THE SECOND BATTALION.
1883-1902.
THE BLACK MOUNTAIN EXPEDITION: THE TIRAH CAMPAIGN.
Early in 1884, the second battalion of the Royal Irish regiment began
a long tour of foreign service. Its first station was at Malta, where
drafts from home brought up its numbers to a total of nine hundred
and sixty-seven of all ranks.[266] While at Malta, the battalion
heard that the expedition, described in Chapter xii., was to be
sent to the relief of Gordon at Khartoum, and hoped to be included
in it, but the War Office decided otherwise; and though the Royal
Irish were represented in the Nile column, the honour, as we have
seen, fell to the first, not to the second battalion, which remained
stationary till January 7, 1885, when leaving a large detachment as a
reinforcement for the first battalion in Egypt, it sailed for Bombay,
and early in February reached Umballa with a strength of six hundred
and fifty-two of all ranks.
A month later the battalion was ordered up to Rawal Pindi to increase
the number of British regiments at a _durbar_, which the Amir of
Afghanistan was to attend. On the journey the Royal Irish were
in a very alarming railway accident: part of the troop train ran
off the line--three bandsmen, Moore, Tod, and Frost, were killed;
Lieutenant-Colonel Dawson was seriously injured; Major Hamilton,
Lieutenant Symonds, Surgeon-Major Pratt, Bandsman Hayes, and
Drummer Brennan were also hurt. As soon as the _durbar_ was over
the battalion proceeded to Subathu, where, with a detachment at
Jutogh, it remained until November, 1887, when it changed stations
for Nowshera, with detachments at Fort Attock and Cherat. While on
the march the Royal Irish were annoyed by thieves, who hung about
the outskirts of the camp in the hope of stealing modern firearms,
for which there was a constant demand among the hillmen beyond the
frontier. To keep their rifles safe, the soldiers before going to
sleep at night used to tie or strap them to their legs, but even this
precaution sometimes failed. On one occasion a small detachment
secured their firearms in the usual way when they turned into their
“E. P.” tent; but one of the party was not well, and to let him rest
comfortably a comrade slept with both his own and his friend’s rifle
fastened to him. In the middle of the night the Good Samaritan woke,
feeling that some one was stealthily touching him; he instantly
raised an alarm, when down fell the tent, and before the men could
crawl from beneath the heavy folds of canvas, the thieves made off
with a rifle. On investigation it was found that the robbers had
noiselessly undone all the tent ropes with the exception of the four
corner ones, which, when their presence in camp was discovered,
they had cut through to cover their retreat. The Royal Irish took
such stern measures to prevent further thefts that the thieves for
a considerable time avoided a battalion which they described as a
“_Shaitan ki pultan aur Sahiblog bahut zaberdust_.” This may be
translated freely--The Devil’s own regiment with very high-handed
officers!
During the time the second battalion was at Nowshera, one of its
subalterns, Lieutenant W. Gloster, did a very daring piece of
work. He had become noted for his good military sketching, and was
specially selected to do reconnaissance work across the border beyond
our frontier post at Hoti Maidan. His instructions were those which
many officers before and since have received when sent on similar
enterprises: he was told that though it was most desirable that the
work should be done, the government would not be responsible for
him: and that on no account was he to cause trouble on the border:
if he liked to apply to the Guides at Hoti Maidan for an escort he
might do so, but in all probability his request would be refused. The
commandant at Hoti Maidan declined to help him, saying that if an
escort of the Guides showed themselves beyond our frontier the whole
of the country might break into a flame. Nothing daunted, Gloster in
some mysterious way made friends with several of the Headmen along
the border. “How he did it,” writes the officer who describes the
adventure, “I don’t know, as he couldn’t speak a word of any language
but English, and his only mode of conversation with his Pathan pals
was a tremendous slap on the back, and ‘How are you, old cock?’ One
night he was taken across the frontier by one of his new friends,
made his sketch in the early hours of the morning, and was back
on British territory just as his presence was discovered and the
tribesmen were assembling to cut him off.”
On July 22, 1888, Lieutenant-Colonel T. C. Wray, who had been in
command since January 9, 1887, died suddenly of heart disease, and
was succeeded by Lieutenant-Colonel G. W. N. Rogers.
The second battalion in September, 1888, was called upon to take part
in a punitive expedition beyond the north-west frontier of India.
