Recollections of Thirty-nine Years in the Army

Out of 570 officers and men who went into action at Albuhera, the commanding officer, 22 other officers, and more than 200 men were placed hors de combat. The “dead were found lying as they fought in ranks; every wound was in front.”

100

Davenish.

101

Dedicated to St. Molash, who died A.D. 563.

102

The manufacture of Beleek ware was then a thing of the future.

103

See Illustrated London News, October 12, 1849.

104

The ceremony solemnized by the Rev. J. A. Grant, of Nairn.

105

Major and Mrs. Shadforth.

106

Another statement is that his birth took place in Upper Merrion Street, Dublin; his baptism in St. Peter’s Church.

107

That was in 1850.

108

Parliament, June, 1845.

109

August 31, 1850.

110

London Gazette, August 12, 1850.

111

Born on April 12, 1851.

112

Killed at Inkerman.

113

London Gazette, May 23, 1851.

114

41° S.

115

On the twenty-second day of our river journey.

116

Afterwards Sir Hector.

117

“Cawnpore devils.”

118

Jehangir, A.D. 1605–1627.

119

January 28, 1846.

120

February 10, 1846. Punjab annexed, by Proclamation, March 29, 1849.

121

February 20, 1849.

122

Chenab-Acesines.

123

Composed of roots of the scented grass Andropogon muricatum.

124

Jacob.

125

The young man may be indicated by his initials, J. C. G.

126

In a soldier of the 14th Hussars at Meerut.

127

Dr. Henderson.

128

Eugenie de Montijo, Comtess de Téba.

129

Indicating bite by Bungarus (Krite).

130

These lectures were given respectively by the Chaplain (Rev. Cave Browne), Engineer Officer (Captain Davidson), and myself.

131

The Honourable Thomas Ashburnham.

132

Sir Charles Napier.

133

Published in 1897. Vol. ii., p. 418.

134

Mr. Sapte, long since passed away to the majority.

135

The Hydaspes of the ancients.

136

On September 1, 1853.

137

Telegraphic communication did not then exist.

138

Peshora Singh was drowned in the Indus.

139

Mr. Thornton.

140

Captain, afterwards General Sir William Payne, K.C.B.

141

Lithotomy.

142

On November 15, 1853; arrived on 23rd.

143

A.D. 1605–1627.

144

Sir James Tennant, K.C.B.

145

Called by the natives “Bijlee ke dâk,” or “Lightning Mail.”

146

Baptized on April 24, 1854.

147

By orders dated Horse Guards, October 7, 1854.

148

November 5, 1854.

149

Namely, 22nd, 96th, and 98th Regiments, 10th Hussars, and 12th Lancers.

150

Bhaugulpore Hill Rangers.

151

Together with 8th and 40th N.I., mutinied at Dinapore in 1857.

152

Delhi Gazette.

153

Colonel Blachford, 24th Regiment.

154

Of 8s. per day.

155

A son born on March 14, 1857.

156

The Palmyra.

157

Entomology, Kirby and Spence.

158

The 43rd Light Infantry.

159

Hosea xiii. 16.

160

Buckra-eed. In commemoration of the sacrifice by Abraham, according to the Koran, of Ishmael, child of his bondswoman.

161

Names of these and other victims to be mentioned are in my possession.

162

Five officers died in one day.

163

A detachment of 5th Fusiliers.

164

August 18.

165

Lloyd.

166

Out of fifteen officers, twelve were killed or wounded.

167

Mohurrum. The first ten days of the Mahomedan New Year are dedicated to the festival so called.

168

8th.

169

21st and 27th.

170

At Meean Meer the ball by the 81st Regiment took place on May 12.

171

July 30.

172

Phœnix, September 28, 1857.

173

Of September 3, 1857.

174

Native swords.

175

Calcutta Englishman, October 15, 1857.

176

At Manduri, ten miles from that station.

177

On September 21, 1857.

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On September 25, 1857.

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From Deoghur.

180

Forty years thereafter, – namely, in 1897, – Lord Roberts, bearing in mind the events of 1857, writes: – In reply to the question, “Is there any chance of a mutiny occurring again?” With reference to that question he, remarks after this manner: “I would say that the best way of guarding against such a calamity is – By never allowing the present proportion of British to native soldiers to be diminished or the discipline and efficiency of the native army to become slack.

“By taking care that men are selected for the higher civil and military posts whose self-reliance, activity, and resolution are not impaired by age, and who possess a knowledge of the country and the habits of the peoples.

