Chatham, marched to Gravesend, and embarked on board the “Charles
Grant,” under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Cassidy, who had,
a short time before, been appointed to the regiment. After a
good passage the “Charles Grant” reached Calcutta on the 16th of
August, when the detachment was ordered to Berhampore; it joined
the left wing in that cantonment on the 12th of September, when,
immediately on its landing, orders were received to return to Fort
William. On the 21st of the same month, the left wing, with the
detachment,--all under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Cassidy,--were
again embarked, and dropping down the river, in a few days reached
Fort William, and disembarking, marched into barracks in the fort
on the 27th of September.
On the 17th of November the head-quarters marched into Fort
William, and the regiment was once more together. This portion had
embarked on board the “Lord Hungerford” on the 21st of June, under
the command of Major Eagar.
The cholera broke out among the men of the regiment towards the end
of November, and not abating, the regiment moved into camp on the
south glacis of the fort. The ground was occupied on the 20th of
December, and the change was soon attended with advantage.
[Sidenote: 1826]
On the 18th of January 1826, another detachment, consisting of the
grenadier company, and part of No. 1, joined, and the strength
of the regiment was 39 officers, 50 serjeants, 17 drummers, 48
corporals, and 812 privates.
On the 13th of February the regiment embarked on the river Hoogley,
and left the ghaut below the fort for the Sunderbunds, on its route
to Dinapore, the Bhagaritty river, by which branch of the Ganges
it would have entered the main stream, being at this season of the
year too shallow for boats of such a size as composed the fleet.
The cholera unfortunately made its appearance during the voyage,
and carried off a great number of men. The disease was so sudden
in its attacks, and so quick in its effects, that the men scarcely
survived till assistance could reach them from the hospital, which
being always in the rear, the boat in which a sick man might be,
was ordered to drop down to it,--it therefore became necessary
to supply officers with a mixture to be given immediately to the
person seized: the sick man thus received aid from the nearest
boat to his own, and was saved until the more necessary treatment
could be used upon him. It was the 2nd of May before the regiment
reached Dinapore;--this cantonment is within a few miles of Patna,
midway between it and the junction of the Soane with the Ganges;
it is composed of two quadrangles, a larger and a smaller one, the
southern side of the former being occupied by two long buildings,
with a road dividing them in the centre; these formed the barracks,
each for a wing of a regiment, the remaining sides of the square
being the quarters of the officers;--the centre area is a smooth
greensward, used as a parade-ground; the river flows on the north
of the whole, and within a few yards of the quarters on that side.
At the end of the hot season of the year, the regiment was ordered
to Meerut, and commenced its first march in India, before daylight
on the morning of the 8th of November, under Lieut.-Colonel James
Cassidy, who had succeeded to the command of the THIRTY-FIRST,
Lieut.-Colonel Fearon having been appointed to the sixty-fourth
regiment on the 12th of January, 1826. The sick with the women and
children had been previously sent by water under Captain Bolton.
[Sidenote: 1827]
The route of the regiment lay across the Soane, which it passed at
Quilwur Ghaut, through the Shahabad district to Buxar, beneath the
fort of which place it crossed the Ganges by ferry, and marched
towards the military station of Ghazeepore, then occupied by the
forty-fourth regiment. After passing this post, the regiment
crossed the Goomtee by a bridge of boats, where it falls into
the Ganges, near the village of Kitee; then to the cantonment of
Seerole, near the city of Benares; again reached the banks of
the Ganges, at the little village of Joosey, and recrossed it
to Allahabad; thence the route lay through Kurrah, Futtehpore,
and Korah to Etawah, a city on the Jumna. From Etawah through
Shekohabad and Jellasir, in the province of Agra; passing the
dilapidated fort of Shasnee, the road led through the city of
Coel, to the celebrated fortress of Allyghur; thence by Khorjah
Bolundshuhur and Haupper to Meerut, where the regiment arrived
on the morning of Saturday, January 13th, 1827, after a march
of sixty-seven days, during which time the men continued very
healthy;--the number in hospital never exceeded thirty, many for
trifling cases, and but two men died.
On the same day the THIRTY-FIRST occupied the lines vacated by the
fourteenth regiment. Meerut was the head-quarters of a division
of the Bengal Army, commanded by Major-General Reynell; and a
considerable force was assembled, as a check upon Delhi, thirty-six
miles from Meerut, as well as upon the province of Rohilcund, on
the opposite shore of the Ganges.
