1891–2–3--TRAINING OF TROOPS ON PRIVATE LANDS
Death of Lady Wood--Manœuvres in Hampshire--Public Schools’ Camps
at Aldershot--Improvement in War Training--Ian Hamilton--Lord
Roberts--Sealed patterns, Army Stores.
On the 11th May I lost my wife, with whom I had enjoyed uninterrupted
happiness since our marriage, and who for twenty-four years, next to
God, had given me all her life. The most loving and tender of women,
endowed with the highest principles of morality, her companionship
raised the standard of thought of even an ordinary man, increasing his
respect for womankind, while her infinite compassion rendered her a
hopeful and encouraging beacon to the weakest of her sex. She was to
me not only an affectionate wife, but also adviser and confidential
secretary. My greatest abiding regret is that devotion to the Army gave
me so little time with her, and with our children; in seven successive
years, employment on Foreign Service allowed me only 14½ months at home.
I had no suspicion of her being ill until one afternoon walking in
the grounds of Government House she told me she felt an unpleasant
fluttering in her heart; but we had suspected so little her dangerous
state, that I had allowed her to walk up a steep hill in the previous
June, when I particularly asked Lady Pender, whose face I was watching,
to go up in the carriage.
In the month of November Lady Wood complained of eczema, and was in bed
for a week; but she made so little of her ailments that I went almost
daily to London to sit on a Drill Committee, engaged in revising a new
book, and when I was not in London I spent the day in office with Sir
Mansfield Clarke and Colonel Hildyard, on the same duty. Ten days later
my wife was sufficiently recovered to go about and look at houses,
as it became necessary for us to turn out of Government House, which
required repairs.
Early in the year Her Majesty the Empress Eugénie, whose kindness to
us had been unceasing, since the journey in 1880 to Zululand, took
Lady Wood and my eldest daughter to St. Remo for a change of air, I
remaining ignorant of her precarious state of health until I received
a note, written by the direction of the Empress, calling me to the
Riviera.
The doctor at St. Remo told me frankly he thought very badly of Lady
Wood’s state, and advised me to take her back to England. I telegraphed
for Surgeon-Major Finlay, who knew my wife’s constitution, and he
kindly hurried to St. Remo, meeting us, however, only at Paris, as we
had left the Riviera before he arrived. The journey was exceptionally
painful to me; I had not ventured to tell my young daughter what I
feared, and the doctor had warned me that if my wife died in the
carriage, which was possible, I should conceal the fact until we
reached Paris to avoid removal from the train. After a week’s rest
in Paris we got back to Aldershot. Ten days before Lady Wood died I
offered to telegraph for our eldest son, who was with his Battalion,
Devon Regiment, in Egypt. She replied, “Certainly not, I will not be so
selfish; let him come home later, and escape the hot weather.”
Nothing could be more touching than the gracious solicitude of Her
Majesty the Queen, who offered to come to Aldershot to see Lady
Wood before she died, and the sympathy of my comrades of all Ranks.
Her Majesty sent me a beautifully expressed letter of compassion;
in thanking her I wrote it was the more acceptable as to her might
appropriately be applied the line, “Non ignara mali miseris succurrere
disco.”
Friends in both Churches, the Catholic Bishop of Westminster, the Dean
of Westminster, and soldiers’ wives sent condolences to me. Forty-six
non-commissioned officers and privates, living in different parts of
Scotland, wrote to me in memory of our service together in South Africa
in 1878–9.
Lady Wood had indeed done much for her poorer brothers and sisters. She
was ever engaged in works of Charity, irrespective of the religion of
those she succoured; indeed, when at Colchester, she gave effective
assistance to a lady of the Baptist persuasion, who managed a Soldiers’
Home. My wife and daughter organised a series of weekly concerts in
the Cambridge Hospital for convalescents, collecting sufficient money,
mainly through our friend Lord Wantage, to buy a second-hand Grand
piano, and they made a practice of spending one afternoon every week
in the Hospital, inducing other ladies to do the same, so that every
ward where there were female nurses, was visited by one or more ladies
weekly. Lady and Miss Wood, with the aid of friends, supplied the
Cambridge Hospital with invalid chairs, and many other such articles,
not issued in those days by Government.
It was fortunate for me that at this particular time I was if possible
more than usually engaged on Military duties. I was unable to sleep
consecutively at night, and never after four in the morning, at which
time, after leaving her for only an hour, I had been called to my
wife’s bedside to say good-bye. The day after the funeral, I supervised
the training of an Infantry Brigade, and on the day following, the
Cavalry, working consecutively eleven hours on the Drill book after
my return to Government House. When I was not in London, and there
were no troops training, after clearing my office table, I remained on
horseback till sunset.
