Rt. Hon. Hugh Childers, M.P.,
War Office.
To
Mrs. Brooke,
Ashbrooke,
Brookeboro'.
I deeply regret to have to announce to you that General BROOKE fell
in a sortie from Kandahar on the Sixteenth of August. Pray accept my
most sincere condolences on the terrible loss to yourself and to the
country.
* * * * *
From Her Majesty the Queen.
Balmoral Castle,
August 27th, 1880.
Lt.-General Sir Henry Ponsonby presents his compliments to Mrs. Brooke.
He has been commanded to convey the Queen's sincere and earnest
sympathy with her in her grief, and Her Majesty's sorrow at the loss
sustained by Mrs. Brooke in the recent action near Kandahar, where the
Queen has had to lament the death of so many brave officers and men.
The accounts which Her Majesty has received of Brigadier-General
BROOKE only increase her deep regret that she should have been
deprived of the services of so gallant and worthy a soldier.
* * * * *
From
H. E. The Governor,
Bombay.
To
Mrs. Brooke,
Ashbrooke,
Brookeboro'.
Viceroy desires me to convey to you his deep sympathy, in which I beg
to join. It is reported your gallant Husband was killed while trying
to carry off Captain Cruikshank when wounded.
* * * * *
From Major General Dillon.
Horse Guards, Pall Mall,
London, August 30th, 1880.
My dear Mrs. Brooke,
I have waited for some days before carrying out the wishes of the Duke
of Cambridge, received from Kissengen, to convey to you by letter
an expression of His Royal Highness' deep sympathy with you in your
great affliction, and his sense of the loss which the service has
sustained by the death of a gallant soldier and distinguished officer.
In alluding to the sad event in the last letter received from Germany
only to-day, His Royal Highness continues--"I am too sorry for General
BROOKE'S death, a good officer lost to the service at a critical
moment for the garrison of Kandahar. Lord Napier will feel it much."
Believe me,
Dear Mrs. Brooke,
Yours very sincerely,
M. A. DILLON.
* * * * *
From Lord Napier of Magdala.
August 25th, 1880.
Dear Lady Arabella,
I cannot resist writing you a few lines to express my most sincere
sympathy with you, and my sorrow at the loss of your gallant son at
Kandahar, which the telegram has to-day announced to us. I have felt
so much confidence in your son being with the Force, that I look upon
his loss as a great public misfortune, as well as a domestic calamity,
the bitterness of which you and his widow alone can tell. I much
entreat you, dear friend, to try and remember that he fell nobly doing
his duty, and I trust that God in his mercy will give you strength
to bear this heavy bereavement, and will in His own time comfort you
and the poor widow. Lady Napier joins me in the truest and deepest
sympathy.
Believe me,
Dear Lady Arabella,
Yours most sincerely,
NAPIER OF MAGDALA.
* * * * *
Statement of Sergeant-Major Rickard, 2/7th Royal Fusiliers.
Sergeant-Major T. Rickard, of the 2/7th Fusiliers, states:--On the
16th August, 1880, I was one of the Party ordered out for the storming
of Deh Khoja, under General BROOKE. We attacked the village at the
South end about 5.30 a.m. under a very heavy fire in all directions
from the enemy. When we arrived in the centre of the village, Captain
Cruikshank, R.E., got wounded. General BROOKE assisted in helping
him along. We then advanced further on, to force our way through the
village, when we halted and got under a wall, as we thought under
cover, but the enemy's fire from all directions kept getting heavier,
and the longer we stopped the heavier the fire got. General BROOKE
said to me, "Sergeant-Major, we shall never get out of this, I am
afraid." He then ordered us to retire back out of the village. We did
so. After we got out of the village about 300 yards, we halted again
under cover about 10 minutes, and fired on the enemy as fast as we
could. General BROOKE asked me to send him another man to help him
along with Captain Cruikshank. I did so, and we retired again towards
the Fort, and had only got about 200 yards when General BROOKE was
shot in the head (dead), and the other man that was helping was shot.
I was with General BROOKE the whole time, till he was shot.
T. RICKARD,
Sergeant-Major 2/7th Royal Fusiliers.