The THIRTY-FIRST had been without colours since the destruction of
the “Kent,” but a new stand, which, for want of an opportunity,
had not yet been presented, was in possession of the regiment; and
the Governor-General of India, the Right Honorable Lord Amherst,
being at Delhi, in the course of a tour of the upper provinces, his
Lady was solicited to present the new colours to the regiment. They
were presented by her Ladyship on the 7th of March, 1827, and the
Governor-General addressed the following speech to Lieut.-Colonel
Cassidy on the occasion:--
“I am persuaded that Lady Amherst will consider herself fortunate
in having been selected to bear so distinguished a part in the
ceremony of this day. It will be her earnest prayer that so dire
a calamity as that which befell your former colours may never
occur to these which she has had the honor to present to you.
From the ordinary perils of war they are safe in your hands, and
she confidently trusts that Her Majesty’s THIRTY-FIRST will ever
march to victory under the colours now consigned to your charge.”
To celebrate the event, the officers of the regiment entertained
a large party at a ball and supper in their Mess-house.
[Sidenote: 1828]
During the years 1828 and 1829 the regiment continued at Meerut.
[Sidenote: 1829]
In 1829 orders were received to reduce the establishment of the
regiment to 736 rank and file.
The THIRTY-FIRST regiment was at this time stronger than it had
ever been; its effective strength amounted to 1086. The men were
young and in high health; the climate good, and the barracks
excellent, different from those at Dinapore; they consisted of
a certain number of detached buildings, each calculated for a
subdivision only: they were thatched, and had at the angles good
rooms for non-commissioned officers. New buildings were erected
of even a superior description, each company having four houses
allotted to it, with its proportion of non-commissioned officers’
rooms at the angles, as in the old buildings.
[Sidenote: 1831]
In the commencement of the year 1831 the north-west frontier of
India was reinforced, and the THIRTY-FIRST marched to Kurnaul, the
head-quarters of the Sirhind division. The regiment left Meerut on
the 27th of January, and halted that day at Sardhanna, the capital
of an independent state, under the celebrated Begum Sumroo. She
had been its ruler for a period of sixty years; and, a Mahometan
in her youth, she had adopted Christianity. The officers of the
regiment dined with her Highness.
It is five days’ march from Meerut to Kurnaul. On the 30th
of January the river Hinden was crossed by ferry, and on the
following day the river Jumna, when the regiment encamped in its
new quarters. The barracks had not then been built, Kurnaul never
having been occupied by a British regiment. The Native cantonment
was situated in front of the city, facing to the north.
The new lines marked out for the regiment were in front of the
right of the old lines facing the west, in which quarter an
extensive plain extends, without one tree to shade it, as far as
the eye can reach; in the rear flows the canal of Merdan Ali Khan,
a lively stream drawn from the Jumna at Rajghaut, fifty miles
above, and running to Delhi, eighty miles below. On the right are
long tracts of jungle, with a few villages and some cultivated land
near the bank of the canal, a little to the rear. The barracks were
detached buildings, two to each company.
General Sir Henry Warde, G.C.B., was appointed from the
sixty-eighth regiment to the Colonelcy of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment
on the 13th of April, 1831, in succession to General the Earl of
Mulgrave, G.C.B., deceased.
It was the month of June before the barracks were ready to receive
the men, until which time the regiment remained in camp. The
officers’ houses in rear of the barracks were built at their own
expense, it being the custom in the upper provinces of India to
possess property of this description; the inconvenience and
expense of establishing a cantonment are very severe at the time
on many, particularly on the junior officers. It is only, however,
when a cantonment is altogether abandoned that this custom can be
attended with loss. Kurnaul was likely to be permanent from its
position with regard to the Punjaub and the dominions of the Ameers
of Scinde, besides the great importance acquired every year by the
country beyond the Indus.
In October, 1831, the regiment marched to Roopur on the river
Sutlej, as part of the escort attached to the Governor-General,
Lord William Bentinck, who had arranged to have an interview at
that place with his Highness Runjeet Singh, the Ruler of the
Punjaub.
