burgher jackets, and laden with provisions and the usual war equipment,
were engaged with the Kaffirs on the march from the Chumie junction to
Fort Wiltshire, and shared in storming and driving them from the
heights, where they had occupied a strong position, under cover of the
ruins of an old tower and a detached outwork. On the 1st May the party
was again in action on the Keiskama; and after five days’ patrolling
through the territories of Seyolo, Stock, Sonto, Tola, and Botman,
regained King William’s Town on the 2nd May. The troops were reported to
have conducted themselves admirably. As the sappers re-entered King
William’s Town, Sir Harry Smith welcomed them by saying, with
characteristic cordiality, “Well done, my lads; you can both build works
and storm them!”
Two sergeants and sixty-nine rank and file, from the 9th to the 13th
May, were employed with Major Wilmot’s patrol in the Amatola Mountains.
In carrying out the service, the division penetrated difficult and
precipitous fastnesses, surprised several of the enemy, and captured
some cattle. The sappers were reported to have conducted themselves on
this duty with willingness and zeal.
From the 17th to the 22nd May, one sergeant and twenty-one rank and file
accompanied a patrol of 800 men under Major Wilmot to Seyolo’s country
as far as Fort Peddie, and returned with a convoy of waggons, cattle,
&c. A similar patrol of two sergeants and forty-one men scoured the
Amatola range, was once engaged with the enemy near Bailie’s Grave, and
returned to King William’s Town, after a harassing march of seven days,
on the 31st May. One sergeant and twenty men were out with another
detachment under Major Wilmot as far as Fort Peddie. The march extended
over ten days, and the patrol returned to King’s William’s Town on the
14th June. Again from the 19th to 21st July two sergeants and forty-nine
men were detached with Colonel Eyre’s patrol, and assisted in clearing
the rebels out of the Buffalo Poorts and Mount Kempt. The marching was
very heavy, being for the most part, between eighty and ninety miles,
through dense bush.
Under Captain Robertson, R.E., four sergeants and seventy-seven rank and
file quitted King William’s Town, with the force, about 400 strong,
under Lieutenant-Colonel Burns of the 2nd Queen’s on the 30th August. A
body of Kaffirs and Hottentots being at Committy’s Hill, the troops
marched on the 1st September from their bivouac at Fort Montgomery
Williams by Breakfast Vley to the hill. One division of the sappers was
extended as flankers on each side of the advancing column, and upon them
a galling fire was soon opened from the bush. The sappers readily
charged into it, and where the thicket could be penetrated drove the
enemy back; but the denseness of the kloof in rear afforded the Kaffirs
much security in retreating. Having ascended the summit of the hill, the
sappers faced right about, and made a rapid charge down the hill on the
enemy, who were gradually collecting in the bush from which they had
just been driven, and inflicted considerable loss upon them. The charge
was made with cheering, yet not in a hurry; the men stopped at each
kloof and fired volleys into it, and then dashed after the fugitives.
“It is most gratifying,” writes Captain Robertson, “to report the
admirable and gallant conduct of the men under my command during this
conflict which lasted nearly three hours, and of the readiness with
which they advanced to carry off the wounded of their own and of other
corps under a heavy fire.” The officers of the 2nd Queen’s spoke in
terms of high commendation of the spirited manner in which the sappers
acted, and of their cheerfulness in obeying their officers. Private
James Murray behaved with great courage in exciting the men both of the
2nd and his own corps to follow him. Running forward like one whose life
depended on the action of the moment, he was followed by several who
lined the bush to which he drew them, and some fell in their gallant
exertions. Among them was private James Fergus, whose arm was pierced by
a ball which passed through the left breast and out near the spine below
the heart. He died in camp soon after the action. Private Patrick
Conroy, a cool and brave soldier, fired at a Kaffir more than 300 yards
away and killed him. Private John Arthur came in contact with one in
passing round a bush, and in a personal conflict laid him dead at his
feet; and private Robert M‘Intosh, whilst in the act of ramming home a
cartridge, saw a Hottentot about to fire at him, but not having time to
withdraw the ramrod capped and fired, and the ramrod passed through his
opponent’s body. Lance-corporal Hosick Cowen and privates Charles Foot
and Thomas Brooking were wounded; the last severely.
At Fort Cox, on the 28th September, second-corporal James Wilson behaved
with intrepidity in repulsing a meditated attack on the cattle-guard. A
body of Kaffirs intended to drive the cattle from the post unperceived,
and then to massacre the guard. Two civilians and the corporal happened
to go out at the time for recreation to an unfrequented spot, and were
unconsciously directing their steps to the bush where the enemy were
concealed in ambush. Fortunately one of the two in advance fired a
random shot, and suddenly more than 200 Kaffirs made their appearance.