* * * * *
From Colonel French, R.A., Commanding Artillery in Kandahar.
Kandahar, 26th August.
My Dear Annie,
Most sincerely do I sympathize with you in the loss of your dear good
Husband, poor HENRY; he was so genial, cheery, kind, and courteous
to all who came in contact with him, and much beloved and respected
by everyone in this Force. No braver or truer soldier lost his life
in that ill-fated attack on Deh Khoja. I miss him so very much, we
were thrown so much together during the last four months. No man was
more keen for a fight than poor HENRY, and when the day of battle did
come, right gallantly he led his men, sacrificing his life in the
humane effort to rescue a wounded man from falling into the hands
of the enemy. From Trumpeter McGlynn, C/2 R.A., who was his Orderly
Trumpeter on the 16th August, I have heard the following account of
how poor HENRY fell:--After half an hour's skirmishing they reached
the village, and on entering, HENRY and the Trumpeter had just
dismounted, when a volley from the enemy so startled their horses
they broke away, and galloped back to within the City. HENRY advanced
through the village on foot, cheering on his men amidst a galling fire
of musketry, which the enemy poured on them from loop-holed walls.
Arrived in the centre of the village, Captain Cruikshank, R.E., fell
badly wounded. At this time our men were being driven back by superior
numbers and the heavy fire from the houses. HENRY helped to carry
Cruikshank; succeeded in getting him out of the village, of which
they had got clear about 30 yards, HENRY still supporting Cruikshank,
when he was struck down by apparently a bullet in the head. Trumpeter
McGlynn states that he fell forward on his face and never moved after;
so poor HENRY'S death must have been instantaneous. The Trumpeter and
a few men of the 7th Fusiliers tried to carry off the body, but were
compelled to desist owing to the enemy making a rush on them. Deh
Khoja was evacuated on the night of the 24th, and on the following day
search was made for the bodies of our fallen. HENRY'S was found and
buried near where he fell, under a Peepul tree, the Rev. Mr. Cane,
our Chaplain, having read the Burial Service. This terrible loss of
life at Maiwand and Deh Khoja has cast a gloom on all here, and no man
is more generally sorrowed for and regretted than poor HENRY--every
inch a soldier. No man worked harder to put this City in a state of
defence. I looked upon him as one of our rising Generals, who, later
on, would have shone out with much distinction.
* * * * *
From Colonel B.
Kandahar, 14th September, 1880.
My dear Major H.,
I am sorry I have been unable, through press of work, to fulfil my
promise before now, and send you the particulars of the unfortunate
affair of Deh Khoja, on the 16th August, as far as they are known by
me, which cost us so many valuable lives, and more especially that of
my dear friend General BROOKE, whose loss was deeply felt by everyone
here, for he was not only much loved by all, but he had proved himself
to be possessed of the greatest energy and cool good judgment, and
had consequently gained the confidence of all ranks, both senior and
junior. I have no hesitation in saying that we are indebted to him
for much that was done to strengthen our position here, and in the
arrangements for the defence. He never rested until he got the Pathans
turned out of the City, and the place disarmed. How much he did do,
and how much his wise influence effected will probably never be known
fully by the Public; but from a perusal of his Diary which I gave you,
it will be seen how continually active he was in carrying out the work
assigned to him, and what his opinions were on many subjects. He was
strongly opposed to the attack on Deh Khoja, for many reasons, which
he gives in his Diary, and he was mainly instrumental in its being
abandoned the week before, when it had been resolved on. The attack
was finally decided on, the following week, on the advice, I believe,
of the Commanding Engineer, in consequence of our working parties
employed outside the Kabul Gate, in demolishing some buildings,
having been prevented by the fire from Deh Khoja completing the work.
