1865–7--“ON THE STAFF”
Recognition of an opponent--A good Veterinary Surgeon--“Vagabond”--
Fenian scares--I supervise the management of an Irish estate--
Difficulties of marriage settlements--Sir Thomas Lennard--
His offer of £5000.
On the 22nd May, when accompanying General Napier, who was inspecting
a battalion at Mullingar, my eye rested on an officer whose face I
recognised, and when the parade was over I asked him, “Are you the man
who fought me in the public-house in Air Street, Regent Street, and
gave me such a hammering?” He replied, “I am the man; but I do not
admit that I gave you a hammering, for you left me speechless.”
In taking lessons from various pugilists in London, I had gone in 1862
to an ex-“Lightweight Champion,” and after a few lessons I was foolish
enough to accept his proposition that instead of paying 7s. 6d. for
each lesson, I should pay him £5, and then have as many lessons as I
desired. The result was that after I had had two or three lessons,
instead of taking the trouble to stand up himself, he invariably set me
to box with the first pupil who happened to come in, and thus it was I
met the gentleman, not knowing he was in the Army. Though neither of us
lost our tempers, we had what was virtually, and is now called, a glove
fight, except that our gloves were heavier and better covered.
I suffered so continuously in the summer of 1865 each time I got
seriously wet from recurring attacks of fever, which affected my ears,
accompanied with neuralgia and swollen face, that I went over to London
in July, when my dentist informed me that I should always suffer when
ill from other causes unless I had eight stumps of teeth at the back
of my mouth removed. I then made a round of doctors’ houses, asking if
they would give me chloroform, but they one and all declined, so I went
back to Dublin, and asked a physician who had been most successful in
treating a gnawing pain from which I had suffered in the stomach, but
he, while declining to allow there was any disease of the heart, was
not willing to administer to me an anæsthetic, so returning to England
I sought out Dr. Nicholas Parker, who had attended one of my sisters.
He was himself ill, and had given up practice, but consented to give me
chloroform, and, having arranged with the dentist, I went up to London,
accompanied by my mother and four grieving brothers and sisters. After
a careful examination, Dr. Parker postponed the operation, telling
me to come back again in a fortnight. When I returned, the attendant
family had dropped to three, after another fortnight to one, and
eventually there was nobody with me, when the doctor said cheerfully,
“Yes, you are fit to-day; go away and have a good luncheon, for you
won’t want to eat much for a day or two.” Since that period, although I
cannot say I have been free from neuralgia in the head, I have suffered
much less from face-ache.
I accompanied my General to the Curragh in the summer, and there became
so ill I was obliged to go away. Doctor Hudson, the Physician of the
Meath Hospital, did more for me than anyone else at the time, chiefly
by keeping me on a milk diet.
In the autumn of the year, my battalion, the 73rd, was ordered to Hong
Kong, and I expected orders to embark with it. This I should have done,
but that the pleasant Colonel who commanded it when I joined, retired,
and was succeeded by a man I disliked, so I paid £500 for an exchange
to the 17th Regiment.
At the end of the year I bought “Vagabond,” the best horse I ever
possessed, from a farmer at Finglas, just outside Dublin. It had been
sold within three weeks at varying prices, from £85 to £15. I saw the
animal cross some apparently impossible fences, his rider wielding
a heavy bludgeon with which he struck the horse violently over the
head. Eventually I begged him to desist, for I was afraid he would
either stun the horse or that it would break its legs, and I became
its owner for £45, the farmer betting a friend £10 he would get it
back in a week for £15. The certificate of the Veterinary surgeon, Mr.
Ferguson, is worth quoting for young horse-owners: “I have examined the
chestnut----. I regard it as unsound, and advise you to buy it.” Next
day I called on Mr. Ferguson, and said, “Oh, I bought that horse, and
here is your fee; and now will you tell me where he is unsound?” Said
he, “Are you a busy man?” “Yes, I am, but I can listen to you for five
minutes.” “But it will take me the forenoon to tell you all the places
in which that horse is unsound.”
The horse objecting to jump, gave me five severe falls the first day I
rode him after the Ward Union Hounds. I cannot write _with_, for after
the first fall, on which the farmers shouted, “Take that brute away, or
he will kill you or some of us,” I never saw the hounds, but rode the
line for 8 miles, crossing every fence. The same farmers came to me a
fortnight later, wanting to know what drug I put up the horse’s nose to
tame him, and it was some time before I could induce them to believe
that I had improved the horse’s temper by consistent kindness. During
thirteen seasons, while carrying my wife, my brother who rode it while
I was in South Africa, or me to hounds, the horse never made a mistake.
