Sialkote—Amateur Theatricals—An Ingenious Thief—Death of Albert
Phipps—Agra—Voyage to England
In the autumn of 1874 the other sub-lieutenants and myself had to go
through a course of instruction at Sialkote, in order to qualify as
lieutenants. At Rawal Pindi I called on Mrs. Kinloch, my acquaintance
with whom had been renewed at Murree, where she had been staying. Not
long afterwards, I was shocked to hear that she had gone out of her mind.
She died without recovering her reason.
Sialkote is by no means a pretty place, being very flat, with few trees
to temper the rays of the sun. Its ugliness was, however, relieved to
some extent by a view of the distant mountains. Although it was autumn,
the heat was intense, and in the daytime almost intolerable.
Lovett, Montgomery and myself occupied a house, which, though it had
one storey, was very large. We were attached during our stay to the
Royal Horse Artillery (“A” Battery, “A” Brigade) and messed with them.
Our instruction took place in the mornings under Lieutenant Hart, of
the R.E., who put us through a course of surveying, fortification
and tactics. Most of the instruction took place out of doors. Of an
afternoon we generally prepared our work for the following day, and in
the evening we dined at the R.H.A. mess, which was about ten minutes’
walk from our house. The officers of “A” Battery were very nice fellows,
particularly Captain Hobart, who commanded it, Lieutenant Armytage, and
Veterinary-Surgeon Batchelor, and did all they could to make things
pleasant for us. The evenings at mess, however, were rather dull, as
so few members dined there, though at times they were enlivened by the
presence of guests, generally officers from the 5th Lancers, who, with
two infantry battalions and a regiment of Bengal cavalry, were also
stationed at Sialkote.
The 5th Lancers were a very lively lot, and their mess was very amusing.
On one occasion, after mess, they dragged a lieutenant over the billiard
table, with the result that the cloth was cut all to pieces by his spurs,
and, not content with this, smashed all the crockery and glass in the
mess-room. One morning, on parade, another lieutenant, who rode very
badly, fell off his horse, whereupon his brother subalterns “ragged” his
room and broke everything they could lay their hands on. The unfortunate
owner, who had not the sweetest of tempers, took their behaviour in very
ill part, and shortly afterwards exchanged into a Highland regiment
stationed at Gibraltar.
Some of the 5th Lancers were, however, very nice fellows, particularly
two sub-lieutenants named Russell and Beaumont, who were very friendly
with Montgomery and myself, and we often dined all together.
One evening the sub-lieutenants of my battalion invited Beaumont and
Russell to dine at the R.H.A. mess, and afterwards we all proceeded
to our house, where we had prepared a _nautch_ for them, having sent
to the bazaar for a number of dancing women. These women danced most
fantastic dances, and wound up the entertainment by dancing with some
of the subalterns, who were wearing their white Indian mess uniforms.
The officers of my battalion, I may mention, had adopted a pink silk
sash round the waist, which we wore instead of a waistcoat, owing to the
intense heat.
The colonel of the 5th Lancers, Lieut.-Colonel Massey, was popular with
all ranks, and one of the captains, Benyon by name, was a most charming
man. C——, another captain, a very ugly, red-haired man, was most clever
and amusing, but much disliked both by his brother-officers and the men
of the regiment. He often dined at the R.H.A. mess, where he entertained
everyone with his stories after dinner. One story which he told was of
a young fellow who was staying at a nobleman’s country house, where a
lady, with whom he was in love, gave him an assignation, and agreed to
put a flower in the keyhole of her door when she retired for the night.
Someone, with a predilection for practical jokes, catching sight of the
flower, removed it and placed it in the keyhole of another door, with the
result that the luckless young fellow invaded the privacy of a judge and
his wife. There was a terrible scandal the next day, and the victim of
this misadventure had to leave the house at once.
C—— was very fond of botany, and I remember that once, when I happened to
meet him, he showed me a mimosa, which was so sensitive to the touch that
the moment one handled it it drew in its leaves. He came to a tragic end
in South Africa, where he was shot by one of the men of his troop, not,
it was generally believed, accidentally.