Hazara, a wild and rugged district on the left bank of the river
Indus, about eighty miles east of Peshawar, had long been disturbed
by the lawless conduct of some of the tribes of mountaineers
inhabiting the no-man’s land beyond our border. The Akazais, the Khan
Khel of the Hassanzais and the Alaiwals raided into our country,
looted the villages, and killed peaceful British subjects; and though
punished by the infliction of fines and by being “blockaded”--_i.e._,
debarred from bringing their produce into British territory, they
did not mend their ways. Growing bolder from comparative immunity,
they brought matters to a head by attacking and killing a party of
officers and men who were surveying a part of the Black mountain,
within the Queen’s dominions. To avenge these two Englishmen and
the Gurkha soldiers who were murdered with them; to maintain our
prestige in India, and to prevent an outbreak on other parts of the
north-west frontier, a considerable force was mobilised and placed
under the command of Brigadier-General J. W. M‘Queen, C.B., A.D.C. It
consisted of three mountain batteries (two British and one native), a
company of Sappers and Miners, the 1st battalion of the Suffolk, and
the second battalions of the Northumberland Fusiliers, Royal Irish,
and Royal Sussex regiments, eight battalions of native infantry,
and a native pioneer battalion. These troops were organised in two
brigades, commanded respectively by Brigadier-Generals C. N. Channer,
V.C., and W. Galbraith; and to meet the requirements of mountain
warfare, in which it is impossible for one man to supervise the
movements of a large body of soldiers, the brigades were subdivided
into two columns, to each of which a British battalion, 600 strong,
and two native regiments were allotted. A native cavalry regiment,
the second battalion of the Seaforth Highlanders, and a native
infantry regiment formed the reserve. The Royal Irish, whom Major
Brereton commanded until Lieutenant-Colonel Rogers returned from
leave at home, were in the fourth column,[267] the other units of
which were part of a British mountain battery, three companies of
the 34th Pioneers, the 4th and 29th Punjab Native infantry, with a
field hospital and a detachment of military telegraphists. The whole
force, including some Kashmiri troops and three hundred of the Khyber
rifles, numbered 272 officers and 12,282 non-commissioned officers
and men; the strength of the fourth column was 51 officers and 2414
of the other ranks.
The immediate object of the expedition was the punishment of the Khan
Khel and the Akazais, whose watch-towers and villages were perched
among the crags and precipices of the range which, in some places
rising to a height of more than 9000 feet, cuts off the valley of
Agror from the left bank of the Indus. It was decided to penetrate
into this maze of mountains from two directions: three columns of
the Hazara Field force, after concentrating at Ughi, the chief
British outpost in the Agror valley, were to cross the range from
east to west, while the fourth column, commanded by Colonel A. C. W.
Crookshank, was to assemble fifteen miles to the south-west of Ughi
at Derband, our frontier village on the Indus, and push northwards
up the left bank of the river.[268] As this detachment could not
be expected to join hands with the main body for several days, it
was accompanied by General Galbraith, who, while leaving to Colonel
Crookshank the actual handling of the troops, took charge of the
general operations. Though there was little definite information
concerning the prospective theatre of war, it was known that the
roads were impracticable for any but mule transport; so baggage was
reduced to a minimum; no tents were taken, and regimental officers
were cut down to fifty, the lower ranks to sixteen pounds weight of
kit. The main body had with it five days’ supplies and a hundred
rounds of ammunition per man, seventy on the person of the soldier,
thirty on mule-back. As the fourth column to some extent was acting
independently, its supply was increased to seven days, and the
number of rounds carried by mules was doubled. A general reserve of
a hundred rounds per man was formed at the base.
The fourth column had finished its concentration on October 1, and
on the morning of the 2nd, Galbraith advanced seven miles into
the enemy’s country and bivouacked at Chamb, on a site he had
reconnoitred while awaiting the arrival of his troops. Here he was
informed by telegraph that owing to delays in bringing up stores to
Ughi he was to make no forward movement for twenty-four hours, so
after his mountain guns, escorted by four companies of the Royal
Irish, had driven the enemy from the neighbouring hills, he improved
the track leading from his bivouac into the valley of the Indus.