He was, however, a trial to one’s patience, for the first time I rode
him from Stephen’s Green to my General’s house, about 4 miles, it took
me over two hours, the horse walking about on his fore and hind legs
alternately.
I should have had a pleasant life in 1865–6 but that I suffered
from continuous ill-health. I went to a famous physician in London,
afterwards created a baronet for his devoted care of the Heir to the
throne, and to many doctors of lesser note. The disease from which I
was suffering was neuralgia of the nerves of the stomach, treatment for
which presents but comparatively little difficulty now, but forty-five
years ago it was not so. I managed to hunt, but occasionally suffered
such acute pain as to be unable to sit in the saddle.
On the 9th of February 1866 I received a telegram to the effect that
my father was very dangerously ill at Belhus, and leaving Ireland that
night I remained with him until he died, a fortnight later.
[Illustration: VAGABOND
HE FOLLOWED HOUNDS FOR THIRTEEN SEASONS WITHOUT MAKING A MISTAKE]
Shortly after I returned to Dublin I lost my appointment, my Chief
being made Director-General of Military Education, and I was ordered
to join my Regiment, then at Aldershot. My mother went to Brighton,
and keeping my horses at Redhill, I lived with her two months, hunting
with the Surrey Stag Hounds and adjoining packs. I was still suffering
severely from neuralgia in the face and stomach. Early in March,
when hunting near Cranleigh, we had had a slow run for two hours,
and being close to the station, and wet to the skin, I went into a
shop and bought every article of clothing, from a suit and shoes to
undergarments. Shortly before the train started, a London citizen who
might have been Mr. Jorrocks himself, bustled into the train, reeking
with spirits, and upbraided me for leaving the hounds until the deer
had been taken. I told him I had delicate lungs, but he derided the
idea of changing clothes, adding, “Look at me; I have had three glasses
of hot gin and water, and I shall be all right.” And so he was. I being
in bed for the next fortnight with double pneumonia, became so ill
that a Medical Board declined to allow me to join at Aldershot until I
regained my health.
On the 30th June, having ceased to cough, I joined at Aldershot the
battalion to which I had been recently appointed, in which my eldest
brother, Sir Francis, had previously served and was a guest at the
time. I did not do duty with it, for after a few days I was appointed
Deputy Assistant Quarter-master-General in charge of the Instructional
Kitchen of Cookery.[97] I knew little of cooking, but thought with
study I might acquire sufficient knowledge, but was startled to find
that the kitchen was only to occupy a part of my time, the more
important duty being to instruct officers in Military Drawing and Field
Sketching. This was an unpleasant surprise, for except Mathematics,
Drawing was my weakest subject at the College, and going to London
I asked to see the Military Secretary. I explained my difficulty in
undertaking such a task, but my explanations were not well received,
the General observing, “A Staff College officer ought to be able to
do anything.” I said meekly, “But perhaps you do not know I was the
duffer of my class. I am not thinking of myself, but of those whom I
have to instruct.” He replied, “Well, you have got to do it.” And I
left the room.
Going back to Aldershot, I heard accidentally that the Brigade-Major in
the North Camp had been ordered to rejoin his battalion, and applied
officially to be transferred to the post. Meantime I prepared for my
first class of students, and feeling incapable of teaching what I did
not thoroughly understand, I got my friend Herr Zöbel to come from
Sunbury for forty-eight hours, in which time much that had been vague
and undefined in my mind, even after two years at the Staff College,
became clear, and when Zöbel went back on the third day I reported to
the Assistant Quartermaster-General that I was ready to begin.
Before the class assembled, however, I had become Brigade-Major in
the North Camp, under General Sir Alfred Horsford, by whom I was
treated with the greatest kindness. He was handsome, clever, with
great knowledge of the world, and had done well in the Indian Mutiny;
although he did not know details of the Drill book, he handled troops
well, but was not fond of soldiering in peace times. When in the spring
of 1867 I asked whether we ought not to exercise the Brigade, prior
to Divisional parades, my General replied calmly, “Yes, certainly; a
good idea--I quite approve. Carry on, but do not ask me to attend.” He
supported me, however, so my work was very pleasant.