His objections to it were stronger than before, as it was known
that the enemy had been busily employed all the week in fortifying
the village, and he feared that the loss would be greater than we
could afford, or than the good to be gained. He could not, however,
urge his objections, as he had done on the previous occasion, as he
was nominated to command the attack. The force was composed of 300
Cavalry, 300 Royal Fusiliers, and 500 Native Infantry. The Cavalry
left the Eedgar Gate at 4 o'clock in the morning, and making a wide
detour of the village of Kairabad took up a position in the rear of
Deh Khoja, _i.e._, on the west. Our guns on the walls then commenced
a bombardment to prepare the Infantry attack, and at 5·30 a.m. the
Infantry moved out of the Kabul Gate, covered by riflemen from the
walls. Immediately they got out into the open they came under a very
heavy fire from the village, which is from 700 to 800 yards from the
City, but the troops advanced in splendid form and were never once
checked. They entered the village at the south, as had been previously
decided on, and we then lost sight of them, but we could hear them
hard at work with their rifles. I need not describe the village, for
you have seen it and know what a labyrinth of narrow streets and high
walls it is, every enclosure being a regular little fortification, so
that as soon as the enemy was driven out of one position they ran
into another like a lot of rats, and our force was too weak to hold
the positions as they were taken. General BROOKE, however, pushed
on with his troops right through the village from south to north,
and leaving a strong party of the Fusiliers at the latter part, he
retraced his steps with a view of completing the capture, but by this
time the enemy began to pour in from the south of the village; these
were reinforcements sent by Ayoob Khan from the cantonments as soon
as he had heard the firing going on. They advanced by the gardens and
village on the south of the City, which afforded them shelter from
our fire until they came opposite our S. E. Bastion where we had a
40-pounder and 9-pounder which gave them several rounds, but did not
do them much damage, the practice being bad. It did not at any rate
check them. Our cavalry, however, seeing them coming, moved down
in that direction and stopped them for some little time, but being
exposed to a heavy fire from the enclosures when they could not act,
they had to be withdrawn. On finding that the enemy were crowding into
the village from the south, General BROOKE sent his Brigade-Major to
General Primrose to report matters and to ask for orders, the reply to
which was to retire his Force at once, but by the time this officer
got back to the village the enemy held it in such force he could not
get to General BROOKE, who was still in the centre of it. A Trumpeter
of C/2, who was with General BROOKE all the time, informed me that
when they returned from the north of the village and had reached about
the centre, they found Captain Cruikshank, R.E., severely wounded,
and unable to move, and finding that the enemy was closing in on them
all round, General BROOKE looked out for some defensible place into
which he could get the party which was with him, consisting of men of
the Fusiliers and Native Sappers, and for this purpose he made for a
court-yard in which there were buildings, but directly they entered
it they were met by a heavy fire. It was here that Captain Cruikshank
begged him to leave him to his fate, and save himself and party, but
he nobly refused to do this, and thinking there were still some of
his party in the south of the village where he had left them, he
determined to push on in that direction, so calling for volunteers
of the Fusiliers to carry poor Cruikshank, they moved down to the
south under a heavy fire and got out into the open. All the parties
had been compelled to withdraw, and there was nothing left for them
but to make the best of their way back to the City, taking advantage
of what cover they could find. They were much hampered by having to
carry poor Cruikshank, and they had frequently to change the men who
were carrying him. It was during one of these changes, when they had
got about 100 yards from the village, and poor BROOKE was supporting
Cruikshank with his left arm while the men were being relieved, that
he was shot through the back, just between the shoulders, and fell
dead; at the same time a number of Ghazis made a rush on them from the
village, and the remainder of the party retreated hastily towards the
City. On the 25th August the village was evacuated by the enemy, and
we went out to bury the bodies. I found and recognised poor BROOKE'S
body. He was lying among several others, and Cruikshank and a Sergeant
Strong were close to him. It was a fearfully melancholy sight, but
it was a great satisfaction to recover the bodies and to give them
burial, which we did under a tree close to the spot where they fell.
While deeply grieving and lamenting over his death and those who died
with him, one cannot but feel proud of his noble and gallant conduct
in sacrificing himself in endeavouring to save a brother officer.
Among the papers which I gave you, you will find one containing his
views on the situation in Afghanistan, which will repay perusal, and
which will, no doubt, be valuable to his family. I have his sword,
which I forgot to give you with the other things I had selected to
send home. I will take care of it till I get an opportunity of sending
it home.