Before dawn on the 4th, he had secured his right flank by crowning
the heights with a detachment of native infantry, and as soon as it
was light the advance-guard--two companies of the Royal Irish under
Captain Lysaght--began to descend into the gorge of the river.[269]
At 8 A.M. the advance-guard had reached comparatively open ground,
where Lysaght halted to allow the remainder of the troops to come
up; then he pushed on again, and an hour later a few of the enemy
opened fire from the village of Shingri. The Royal Irish extended
to the left of the hamlet, two companies of native infantry made a
similar movement to the right, and with little difficulty and small
loss the outpost was routed and dispersed. For another mile nothing
was seen of the enemy, but when the advance-guard approached the next
village, Towara, the hillmen were found awaiting our attack. Across
the valley, here about twelve hundred yards in width, stretched their
first line: the right rested on a patch of jungle growing amidst the
boulders on the river bank; the left was posted on the crags of the
lowest tier of the bare and arid mountains which form the eastern
wall of the gorge of the Indus. Rather less than a mile above Towara
the valley was completely closed by a steep spur or under-feature,
on the far end of which the village of Kotkai, built on a huge mass
of broken rocks, commanded not only the spur itself, but also the
bed of the river, the hillmen’s line of retreat and the only track
by which the British could continue to force their way northward
up the left bank. On this spur the enemy, whose total strength was
computed at 4000 fighting men,[270] had established his second line
in well-built sangars; and on the eastern hills lurked about a
thousand sharpshooters, armed with rifle and matchlocks, whose fire
upon the valley below them would cross with that of a detachment of
equal strength, posted in breastworks on the heights overhanging the
western bank. Against the hillmen who held this formidable position
General Galbraith could bring into action only his mountain guns, a
couple of Gatlings, and about fourteen hundred foot soldiers, as the
remainder of his men were employed in guarding the baggage and in
crowning the hills in rear of the column.
Galbraith’s first care was to rid his flanks of the enemy. Covered
by the fire of the guns and the steady and well-directed volleys of
the Royal Irish, the 34th Pioneers drove the hillmen from the jungle
on the left, while the 4th Punjab infantry scaled the precipitous
heights on the right, pushing the foe before them in confusion. But
the process took time, and it was not until 1 P.M. that the Royal
Irish were allowed to move towards the enemy in the plain, where many
flags showed that the tribesmen were assembled in large numbers. When
the battalion had gained six hundred yards it was halted behind a
low stone wall, and ordered to open upon the foe in front of them,
while the guns shelled the defenders of the Kotkai ridge. By this
time, the flanking detachments had done their work and were once more
level with the troops in the centre, and Galbraith, considering that
the hillmen were sufficiently shaken to warrant his assaulting their
first position, ordered a general advance. With perfect steadiness
the Royal Irish moved forward with sloped arms towards a clump of
trees three or four hundred yards distant; the mountaineers who held
this part of the line were beginning to fall back, when the word
“Charge” was shouted by some unauthorised person whose identity has
never been discovered; the call was sounded by a bugler, and with a
wild yell the battalion dashed forward. They had covered some fifty
yards of ground, when from a nullah about eighty yards off emerged
a horde of swordsmen, Hindustani fanatics, each of whom had sworn
to gain Heaven that day by slaying at least one of the Unbelievers.
The suddenness of their appearance, their demoniacal yells and
headlong rush might have startled any troops, but the Royal Irish
were staunch; after an instant of surprised inaction the company
commanders ordered their men to fire independently, and then to meet
the rush with the bayonet. An officer thus described the affair in
his diary: “We got the word to charge; the men went at them with a
will, bayoneting or shooting every Ghazi within reach. The swordsmen
then wheeled away as if they did not quite relish us, and went
towards the 34th Pioneers, who fell back a bit at first but then
pulled themselves together. Our men wheeled up of their own accord
and followed the Ghazis, and I don’t think many got away. We killed
or wounded about a hundred.[271] In the pursuit Gloster with one or
two dare-devils of his company dashed after one of the enemy who was
carrying a standard, shot him down, and brought back the flag in
triumph.”[272]
After the main body of the enemy had been dispersed, several
incidents occurred characteristic of warfare on the north-west
frontier of India. When the fighting appeared to be over, a medical
officer, seeing a sepoy lying hard hit on the plain, went off alone
to dress his wounds, and suddenly found himself surrounded by five
Ghazis; one he brought down with his revolver; the others circled
round him, waiting their chance to dash in and hack him to pieces.
The Royal Irish at that moment were re-forming their ranks; a patrol
of an officer and four men hurried to the doctor’s rescue, and shot
three of the fanatics; the fourth came on most pluckily, and was only
ten yards from our men when one of them shot him, and then pinned
him to the ground with his bayonet. These hillmen are wonderfully
tenacious of life, and although the Ghazi had a Martini bullet
through his chest and a bayonet wound in his stomach he strove up
to his last gasp to kill his hated foes. A little later in the day
General Galbraith was the hero of an adventure in which the good
marksmanship of the battalion undoubtedly saved his life. While the
Royal Irish were sitting on the ground in quarter-column, waiting
for orders, the General on foot, unarmed, and with no escort but
his aide-de-camp who was mounted, walked over the battlefield to
ascertain from two friendly hillmen who accompanied him if any of the
dead belonged to tribes which were nominally neutral.
