BATTLE HONOURS FOR SERVICES IN INDIA, 1843
Scinde--Meeanee--Hyderabad--Maharajpore--Punniar.
SCINDE, 1843.
This distinction was accorded to the Cheshire Regiment for its
services in Scinde--services which brought to the regiment the two
battle honours "Meeanee" and "Hyderabad." The distinction has not
been conferred on the Bombay native regiments which fought side
by side with the Cheshires in the brilliant and hardly-contested
campaign on the banks of the Indus.
MEEANEE, FEBRUARY 17, 1843.
This battle honour, which commemorates the victory gained by the
army commanded by General Sir Charles Napier over the Amirs of
Scinde, is borne by the following regiments:
Cheshires.
34th Poona Horse.
35th Scinde Horse.
36th Jacob's Horse.
2nd Queen's Own Sappers and Miners.
112th Infantry.
125th Outram's Rifles.
The hostilities with the Amirs of Scinde were the direct but
inevitable result of the first Afghan War. With some difficulty
we had succeeded in obtaining the consent of some of the Amirs
to the passage of the Bombay column of the army of Afghanistan
through their country; but the people themselves were very averse
to this concession. It was laying them open to future annexation,
as they wisely conjectured. The passage of our convoys through
their territories was an irresistible attraction to Baluch
marauders, and, not content with robbery, they cut up stragglers
with impunity. Then we demanded satisfaction, and finally the Amirs
undertook to enter into a treaty, by which they were compelled
to pay the cost of a force which we maintained in Scinde for the
purpose of safeguarding our lines of communication. Our reverses
in Afghanistan, as well as the defeat they themselves inflicted
on our troops in the neighbourhood of Kahun, and one or two other
regrettable incidents, led the Amirs to underrate our strength.
They not only neglected to keep up the payments for the army of
occupation, but they consistently violated the treaty in every
possible way. Frequent attacks were made on parties of troops, and
it was evident either that the Amirs would not, or could not keep
their people in order.
Sir Charles Napier was despatched to Hyderabad to compel respect
to the treaty. The Amirs retaliated by attacking the Residency.
Fortunately, a small vessel belonging to the Indian Marine was
lying in the Indus, some few miles from the Residency, and Major
(afterwards General) Sir James Outram was enabled to beat off his
assailants, and to reach the steamer in safety. Napier was a man of
action. Knowing that the Amirs were within a few miles of the city,
he at once marched to attack them. He calculated their numbers
at between 30,000 and 40,000 men, well armed with matchlock and
sabres. His own force was just 2,600 men, with twelve guns. This
included but one British battalion--the 22nd (Cheshires)--barely
600 men, all armed with the old flintlock Brown Bess--a weapon
which, though a more rapid loader than the matchlock, was its
inferior in range. The Amirs had taken up a strong position in a
large wooded game-preserve, surrounded with a low mud wall. The
one entrance Napier closed with a company of the 22nd, and then he
assaulted the place, after he had thoroughly shaken the defenders
with a searching fire from his twelve guns. The Baluchis fought
well, but this happened to be one of the sepoys' fighting days,
and, after three hours' hard firing, the Baluchis were driven off
in confusion. Estimates vary as to their losses. Napier himself put
it at 5,000 killed; others put it as low as 500.
If the General's estimate was a correct one, then we must put
aside the old saying that it took a ton of lead to kill a man with
Brown Bess. When we consider the strength of the position held
by the Baluchis and their enormous superiority in numbers, the
losses incurred in gaining such a decisive victory were by no means
excessive.
CASUALTIES AT MEEANEE.