Armytage, the lieutenant in the R.H.A. whom I have already mentioned,
was the son of a baronet and a very pleasant fellow. He had a pet dog
which he used always to bring into the mess-room, and which would perform
tricks. He related how once, when he had been ordered on foreign service,
the captain of the troopship, hearing that he had a dog, objected to his
bringing it on board, as he had made a rule against it. When, however,
Armytage showed him the little dog and made it perform its tricks, the
captain was so amused by them that he said he would make an exception
in this case. Armytage was a good actor, and used to organize amateur
theatricals. One evening, he got up a play, in which he took the leading
part, and acted very well in the comic style. The other parts were taken
by men of “A” Battery, and the performance, to which a good many people
came, was a distinct success. Afterwards, a dance was given in the
mess-room, but, as there were about twenty officers to each lady, it was
more pleasant for the ladies than for us. The sub-lieutenants, indeed,
went away as soon as they could, not being at all attracted by our fair
guests, who were mostly past their first youth, while the few girls
present were very plain.
There was an excellent polo-ground at Sialkote, and many of the officers
played of an afternoon. There was also a croquet and lawn-tennis ground,
and these games were played a good deal by ladies in very old-fashioned
dresses, as ladies in India, as a rule, dress very badly and quite out of
date.
The officers rode home from mess of an evening; and I used sometimes to
make my pony “Chang” mount the steps of our house, and enter my room,
after which he would go off alone to the stables. Once at Murree, for a
bet, I rode “Chang” up a long flight of steps to a church and down again,
and he never put a foot wrong. Batchelor, the “vet” of the R.H.A., had a
horse which sometimes, on his reaching the mess-room, he would tell to go
home, when the horse would find its way back to the stables, which were
some distance away.
Two new sub-lieutenants came to Sialkote to go through the course. One,
named Marsham, an Old Etonian and a very nice fellow, was in my regiment;
the other, whose name was Wood, belonged to the 4th Hussars. He was
nicknamed “Lakri” (“wood”), as he was of rather swarthy complexion. Wood
had a very nice chestnut pony, which he often lent me, and one day Lovett
remarked that I never looked so well as on this pony, which seemed to be
made for me. He had another pony, a smaller one, and this he sold to me.
But it had a very nasty temper, and would sometimes turn its head and try
and bite my feet; while it was continually rearing and kicking, and, in
short, was a regular devil. One evening, when I went to dine at the mess
of a Line regiment, I tied it up to a tree, but it managed to get rid of
its bridle and bolted. It was only with difficulty caught, when I rode it
home again.
“Eugene,” who had behaved so badly to me over the affair of Miss W——,
was not at Sialkote, having been sent to another station for his course.
While at Murree, he had fallen desperately in love with a Miss B——, and
had proposed to, and been accepted by, her. But, as he was so very young,
and the lady was not considered a desirable match, the Colonel took
the matter up, and the affair was broken off. At the station he went to
he fell in love with another lady, but this did not come to anything
either; and he nearly broke, not his heart, but his neck, there in riding
a steeplechase. However, eventually he recovered from his “smash” and
rejoined the battalion.
I became very unwell at Sialkote, from what the doctor said was a liver
complaint. However, it did not much interfere with my studies, though I
was confined to the house for some time. During this period a curious
incident occurred.
One morning, I noticed that a candle, which I had placed by my bedside
and blown out just before I fell asleep, was much shorter than when I had
extinguished it. The following night I carefully noted the length of the
candle before I blew it out, and next morning it was again much shorter.
I could find no explanation of this, as I had locked my bedroom door
before going to bed, until I remembered that there was a small opening at
the bottom of the door, just large enough to permit a person to wriggle
through. But this did not account for the thief having been able to pass
through my sitting-room, which led to the bedroom, and the door of which
I had also locked. I talked the matter over with Lovett, who offered to
lend me his dog, which he said was a very good watch-dog and could sleep
on my bed. I accepted his offer, but the animal had so many fleas that
I was kept awake all night, and decided to dispense with its company in
future. The following night I determined to watch myself, and presently
heard someone crawling through the opening of the door. I at once struck
a light, upon which the intruder promptly crawled back again. Then
everything appeared clear to me. The thief was none other than my bearer,
who had a key to my sitting-room, which he opened, and then, crawling
through the opening in the bedroom-door, made for my candle, which he
abstracted and replaced by a much smaller piece. The natives are great
pilferers, who will not stop at robbing one even of a piece of candle.