“Suddenly [writes an officer] we heard some shots fired, and
looking up we saw about two or three hundred yards off the
General running as hard as he could towards us, closely followed
by some Ghazis. The A.D.C.’s pony had became unmanageable so he
could not fire, and the Ghazis were catching the General up; we
accordingly ordered two or three picked shots to fire--risky
work, for the fanatics were within a few yards of the General and
he almost masked our fire. Still the risk had to be taken, and
(luckily perhaps) as we fired, the General stumbled and fell,
and the whole of the Ghazis were shot. We heard afterwards that
when the General was examining the corpses, two of the supposed
‘deaders’ had jumped up and gone for him, and being unarmed, he
could do nothing but run. The ‘friendlies,’ seeing the General’s
plight, had gone for the Ghazis, and as they were all dressed
alike, we were unable to tell friend from foe, and had shot all
four of them.”
In the course of the afternoon a hospital was established in a clump
of trees, among which stood a shrine packed with the furniture and
other belongings of some of the tribesmen with whom we were at war.
From one of these trees a Ghazi was dislodged by a bullet; the sound
of the shot brought up a couple of our men who, suspecting that more
fanatics were in hiding, began to rummage among the lumber in the
shrine, where two more Ghazis were discovered to whom very short
shrift was allowed. When the advance was resumed, half the battalion
was ordered to keep down the fire from the sangars on the right bank
of the river, while the other companies and part of the 29th Punjab
infantry climbed the ridge and moved upon Kotkai. They entered it
without opposition, for the enemy, already shaken by the shells of
the mountain battery, retired before them to Kunhar, a village two or
three miles higher up the river. By the time we were in possession of
the Kotkai position the day was so far spent that pursuit had become
impossible, and the wing of the Royal Irish was sent down to bivouac
in the plain, while the native regiment remained to hold the village
as an advanced post.
The next few days were full of varied occupations. The battalion
marched with convoys of sick to Chamb, carried stores over rocks
that the mules could not face, escorted the General up precipitous
mountains when he visited tribes of doubtful loyalty to arrange the
terms on which their neutrality was to be secured, and for more than
one day carried on a long musketry fight with the hillmen, who had
now flocked to the farther side of the river, whence they maintained
a harassing fire upon our working parties. Under the steady shooting
of the Royal Irish, the enemy gradually melted away, and when the
British brought river craft up the Indus to replace the ferry-boats
which had been destroyed, the mountaineers realised that the river
was no longer an impassable barrier and disappeared, leaving the
road-makers unmolested in their heavy task of converting mere
goat-tracks on the side of a cliff into roads wide enough for the
passage of heavily laden mules in single file. On the 11th the whole
column reached Kunhar, though the road was still so rough that over
the greater part of it the baggage had to be passed by hand. The 12th
was spent in improving the path to Gazikot, a mile or two higher up
the river; and on the 13th, Galbraith transported the Royal Irish
and part of his native infantry across the river in boats, marched
through various deserted villages, and blew up a hill fortress at
Maidan. The tribesmen watched his proceedings from the neighbouring
heights, and when he began to retire attacked his rear-guard, but
were driven back, and the column regained the left bank without
difficulty. After the destruction of Maidan the enemy began to lose
heart, and though the troops in the fourth column made several raids
into the mountains on each side of the Indus, occupying villages so
filthy that the Europeans could not sleep in the houses and had to
bivouac upon the roofs, they did not again come under hostile fire.
On all these operations the Royal Irish were employed, and in their
spare time Galbraith found plenty of occupation for them in the
unexciting but very arduous work of improving the communications with
the frontier of India.
While the fourth column was forcing its way up the Indus the other
columns pushed eastwards from the Agror valley. They climbed
mountains, made roads, destroyed watch-towers, and burned hostile
villages with small loss, for they met with no opposition such as
that which had awaited Galbraith at Kotkai, and their casualties were
mainly caused by the “snipers” who harassed their bivouacs at night.