“By recognising and guarding against the dogmatism of theorists and the dangers of centralization.

“By rendering our administration on the one hand firm and strong, on the other hand tolerant and sympathetic; and last, but not least, by doing all in our power to gain the confidence of the various races, and by convincing them that we have not only the determination, but the ability to maintain our supremacy in India against all assailants.

“If these cardinal points are never lost sight of, there is, I believe, little chance of any fresh outbreak disturbing the stability of our rule in India, or neutralizing our efforts to render that country prosperous, contented, and thoroughly loyal to the British Crown.” (Vol. I., p. 449.)

181

Of November 5, 1857.

182

Our force consisted of the 10th, 20th, and 97th British regiments; six battalions of Nepaulese troops, under the command of General Pulwan Singh; two Field Batteries, and some thirty to forty mounted men of the 10th. By virtue of seniority I assumed medical charge.

183

Under Captain Bartholomew.

184

For his gallantry in the attack mentioned he was awarded the Victoria Cross.

185

The Moulvie of Fyzabad, known by the name of Ahmed Alee Shah (also called Ahmed Oola Shah), was a native of Arcot, in the Madras Presidency. He was said to understand English and to have been a man of acumen and boldness. He was ultimately killed at Powayne.

186

Mrs. Orr and Miss Jackson.

187

Sir Hope Grant, K.C.B.

188

It comprised 10th, 34th, and 84th Regiments, 1,700 Sikh cavalry, a portion of military train as cavalry, and three batteries of artillery. I was principal medical officer, also in charge of the Staff, in addition to my regimental duties.

189

William Fenwick, than whom a more upright man could not be named.

190

Of that wound Koer Singh soon thereafter died. The command of his forces then fell to Umeer Singh.

191

Here we received Government General Orders relating to the late Jounpore Field Force, my name in the list of those “mentioned.”

192

Captured by myself and duly handed over.

193

Comprising 10th Foot, Military Train Madras Artillery, Madras Rifles.

194

An honourable man, considerate and straightforward in official as in private relations, he had effected much during the time he held command to restore to their normal state things already alluded to.

195

Government General Orders, dated Allahabad, June 16, 1858.

196

Namely, Juggernath Singh, Rajah of Powayne, a man who, in the early days of the mutiny, had acted in a very unfeeling manner towards such fugitives as fell into his hands.

197

Of October 1, 1858.

198

Friend of India, December 2, 1858.

199

Afterwards noticed in Chambers’ History of the Revolt, page 607.

200

Naval and Military Gazette, January 8, 1859.

201

Colossians iii. 15: “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful.”

202

Root of Orchis mascula.

203

July 24.

204

The 10th Regiment was composed of the following, according to religious denomination; namely, Episcopalians, 29 officers and 236 men; Presbyterians, 8 and 28; Roman Catholics, 5 and 301. It may be taken as an example of an “English” regiment.

205

Of their number a few enlisted into the 10th, and soon attempted to disseminate their particular doctrines. But Barrack-room Courts-Martial and sharp punishments – by means of belts – quickly convinced them that they were – so much matter in the wrong place.

206

5th and 6th Madras.

207

London Gazette, May 14, 1859.

208

Mr. (afterwards Sir Albert) Woods.

209

I was the first regimental surgeon invested by Her Majesty with the Cross of the Bath.

210

March 14.

211

Namely, that of Surgeon-Major.

212

January 4, 1812.

213

Exodus ii. 5, 6; see also Josephus.

214

The Alma.

215

Lat. 1° N.

216

In 1841 the island of Hong-Kong, considered by the Chinese as “only a barren rock,” was ceded to the British. Within the short period of nineteen years, the surprising transformation above indicated took place.

217

The date of my rank as Deputy Inspector-General, May 11, 1860.

218

Wingrove Cook.

219

Captured by the British, February 25, 1842.

220

In the early part of 1894 hundreds of these boats were destroyed by fire.

221

Phoong quei, or wind-box.

222

In 1841, a brother of Mr. Bowlby was appointed to the Army Medical Department, and ordered to the West Indies. From the first, he expressed a foreboding of death by yellow fever, an event which happened shortly after his arrival there. Nor is his a singular instance of the same kind; several have been met with in India.

223

In the official position of P.M.O.

224

Chiefly the Taipings.

225

That is, the Treaty of Tientsin, dated 1858, was ratified, and, together with a Convention of Peace, signed by Lord Elgin and Prince Kung.