One day, as I was sitting in my room, reading a book by Jean Paul, it
seemed to me that suddenly the room began to swing to and fro. It proved
to be an earthquake, which, however, did no damage to the town, though it
gave everyone a bad fright.
Soon after I was able to get about again there was an interval of three
weeks in our course at Sialkote, and all the sub-lieutenants went away
on leave. Montgomery went to Murree, while Lovett and Marsham started
off on a shooting-expedition. The battalion, which was taking part in
the autumn manœuvres, was under canvas near Rawal Pindi, and I accepted
an invitation to stay with Surgeon-Major Macnamara and his wife in their
tent. The first evening I dined with them I noticed that I was served
with precisely the dishes I liked, whilst those I did not care for were
not handed to me at all. I inquired of Mrs. Macnamara the reason of this,
when she replied:—
“I asked your _khitmagar_ when you arrived what you liked for dinner, and
what you did not like. Therefore, you see, I know now exactly what your
taste is.”
Indeed, nothing could exceed the Macnamaras’ kindness to me during the
whole time I was with them.
A couple of days later, Phipps invited me to go for a drive with him,
during which he told me that he was returning to England on leave, when
he would get his promotion, and he doubted whether he would ever come out
to India again. That evening, after dining at mess, I was taken ill, when
Surgeon-Major Macnamara, who attended me, said that I was suffering from
jaundice, and should have to stay in bed some time. During my illness I
received visits from one of the senior lieutenants named Hope, a grandson
of Lord Hopetoun, who brought me several books to read, amongst them
being “Cranford,” by Mrs. Gaskell, which he particularly recommended to
me, and with which I was delighted. Lloyd, another senior lieutenant,
with the local rank of captain, often came to see me. He was a very
dark, wiry fellow, of about thirty, and was a great sportsman. He was
going into the Indian Staff Corps, as he spoke several native languages
fluently. Lloyd was a particular friend of mine, and corresponded with me
regularly for years afterwards.
One morning, I had a visit from Macnamara, who told me that Phipps
had been taken seriously ill with congestion of the lungs, the result
apparently of a chill which he had caught on the day I went for a drive
with him. A few days later, I learned from Lloyd that Phipps had died
during the night. When I next saw Macnamara, he remarked:—
“Phipps was so stout; I knew I could not save him. He died from
suffocation, as he had such a short neck.”
When I was well enough to dine at mess again, I heard from the Colonel
that, shortly before Phipps was taken ill, he had been told by the chief
that his tunic was looking rather shabby, to which he had replied:—
“Oh, sir, it’s good enough to bury me in!”
He had laughed as he said this, which was a habit of his when he made any
remark which was at all strange.
A cable was sent to Queen Victoria, as well as to Phipps’s sister,
announcing his death. Her Majesty cabled at once to the Colonel, asking
for all particulars about the sad event, at which she appears to have
been genuinely grieved.
I was much cut up by Phipps’s death, and I felt it all the more keenly,
as I had been with him so recently. I remember how on that occasion he
had kept talking of his approaching return to England, and had observed:—
“I should have liked it very much in years gone by, but now I do not look
forward to it with half the pleasure I did then; it may be because I have
all my friends out here. I am so used to living out here with all the
fellows, and they are all so nice, that I don’t think I should go home
now if I had not to do so.”
Poor Phipps was buried in his old tunic, as he had foretold in a jesting
way to the Colonel. He was barely thirty years of age.
After I had quite recovered from jaundice, I returned to Sialkote,
which I did with regret, as I would have much preferred remaining with
my regiment. At Sialkote things went on very much as before, the only
incident worth recording being an accident to my pony “Chang.”
This pony, which I had bought soon after coming to Murree from Sydenham
Clarke, the adjutant of our battalion, had the reputation of being the
best polo-pony in India, and one day Lovett begged me to lend him to him
for a match in which he was to play. I replied that “Chang” was not up to
his weight, and that he would probably lame him; but, eventually, on his
promising most solemnly to ride him carefully, I consented, though with
many misgivings. Some hours later Lovett came into my room, looking very
crestfallen. I knew at once what had happened, and exclaimed:—
“You have lamed “Chang!”