Thus taken between two fires, the Hassanzais and Akazais learned
that though slow to rouse, the Government of India when it begins to
strike, does so with effect. Astonished to find that the fastnesses
of the country could be reached by regular troops, dismayed at the
loss of several hundred of their fighting men, and realising that the
longer they deferred their submission, the heavier would be their
punishment, these clans decided to surrender; paid the heavy fines
imposed upon them, and promised amendment for the future. During the
negotiations there was an episode in which Lieutenant Gloster played
an amusing part, thus described by one of his brother officers--
“When the hillmen with whom we had been fighting came to the
conclusion that for the time being they had had enough of
it, they began to send Jirgahs or deputations of headmen to
interview General Galbraith, who had very little knowledge of
the manners and customs of the Border tribes. Presuming on his
ignorance of frontier etiquette, they used to behave towards
him with gross impertinence: they would walk into his hut and
greet his Pathan orderlies, who acted as interpreters, with
great respect, but take no notice of the General himself; then
sit down without being asked, and finally spit on the floor--a
particularly gross form of insult throughout the East. Gloster
who since the engagement at Kotkai had been orderly officer to
the General, was present at these interviews and used to boil
with rage, but as his chief took no notice he had to swallow his
wrath as best he could. But Gloster’s chance came when Colonel
----, an officer of long experience on the frontier, joined the
column and took over the conduct of the negotiations for peace.
On the morning after Colonel ----’s arrival the tribesmen walked
into the new-comer’s hut with their usual swagger and went
through their customary insulting performances--but not for long,
as Colonel ---- turned upon them, first with a volley of abuse
in Hindustani and Pushtu, and then with his stick and boots. In
amazement they made for the door, and then as each astonished
Pathan passed out, he got a blow on the side of the head from a
huge fist, followed by a hearty kick from a long and powerful
leg. A very chastened and exceedingly polite deputation returned
to make terms next day!”
As soon as the Hassanzais and Akazais had made their peace with the
Indian government, a portion of General M‘Queen’s command moved
northwards to punish other recalcitrant tribes; but as the fourth
column played no part in these operations it is not necessary to
describe them. As far as the Royal Irish are concerned, the only
incident during the remainder of the Black Mountain campaign was
the visit of the Commander-in-Chief in India, General Sir Frederick
Roberts, who on the 28th of October inspected the second battalion
at Palosi, and complimented all ranks on their behaviour during this
little mountain war. Early in November the expedition had finished
its work; the columns marched back across the British frontier,
and the Royal Irish, passing through Durband, arrived at their old
station of Nowshera on the 23rd of the month.[273]
General Galbraith in a farewell order thanked all ranks of the fourth
column for the admirable manner in which they had performed their
duties, adding that their exemplary behaviour and unvarying good
discipline had not been less conspicuous than their conduct in the
field. His official report on the operations of the river column
mentioned Major R. K. Brereton and Lieutenant W. Gloster, Royal Irish
regiment, and the Roman Catholic chaplain attached to the battalion,
Father Francis Van Mansfeld, who during the fighting on October 4,
distinguished himself by carrying water to the wounded under a heavy
fire. The losses of the Hazara Field force during this short campaign
were small: the total casualties, including two officers mortally
wounded, were less than a hundred. In the second battalion of the
Royal Irish two men were killed and three wounded in action, while
two were fatally injured by falling down a precipice.[274] The
Indian Medal with a clasp for “Hazara 1888” was granted to the troops
who took part in this expedition.
Until December, 1889, the second battalion remained at Nowshera;
then it was stationed for a short time at Peshawar, and in April,
1890, headquarters and four companies were moved to Cherat, where
the medals for the Hazara campaign were presented on parade by Mrs
Rogers, the wife of the officer who then commanded the battalion.
The year 1890 was memorable in the sporting annals of the regiment.
After having been in the final tie for the Infantry polo tournament
for three years running, the officers of the second battalion won
it at Umballa with a team composed of Captain Apthorp, Lieutenants
Cullinan, Kellett, Wynne, and Garraway--the last mentioned taking
the place of Wynne, who met with an accident during the game. The
non-commissioned officers and men also had a triumph in winning
the Calcutta football tournament. The month of December found the
second battalion on the way to Lucknow, where they remained till
November, 1894, when a five weeks’ march brought them to Jubbulpore,
an excellent centre for big game shooting. The officers lost no
opportunity of going after tiger, and Lieutenant J. B. S. Alderson
had a very exciting adventure in which his life was saved by the
coolness of Lieutenant-Colonel Lawrence, then in command of the
battalion. In the Chitri jungle Alderson was following up a wounded
tiger on foot, when the beast charged and seized him by the arm.
