History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery, Vol. 1

Never had the old system so completely broken down as during the rebellion in Scotland in 1715. The best practical Artilleryman in the pay of the Ordnance had been sent in command of the train – Albert Borgard; but two years' rust since the peace of Utrecht had so tarnished any brightness which Artillery details in England had gained in the friction of the preceding campaigns, that Borgard's task was a hopeless one. Suspicions have been cast upon the loyalty of the Duke of Argyle, who commanded the King's forces in Scotland, and certainly, at first sight, his contradictory orders to the Artillery excite astonishment. But it is more probable that the key to his management of this arm lay in the impossible task of creating order out of what Borgard himself described as "such confusion as cannot be expressed." In the month of December, the train was ordered to Scotland; it was February before they anchored in the Firth of Forth. The first orders received by Borgard from Argyle, were to send his ships and guns away to Innerkithen, and march his officers and "artillery people" to Stirling. On arriving there, he was ordered to take command of a very confused train of field-pieces, which had been ordered up from the Castle of Edinburgh. Part of this train he succeeded in getting as far as Dundee, where orders were sent him to take the whole back again to Edinburgh by water. In the following March, his enforced idleness was brought to an end by orders he received to send back his vessels with the guns, which had never been unshipped, to London. He and his men were then to be available for other service.

Such a gross case of inability to furnish, within any reasonable time, Artillery for service in the field, followed by such uselessness and confusion, could not be overlooked, nor allowed to pass without an effort at improvement for the future. Public admission of defects in a Department cannot be expected; and when consciousness of their existence is present in the minds of the officials, their manner is to suggest a remedy, but to evolve the evil, which the remedy is to cure, either from other sources, or from their own imaginations. The student, who turns from the ghastly tale of incompetence and blundering in 1715, to see what steps the Ordnance Board took to prevent its recurrence, need not, therefore, be surprised to find a very slight allusion to their own blunders, and a gushing catalogue of the benefits which will result from the adoption of their new suggestions. In fact, in their letter of 10th January, 1716, to the Master-General, the members of the Board use language of virtuous and indignant protest; and instead of alluding to the recent failures, they talk of the hardships which the existing system had wrought upon their office. It is, perhaps, ungracious to criticise too closely the language used when suggesting a really important and valuable innovation; but when we find the foreign establishments of Annapolis and Placentia, of Gibraltar and Port Mahon, quoted as the arguments in chief for a change, which would probably never have been suggested but for the conspicuous failure of the preceding year, the temptation is irresistible to draw the mask from the face of complacent officialism.

Summing the case up in a few words, it may be said that the annual cost of that part of the military branch of the office of the Ordnance which the Board proposed gradually to abolish at this time, including the foreign establishments at the places above mentioned, amounted to 16,829l. The Regimental establishment, which it was now proposed to substitute by degrees, consisting of four companies with an adequate staff, would, on the Board's calculation, cost only 15,539l.

The main reduction was to be obtained by allowing the North Britain establishment, which cost annually 1200l., gradually to become extinct, the duties to be performed by the new companies. The foreign establishments were also to be supplied in the same way. Of course, it was not pretended that all this could be done at once. But as vacancies occurred in the existing establishment, the money would go to furnish men for the cadres of the new companies, which it was proposed at once to create. And by removing the Artillery officers and the 120 gunners now on the old establishment to the rolls of the new companies, the skeletons would have a little flesh and blood from the commencement.

The details of the other economies suggested by the Board, and the list of officials whose places it was not proposed to fill when vacant, naturally excite the curiosity of the student. Surely, this time at least, a little self-denial will be practised by the Honourable Board; some superfluous clerks and secretaries will be lopped off; and after their protest against those members of the military branch who never go on duty without having heavy travelling charges and extra pay, surely we shall find some economy practised by the Honourable Board, whose members revel in these very items. Alas! no. Tradition is too strong; and self-preservation is their first instinct. There are storekeepers in Edinburgh and Fort William, whom distance will prevent from personal remonstrance; a percentage of their wretched income can safely be taken. And as for those whose offices are ultimately to be extinguished, they themselves can have no personal grievance, and posterity can look after itself. So, engineers, and firemasters, and petardiers, are marked for destruction; and the Board's sacrilegious hand is raised against the Master-Gunner of England himself!