The civilians were in front, and the corporal considerably in rear
followed in support. A sharp fire now opened on the corporal, and the
enemy made a disposition to surround him; but the corporal stealthily
retired, and took up a favourable position, from which he kept up an
unerring fire on his adversaries, who fortunately for him seemed more
bent on capturing the cattle than spending their efforts in beating down
a single opponent. Taking advantage of their predatory activity, the
corporal shot down five of the Kaffirs before any assistance was
rendered by the military cattle-guard. On being apprised of the approach
of the enemy, the guard lost no time in collecting and driving off the
cattle to a place of security, but in the attempt two soldiers of the
45th were shot dead. The Kaffirs at once stripped them, and placing
their red jackets on their own bodies, danced frantically at their
triumph. While this scene of exultation was going on, corporal Wilson,
through the intricate windings of the bush, cautiously neared the group,
and firing, one of the savages received the ball from his carbine and
fell dead. On the troops advancing, the corporal at once joined them,
and assisted in driving the enemy from the post.[63]
From the 14th to the 31st October, two sergeants and thirty-one rank and
file served in the field operations with Major-General Somerset’s
division in the Water Kloof, Fuller’s Hoek, Blinkwater, and Kat river.
Again, from the 4th to the 7th November, two sergeants and forty rank
and file were on patrol in Seyolo’s country; and again, from the 1st
December until the 18th January, nine rank and file were present in the
long marches and difficult services of the division under Colonel Eyre.
This party was intended to cut loop-holes in the missionary station at
Butterworth. The India-rubber pontoon raft taken with the party, was
used in the passage of the Kei. This service occupied two days, and the
sappers worked with much ardour in its accomplishment.
With the exception of two or three patrols, in which the sappers were
commanded by the officers already named, it was the good fortune of the
corps in every instance during the campaign to be under the orders of
Captain C. D. Robertson, R.E.
The cessation of the works at the Mauritius made the services of the
company there available for duty at other stations. Accordingly, with
the sanction of Earl Grey, the seventeenth company, under Captain
Fenwick, R.E., quitted the island on the 25th October, and landed at the
Cape of Good Hope on the 19th November. The force of sappers on the
Eastern frontier now consisted of three companies, and counted 276 men
of all ranks.
Speaking of the reinforcement Sir Harry Smith thus wrote to Earl Grey,
under date the 4th October, “I assure your Lordship that I very much
appreciate the value of this reinforcement. No officers and soldiers in
Her Majesty’s army do their duty in a more gallant and exemplary
manner.”[64] On the same date, Sir Harry thus wrote to Sir John
Burgoyne, the inspector-general of fortifications, “I have 120 sappers
here now, under as gallant a fellow as ever lived—Captain Robertson.
These men are the finest soldiers I almost ever saw, and have taken
their tour of most arduous patrol duty heart and soul.”
“From being employed on the works,” wrote Lieutenant-Colonel Cole, the
commanding royal engineer, “and their usual industrious habits, the men
were generally found to endure long marches and fatigues better than the
line, particularly in the commencement of the war.” “Besides,” said
Captain W. C. Stace, R.E., “the performance of garrison, patrols, and
escort duties in the field at most of the posts on the frontier, the
works provided for in the annual estimates, and several special and
numerous incidental services, many of them contingent on the war, were
executed by the sappers and miners, and their important and valuable
services have been duly acknowledged to me verbally by different
officers. The want of such a body of men would have been seriously felt
on many urgent occasions during the war, in consequence of the
difficulty at all times, and sometimes impracticability, to obtain
artificers when required.”
-----
Footnote 61:
Letter from Captain Tylden in the ‘Times,’ April 23, 1851.
Footnote 62:
‘Parliamentary Papers,’ Cape of Good Hope, June, 1851, p. 47.
Footnote 63:
The incidents of this affair, for the most part, are taken from a Cape
paper. One day this corporal was fishing in the Keiskama, armed with a
loaded carbine, when he was approached from behind by a Kaffir. The
latter fired, and corporal Wilson, who was untouched, fell as if
killed. Warily the Kaffir neared the spot; but the corporal, watching
his opportunity, jumped up and shot his opponent. The wound was not
fatal, but a blow from the butt end of his carbine sealed the Kaffir’s
fate, and the corporal took home his head as a trophy.
Footnote 64:
‘Parliamentary Papers,’ Cape of Good Hope, presented February 3rd,
1852, p. 164.