Colonel Lawrence rushed to the rescue, and with three steady shots
killed it, but not without much difficulty, for as the huge brute
lay upon Alderson mauling his arm, the bullets had to be placed so
that they would strike the animal without doing his victim any harm.
When Alderson was brought into hospital, he was so weak from shock,
fatigue, and loss of blood that it was pronounced unsafe to put him
under chloroform, and it was nearly midnight before all his numerous
wounds were dressed. Though suffering agonies he never uttered a
word, except from time to time to ask one of his brother officers,
who were standing round his bed, to fill and light the pipe, which
he did not allow to go out during the operation. His right arm had
been bitten through, but neither the bones nor arteries were injured,
and he recovered--to meet a soldier’s death a few years later in the
South African war.
During the cold weather of 1896-97 the second battalion was inspected
by the Lieutenant-General commanding in Bengal, who pronounced it to
be “in first-rate order, in a very efficient condition, and quite
fit for active service.” The Commander-in-Chief in India considered
this “a very satisfactory report on the battalion, which appears to
be very well commanded by Colonel Lawrence.” A few months after this
inspection matters began to go badly on the frontier, where for some
time past fanatical priests had been preaching “a Holy War” against
the English. The first tangible symptom of unrest was a treacherous
attack by the hillmen of the Tochi valley upon a British officer
and his escort; then followed an outbreak in the Swat valley, where
the tribes suddenly fell in thousands upon our post at Malakand. The
garrison fought gallantly, and in spite of enormous odds held their
ground for several days until the enemy were dispersed by a relieving
column. The Mohmands were the next to rise, and finally the Afridis
and Orakzais took up arms against us. To meet this formidable though
fortunately ill-combined attack, troops were hurried to the frontier;
among them were the Royal Irish, who on August 13, 1897, received
the order to mobilise for active service. The news was welcomed by
the battalion with wild enthusiasm, and proved so good a tonic to
the large number of non-commissioned officers and men who, though
apparently recovered from the malarial fever prevalent at Jubbulpore,
still had the seeds of the disease lurking in their system, that
eight hundred and twenty-seven of all ranks were passed by the
doctors.[275] In two days everything was in readiness, and on August
15, the Royal Irish entrained for Rawal Pindi. The journey, at that
time of year always an exhausting one, was made doubly trying by the
result of a railway accident; the troop trains, timed to reach Pindi
early in the morning, did not arrive there till nearly midnight,
and by some departmental blunder the battalion was left all day
without food or shelter from the sun. At Khasalghur, where the rail
ended, the Royal Irish had very heavy work, loading and reloading
stores in extreme heat. Then followed several forced marches, in the
first of which they escorted a convoy four or five miles in length
for twenty-six miles over a very rugged country, drained by two
rivers passable only at deep fords. When they joined Major-General
Yeatman-Biggs in the Miranzai valley, they found his column at Hangu,
a village at the base of the foot hills of the great Samana ridge,
where the camp, pitched on fields from which the crops had just been
reaped, stood on ground saturated by the heavy rain of the monsoon.
In a previous campaign on the frontier, an imperfectly entrenched
British force had been attacked at night by a horde of hillmen, whose
determined rush was not repelled without great difficulty and hard
fighting. Mindful of this episode, Yeatman-Biggs had ringed his camp
with works, which were occupied by the troops at night, when, to
avoid offering a target to “snipers,” the tents were struck. As the
weather was very wet and steamy, it was impossible for the men ever
to get their clothes thoroughly dried, and during the fortnight that
the headquarters of the battalion remained at Hangu there was much
fever among those who were unlucky enough to be left in camp,[276]
but the companies sent on detachment kept in good health and
accomplished the remarkable marches mentioned in Colonel Lawrence’s
order, quoted in appendix 5.