226

Chiefly privet (Ligusticum) and lycium. Among the representatives of British plants were the dock, dandelion, and ivy-leaved veronica.

227

On December 16.

228

Dr. Galbraith.

229

Messrs. Dent.

230

Copychus saularis.

231

Colonel Muter.

232

On February 9.

233

Details are given in my book China from a Medical Point of View, p. 437.

234

Zysiphus jujuba.

235

Holothuria.

236

Mr. Blodgett.

237

9th. Cypsilis affinis.

238

On March 22, 1861.

239

Hienfung.

240

Ezekiel xxvii. 23; xxix. 19.

241

The same that now stands on the Thames Embankment.

242

The Trent.

243

At the former Hôtel de Lille et d’Albion, now Hôtel St. James.

244

Something like its counterpart exists at Carrick-a-reed, near the Giant’s Causeway, Ireland.

245

Receiving a monthly allowance of 300 Rs.

246

Named after Mahomed ibn Abd-el Wahab, born 1691; a puritanical sect of Mahomedans.

247

Subsequently destroyed by the Kerseage, off Cherbourg.

248

Mr. Eddis, of Hazalabut.

249

At the time of his death sixteen sons of Dost Mahomed (Mahomed Akbar and Ghulam Hyder, the two heirs-designate in succession, died before their father) were alive, of whom the following are named in relation to the events above alluded to, namely: (1) Mahomed Afzul Khan; (2) Mahomed Azim Khan: these by a wife not of Royal blood. (3) Sheer Ali Khan; (4) Mahomed Amir Khan; (5) Mahomed Sharif Khan: these by a favourite Popalzai wife. (6) Wali Mahomed Khan; (7) Faiz Mahomed Khan: these by a third wife. Afzul Khan had a son Abdur Raman Khan, the present Amir of Affghanistan, and Sheer Ali had five sons – Ali Khan, Yakub Khan, Ibrahim Khan, Ayub Khan, and Abdul Jan.

250

See Forty-one Years in India, by Lord Roberts, vol. ii., pp. 41–43.

251

Referred to B.C. 1400 – about.

252

Chiefly of Sâl. Vateria, interspersed with Bauhinia.

253

Eudynemus.

254

The Jain sect deny the divine origin and infallibility of the Vedas. It dates from the sixth or seventh century A.D.; culminated in the eleventh, and declined in the twelfth.

255

See India in Greece, by Pocock.

256

Under command of Sir Henry Tombs.

257

My wife and Miss Dickson with me.

258

So do some of the tribes in the Himalayahs. So did the ancient Spartans.

259

A severe epidemic of cholera among the British troops.

260

The son of Mr. Davis became Governor of Hong-Kong, and author of an extremely interesting history of China.

261

St. Luke xviii. 16.

262

George Dickson.

263

B.C. 1400–1200.

264

B.C. 286–247.

265

Believed to have been brought from Babylon.

266

Numbers xxxiii. 8; Exodus xv. 25. See also The Bible and Modern Discovery, p. 89.

267

Antiquities of the Jews, Book III. chap. i. sec. 2.

268

Referred to the period of the XXVIth Dynasty, B.C. 666–528.

269

Of England.

270

Dr. Maunsell.

271

Journal of the Geological Society, vol. x.

272

The Army Medical Society.

273

Leach, 46th Regiment; O’Leary, Royal Artillery.

274

At Saarbruck.

275

Of the 10th Infantry, corresponding to my old regiment.

276

In reality 80,000 men prisoners, and 200 guns lost.

277

The Resolution on the subject was proposed in the Corps Legislatif by M. Jules Favre.

278

According to Regulations at that time in force, conscripts and volunteers for the line, having served therein seven years, or on attaining the age of twenty-nine years, passed thence to the Garde Mobile; over that age they pass into the Garde Nationale. A soldier of the line engages in the first instance for the term of seven years; he may at its expiration re-engage for other seven or fourteen years. At the end of twenty-five years in the service he becomes entitled to a pension equal in amount to ninepence per day.

279

Five milliards of Francs; equal to two hundred millions of pounds sterling.

280

Red Cross badge worn on the arm.

281

Of the Mobiles billeted in the hotel where I resided, some re-entered quietly smoking their pipes or cheroots. One of them remarked that he had fired three shots against the enemy; but as his companions bolted, he did not see the fun, as he expressed it, of remaining to be killed.

282

The object of the demonstration was to demand that municipal elections should be immediately proceeded with.

283

La Cloche.

284

Mr. Whitehurst, of the Daily Telegraph, and myself.