It was on the 26th day of May, 1716, that the Regimental Baby was born. It was smaller than had been expected; but it has proved a healthy and long-lived child, and, as its nurse might have said, it has grown out of all knowledge. Only two companies – without any staff – were given at first, at an annual cost of 4891l. But, in Colonel Miller's clear language, "considering that these two companies were never reduced, and that the remaining two, as well as the field-officers, were added within a few years, there can be no hesitation about taking this as the starting-point for any Regimental Records of the Royal Artillery."

In December, 1716, the Board was able to inform the Master-General of the success of the scheme: the two companies were nearly complete; but the dream of feeding the foreign establishments could not be realized, from the fact that only half its proposal had, as yet, been carried into effect. So it was obliged to request, that arrangements for these should be made for the present, elsewhere than from the two companies at home. Ere many years had passed, the whole of the scheme recommended by the Duke of Marlborough was at work; in 1722, a Colonel was given to the Regiment; and in 1727, we find a Lieutenant-Colonel and a Major, as well as four complete companies; but in the years of comparative quiet which followed, no further augmentation took place. It was not until the year 1740, that we find two more companies were added to the Regiment.

The name of the Lieutenant-Colonel in 1727, one we have already met with, and who had seen much service, was Jonas Watson. That of the Major was James Petit. He also had seen considerable service; but neither of them in that respect could approach the brave and experienced officer to whom the command of the Regiment was given by George I., in 1722, and emphatically renewed by George II., in 1727, the celebrated Albert Borgard.

CHAPTER VIII.

Albert Borgard

Not a statesman, not over-refined, and no scholar, a mere soldier of fortune – yet brave, and honest, and true – Albert Borgard deserves more than a passing notice in a history of the Regiment which he was the first to command.

He was by birth a Dane. Born in 1659, he commenced his life as a soldier when sixteen years of age, and until the day of his death, on the 7th February, 1751, at the age of ninety-two years, he never had a thought beyond his profession and his duty. The diary appended to this chapter gives in his own words the best summary of his career which can be written. For naïveté and modesty, it can hardly be surpassed. The compression into two or three lines, of events on which most men would enlarge with effusion; and the simple narrative of wounds and hardships, as if such were the ordinary circumstances of war, and unworthy of special comment, cannot fail to strike the most superficial reader. The only sentence that gives us pain is the plaintive allusion to one who supplanted him with the Board of Ordnance, as Consulting Artilleryman and Engineer. He was so devoted to his profession, that anything which looked like putting him on one side hurt him beyond expression. There is a time in the lives of many active men, when they realize painfully that others are growing up who can outstrip them in work, or who have modern ideas and appliances which it is now too late for them to learn. The pain of such a discovery is, perhaps, the most acute that a man can feel.

From that date, Borgard devoted himself to his men. Living in the Warren at Woolwich, constantly among them, he was incessant in urging them to master the details of their profession. Being devoted himself to all laboratory work, his order-books are full of instructions to the cadets and young officers, to devote their leisure to practical lessons in that department. And he encouraged any who might succeed in making any good "Firework" to bring it to him for inspection and approval. He was a strict disciplinarian; and some of the punishments he awarded would astonish modern soldiers. But he was essentially honest, incapable of falsehood or meanness, and if every man in this worthy world were, like him, brave and honest and true, what a Paradise it would be!

He commenced his military career in the service of the King of Denmark. He went from that, in 1689, to the King of Prussia's service; served in Hungary in 1691; and was induced by William III. to join the English service in the following year. At the termination of hostilities he and one other foreigner, named Schlunt, whose name appears in the list of officers of the short-lived regiment of 1698, were the only Artillerymen other than English, who were selected to proceed to England for permanent employment.