+----------------------+-----------+-----------+
| |_Officers._| _Men._ |
| _Regiments._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | K. | W. | K. | W. |
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|22nd Cheshires | 1 | 5 | 23 | 52 |
|Royal Artillery | - | - | 1 | 4 |
|34th Poona H. | - | - | - | - |
|35th Scinde H. | - | - | - | - |
|36th Jacob's H. | - | - | - | - |
|3rd Q.O. Sappers | - | - | - | 3 |
|9th Bengal Cavalry | 1 | 5 | 3 | 29 |
|101st Grenadiers | - | - | 1 | 4 |
|112th Infantry | 3 | 2 | 12 | 45 |
|125th Outram's Rifles | 1 | 2 | 16 | 27 |
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
NOTE.--The 101st Grenadiers were present at Meeanee, were
mentioned in Sir C. Napier's despatch and captured a Baluch
standard, but they have not as yet been awarded the battle honour.
The 9th Bengal Cavalry, which behaved with the greatest gallantry
at Meeanee, is, unfortunately, no longer represented in the Army
List. The regiment was swept away in the Mutiny of 1857, and the
present 9th Regiment of cavalry was raised by the immortal Hodson
in 1857, whose name it bears.
HYDERABAD, MARCH 24, 1843.
This battle honour is borne by the
Cheshires.
34th Poona Horse.
35th Scinde Horse.
36th Jacob's Horse.
2nd Queen's Own Sappers and Miners.
101st Grenadiers.
108th Infantry.
112th Infantry.
121st Pioneers.
125th Outram's Rifles.
It commemorates a second victory gained by Sir Charles Napier over
the Amirs of Scinde, and was fought, as the name suggests, in the
immediate neighbourhood of Hyderabad, on the Indus, just one month
after Meeanee. That month had been spent in fruitless negotiations.
Outram, the Political Officer, thought he could induce the Amirs
to accept our terms without further bloodshed. The hot weather was
drawing on apace, and Napier felt there was no time for further
delay. He had been reinforced by a couple of sepoy battalions from
Bombay and by two field batteries from Bengal, and already some
regiments were on the march from the Sutlej to support him. On
March 24 he attacked the Amirs, and, though the action was a severe
one, it was never for one moment in doubt. The losses in the 22nd
Cheshires were sensibly higher than at Meeanee, and the 34th Poona
Horse, for the second time in their history, had a fair opportunity
of showing of what material they were made. They emerged from the
ordeal with a reputation they have maintained to this day.
CASUALTIES AT HYDERABAD.
+----------------------+-----------+-----------+
| |_Officers._| _Men._ |
| _Regiments._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | K. | W. | K. | W. |
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|22nd Cheshires | - | 5 | 23 | 119 |
|Royal Artillery | 1 | - | - | 5 |
|34th Poona H. | - | 1 | 3 | 17 |
|35th Scinde H. | - | - | - | - |
|36th Jacob's H. | - | - | - | - |
|2nd Q.O. Sappers | - | - | - | 2 |
|101st Grenadiers | - | - | 2 | 1 |
|108th Infantry | - | - | 1 | 1 |
|112th Infantry | - | - | 2 | 1 |
|121st Pioneers | - | 2 | 4 | 22 |
|125th Outram's Rifles | - | - | 3 | 23 |
+----------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
The result of the campaign was the annexation of Scinde, and the
perpetration of the canard that in announcing his second victory
Napier telegraphed to the Governor of Bombay the one word "Peccavi."
The troops were well rewarded for their short campaign.
Considerable booty was found in the Amirs' palaces, and Sir Charles
at last, after nearly forty years of arduous service, found himself
the richer by £68,000, which was his share of the prize-money.
THE GWALIOR CAMPAIGN.
MAHARAJPORE AND PUNNIAR, DECEMBER 29, 1843.
These two general actions, fought on the same day, recall one of
the shortest campaigns on record--a campaign forced unwillingly on
the Government of India by the truculent conduct of the military
oligarchy in the Mahratta State of Gwalior. This spirit was no
doubt intensified by the feeling--or, rather, by the hope--that,
owing to our recent disasters in Afghanistan, the British would be
unwilling to trust to the arbitrament of the sword.