* * * * *
Throughout the Autumn of 1890, and during the Winter of 1890–91, I
was looking for ground for manœuvres in North Hampshire, assisted
by Captain Rycroft, 7th Dragoon Guards, with whose uncle I had been
shipmate on H.M.S. _Queen_, and I had every assistance possible from
the Rycroft family, and Mr. Portal, who not only gave me free use of
his land, but assented to my using the meadows on his dairy farm for
encampments. The Earl of Carnarvon was also most generous, allowing me
to select as a camp for 6000 men, a field within 200 yards of where
most of his pheasants were to be raised.
With landowners I had but little difficulty, but much of the land was
let to shooting tenants who were non-resident in the county, and the
objections of two I found it was impossible to overcome. Both gentlemen
were courteous in the extreme; one, the Head of a firm of prosperous
drapers in Knightsbridge, told me frankly that he worked hard for ten
months in the year, and that no compensation for disturbance of game
would make up to him for less sport; and eventually I had to give up my
scheme, trying then for ground between Basingstoke and Alresford, and
when unsuccessful there, looking over more lands between Stockbridge
and Winchester. In both areas, however, there was considerable trouble
in finding camping-places anywhere except on arable land, and the
scarcity of water was a well-nigh insuperable difficulty; eventually
I had to come back to a tract which I had looked at in 1890, about
7 miles from east to west, and 5 from north to south, lying between
Butser Hill, Droxford, and West Meon, Hambledon. The clergy in the
district were at first much opposed to the idea of seeing soldiers in
their parishes, but eventually they all withdrew their objections,
and after the manœuvres wrote to me in enthusiastic terms of the
good conduct of our men. A week before Lady Wood died she rallied so
remarkably as to enable me to go down to West Meon for a day, and fix
the sites for the camps which we occupied in August. The Force employed
consisted of two complete Infantry divisions; that is, each had a
brigade of Artillery and a Squadron of Cavalry.
The men carried thirty-eight pounds weight besides the clothes they
wore, and learnt a good deal marching down, some regiments more than
others; as may be gained from the fact that with equivalent numbers
73 men fell out in one Battalion, and two in another. We learned also
a good deal as regards the kits of soldiers, which can be tested only
on Service or Manœuvres. The harvest was late, but I did not venture
to delay the concentration about West Meon and Butser Hill, for fear
of the weather breaking, and so we had the unusual spectacle of troops
which had been engaged in tactical operations in the forenoon, reaping
and stooking corn in the evening.
Eight days before we intended to return to Aldershot the weather broke,
and after persevering for four days, the last forty-eight hours in
incessant and heavy rain, we abandoned our scheme, and marched home,
the men retaining the utmost good-humour in spite of their having lived
for two days in camps which were ankle-deep in mud. At the conclusion
of the manœuvres I reported, “In tactical skill officers of all Ranks
have improved in a very great degree; but the improvement in military
spirit, in eagerness to learn, and to submit cheerfully to great
physical discomfort, is even more remarkable, and this spirit reacts
naturally on the lower ranks.”
* * * * *
Although I did not propose to use private land for purposes of
instruction in 1892, I spent the previous autumn in looking round for
fresh ground, but came reluctantly to the conclusion, which I put
officially on record, that in counties where the sporting rights are
leased to non-residents, manœuvres are in the present state of Public
feeling in the United Kingdom impossible without an Act of Parliament.
Although the tactical training of infantry in 1892 was confined to
Flying Columns moving on the Government grounds in the vicinity
of Aldershot, and to the exercise of a Cavalry Division, yet the
opportunity of gaining instruction was eagerly taken advantage of by
the Auxiliary Forces. A Division composed of the 13th and 14th Militia
Brigades, each of five Battalions, came out for a month’s training in
July, and in August 16,000 Volunteers came into camp. There had been,
I gathered, some disinclination in previous years to join us, but the
written expression of gratitude I received from officers commanding for
the instruction afforded, indicated that the efforts of the Staff had
been appreciated.
In 1889 the Public School Volunteer Cadet Companies came out for a
week in Berkshire, with a total strength of about 200. The following
year the numbers dropped to 160; but in 1891 we encamped about 440 at
Bourley, 3 miles west of Aldershot town. Some masters had demurred to
allowing their pupils to come, until I wrote a circular letter to the
effect that having two sons in school Volunteer Corps, I should have
no objection to their attending under arrangements I contemplated,
when the difficulty was waived; and in 1892 we encamped about 600 in
the grounds of Government House, Aldershot. My friend Colonel Davis,
commanding 3rd Royal West Surrey Regiment, lending me large marquees,
each capable of seating about 360 persons.