Having left Kurnaul on the 10th of October, the regiment reached
the ground allotted for the escort on the 22nd of that month; the
route lay through the Sikh territories, on the British side of the
Sutlej. Thennaiser, a spot of celebrated sanctity, and Umballa,
a populous city, were the only places of consequence, however,
on the march. The escort assembled at Roopur, to do honor to the
interview, was composed of two squadrons of the sixteenth Lancers,
with the band of that regiment, the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, two
battalions of native infantry (the 14th and 32nd), eight guns of
horse artillery, with two squadrons of irregular cavalry from
Colonel Skinner’s regiment.
The force Runjeet Singh had brought with him encamped, on the
morning of the 25th of October, on the opposite bank of the river,
and consisted of ten thousand of his best horse and six thousand
disciplined infantry. A bridge of boats had been thrown across the
river, and on the morning of the 26th of October the meeting took
place; the Chief of the Punjaub, accompanied by a deputation of
British officers that had gone to meet him, with a detachment of
3800 horse, 800 being disciplined dragoons, under General Allard,
a French officer in Runjeet’s service, crossed the river. All the
Sikh chiefs were in attendance on their Sovereign, and the train
passed through a street to the Governor-General’s camp, formed
by the sixteenth Lancers and the THIRTY-FIRST regiment. This is
not the place in which to dwell on the splendour or chivalrous
appearance of the scene, on the glitter of the polished armour of
some, and the gaiety of the yellow silk in which all were dressed.
The British troops were infinitely greater objects of interest
and curiosity to the Sikhs, than even the variety of the arms,
and the figures of the men of the latter, were to the former.
Runjeet Singh inquired into every thing connected with the arming
and disciplining of the THIRTY-FIRST with the keenest eye. During
a review of the corps, on a second visit, he rode close into
the line, and examined every movement, pointing out with great
intelligence to the Sirdars, or leaders, about him the evolutions
that he thought useful, or sending them to observe particularly how
they were performed. The THIRTY-FIRST regiment was not under arms
on the return visit. The farewell interview took place on the last
day of the month, with the same ceremony as that observed at the
first meeting.
The next morning (November 1st) the camps broke up; the
THIRTY-FIRST regiment returned, by the route it had come, to
Kurnaul, and arrived there on the 16th of November.
[Sidenote: 1832]
In the spring of the year 1832, Lieut.-Colonel Cassidy returned
to England in ill health, after having commanded the regiment
seven years. He was succeeded by Major Eagar, who died in December
following, when for nearly three years the command of the regiment
devolved upon the two senior Captains alternately.
[Sidenote: 1834]
On the 10th of October, 1834, Lieut.-General Sir Edward Barnes,
G.C.B., was appointed from the seventy-eighth regiment to the
Colonelcy of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, in succession to General
Sir Henry Warde, G.C.B., deceased.
[Sidenote: 1835]
In December, 1834, Major Bolton joined the regiment, and was
promoted, in November of the following year, to the rank of
Lieut.-Colonel, by purchase, Colonel Cassidy having been removed to
the charge of a recruiting district.
[Sidenote: 1836]
On the 20th of January, 1836, the regiment left Kurnaul on its
march to Dinapore, and, halting a day near Delhi, crossed the
Jumna below the city; thence, continuing through the Doab (land
between two rivers), to Allahabad, crossed the Ganges by a bridge
of boats above the fort. Having halted at Benares and Ghazeepore,
it recrossed the Ganges at Buxar, and arriving on the 26th of
March at Dinapore, again took up its quarters in the barracks it
had occupied ten years before;--although the weather was very hot,
and the regiment had marched without a day’s halt from Cawnpore
(thirty-one marches), there were only fifteen sick. From Kurnaul to
Dinapore the change of climate is very great, while the confinement
of the latter place, with the close and crowded state of the
barracks, after the open scene, the comfortable thatched buildings,
and the cold bracing winter air of the former station, were
severely felt. In Kurnaul the hospital list never exceeded seventy,
while it occasionally continued, during the hot weather, so low as
thirty, and in the cold season eight or nine, for months together.
[Sidenote: 1837]
During the summer of the year 1837, the thermometer remained at 115
degrees in the barracks for several days, and many deaths occurred
from apoplexy, produced by the great heat.
[Sidenote: 1838]
Lieut.-General Sir Colin Halkett, K.C.B. and G.C.H., was
appointed from the seventy-first regiment to the Colonelcy of the
THIRTY-FIRST regiment, on the 28th of March, 1838, in succession to
General Sir Edward Barnes, G.C.B., deceased.