He was popular in society, having many friends, being especially
intimate with Sir John Cope of Bramshill, 10 miles from Aldershot,
where he spent a great deal of his time. This of course became
known, and gave rise to an amusing incident, of which Sir Alfred,
who had a keen sense of humour, himself told me. Approaching the
Lieutenant-General, Sir James Yorke Scarlett, Sir Alfred said with much
warmth before other General officers, “The Duke told me, Sir James,
that you said I was seldom here.” The Lieutenant-General said very
calmly, “You have been misinformed, Horsford: what I said was, you were
never here.”
Sir Alfred believed in a celibate Army, and told numberless stories in
support of his views. When in command of a battalion, Rifle Brigade, a
soldier came up for permission to marry. “No, certainly not. Why does
a young man like you want a wife?” “Oh, please, sir, I have two rings
(Good Conduct badges) and £5 in the Savings Bank, so I am eligible, and
I want to marry very much.” “Well, go away, and if you come back this
day year in the same mind, you shall marry; I’ll keep the vacancy.” On
the anniversary the soldier repeated his request. “But do you really
after a year want to marry?” “Yes, sir, very much.” “Sergeant-Major,
take his name down. Yes, you may marry. I never believed there was so
much constancy in man or woman. Right face. Quick march.” As the man
left the room, turning his head, he said, “Thank you, sir; it isn’t the
same woman.”
I invented a knapsack a month or two after I joined, and was told to
consult with Dr. Parkes,[98] one of the most advanced Medical officers
in the Service. I went down to Southampton where he lived, and he
satisfied me that one on which he was then working, arranged to spread
the weight over the body, a modification of which was eventually
adopted, was better than mine; my principle of the alteration of the
pouches, however, was accepted. Previously the pouches were made
rectangular, and as no man’s body is exactly flat there was obviously
inconvenience in this arrangement, especially as one of the tests of
soldiering in those days was to bring the rifle across the body as
closely as possible without hitting it, with the result that the edges
of the pouches were found to be inconvenient.
In December, there being rumours of a Fenian outbreak, my General was
sent over to Ireland, and a fortnight later I was ordered to join him.
On the last day of the month he was offered command of a Division.
Now his tact and knowledge of the Army was profound. He asked Lord
Strathnairn (Sir Hugh Rose) to leave the question in abeyance until
an outbreak occurred, saying that any supersession of a General
officer in peace-time would be unpopular in the Army, and thus it
was arranged, the General in question not being informed of what was
hanging over him. After I had been three weeks in Dublin, I got leave
to go to England until wanted. In the middle of February I received an
urgent telegram from the General to rejoin. He had gone to Killarney,
where we remained for six weeks, with a large body of troops, but
learned most of the Fenian movements from the London morning papers. I
satisfied myself that some of the reports of the assembling of Fenians
were untrue, for on receiving a report of a large body of men having
been seen drilling in a field near Tralee I went there immediately;
but though the field was wet, there was not a footprint on it. We
went in April to Mallow, as a Police barrack had been attacked and
burned at Blarney, one station on the Cork side of Mallow Junction.
As we travelled up, a bridge near Mill Street had been set on fire,
but without being sufficiently damaged to interrupt the traffic, and
although there was doubtless much disaffection, the arrangements for a
rising were despicable.
We returned to Aldershot at the end of March, and going up to London
I bought five couples of hounds. Getting up at 3 a.m., I trailed an
anise-seeded rabbit over the Long Valley, coming back an hour later to
hunt it. I never had more than three companions, but I persevered until
the weather became so hot that the scent would not lie in the Long
Valley.
