The remains of Friedrich  Branft, 22, make the first complete skeleton to be recovered from the battle of Waterloo 200 years ago . The 200-year-old skeleton of a soldier killed at the battle of Waterloo has been discovered under a car park - just like Richard III - and identified by archaeologists. After a painstaking process historians identified the man as Friedrich Brandt, 23, a Hanoverian hunchback who trained in the East Sussex resort of Bexhill-on-Sea. Brandt, a member of George III’s German Legion, was killed by Napoleon’s forces and was found with a musket ball between his ribs, the Sunday Times reported. An archaeologist working for the Belgian government, Dominique Bosquet, called the find ‘unique,’ explaining that no complete skeleton had ever been retrieved from the battle of Waterloo. The mystery surrounding Brandt’s origins and identity was cracked by Gareth Glover, 54, a former Royal Navy officer and historian, who said Brandt would never have been allowed to serve, because of his deformity, under modern military standards. However his Hanoverian unit, loyal to the king, would have fought alongside British and Dutch troops against Napoleon . The skeleton was uncovered in June 2012 when a digger excavated a car park near the Lion’s Mound area at Waterloo battlefield just south of Brussels. It took three years of intense research and a little luck to pin-point Brandt’s identity. A piece of wood carrying the initials CB, and the date 1792 as well as 20 German and French coins amounting to a month’s wages and an iron spoon proved crucial. The team at Waterloo had to use the process of elimination to identify their unknown soldier and could not rely on DNA tests like those used by the group that discovered Richard III under a car park in Leicester in 2012. Because, unlike King Richard, none of Brandt’s relatives were known, historians had to use what little records remain from the 1815 battle at Waterloo to piece together the story. Bosque recognised the skeleton carried deformities indicating severe spinal issues. Further tests put the skeleton’s age at death between 20 and 29. The musket ball that killed the young soldier was found lodged between his ribs at the Waterloo battlefield . Killed apparently by a musket ball which was found between the recently identified soldier's rib bones . The team was ready to give up on the case until Glover, treasurer of the Waterloo Association and author of Waterloo: Myth and Reality, matched troop formations to where the body was found and was able to identify the fallen soldier as a member of the German Legion. Using the information he was able to calculate that the soldier was probably killed between 1pm and 4pm when his unit marched on a ridge at Hougoumont. Then in February an important clue was brought to light when a piece of wood originally believed to be inscribed with the initials CB actually showed FCB. The letter F had faded over time. Brandt was killed most likely between 1pm and 4pm at Lion Hill which now stands as a monument to the dead . This painting by Verker  captures the moment Wellington's Anglo-Dutch army clashed with the FRench . Using this vital piece of information Glover found that only two soldiers with the initials had been killed at the battle. He was able to rule one of the pair out after consulting payment records dating back to August 1815. Eventually the historian was left with Brandt, a private in the Legion’s second line battalion. It appears that Brandt was single as no one came forward to make a widow’s pension claim following his death. Belgian archaeologist Dominique Bosquet shows the place where he found the remains of the German soldier . While the German soldier would originally have trained in Bexhill Sussex, based there until 1814, it is likely that at the outbreak of war he was located in Holland. An estimated 50,000 died at Waterloo with a proportion of the dead burnt and then buried in mass graves. Other bodies were sold commercially as fertiliser or their teeth were sold as dentures. Brandt’s skeleton will feature in an exhibition to be unveiled at Waterloo in May. Belgian archaeologist Dominique Bosquet examines the teeth and jaw of remains belonging to the soldier .
Expert identified man who fought with British troops as Friedrich Brandt . The remains are the first complete skeleton to be recovered from Waterloo . A piece of wood, a spoon and a month's wages turned out to be vital clues .