* * * * *
From Mrs. L.
11th October.
My dear B.,
I am enclosing one sheet of the letter which was written on the 16th
August, the day of the sortie.
Kandahar, August 16th.
This is a very sad day for us. There was a great sortie this morning
against a village outside the Kabul Gate. We sent out 800 Infantry and
300 Cavalry under General BROOKE. They got into the village, and there
they suffered considerable loss. The Fusiliers lost 2 Officers, Marsh
and Wood, both young boys, 25 killed, and 29 wounded; the 28th one
Officer, Colonel Newport, killed, and 30 killed and 19 wounded; the
19th 2 Officers, Major Trench and Lieut. Stayner, killed. Their return
of men have not yet come in. Major Vandeleur, 7th Fusiliers, is badly
wounded; Colonel Nimmo, 28th, dangerously; Colonel Shewell, of the
Commissariat, wounded; Lieut. Wood, of the Transport, badly wounded;
Captain Cruikshank, of the Engineers, killed; the Rev. Gordon,
dangerously wounded; and last and worst, General BROOKE killed. I
feel so sad about it, I can hardly speak, for I had learnt almost to
love him, indeed I may say quite. He was shot through the head as he
was carrying poor Cruikshank away from the village; and the worst of
it is, that, in the opinion of many of us, this sortie was a quite
useless waste of life. I believe we inflicted considerable loss of
life on the enemy; but it was mere madness attacking with such a small
force, a labyrinth of lanes and houses like that. BROOKE knew it, but
could not protest, as he was ordered to command the Force. Burrows
knew it, but he was not consulted. A man of the Fusiliers, whom I
questioned about BROOKE'S death, says, the party he was with would
never have got out of the village but for him. He is a great loss, for
he was the best head we had, and I think the whole Force deplores his
loss, nearly--though not quite as much as I do. When you write to B.,
let her and her husband know how he was loved, and how nobly he died.
I cannot write any more. There is a great deal to be done; but no more
sorties, I trust. We ought merely to have waited, but somebody got an
idea we ought to do something.
"Poor BROOKE was warned that he was going to certain death when he
went back for Cruikshank, but he would go. Cruikshank was mortally
wounded, and begged them to leave him and save themselves. BROOKE had
ordered the Cavalry to cover the retreat of the Infantry, which was
construed into an order to retire, and the consequence was that the
Cavalry was withdrawn, and crowds of men rushed into the village,
which had been kept in check on the far side of the Cavalry--even
before our men were out of the village. I cannot tell you how I miss
BROOKE, he was always so cheery and jolly, and had such sound views;
he was the best head we had in the Force." In another letter he says,
"BROOKE'S loss shows day by day more seriously; his cheery temper and
sound views had the best influence.
"We miss his counsels greatly, in another way he is a great loss, as
he knew every yard of the country round, and would have been the very
man to lead a turning column. If it were not for the loss of BROOKE, I
should feel quite jolly, but I can't get him out of my head."
* * * * *
From Mrs. P.
21st October, 1880.
Dear Mr. Brooke,
We had this morning letters from my brother Colonel H., at Kandahar,
and we think you would like to hear what he says of your Brother.
To my husband my brother writes:--Poor BROOKE, as gallant a fellow
as ever stepped, led the attack, and after doing gallant deeds was
recalled by the orders of General Primrose (from the walls of the
City), and in retiring and trying to save a brother officer's life
lost his own. The three columns, as is invariably the case, lost all
sight and touch of each other, and nobody knew where the others were;
in spite of it all, the effect on the enemy was very great, and the
siege to all intents and purposes ended.
Poor BROOKE was full of zeal and energy, and died a soldier's death in
being the last to leave the village, and in attempting to carry poor
Cruikshank, who had been fatally wounded, out of action. It may be a
satisfaction to Mrs. Brooke to know that he behaved so gallantly and
was spared all suffering while carrying his brother officer under a
most murderous fire. 24 were killed round about him, and the heaviest
loss occurred where he fell; he did not retire of his own accord, and
was greatly surprised to get the order which was sent him by General
Primrose; on receiving it he sent orders for the several parties
to retire, and fell back himself last of all with a few men. Being
ordered to retire, he had no opportunity to carry out his plan to the
end; it might have been a grand success or a heavy loss, but his loss
was very heavily felt by the Force.