I have often been asked whether I am nervous out hunting, and my answer
in the affirmative has been frequently discredited. I cannot recall
the time when I have not been for the first few fences, but so far as
I know my mind, my nervousness does not affect my riding, as is shown
by the following story of the early sixties. I was riding frequently
with the Essex Stag Hounds horses hired from the farmer horse-dealer
who acted as huntsman to the pack. He was driving me from Ingatestone
to the meet one Tuesday morning, when I observed, “What sort of a
mount have I got to-day?” “Well, Major, I cannot say I know very much
about him, but I believe he is a very good one.” It was a low, strong,
cob-like horse, with great power and breeding. The deer having been
uncarted, as we rode down at the first fence my teeth were chattering
so as to be painful, and I crossed the first two holding my jaw with my
left hand. We had a brilliant thirty-five minutes, in which the horse
performed well, making only one mistake, in which although we got down
we did not part company, and when we had secured the deer the owner of
the horse said, “Major, will you get off, and ride this gentleman’s
horse? for he may be a customer.” When we were driving home from the
public-house where we regained the cart, the huntsman said to me, “I
owe you a good turn, Major, to-day.” “Why?” “Oh, you have sold that
horse for me.” “Done well?” “Oh, I haven’t made a heap of money, but
I like quick returns.” “Then you have not had the horse long?” “No, I
only bought him yesterday afternoon at Tattersall’s.”
I stayed at Reading for the Ascot week with a cousin, and on the
Thursday accidentally met the Southwells. My former General, William
Napier, accosted me in the enclosure, asking whether I could get him
some lunch, and I replied, “Oh yes, come across the drag enclosure,
and you can have what you like; I am sure to know many men there.”
Threading our way through the coaches, I looked up, and saw Miss
Paulina Southwell. The General, to whose wife I had confided my
feelings, said, “Oh, don’t mind my lunch; stop here, and talk to your
friends.” I said, “No, sir,” and went on until we got to the Guards’
tent, where a friend made us welcome. I am not a lunch-eater, but the
General had a hearty appetite, and asked me if I could get him a chair.
That lunch appeared to be about the longest I ever attended, but I
waited patiently, and insisted on piloting my former General across the
course before I left him, when I returned to Lord Southwell’s coach,
and saw the lady whom I had not met for a long time, and with whom I
never corresponded until, two months later, I wrote and asked her to
marry me.
I was very foolish at that time, for I tried to reduce my weight, which
has not varied four pounds in forty years, in order to ride in some
races. I had ridden a good hunter in the Tweezledown[99] steeplechases
soon after I returned from Ireland, but the horse was hopelessly
outclassed, and in July I rode four races in succession one day, on
a diet of a limited number of biscuits, for which folly I suffered
considerably; for a fortnight later, after being very wet on parade,
I got fever, and early in August fainted three times one morning in
my office. I went to London and saw doctors, who prescribed perfect
rest, and as my brother-in-law had decided to appoint another Agent,
I went over to his estate in Ireland, hoping that the change of air
might improve my health. I was still weak when I got to Clones, where
I wished to see a tenant who had not paid his rent for eleven years.
The annual sum was trifling, under two pounds, but the example set
by the man was bad on an estate which had arrears of over £11,000 on
a rental of £8000. My brother-in-law’s London solicitor was coming
over to go through the estate accounts with me, and the day before he
arrived, taking a car, I went out to see the recalcitrant tenant. I was
uncertain of my reception, so, although the day was fine, I wore an
overcoat, in the pocket of which I carried a big revolver. The driver
pulled up alongside a punt, in which I was ferried over to the island
on which McElnea lived, in a little cabin, and on entering I saw a fine
tall man, nearly seventy years of age. He did not offer me a seat, but
there were three stools, and I sat down on one, remarking, “You do not
offer me a seat, but I am not well, and so sit down.” “Who the divil
are ye? Are ye the landlord?” “No, but I am his brother-in-law, and
very like him.” “Well, is it about the rint that ye have come?” “It
is.” “Sorra a penny will I pay! Divil a man is there in Oirland to make
me.” And as he spoke in came two fine specimens of humanity, over six
feet in height. I looked at them, and putting my hand into my pocket,
said to McElnea, “Well, I am going back into Clones, and you can pack
up.” “Pack, is it? and why would I pack?” “Because when I get into
Clones I shall issue a process against you, and you will be out in a
week.” Changing from his defiant to a cringing tone, he said, “Why,
yer honour will not be turning me out of the ould place; I am a very
ould man, and I have always lived here.” I replied, “We do not want you
here, and I will give you your crop and £5 to go away.” “I would much
sooner stop, may I?” “If you pay a year and a half’s rent to-morrow,
and a year and a half every year until you are clear, you can remain.”
He paid, and on the next gale[100] day, saying he could not be bothered
with accounts, paid up all arrears, and gave no further trouble.