"Maharajpore" is borne on the colours of the
16th Lancers.
Dorsetshire.
East Lancashires.
Governor-General's Bodyguard.
3rd Skinner's Horse.
2nd Q.O. Rajput Light Infantry.
6th Jat Light Infantry.
12th Khelat-i-Ghilzai.
"Punniar" on the colours of the
9th Lancers.
Buffs.
Royal West Kent.
6th P.W.O. Cavalry.
On the refusal of the Gwalior Council of Regency to disband their
army, which was a standing menace to the peace of our North-West
Frontier, the Governor-General determined to undertake the task of
that disbandment himself. A large camp of exercise was therefore
formed at Agra, under the direct superintendence of Sir Hugh Gough,
the Commander-in-Chief; and a second force was assembled at Jhansi,
under General Sir George Grey. The former force is responsible for
the victory of Maharajpore, the latter for that of Punniar.
Sir Hugh Gough's army was composed of one cavalry and three
infantry divisions:
Cavalry Brigade--Major-General Sir Joseph Thackwell: 16th
Lancers, the Bodyguard, and four native cavalry regiments.
First Infantry Brigade--Major-General Sir John Littler: 39th
Regiment (Dorsets) and 56th Bengal Infantry.
Second Infantry Brigade--Major-General Valliant: 40th Regiment
(South Lancashires), 2nd and 16th Bengal Infantry.
Third Infantry Brigade--Brigadier-General Stacey: 14th, 31st, and
45th Bengal Infantry.
The plan of attack was simple, and one which has been invariably
successful against an Oriental foe. The Mahrattas were found
holding a strong position around the village of Maharajpore. The
Commander-in-Chief ordered Sir John Littler, with his own and the
Second Cavalry Brigade, to make a direct attack on the enemy's
position, covered by a heavy artillery fire, Stacey's brigade being
held in reserve. At the same time Sir Joseph Thackwell, with the
First Cavalry Brigade and Valliant's infantry, turned the enemy's
left. The Gwalior troops made a very determined resistance, but
if they thought that the disasters in Afghanistan were in any way
due to deterioration on the part of the British army, they were
woefully disillusioned. Littler found the Gwalior troops holding a
series of entrenched positions, from which they were successively
driven at the point of the bayonet, not without heavy loss, our
total casualties being 36 officers and 750 men killed and wounded.
CASUALTIES AT THE BATTLE OF MAHARAJPORE, DECEMBER 29, 1843.
+---------------------------------------+-----------+-----------+
| |_Officers._| _Men._ |
| _Regiments._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | K. | W. | K. | W. |
+---------------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|16th Lancers | - | - | 2 | 7 |
|39th Dorset | 1 | 10 | 29 | 174 |
|40th S. Lancs | - | 8 | 23 | 151 |
|Governor-General's Bodyguard | - | - | - | - |
|2nd Q.O.L.I. | - | 1 | 3 | 16 |
|Bengal Artillery | 1 | - | 6 | 36 |
|Bengal Engrs. | - | - | - | - |
|6th Jat Light Infantry | - | - | 1 | 4 |
|12th Pioneers (Khelat-i-Ghilzai Regt.) | - | - | 2 | 7 |
+---------------------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
On the same day General Grey found another division of the Gwalior
army entrenched at Punniar. On this occasion our losses amounted to
35 killed and 182 wounded, our trophies to twenty-four guns. The
result of the two engagements was the destruction of the military
power of Gwalior.
CASUALTIES AT THE BATTLE OF PUNNIAR.
+--------------+-----------+-----------+
| |_Officers._| _Men._ |
| _Regiments._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+
| | K. | W. | K. | W. |
+--------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
|9th Lancers | - | - | - | - |
|The Buffs | 1 | 3 | 10 | 56 |
|Roy. W. Kent | 1 | 1 | 8 | 32 |
|6th K.E. Cav. | - | - | 1 | 3 |
+--------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+