On the 16th of November the THIRTY-FIRST marched towards
Ghazeepore, to relieve the forty-fourth regiment, and occupied the
barracks at that station on the 27th of that month. Ghazeepore
stands at the edge of a fine plain on the left bank of the Ganges,
close to the river. It is one of the frontier posts towards Nepaul,
is forty-six miles from Benares, and four hundred and six miles
from Calcutta.
[Sidenote: 1839]
The strength of the regiment had been reduced to six hundred and
thirty-two rank and file; it had at this period been fourteen years
in India, during which time the casualties by death amounted to
fourteen officers, and six hundred and seventy-seven men.
During this year the regiment remained cantoned at Ghazeepore,
under the command of Lieut.-Colonel Bolton; and was constantly
on the alert in expectation to march towards Nepaul to repel the
incursions of the Nepaulese.
On the 3rd of April, 1839, the regiment was augmented to an
establishment of ten companies, consisting of one colonel, two
lieut.-colonels, two majors, ten captains, thirty subalterns, six
staff, fifty-seven serjeants, nineteen drummers, and nine hundred
and seventy-six rank and file.
On the 13th of May, 1839, the regiment was inspected by
Major-General Cocks, of the Honorable East India Company’s Service,
who expressed, in high terms, his approbation of its appearance.
Ghazeepore was found very unhealthy during the rains, and the
regiment suffered severely, both in officers and men, from fever
and dysentery.
[Sidenote: 1840]
The regiment remained at Ghazeepore until the 12th of October,
1840, when orders were received to march to Agra, to relieve the
ninth foot. It arrived at Agra on the 30th of November, and its
effectives amounted to forty-one serjeants, and seven hundred rank
and file.
At Agra the regiment was more healthy than at the two former
stations, and its strength was increased during the year by a large
detachment of recruits from England.
[Sidenote: 1841]
In March, 1841, a large party of recruits joined the regiment under
the command of Major Skinner, through whose able management they
arrived in the highest possible order.
Owing to the indefatigable exertions of Lieut.-Colonel Bolton, the
commanding officer, little time elapsed before the regiment formed
a highly disciplined and most efficient battalion of 992 bayonets.
At this period the government of Shah Shoojah became so unpopular,
that the Affghans appeared determined to effect the expulsion of
the British, by whose aid he had been reinstated in the sovereignty
of Cabool in 1839, and whose presence was rendered necessary to
support his authority.
Towards the close of the year 1841, the Affghans broke out into
open insurrection; the British Envoy, Sir William McNaghten, and
Sir Alexander Burnes were treacherously murdered; and the British
troops, including the forty-fourth regiment, which occupied Cabool,
being compelled to evacuate and retreat towards Jellalabad, were
cut to pieces on the march.
_Jellalabad_ was soon beleaguered by the Affghans, and every
exertion was made to send succour from India to its little
garrison, commanded by Lieut.-Colonel Sir Robert Sale, of the
thirteenth light infantry, who was serving with the rank of
Major-General in Affghanistan. Upon the breaking out of the
insurrection, the Major-General had been detached from Cabool
with a force, in order to reduce the insurgents, and, after much
hard fighting in the passes, had taken possession of Jellalabad,
the successful defence of which, by his small garrison, forms so
interesting a feature in the Affghan campaign.
[Sidenote: 1842]
The regiment was ordered to join a force collected at Peshawur,
in the north of the Punjaub, under Major-General Pollock; and on
the 15th of January, 1842, it marched from Agra, mustering 996
bayonets, in the highest state of discipline and efficiency.
On the 10th of March the Sutlej was crossed by means of a bridge
of boats (which had been constructed for the accommodation of the
British troops by the Sikh government) by the force under the
command of Lieut.-Colonel Bolton, of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment.
The force, which consisted of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, the
sixth native infantry, some troops of Tait’s irregular horse, and
Delafosse’s troop of horse artillery, arrived at Peshawur on the
21st of April, and was most hospitably entertained by General
Avitabile,[26] by order of the Maharajah Shere Singh.