1851.
GREAT EXHIBITION.
Sappers attached to it—Opening—Distribution of the force
employed—Duties; general superintendence—Clerks and
draughtsmen—Charge of stationery—Robert Marshall—Testing
iron-work of building—Workshops—Marking building—Receiving and
removing goods—Custom-house examination—Fire
arrangements—Ventilation—Classmen—Private R. Dunlop—Clearing
arrangements—Miscellaneous services—Bribery—Working-pay—Close of
the Exhibition—Encomium by Colonel Reid—Also by Prince Albert
and the Royal Commissioners—Honours and rewards—Their
distribution—Statistical particulars—Lance-corporal
Noon—Removing the goods—Return of companies to
Woolwich—Contributors to the Exhibition—The Ordnance survey—And
Mr. Forbes, late sergeant-major.
It was the good fortune of the royal sappers and miners this year to be
associated with the Great Exhibition of the Industry of all Nations, by
which its name and character, its acquirements and usefulness, became
more extensively known, appreciated, and commended. For this honour, the
corps is indebted to Lieutenant-Colonel Reid, the Chairman of the
Executive Committee. Receiving the cordial concurrence of his civil
colleagues, he represented to Prince Albert and the Royal Commissioners,
the desirableness of military co-operation for carrying out the
subordinate details of the work. The measure—at once approved of—was
ordered to be carried into effect, and accordingly, three
lance-corporals—Richard Rice Lindsay, Thomas Baker, and Charles
Fear—were attached on the 11th September, 1850, to the executive
committee. The two former were clerks and draughtsmen, and the latter an
ingenious mechanic and modeller. Their first duty was to execute a plan
and model of the proposed arrangements for the Exhibition. By the end of
the year, fifteen rank and file, clerks and draughtsmen, including a
founder and an engineer, were added to the party, who for a time were
quartered in Kensington cavalry barracks. By degrees the force continued
to augment, and at last by the arrival of the fifth and twenty-second
companies, under Captains Owen and Gibb, R.E., and a strong detachment
under Lieutenant Stopford, R.E., who was appointed acting-adjutant, the
corps, on the 21st April, 1851, counted 200 non-commissioned officers
and men. This was the greatest number of the sappers ever employed at
the Exhibition. The enlarged force was furnished on the ground that as
the corps was composed of artizans, its services would be especially
useful, particularly in the mechanical part of the arrangements. As soon
as the small cavalry barrack was full, the subsequent arrivals at the
Exhibition were quartered in the royal palace at Kensington, and
ultimately the detachment in the former barrack was also removed to the
palace.
Just prior to the opening of the Exhibition on the 1st May, parties of
the corps placed barriers across the various entrances into the building
and also at some of the naves leading into the transept. At each outer
barrier a small section of men was posted to prevent its removal, or the
ingress of persons not authorized to view or take part in the state
ceremonial. Within the area of the transept a strong detachment was
stationed near Her Majesty, to attend to any orders which Prince Albert
or the Royal Commissioners might see necessary to enforce. As the crowd
kept flowing in, the “temporary barriers to protect the space round the
throne were in part swept away” by the excusable impetuosity of the
throng, “and the entire space of the nave seemed to be permanently in
possession of the spectators. In this emergency Colonel Reid called out
a party of sappers who soon restored order, and thus,” wrote ‘The
Times,’ to whose columns these pages are indebted for the above
description—“added one additional service to the many others which they
had contributed for months within the walls of the Exhibition.” With
temper and management the confusion soon subsided, and by ten o’clock
order was established, “and reasonable facility afforded for the royal
progress round the nave of the building.”[65] Immediately the Queen
proclaimed the Exhibition opened, the sappers removed the barriers, and
the avenues of the building were at once rendered free for the
unrestrained passage of the people. For the temperate, quiet, and
efficient conduct of the sappers on the occasion, they received the
thanks of Colonel Reid, Sir George Grey, the Home Secretary, and Sir
Richard Mayne, the Chief Commissioner of Police.[69]
The subjoined table shows the strength of the corps at the Exhibition at
the beginning of each month from October, 1850, to December, 1851, and
also illustrates the divisions of labour in which the several parties
were occupied.[70]
─────────────────────────┬───────────────┬───────────────────────────────────────────────