In the Battle of Pir Paimal we formed, with one of Roberts' Brigades,
the Reserve, while two Brigades attacked. Our Reserve had a grand
chance of distinguishing themselves, and had BROOKE been alive, I
believe it would have been done.
* * * * *
Extract from another Brother's Letter.
August 27th, 1880.
The day before yesterday we got the news of the sortie of the Garrison
(Kandahar) on the 16th: it has had good results, and was successful;
yet the heavy loss in Senior Officers does not read well. General
BROOKE is amongst the killed, and I am very sorry at this, for, no
doubt, he was one of the best men in the Garrison, and is sure to have
been always plucky and cheery.
* * * * *
From Col.
Kandahar, September, 1880.
... BROOKE was constantly at General Primrose about our weakness in
Troops and the defencelessness of the Citadel, but he would never
sanction any money being spent on it. Everything he did, or rather did
not do, was bad enough, but I shall never forgive him the Deh Khoja
business on the 16th August, which lost us poor BROOKE's life, and
the lives of so many brave men, without any object. General Primrose
had ordered the assault on Deh Khoja the week before, but BROOKE
and Burrows got him to countermand it for the following reasons,
namely:--The village was built of thick mud walls and roofs, so that
it could not possibly be burned; it was known to be very strongly
held by the enemy, and would therefore require a _large_ Force to
take it, and we should therefore lose a great many more men than we
could spare, and if we captured it we could not hold it, as we had
not enough men to man our own walls properly, and as it could not
be burned, or destroyed, or held, the enemy would simply walk back
into it the minute we left it; and the last and best reason was, that
as there were two Forces coming to our relief, our duty was to hold
Kandahar, and do nothing to endanger our position, and certainly not
to go outside the walls to fight the enemy, giving up the advantage
that we had. We all thought the insane idea had been given up for
good, but the following week General Primrose sent for BROOKE and
Burrows, and told them that he had made up his mind to attack the
village next morning, and told BROOKE he was to command the Force.
This, of course, effectually prevented BROOKE saying what he thought,
as he told me he could not raise objections against it, under these
circumstances, as it might be thought that he was afraid, but he said,
"the objections against it are greater than they were before, as it is
known that the enemy have been hard at work all the week fortifying
the place." Burrows ought to have done his best to oppose it, but as
BROOKE did not oppose, for the above reason he, said nothing, and
so the attack unfortunately took place the next morning. Being on
the Head Quarter Staff, I was not, of course, allowed to go, but I
watched it from the walls where our riflemen covered the advance of
the attacking party and our big guns. The village of Deh Khoja was
only 700 yards off, and the enemy fired at us tremendously. The troops
advanced under a very heavy fire, very steadily and well, and entered
the village and went right through it, but the place was like a rabbit
warren right through it, with very large loop-holed walls, from which
the enemy kept up an incessant fire without our men being able to see
them, and as soon as they were turned out of one enclosure they ran
into another, and back again into those they had been turned out of,
for our Forces were not strong enough to hold the enclosures as they
were taken, and all this time the enemy was pouring into the village
from Ayoub Khan's main Force. At last General Primrose sent to order
the Force to retreat, and no doubt poor BROOKE could have got away
unhurt, but he stopped to bring away a wounded officer, and so lost
his life. We did not recover the bodies of the killed until the 25th,
10 days after, when the village was deserted by the enemy. I went to
search for poor BROOKE, whom I recognised, and I buried him myself. I
cannot get over his loss. We have lived together since we came here,
and I have become very fond of him; I am sure he liked me, and that I
have lost a good friend in him. He was a fine fellow, brave as a lion,
and a thorough soldier in every way; clear-headed and with excellent
judgment. It is indeed grievously sad such a fine fellow should have
been lost, for he is a loss to the whole army, in such a needless
manner.
* * * * *
From Lieut. F.
26th February, 1881.
My dear Mrs. Brooke,