In 1702, he went as Major in the expedition to Cadiz, and carried on a successful bombardment with the five bomb-vessels under his command. In the following year he volunteered for service under Marlborough, but, after a few months in Flanders, he was recalled to proceed to Spain with the expedition under Sir George Rooke and the Duke de Schomberg, which escorted the Archduke Charles, who had just been proclaimed by his father, King of Spain. Until the year 1710, he was engaged in all the hostilities which were now carried on in Spain, and of which his diary gives a summary. In 1705, at the siege of Valencia, which was taken by the English under Lord Galway, (who had been appointed to the command in place of Schomberg), he lost his left arm; and in 1710, he was wounded in the leg by a round shot, and taken prisoner.

But his first service with the Royal Artillery, after its existence as a regiment, was in 1719, when he went in command of the Artillery of Lord Cobham's force against Spain, and successfully bombarded Vigo. The troops, 4000 in number, embarked in a squadron of five men-of-war under Admiral Mighells, and coasting from Corunna to Vigo, were landed two or three miles from the town. The garrison of Vigo withdrew to the citadel, spiking the guns in the town; but so heavy and well-directed was the fire of the English, that they soon capitulated.

The whole of the Artillery arrangements, both in preparing and handling the train, had been under Colonel Borgard's sole control. Judging from the entry in his diary, he was far more pleased by the success of his inventions and improvements in the matériel of his train, than by the surrender of the enemy.

As this was the first train of Artillery to which the Royal Artillery Companies were attached on active service, it has been considered desirable to give some details as to its constitution.

First, as to personnel: – It was commanded by Colonel Borgard, assisted by a major, a captain, three lieutenants, and four fireworkers. The medical staff, a surgeon and his assistant, received a little more remuneration than in former trains; their daily pay – which to a modern ear has a very legal sound – being respectively 6s. 8d. and 3s. 4d. There were seven non-commissioned officers, twenty gunners, forty matrosses, two drummers, and ten artificers. Engineers, conductors, drivers, and clerks were also present; and on account of the particular nature of the service on which the expeditionary force was to be engaged, ten watermen and a coxswain were included among the attendants of the train.

Next, as to matériel: – Borgard selected for his purpose four 24-pounders, four 9-pounders, and six 1½-pounders, brass guns, all mounted on travelling carriages, with a proportion of spare carriages for the first and last, spare limbers for the second, and spare wheels for all. He also took a number of brass mortars, six ten-inch, and two eight-inch, besides thirty Coehorn and twelve Royal mortars. The ammunition comprised 9800 round shot, 180 grape, 3800 mortar shells, 1000 hand-grenades, and 100 carcasses for the ten-inch mortars. Two bomb-vessels, each carrying a thirteen-inch mortar, and with two fireworkers, four bombardiers, and an artificer on board, accompanied the expedition, and were also under Colonel Borgard's command.

The citadel capitulated on the 10th October, 1719, and a large quantity of guns and stores fell into the hands of the English. The first occasion, therefore, on which the Royal Artillery as a Regiment was represented on active service was completely successful. The expedition returned to England in November.

One more incident remains to be enlarged upon ere we leave the gallant officer to tell the story of his own life. In 1716, when attending an experiment at the Foundry in Windmill Hill, where some brass guns were being recast, he was wounded in four places by an explosion which took place, and by which seventeen of the bystanders lost their lives. The accident had been foretold – so the story goes – by a young Swiss named Schalch, who was thereupon invited, after his prophecy was fulfilled, to assist the Board of Ordnance in selecting a suitable place near London where all the guns required for the service might be cast.

Young Schalch's hands were rather tied in the matter; for he was limited to a radius of twelve miles round London. Had this not been the case, it is hardly probable that he would have named as the Depôt for national Artillery Stores, and as the National Arsenal – both of which he must have foreseen the place of his selection would become – a place so exposed as Woolwich. As it was, however, being limited to so small an area, his selection was a natural one for other than the reasons which would first occur to him, as it already had a special connection with Artillery manufactures, and with that Board under whose orders he was to work.

