huge number were left to bleed to death on the battlefield .
Rectangular 18-carat piece was gifted to Lord Uxbridge for his heroics . After being hit by cannonball he remarked 'by God , sir , I 've lost my leg ' The cover of close to 55,000 inch box is Lord Uxbridge 's coat of arms . It was sold by auction house Bonhams to a private collector for £100,900 .