On the evening of September 12, General Yeatman-Biggs issued orders
for his column to march forthwith to the rescue of a party of the
36th Sikhs, who were hard pressed in Fort Gulistan, an advanced post
on the Samana ridge. At that moment the battalion was so reduced by
detachments and by sickness that only two hundred and ninety-five
Royal Irishmen were present to take part in the arduous operations
by which the Gulistan garrison was relieved on the 13th. After this
success Yeatman-Biggs was ordered to remain on the Samana; the sick
of the battalion were sent up from the hospitals below, and in the
pure air of the mountains rapidly regained their health. In addition
to the ordinary camp guards, duties, and fatigues the battalion was
employed in road-making and in reconnaissances among the hills; and
in high spirits and absolutely unaware that they had been reported
upon unfavourably, all ranks anxiously awaited orders for a farther
advance into the enemy’s country, when a telegram reached Colonel
Lawrence from a civilian friend at Rawal Pindi, telling him of a
rumour that the Royal Irish were to be ordered back from the front
for garrison duty in India. Colonel Lawrence at once went to the
General, who said it was true that the battalion was to go back,
as the doctors reported it to be saturated with malaria. At the
Colonel’s request a medical board was assembled, whose members were
instructed to be very thorough and searching in their examination,
and to pass no one who was not thoroughly fit for the hard work of
active service. The doctors did not see the whole of the battalion,
as a hundred and fifty officers and men were absent on detachment,
but out of those whom they inspected, five hundred and twenty-three
were passed as absolutely fit, and above the average physique of
the army. With this favourable report in his hand, Colonel Lawrence
made every effort to obtain the recision of the order but without
success; and on September 30, appeared the following paragraph in
Major-General Yeatman-Biggs’ Field Force orders: “under instructions
from Army Headquarters, Simla, the 2nd battalion, Royal Irish
regiment, is to proceed to Rawal Pindi for garrison duty, on relief
by the 2nd Derbyshire regiment.”
It will be observed that no reason was given for the removal of the
battalion from the fighting line; and soon after the Royal Irish
reached Rawal Pindi rumours, most injurious to their character
as soldiers, became current in civilian circles and found their
way first into the Indian and then into the British newspapers.
Major-General Sir Henry Havelock-Allan, the Colonel of the regiment,
was in England when these rumours were repeated by the London press;
and stirred to the heart by the aspersions on the fair fame of the
corps with which he had so long and honourable a connection, he
hurried to India to investigate the truth of these stories. Shortly
after the second battalion returned to Rawal Pindi Colonel Lawrence
was appointed to the command of the XVIIIth regimental district;
but before leaving India he went to Simla to ascertain if possible
why the battalion had been so unjustly treated. He was unable to
obtain an interview with the Commander-in-Chief, but from the
Adjutant-General he learned that, several days before the medical
board had been convened, General Yeatman-Biggs had reported that
the Royal Irish were so saturated with malaria that they could not
keep up with the rest of the column. As General Havelock-Allan and
Colonel Lawrence crossed on the voyage without meeting in any port,
the former landed at Bombay with an unbiassed mind; without stopping
to see the battalion at Rawal Pindi he hastened to the frontier, and
after the fullest inquiries in every direction was able to assert
proudly that the Royal Irish had behaved like good soldiers in the
Tirah campaign. By his tragic death in the Khyber Pass at the end of
December, the regiment apparently lost its only influential friend
in the East, and when, shortly afterwards, the authorities at Simla
refused to grant the board of inquiry for which Lieutenant-Colonel
Forster had applied in order to refute the libels on his battalion,
the spirits of all ranks sank very low. The dignified attitude of the
officers under misfortune won universal respect and admiration at
Pindi; and it speaks well for the discipline of the battalion that
in such distressing circumstances there was no sign of angry feeling
among the men, and that all ranks, knowing that there was no grounds
for the aspersions made against them in the press, possessed their
souls in patience until their conduct should be investigated by an
authority even higher than that of Simla.
While Havelock-Allan was on the frontier he had laid the grievances
of the Royal Irish before General Sir William Lockhart, who was
in command of all the troops engaged in the Tirah campaign; and
after Lockhart had seen the battalion at Havelock-Allan’s funeral
at Pindi, he exerted himself so vigorously on its behalf that,
after being closely inspected by the chief army doctor in India,
it was ordered back to the front, and on February 9, 1898, joined
the third brigade, under Colonel (now Lieutenant-General Sir
Ian) Hamilton, in the Bara valley. Thence it moved up to Barkai,
where the expeditionary force received the Royal Irish with open
arms. “The fuss that has been made over us is wonderful,” wrote
an officer of the XVIIIth. “Every general within fifteen miles of
Barkai rode over to congratulate the regiment in the names of their
respective commands, and the officers were inundated with shoals
of complimentary telegrams.” Unfortunately, as far as Hamilton’s
brigade was concerned, all fighting was over when the battalion
was allowed to return to the front, and thus it had no opportunity
of again meeting the enemy; but still it had been sent back to the
fighting line, and thus from the military point of view its honour
was completely vindicated. One thing, however, was still needed to
re-establish the second battalion in the eyes of civilians--a letter
from Army headquarters at Simla clearing it from the charges made
against it in the newspapers. Such a letter arrived on the 17th of
February, but being marked “confidential” could not be sent to the
public press for publication. When Colonel Lawrence received from
the second battalion a copy of this confidential letter, he rightly
considered that for the complete exoneration of the Royal Irish
he should be permitted to make its contents known to the world;
he accordingly asked leave of Colonel Gough, Secretary to Lord
Wolseley, then Commander-in-Chief of the British Army, to publish it
to the brigade of regular and militia battalions of the Royal Irish
territorial regiment, about to assemble at Kilworth under his orders.