I did not anticipate that every schoolboy who joined a Cadet Corps
would become professional soldiers, but I urged all should fit
themselves early in life for the command of Volunteers; and my hopes
have been thoroughly justified at Aldershot, for the movement under my
successors’ fostering care has continued to increase in popularity.
In 1890 I lost in Pall Mall the strenuous support of the
Adjutant-General, Lord Wolseley, who had taken over the Irish
Command, where he was eagerly practising what he had preached from
the War Office. He wrote frequently to me: “Send me copies of your
Military Training: how you carry it out, and indeed everything new you
have introduced.”[310]--And again: “I want to carry out your Night
Manœuvres: have sent to me the orders you are giving this year.” Lord
Wolseley was succeeded as Adjutant-General by Redvers Buller, a friend
of many years’ standing, whom I personally recommended for the Victoria
Cross in Zululand, and he also supported my views; thus my difficulties
were practically at an end.
Moreover, the spirit of the troops at Aldershot had changed materially
since 1889. The younger officers of the Brigade of Guards were always
open to consider new ideas. One of its greatest enthusiasts for war
training was Colonel Lord Methuen, who on the 21st August wrote to me:
“You have given us the best five weeks’ soldiering we ever had, and
your work must do us permanent good. To-morrow night we have Night
operations.”
The march of opinion, however, is still more remarkably shown in a
letter from General Sir George Higginson,[311] who as a guest had spent
a week in camp with the Guards Brigade to the south of Aldershot. He
wrote to me on the 5th September: “My recent opportunity of seeing your
work has convinced me that the changes you and your colleagues have
made, are not only justified, but imperatively called for, by the
altered circumstances of modern warfare.” This open-minded admission is
the more remarkable, that Higginson was Adjutant of his battalion when,
shoulder to shoulder, it took part in the brilliant and successful
attack on the hill above the Alma River, and ever since had lived
amongst men who inculcated and eulogised drill, which would enable
battalions to “wheel like a wall and swing like a gate.”
His Royal Highness the Duke of Connaught was also a warm supporter of
modern ideas, and while serving on our drill committee, strenuously
advocated more space in the ranks, and the delegation of control to
section commanders.
Prior to the commencement of each drill season I recapitulated the
most common mistakes made in the previous year, and thus to some
extent avoided their repetition. At the end of the season, 1892, I
drew up a paper relating to Artillery; it was my own compilation, but
the technical part of it came either from Colonel James Alleyne, who
was admittedly one of the best Field Artillery men in the Service,
or from Colonel N. Walford, employed in the War Office, who was the
most scientific Gunner I ever knew, and whose knowledge of the Arm
was remarkable. From him I had the advantage of a frank criticism on
every Artillery decision which I gave at Aldershot, for he paid me the
compliment of differing from me whenever he thought I was in error.
I was corresponding with Colonel Ian Hamilton,[312] then in India, on
Musketry questions, and I sent him my paper on Artillery, dated 24th
September 1892, with the result that Lord Roberts circulated it to the
Artillery in India, Ian Hamilton writing: “I don’t think he has before
received a paper on this subject which has so absolutely carried him
along with it.” Five years later, when I was Adjutant-General, I got
Ian Hamilton home, to take over the School of Musketry at Hythe, from
the conviction that to his effort was due the great improvement of our
soldiers’ rifle shooting in India.
I took advantage of a rest day in the Cavalry manœuvres of 1890 to
ride over the Down land between Swindon and the River Kennet, and in
the winter of 1892–93 I revisited the ground, and got permission from
the Earl of Craven to address all his tenants, and he gave me the free
access to his estate, much of which was in his personal occupation.
I obtained the use of 11 miles from east to west, with a mean of 5½
from north to south, on which some useful work was done. One day we
practised a frontal attack, having 15,000 troops on the ground.
It is interesting to record that the Rector of Liddington, unsolicited
by anyone, wrote that “in spite of his Rectory being practically
surrounded by camps, neither he nor his family experienced even a
shadow of inconvenience.”
I reported that the mistakes made by the officers were fewer, and were
more readily acknowledged at the discussions on the conclusion of each
tactical exercise. I added, “These conferences have been very useful
in the improvement of our battle training. These, however, are by no
means the only advantages obtained for the Army; such manœuvres induce
officers to study their profession more keenly than they otherwise
would do, and the inhabitants of the districts visited have now, I am
confident, an increased respect for the Army as a Training school for
the nation.” The cost of the manœuvres was £7200.
When returning to Aldershot I received a telegram from Lady Jeune, at
Arlington Manor, “Bring all Staff for weekend,” and replied, “Too many:
11 officers, 2 women, 12 servants, 23 horses.” She answered, “Pray
come, the more the merrier,” and we went.