285

The following form is that of letters permitted to be so dispatched: —

286

The fact transpired that certain ambulances were established rather for the advantage of their fondateurs than the good of sick and wounded. Others acted altogether independently, but had neither personnel nor matériel to fit them for their professed purpose. With such as were allied to military hospitals it was sufficiently easy to deal and adjust; not so with the others alluded to.

287

Composed of Sir Richard Wallace, Honourable Allan Herbert, Dr. Shrimpton, Sir John Rose Cormack, and the Rev. S. Smyth.

288

How strangely similar the circumstances alluded to to those of Prussia in the early years of the 19th century! Then “Prussia had made no provision for defeat. Her fortresses, though garrisoned, were ill commanded and unprepared for serious resistance. Passion and sentiment had dictated her war, in which prudence and foresight had no part. Her territory was reduced to a fragment, her army to a mere residue.” —Quarterly Review, October, 1893, page 425.

289

See Guerre de 1870–1871, Paris. Par Alfred Duquet.

290

Muffs.

291

The militia force so-called comprised the Garde Nationale Sedentaire, and Mobiles, the first named having its own “organization,” if such a term is applicable, the last being affiliated to the regular army.

292

It will be remembered that on the outbreak of mutiny among the sepoys at Dinapore, it was contemplated to arm the “Amazones” of the 10th Regiment of Foot, and that men had every confidence in their fighting qualities.

293

Under the command of General Ducrot.

294

I was with the Americans on this occasion.

295

On 28th.

296

On 30th.

297

Namely, on the 27th.

298

According to a tablet erected in the Madeleine: “Mort pour la Foi et la Justice, en la Prison de la Roquette le XXIV Mai MDCCCLXXI.”

299

Le Journal Officiel, November 5, 1870.

300

The following is a transcript of the “ticket of authority” to receive their daily allowance of meat granted by mairies to persons authorized to remain within the walls, namely: —

301

This episode was subsequently illustrated in one of the pictorial scenes relating to the siege exhibited in London.

302

December 1.

303

On November 28 General d’Aurelle de Paladine, at the head of the army of the Loire, while endeavouring to force his way from Orleans to Fontainebleau, whence he hoped to advance to the rescue of Paris, was attacked near Beaune la Rolande by the army under Prince Frederick Charles, and defeated, with a reported loss to the French of 1,000 killed, 4,000 wounded, and 1,600 prisoners.

304

The chief officers in command were Vinoy, Ducrot and De la Roncière.

305

Notwithstanding the free use of antiseptics and disinfectants of many kinds.

306

Journal du Siége par un Bourgeois de Paris, p. 573.

307

Referring to confusedly expressed news received by pigeon, which was interpreted to the effect that Faidherbe had repulsed the enemy in the Pas de Calais; Chansy and Bourbaki were at Nevers “watching” on either flank of the army of Prince Frederick Charles; at Nuits, “a French general” had with 10,000 French beaten 25,000 Prussians.

308

On January 18, 1871, at Versailles.

309

The remark refers to those in the Jardin des Plantes and Jardin d’Acclimation. The flesh of these animals was sold at exorbitant prices.

310

On one occasion thirteen were so counted, bringing to the rear a wounded comrade.

311

The following places were those that chiefly suffered within Paris, viz., The Luxembourg quarter, Boulevard St. Michel, Rues St. Jacques, d’Enfer, Vaugirard, Hôpital Val de Grace, Théâtre Odéon, Church of St. Sulpice, the Jardin des Plantes, Panthéon, Ministère de Commerce, Invalides, Church of St. Germain, Rue Boissy d’Anglais.

312

“The city of Paris is to pay a contribution of 200,000,000 francs (equal to £8,000,000 sterling) within a fortnight. Public property is not to be removed during the armistice. All German prisoners of war shall immediately be exchanged against a proportionate number of French prisoners; also captains of vessels and others, as well as civilian prisoners on both sides.”

313

At this very time the ordinary 3 per cent. Rentes stood at 51·20; while the new loan for the indemnity stood at 52·40.

314

Among other circumstances to which this want of confidence was assigned, on various occasions I heard enumerated “The Confessional” of the Romish Church, to which the great majority of the people belong. The direct effect of that observance is said to be the breaking of confidence between members of the same family, and so on upwards throughout public, as in private life. In connection with this allegations made by so many with whom I had communication, the circumstance is significant that whenever and for whatever political end a “Revolution” takes place in Paris, the class of persons who are first and invariably attacked are the clergy of that particular denomination.