Before the corps could join the army, Major-General Pollock forced
the Khyber Pass, and marched on to Jellalabad, at which place he
arrived on the 16th of April; the Affghans had, on the 7th of
April, been attacked, and defeated, by Major-General Sir Robert
Sale; Mahomed Akbar Khan was consequently obliged to abandon the
siege of Jellalabad, which he had blockaded since February, 1842.
The THIRTY-FIRST regiment, which had followed Major-General Pollock
by forced marches, joined at Jellalabad on the 5th of May,--after
making a halt for about five days at Peshawur,--having undergone
much privation on the way by the desertion of the camel-drivers:
several deaths occurred from famine and fatigue.
The army was halted in wretched tents at Jellalabad, the climate
of which is known to be so unhealthy during the summer as to cause
it to be used by the natives as a winter residence only. Soon the
effects of this displayed itself; the days became so oppressive
that both officers and men were obliged to dig deep holes
underground in which to shield themselves, in some slight measure,
from the burning heat of the sun. The thermometer rose as high as
126° in the tents, and man and beast fell stricken by the extreme
heat.
Neither was it in men alone that the army was daily losing its
efficiency. From the valley of Jellalabad having been so long the
seat of war, the fertile land had become a desert,--the wretched
half-starved camels could find no forage on the bare face of the
sand, and they died by hundreds; their dead bodies lying about in
all directions, swollen with the sun, and emitting the most horrid
exhalations, together with the filth and dirt of a standing camp of
50,000 men, added to the disease which raged among the troops. The
army suffered a loss which the most sanguinary encounter with the
enemy could not have exceeded.
At last, it was found necessary to divide the force, and the fourth
brigade, in which was the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, was ordered to
march under Brigadier Monteath to Peshbolak, in the Shinwaree
country, to punish some refractory tribes, which had behaved with
great treachery to a party of Jezailchees, who had been at the
former place, and to bring to submission the unruly Shinwarees,
who had attacked several convoys, and been guilty of many acts of
murder and plunder.
For the first month the regiment met with little opposition, and
the camel-thorn, a wild bush, on the leaves of which camels feed,
being found in great quantities, and large supplies of grain being
taken, the condition of the camels, horses, and other baggage
animals was much improved; the half-starved emaciated animals,
which had marched from Jellalabad, quickly recovered their wonted
vigour and efficiency. The warlike and turbulent Shinwaree tribes
retired before Brigadier Monteath’s brigade, until they sheltered
themselves in their strongholds, which were formed in a narrow
valley, strengthened by many forts and stockaded enclosures, while
the heights on either side were defended by numerous _sunghas_, or
breastworks of large stones, which were so constructed as to enable
them to dispute every inch of ground with an advancing force.
The brigade having arrived, and encamped about two miles from this
formidable position, a reconnoitring party was sent out, under the
command of Captain Willes, of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, to examine
the strength of the enemy’s preparations, and determine his exact
position. It was composed of two companies of the thirty-third
Native Infantry, with a few Jezailchees, or Native Light Infantry,
so named from the Jezail, or short rifle, with which they are
armed. This party, having proceeded some four or five miles from
the camp, was furiously attacked by a large force of Shinwarees,
and suffered severely from their fire, which was very effective
from the position they had taken up, and from which it required
a very considerable force to drive them: nevertheless the object
sought was fully obtained; the enemy’s position was correctly
ascertained, together with every requisite information for the
attack in force, after which the reconnoitring party returned to
the camp, sustaining a smart action the whole way back.
On the 26th of July Brigadier Monteath prepared to attack the
enemy near _Mazeena_ with his whole force; and accordingly,
leaving the camp standing under an efficient guard, he moved
towards the position occupied by the Affghans, who were prepared,
and nothing loth to meet him. Little time elapsed before the
engagement was commenced by the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, seconded by
the thirty-third and fifty-third Native Infantry, ascending the
heights, and driving the Shinwarees from their breastworks, and
along the ridges of the hills, while the tenth Light Cavalry, in
the valley below, charged them whenever they showed front on level
ground. The camp followers and pioneers had been furnished with
combustibles to burn the forts, as the Shinwarees were driven out
of them, which service was very efficiently performed. Meanwhile,
on the heights, the enemy disputed every foot of ground until
taken at the point of the bayonet, and Lieut. M‘Ilween, of the
THIRTY-FIRST regiment, was killed while gallantly leading an attack
of this kind against a vastly superior force.