I had known Lady Jeune for years, but my close friendship with her
gifted husband, terminated only by his death, had begun from a visit
he paid to me at Aldershot, in 1892. Besides unbounded hospitality, he
greatly assisted me later as Judge Advocate-General, for to an intense
desire for justice he added a disregard for technicalities.
In the Spring I was asked to choose a course for the Divisional
Point to Point races, and Captain Norton Legge,[313] on a somewhat
indifferent horse, won the Light-weight race from his attention to the
instructions, which I printed, and handed round to every rider, besides
the verbal explanation. Mr. Harris of Westcourt, Finchampstead, who
had always provided foxes for us in his covert near Hook Station, gave
me the use of his land. I pointed out to the riders a church in the
distance, telling them they had to pass east and by north to the west
of the church, on rounding which they would see a balloon in the air,
and if they rode straight for the church going out, and the balloon
coming home, I would be answerable there would be no wire or unjumpable
fences in the line. Legge, an excellent officer, rode absolutely
straight, and consequently won.
* * * * *
The new Ranges at Aldershot enabled us to hold the Army Rifle meeting
there, causing a great increase in Regimental Rifle clubs. At the
Annual meeting there were 2000 individual entries, and a large number
of teams.
Besides the tactical exercises carried out against the Field columns,
which as in 1889 marched round Aldershot using Government ground or
commons, we had a useful practice for the first time in mobilising a
Divisional ammunition column, which was made up to war strength by
borrowing men and horses from Batteries. We learnt a great deal in
the packing arrangements of the boxes, and in so marking them as to
be recognisable at night, when on service much of the replenishing of
ammunition columns has necessarily to be effected. All the Artillery
officers showed great interest in this practice, which so far as I know
had not been previously attempted.
In the last few months of my Command the Administrative Staff had a
lesson from my ingrained habit of looking into details. A new form of
lamp chimney had been for some time under trial, and all the reports
were unanimous in its favour. A letter to this effect was put before
me for signature by an officer, whom I asked, “Have you personally
tried the chimnies?” “No, but the Reports are unanimous in its favour.”
“Well, I’ll wait a day or two.” “Please, sir, we’ve had one reminder
already, and the Director of Contracts is anxious for a Report.” I
declined to be hurried, but invited the Staff officer to dine that
evening. After dinner I said, “Come for a stroll,” and we walked over
to the nearest barracks, and asked some men sitting at the tables: “How
do you like those lamp chimnies?” “Very well; we don’t pay much for
them.” “Pay, to whom do you pay?” “To Messrs. T. White & Co.” “What,
for the hire?--where is the Government new pattern?” “Oh, sir, locked
up in the Quartermaster’s store; we can’t use them, as so many break.”
In my first year of command Mr. Garth’s hounds drew all the Government
woods blank. I sent for the Warders and informed them that if it
occurred again they would all be changed round;--that is, those on the
East would go to the West, and those in the North would go to the South
of Aldershot. Lord Cork was kind enough to send me some cubs from his
estate, and I kept them in a large enclosure with an artificial earth
until they were old enough to work their way out. We seldom found less
than a leash, but in my time never succeeded in killing one.
The days the cubs were delivered Major Burn Murdoch, Royal Dragoons,
calling to see me about five o’clock, asked if he might speak to me.
“Yes, you can talk to me while I am engaged in a sporting operation,
and as you are also very fond of it, here you are, snip this one’s
ears.” He said with much adroitness: “Certainly, General, if you hold
him!” The Master, Mr. Garth of Haines Hill, who hunted the hounds for
nearly half a century, wrote to me on my departure in the autumn from
Aldershot: “I thank you for all you have done, which is a very great
deal, while at Aldershot for the Fox hounds.”
I left Aldershot for Pall Mall in October, having satisfied my two
friends, Sir Redvers Buller and Viscount Wolseley, to whose advocacy I
owed my appointment; Redvers Buller told me at the time, and repeated
his pleasant remark when he went to command at Aldershot in 1897.
Lord Wolseley wrote to me as follows: “You have not only taught men a
great deal, but have managed to popularise the acquisition of military
knowledge.”
I wrote to the Adjutant-General in my final Report that “The success
obtained was due to the excellent spirit prevailing in all Ranks, and
to the careful and unceasing labours of the Staff of the Aldershot
Division. These officers, by their knowledge, energy, and loyal
assistance, have relieved me of all details of work, and have thus
enabled me to devote my attention to the Field training and Tactical
instruction of the troops”; and in a farewell order I recorded my
thorough appreciation of the sustained zeal with which soldiers of all
Ranks had seconded my efforts in preparing the Division for the duties
of active Field Service.