Few countries, and fewer Boards, have ever had a more faithful servant than he proved. As Superintendent of the Foundries, which were built at his suggestion, he lived for sixty years, "during which time not a single accident "occurred."8 The Royal Artillery may well be proud of such a man, who, although not in the Regiment, was so intimately connected with it by the nature of his duties; and as all the management of the various departments in the Arsenal is in the hands of officers of the Regiment now, there is no better model for them to study than this father, so to speak, of Woolwich Arsenal. And the interest which must be felt in him for his own skill and services is increased by the knowledge that no less than six of his descendants have held commissions in the Royal Artillery.

Appended to the chapter will now be found the diary of Borgard, to which allusion has so often been made, copied from a manuscript in the Royal Artillery Regimental Library. In addition to the short account of his services, it contains lists of the various battles and sieges in which he took part, and the dates of his various commissions.

"An Account of the Battels, Sieges, &c., wherein Lieutenant-General Albert Borgard hath served, with what time and station, and in what Prince's service, as also the dates of his commissions during the time of his being in the English service, viz. —

"In the King of Denmark's Service.

1675. "Served as a cadet in the Queen's Regiment of Foot, and was at the siege of Wismar (a town in the territories of Mecklenburg), then belonging to the Sweeds, which was taken by the Danes in the said year in the month of December."

1676. "Was ordered from the Army with a Detachment of Foot on board the Fleet. A battle was fought with the Sweeds near Oeland in the Baltick, the 11th of June, wherein the Danes obtained a compleat victory. With the aforesaid Detachment in the month of July we landed in Schonen, and joyned the Danish Army at the Siege of the Castle at Helsingborg, which place the Danes took from the Sweeds in the said month by capitulation.

"Marched from thence, and was at the Siege of the Town and Castle of Landskroon. One night the Sweeds made a great sally out of the Town with Horse and Foot; the Danes beat them back, and followed them into the town and took it sword in hand. The Castle after some days' bombardment was taken by capitulation.

"In the month of August, we marched from Landskroon to Christianstat, which town was taken from the Sweeds, sword in hand, some days after it was invested, without opening trenches. The Garrison did consist of near 3000 men, which were all cut to pieces. Liberty for three hours' time was granted to the soldiers to plunder the town, where there was found a great deal of riches and treasure.

"In the latter end of August, I was one of the 4000 men of the Army which marched from Christianstat to besiege the Town Halmstat. Upon their march they were intercepted and totally defeated by the Sweeds, of which number not above 700 men made their escape.

"In the month of September, several young men that were well recommended were taken out of the Foot Regiments to be made gunners of ye Artillery, of which I was one of the number, and served as such in the great Battle of Lund (in the month of December) between the Sweeds and the Danes, which continued from sun-rising to sun-setting. This was counted a drawn battle, because both Army's Artillery remained in the field that night.

1677. "I likewise served as a gunner in the Battle fought between the Sweeds and the Danes, near Sierkiobing or Ronneberg, two leagues from Landskroon, in the month of July, where the Sweeds had a compleat victory. In the latter end of the same month I was ordered from Schonen with more gunners to the Siege of Mastraud, in Norway. In the month of July, the Town with a little Fort was attacked and taken sword in hand, and two other Castles near the same place were taken by capitulation. In the latter end of August we marched with a body of the Norwegian Army, and fell in the night-time on the Sweeds at Odewald, beat them, and took from them twelve pieces of cannon, and all their baggage.

1678. "In the month of September, a great Detachment of the Danish Army, where I was one of the number, was ordered in the expedition to the Island of Lauterugen, in the Baltick. We landed on the said Island, though we mett with great opposition from the Sweeds. We beat them and obliged them to retire to Stralsund.

1679. "I was made a Fireworker, and ordered on a survey of the Island of Sealand, in Denmark.

1680. "I with another Fireworker was ordered to Berlin in exchange of two Brandenburgher Fireworkers, sent to Denmark to learn the difference of each nation's work relating to all sorts of warlike and pleasaunt Fireworks.

1681. "I was ordered to go from Berlin to Strasburg to perfect myself in all things relating to Fortification.

1682. "I was ordered back again from Strasburg to Gluckstadt, in Holstein, where I was made Ensign in the Queen's Regiment of Foot.