│ 1850 │ 1851
─────────────────────────┼───┬───┬───┬───┼───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───┬───
RANKS—DISTRIBUTION │Sep│Oct│Nov│Dec│Jan│Feb│Mar│Apr│May│Jun│Jul│Aug│Sep│Oct│Nov│Dec
─────────────────────────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───
Strength:— │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
Colour-Sergeants │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│
Sergeants │ │ │ │ │ │ 2│ 4│ 6│ 4│ 6│ 5│ 6│ 4│ 3│ 2│ 1
Corporals │ │ │ │ │ │ 1│ 7│ 10│ 7│ 10│ 6│ 10│ 10│ 9│ 9│ 2
Second Corporals │ 1│ 1│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 3│ 10│ 13│ 8│ 14│ 10│ 13│ 10│ 9│ 8│ 3
Privates │ 6│ 5│ 5│ 9│ 11│ 31│142│158│160│155│137│144│142│132│154│ 17
Buglers │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 2│ 4│ 4│ 4│ 4│ 4│ 4│ 4│ 4│ 1
─────────────────────────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───
Total Strength │ 7│ 6│ 7│ 11│ 13│ 37│167│193│185│191│164│179│172│159│179│ 24
─────────────────────────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───
Distribution:— │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
General superintendence │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│
Clerks, draughtsmen, │ 4│ 3│ 4│ 8│ 9│ 15│ 13│ 25│ 17│ 17│ 17│ 22│ 22│ 17│ 7│ 7
autographic press, &c. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
Charge of stationery, &c.│ │ │ │ │ │ │ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2
Testing iron-work │ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
Modellers—workshops │ 1│ 1│ 1│ 1│ 1│ 1│ 1│ 2│ 10│ 10│ 10│ 10│ 8│ 7│ 2│ 1
Lettering and laying out │ │ │ │ │ │ 18│ 18│ 10│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
passages │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
Receiving, arranging, │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 44│ 46│ 23│ 28│ │ 12│ 3│ 5│121│ 4
unpacking, and removing│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
goods │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
Custom-house examinations│ │ │ │ │ │ │ 24│ 24│ 6│ 6│ 4│ 4│ 2│ 2│ 10│ 2
Charge of gates │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 2│ 2│ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
Charge of fire-engines, │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 14│ 9│ 20│ 20│ 20│ 22│ 20│ 12│ 3│ 3
&c. │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
Ventilation │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 2│ 2│ 2│ 2│ 1│ 1│ │
Class superintendents │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 21│ 48│ 46│ 46│ 49│ 50│ 41│ 42│ 3│
Cleaning British side of │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 38│ 38│ 38│ 38│ 37│ 39│ │
building[66] │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
Collecting and arranging │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 13│ 4│ 4│ 4
specimens │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
On guard │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 4│ 4│ 4│ 4│ 5│ 5│ 5│ 5│ 5│
Cooks and cooks’ mates │ │ │ │ 1│ 1│ 1│ 10│ 8│ 9│ 9│ 6│ 6│ 8│ 8│ 10│ 1
Sick │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 7│ 9│ 3│ 5│ 3│ 2│ 1│ 1│ 2│
Absent from various │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1│ 3│ 1│ 2│ │ 4│ 3│ 3│
causes[67] │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │
Tailors │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 3│ 1│ │ 1│ 2│ 2│ 3│ 8│ 4│
On command[68] │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1│ 1│
─────────────────────────┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───┼───
Total │ 7│ 6│ 7│ 12│ 13│ 37│167│193│185│191│162│179│172│159│179│ 24
═════════════════════════╧═══╧═══╧═══╧═══╧═══╧═══╧═══╧═══╧═══╧═══╧═══╧═══╧═══╧═══╧═══╧═══
Footnote 66:
Part of day only.
Footnote 67:
Duty, furlough, pass, &c.
Footnote 68:
Clerk, Royal Engineers’ Department, Glasgow.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
A brief but more extended exposition of their duties than the above
detail adduces, is here given to show the general nature of the
connection of the sappers with the Exhibition, and the availability of
the men to discharge onerous duty and varied occupation.[71]
One of the colour-sergeants during the arrangements superintended the
sappers on the British side, and the other on the foreign side. After
the opening of the Exhibition, colour-sergeant Thomas Harding acted as
sergeant-major; and colour-sergeant Noah Deary as foreman of works, in
the repair of damages which accidents and the pressure of the crowd were
continually causing to the railings, counters, &c. On two or three
occasions when there was a press for money-takers, colour-sergeant Deary
and sergeant Thomas P. Cook and William Jamieson did duty as collectors.