I had discussed daily with my mother and sisters, since the Ascot
meeting, the question of my marrying Paulina Southwell. I did not
apprehend any difficulty with her about religion, but realised that
my financial position did not justify my asking her to marry me, and
that moreover I was too fond of my profession to abate in the slightest
degree my desire for War Service on any possible occasion. Eventually,
on my way to Clones, I wrote to her explaining my unsatisfactory
financial position and my feelings as a soldier, and asking her whether
she would consider the question of marrying me, on the distinct
understanding that she would never by a word, or even a look, check my
volunteering for War Service.
After I had settled my brother-in-law’s business, I went to Turkeenagh,
a mountain 12 miles from Scarriff, where I had a share in a moor. I was
too ill to walk, but enjoyed the air and the society of my companions.
We had had a successful day with the grouse on the hills looking down
on Lough Derg, when, getting the _Irish Times_, I saw an expedition
was going to Abyssinia, under General Napier. I packed my bag, and,
sending a boy to the nearest public-house for a car, drove 38 miles to
Nenagh station, _en route_ for London. I telegraphed to Miss Southwell
that I had received no reply to my letter written ten days earlier,
and asking her not to answer until she heard again from me. Writing in
the train, I explained the object of my journey to London was to try
to get to Abyssinia, and although I could not advise her to marry me
before I embarked, I should be glad to do so if she wished; adding I
was unlikely to see anyone in Abyssinia whom I should prefer to her,
as I had not done so during the six or seven years I had spent in
England and Ireland since our first meeting. When I got to London, I
received her answer saying that fully understanding my feelings about
War Service, she accepted me, but that she would await my return from
Abyssinia. I found it was not William, but Robert Napier, afterwards
Lord Napier of Magdala, who would command; moreover, the Staff of the
Expedition would be chosen almost exclusively from those serving in
India, and I was married a fortnight later.
There were monetary difficulties, as I was poor; indeed, an old
friend in common, Canon Doyle, had teased Miss Southwell, when
she sought his advice, by saying he knew only one great objection
besides that of religion, which he explained later, was “Major Wood’s
dreadful impecuniosity.” This lack of means gave an opportunity to my
brother-in-law of showing me his character. My mother’s brother-in-law
when dying had left a large property to his childless wife, with
verbal instructions to “take care of Emma’s children.” She had given
without demur £5000 to each of my brothers and sisters when they had
married, but although she had not been to church for fifty years, she
objected to my marrying a Catholic, and refused to settle anything
on me. Sir Thomas Barrett Lennard heard that the marriage might
not take place, and wrote to the following effect: “There are many
disadvantages in being as casual about money as I am, but this time
there is an advantage in it; please accept the cheque I send for £5000.
I am content to take my chance of your surviving your aunt, and of my
eventually getting the money back.” I naturally thanked him warmly, but
other arrangements were made. Six weeks after my marriage I arranged
with his London solicitor to make certain alterations at Clones, and
for twenty-one years had the satisfaction of remitting a large annual
income to my brother-in-law, without his being troubled with work which
he disliked.
Sir Thomas, who married my second surviving sister, is a fine classical
scholar, and has ever been a capable and indefatigable worker in
County business, going as thoroughly into every matter of self-imposed
duty as he does in the pursuit of his principal recreation, the
breaking in of horses and making them hunters. I have never known a
man with better hands, nor one who can encourage more successfully a
wayward four-year-old to execute his rider’s wishes. He never cared
for shooting, but in order to recompense me for supervising his
Irish estate, he preserved pheasants in the coverts at Belhus for my
pleasure,--foxes, however, being the first consideration; indeed, at
the end of one season there were to my knowledge thirteen left on the
estate of 4000 acres.
He has repaid me many times over in the last forty-five years, by
unvarying kindness. While he lived at Belhus, his house, before and
after my marriage, was my home; and in 1874, on hearing I was wounded,
he offered to go out to the West Coast of Africa, disregarding the
climate, which had carried Insurance premiums up to 45 per centum, and
the fact that he had at the time a large family.
I had been away ten days on my honeymoon when I was recalled by my
General, who had the command of a large gathering of Volunteers
at Liverpool. He took with him two senior Colonels who commanded
battalions at Aldershot; but they appreciated the pleasures of the
table, and falling victims to turtle soup at the Adelphi Hotel the
evening we arrived, remained in bed until the Review was over, and we
were back at Aldershot.