1683. "I was made a Lieutenant in the same Regiment, and ordered with the Duke of Wirtemberg, who went a voluntier to the relief of Vienna, in Austria, where I was in the Battle fought by the Germans and Poles against the Turks the 11th day of September. The Turks were totally defeated with the loss of their Artillery and greatest part of their baggage.

1684. "I was ordered with several other engineers under Colonel Scholten's command to fortifie a place called Farrell, in the County of Oldenburg.

1685. "I was ordered by the aforesaid Duke of Wirtemberg, who went a voluntier to Hungary, and was both of us at the Siege of Niewhausel and the Battle of Grau in the month of August. The Germans beat the Turks, and took twenty-three pieces of cannon, with some of their baggage, and some days after the battle, Niewhausel was taken sword in hand.

1686. "I went as a voluntier to Hungary, and was at the Siege of Buda, and was recommended to Colonel Barner, Commander of the Imperial Artillery, who employ'd me during the Siege, in the Artillery service. The lower town was taken in June without opposition. The upper town and castle were taken sword in hand in the month of September. Here I got so much plunder that paid for all my campaign done in Hungary as a voluntier.

1687. "I was made a Lieutenant in the King of Denmark's Drabenten Guards, and was employed as Engineer in the new Fortifications made at Copenhagen.

1688. "I quitted the Danish Service on account of some injustice done me in my promotion, and went as voluntier to Poland. I was well recommended to his Polish Majesty. I was in the action that happen'd at Budjack, when the Poles beat the Tartars, and killed and took prisoners to the number of 2400. Here I took for my share two Tartars prisoners, which had near cost me my life, by reason I would not deliver them over to a Polish officer.

"In the King of Prussia's Service.

1689. "In the month of January I was made a Lieutenant in the Prussian Guards, and the same year went with my Colonel, Baron Truckis, who made a campaign as voluntier on the Rhine. I was in the month of March in action of Niews, a little town between Keyserwart and Cologne, where the Brandenburghers totally beat the French and took all their baggage. In the month of June I was at the Siege of Keyserwart, which place the Brandenburghers, after some days' bombardment, took from the French by capitulation. In the month of July we marched with the Army from Keyserwart to invest the town of Bonn, which place was without intermission eight nights and days bombarded, and totally destroyed. After the bombardment it was kept blockaded till the month of September. In this bombardment I commanded two mortars ordered me by Colonel Wyller, commander of the Prussian Artillery. In the month of August I went from Bonn to Mentz, a town besieged by the Emperour's and Allies' Army. In the taking of the Counterscarps or Glacies of this place, it cost us near 4000 men, by which means the town was obliged to capitulate. In the month of September the Duke of Lorrain went with 10,000 men from Mentz, to reinforce the Allies' Army at Bonn. By his arrival there the attack was regularly carried on, in which service I was employed as Engineer, under the direction of Colonel Gore, who had the direction of the trenches carried on by the Dutch forces. The Counterscarps or Glacies, with a ravelin and a counterguard, were taken sword in hand with the loss of 3000 men. The enemy was beat into the town, which obliged them in two days' after to capitulate.

1691. "In the month of March 8000 of the Prussian troops were ordered to Hungary. The company to which I belonged was included in this number. We joined the Emperour's Army in the month of June, and we fought a Battle with the Turks at a place called Solankeman, where we beat them totally, and took upwards of 100 pieces of cannon, with a great part of their baggage, in the month of August.

1692. "I quitted the Prussian service, and agreed with Count de Dohna for a Company of Foot, in a Regiment of Foot he was to raise for the service of the Emperour. After some weeks spent in raising men for my company, the capitulation broke off, because the Emperour would not agree to the terms stipulated with the said Count. In the month of April I went from the city of Dantzick to Holland, and from thence in company with some Danish voluntiers to ye Siege of Namur. After the siege I went from Namur to the English and Allies' camp at Melle, and from thence I marched with the Army to the camp at Genap, where in the month of July I entered as Firemaster into the English Artillery, under the command of Colonel Gore.