The clerks were employed under the various officers, military and civil,
of the Executive Committee; the draughtsmen, partly under Sir W. Cubitt
and Mr. M. Digby Wyatt, when they found such assistance necessary in the
superintendence and record of the progress of the building; but
principally under the Executive Committee, in making the numerous plans
which were necessary during the preliminary arrangements. It was from
their surveys and drawings that the plans in the Commissioners’ First
Report were made. The men employed as clerks and draughtsmen varied at
different times from three to forty in number. One of the men,
lance-corporal John Pendered, was also employed in working an
autographic press, which was useful when a few circulars were required
at a short notice. The facility with which he acquired a knowledge of
the apparatus was creditable to his aptitude, and the simple method he
adopted to throw off the copies with rapidity and clearness proved him
to be intelligent and skilful. The most distinguished of the draughtsmen
were lance-corporals James Mack, Thomas Baker, and Nicholas Clabby,
corporal Archibald Gardner, and lance-corporals Richard R. Lindsay and
John Venner. The large plans, both of the ground and galleries, made for
the convenience of the visitors, to enable them to find their way more
easily to the parts likely most to engage their curiosity, and which
were displayed at the south side of the transept during the later months
of the Exhibition, were prepared by corporals Mack, Baker, Gardner, and
Gabby. Both were considered to be highly-creditable specimens of
drawing, combining boldness and skill with perspicuity. A daily journal,
after noticing one of the drawings, thus wrote of the sappers, “Indeed
that body have rendered invaluable services, not only in the general
arrangements of the interior, but more especially in making those nice
measurements which were essential with reference to the question of
space.” It then concluded its notice by making some flattering allusions
to the proficiency of the sappers employed on the national surveys.[72]
The plans were each twenty-one feet long by six feet wide. Similar
drawings on a very reduced scale, from which the plans in the first
report were engraved, were executed by corporals Gardner, Mack, Clabby,
Venner, and Lindsay, but the principal and most effective part of the
work devolved on corporal Mack. The ground plan was drawn by the three
first-named non-commissioned officers, and the galleries by corporals
Mack and Venner. The interesting coloured diagram to show the
fluctuations in the number of visitors, and other characteristic
details, was wholly drawn by corporal Mack. The plan of the exhibition
building to illustrate the water-supply, and measures for security
against fire, was drawn by corporal Lindsay. These four drawings
comprised the plans in the First Report.
The chart exhibited in the transept on the 6th October, to show by
diagrams the fluctuations in the number of visitors to the building, was
prepared by corporals Gardner and Mack, under the direction of Captain
Owen. ‘The Times,’[73] said it was “a production of great merit and of
much public interest, and resembled those scales of mountain elevations
which are usually prefixed to atlasses. The shilling days were the
Himalayas and Andes of the chart; while the half-crown and five shilling
days were represented by heights of much lower altitude.” With the
permission of the Executive Committee, these two non-commissioned
officers compiled, on the same principle, a similar diagram with more
copious general information, for the proprietors of the ‘Weekly
Dispatch,’ from which an engraving was made, and copies in immense
numbers were thrown off and issued on two stated occasions to the
purchasers of that newspaper. Referring to the great chart shown in the
Exhibition, the ‘Weekly Dispatch’ thus wrote: “This chart, which is
beautifully executed, and is altogether a production of very great
merit, reflects the utmost credit upon the authors—corporals Gardner and
Mack of the royal sappers and miners, a corps which has rendered most
intelligent and valuable service to the Exhibition.”[74]
Corporal Baker, under Mr. Henry Cole, had the honour of preparing a
coloured plan of the arrangements for Her Majesty, another for Prince
Albert, one for the Duchess of Kent, and several for the members of the
Royal Commission. He also surveyed the whole of the arrangements on the
ground floor. In an instructive article in ‘Chambers’ Journal,’ on the
‘Crystal Palace,’ allusion is popularly made to this portion of the
sappers’ duty, and it is justly added, that “the men were found very
useful. All our surveying and planning have been done by them.”[75]
During the latter months of the Exhibition, corporal Clabby recorded
hourly the number of visitors who had entered the building up to the
time of making the registry. This he did on a large sheet of paper fixed
in the transept, at a sufficient elevation for the public to consult it.
The rush at the moment of making the record was always great, and the
interest with which the corporal was greeted and questioned by the
curious, was accompanied by many honourable indications of kindness and
good will.[76]
Two men were in permanent charge of the receipt and issue of printed
forms, and all articles of stationery to the various officers.
Second-corporal John Vercoe was in chief charge. He also assisted as a
clerk, and was pay-sergeant for Lieutenant Stopford’s detachment. From
the 2nd October, 1850, to 23rd January, 1851, he had the charge of the
party then at the Exhibition, and for his courteous deportment and
address, was well spoken of by those with whom he was brought in
contact.[77]