In reply “as an exceptional case and in view of his proceeding to
Kilworth where other battalions of the regiment are stationed” he
received an extract from a letter from the Adjutant-General to the
Commander-in-Chief, India, which runs as follows:--
“I am directed by the Secretary of State to inform you that a perusal
of the papers connected with the withdrawal of the 2nd battalion,
Royal Irish regiment from the field force on the North-West frontier
has satisfied the Commander-in-Chief that a grave injustice was done
to the 2nd battalion, Royal Irish regiment when it was recalled from
field service.”
Colonel Lawrence immediately published this complete exoneration in
an order to the troops at Kilworth (see appendix 5).
In order that the public should realise how completely the charges
against the Royal Irish had been refuted, it was suggested that some
signal honour should be conferred upon the regiment. Her Majesty
Queen Victoria, always remembering the XVIIIth when they guarded
her at Windsor, had been much concerned at the libels on her Irish
soldiers; she at once appreciated the importance of proving to the
world that the rumours about the second battalion were absolutely
without foundation, and by her command Lord Wolseley was appointed to
be the first Colonel-in-Chief of the Royal Irish regiment. This mark
of the Queen’s favour closed the Tirah incident, the most painful
episode in the long history of the regiment.
* * * * *
As the second battalion was not one of the corps fortunate enough
to be sent from India to South Africa for the Boer war, the record
of its service during the remainder of the period embraced by this
history is almost barren of interest. In February, 1900, the Royal
Irish distinguished themselves at Mhow in putting out a dangerous
fire, and were specially thanked by Major-General Nicholson, C.B.,
who commanded the district--
“The General Officer Commanding wishes to convey to the troops
in garrison, his thanks for the excellent work done by them
during the last few days in endeavouring to extinguish the recent
fire in the Commissariat stack-yard. The promptitude with which
Officers and men of the Royal Irish regiment turned out on the
first alarm undoubtedly saved the remainder of the stacks at
the time, and the zeal evinced and arduous work done by all the
troops in garrison on that and subsequent days has been fully
appreciated by the General Officer Commanding, and he will
have much pleasure in bringing the same to the notice of the
Lieutenant-General Commanding, Bombay Command.”
A month later the battalion learned from Army Orders that to
commemorate the gallantry of the Irish regiments in the recent
battles in South Africa, the Queen had ordered that in future all
ranks of these corps should wear on St Patrick’s Day a sprig of
shamrock in their head-dresses--a recognition of national sentiment
which caused great satisfaction to both battalions of the XVIIIth,
and to every other Irish regiment in Her Majesty’s army.
In the ordinary course of Indian reliefs the second battalion was due
to turn its face homewards in the autumn of 1900, but owing to the
war in South Africa all such arrangements were cancelled, and the
Royal Irish were ordered to remain at Mhow, where they were still
quartered when in July, 1901, Lieutenant-Colonel J. Burton-Forster,
relinquishing the command on appointment to the Staff, was succeeded
by Lieutenant-Colonel H. S. Shuldham-Lye. The dislocation of reliefs
was not the only effect produced on the second battalion by the
South African war. As every recruit, as soon as he was fit for
active service, was sent to join the first battalion, there was
great danger that the second battalion would become dangerously weak
if the time-expired men left India at the end of their engagement
to serve with the Colours. As every battalion in India was in a
similar plight the government offered liberal terms to men willing to
re-engage, viz.--a bounty of £10 with a two months’ furlough at home,
or an additional bounty of £16 in lieu of furlough to all ranks below
the rank of sergeant, who had completed six years and three months’
colonial service, and who had not entered upon the twelfth year of
such service. The men who accepted these terms were to engage to
extend their service so as to complete twelve years with the Colours.
Twenty-two of the Royal Irish accepted the £10 bounty with furlough;
two hundred and ninety-seven preferred to have £26 paid into their
hands, and did not take a holiday at home.
[Illustration: WINDOW COMMEMORATIVE OF SOUTH AFRICAN WAR, 1899-1902.
ST PATRICK’S CATHEDRAL, DUBLIN.]