“Yes,” he answered; “I am frightfully sorry; I could not help it.”
I ran out of the room to see the pony, who was so lame that there was no
chance of his being of much service afterwards. However, it was no use
blaming Lovett, since it was my own fault for being so weak as to allow a
valuable animal to be ridden by a man too heavy for him.
After this mishap, I was obliged to ride my little devil of a pony when I
required a mount at Sialkote, though at times Lovett lent me his horse,
while at others Wood lent me his good-looking chestnut pony. I made Wood
an offer for this pony, but he declined to part with it at any price.
I continued to suffer from liver complaint, and was attended by
Surgeon-Major Clarke, of the R.H.A., who advised me to try and get sent
to England. I subsequently saw the senior medical officer at Sialkote,
who said that I ought to obtain leave either to the hills or to England.
I appeared before a medical board, who certified in writing that my
illness was caused in and by the Service.
The Chief Resident at Sialkote offered me the Maharajah of Kashmir’s
shooting, which was usually reserved for royal personages, and which the
Prince of Wales had when in India; but Montgomery urged me strongly
to go to England, and I followed his advice. I had afterwards, as the
ensuing pages will show, good cause to regret my decision.
Before leaving Sialkote, I made arrangements to sell the things I did
not want; but, on showing the list I had made out to Batchelor, of
the R.H.A., he told me that I ought to have described them far more
elaborately, so as to enhance their apparent value. I asked if he would
describe them for me, which he did, and, greatly to my amusement, made
everything appear infinitely better than it really was. However, he said
that they would make much better prices that way, which I found to be the
case when the sale took place. My pony “Chang” I sold to Montgomery, as
he had partially recovered from his lameness.
On leaving Sialkote, I went by rail to Delhi, where I visited the Palace,
which I thought very beautiful. At Delhi I called on the officers of a
Line regiment stationed there, and was invited to make use of their mess
during my stay in the city, where great preparations were being made for
an approaching Durbar. I left a few days later for Cawnpore, and visited
the places by the river where the British were massacred during the
Mutiny. On my way from Cawnpore to Agra, I made the acquaintance of a
French cavalry officer, the Vicomte Arthur d’Assailly, of the Chasseurs
à Cheval, a very smart-looking fellow, more like an Englishman than a
Frenchman, who spoke English perfectly. The Vicomte told me that at
Cawnpore he had paid several hundred rupees for a _nautch_ in his room,
which he had strewn with rose-leaves. On reaching Agra, we drove to our
hotel through the Bazaar, and in the evening went to visit the Taj, with
which we were quite enchanted. It was the most magnificent building I
had ever seen. The marble of which it was constructed was of the purest
white, and seen by moonlight, which enhanced the whiteness of the marble,
it was indescribably beautiful; while the deep blue of the starlit
heavens formed a delightful contrast. It was, in fact, just like a palace
of “The Arabian Nights”; and while strolling about the charming gardens
we could almost imagine ourselves living in the days of the Khalif
Haroun Alraschid.
In the train going to Bombay I met an officer of the Rifle Brigade, named
Captain Crompton, a man of about thirty-five, with grey hair, who was
going home on sick leave. But as, he told me, he was rather doubtful
about being able to pass the medical board at Bombay, he intended to
appear before them just as he was, without going to his hôtel to change
and wash, considering that he would look more like an invalid in that
travel-stained condition.
He was as good as his word, and obtained six months’ sick leave without
any trouble. As for myself, I went to Watson’s Hotel, where I was glad
to have a bath and change my clothes, as the journey had been a most
unpleasant one, and I was begrimed with dirt. On appearing before the
board, the senior medical officer asked me various questions, to which
I must have answered too laconically to please him, for presently he
inquired sarcastically:—
“And what may your rank be; I suppose general or colonel at the least?”
“No,” I replied; “I am only a sub-lieutenant.”
“Oh, indeed! I thought from your manner that you were at least in command
of a regiment.”
However, after a brief examination, I was informed that I could go, and
that I had been granted six months’ leave to England, as my illness was
caused in and by the Service.
At Watson’s Hotel I met d’Assailly again, who told me a good deal about
himself. It appeared that he was a rich man, having an income of some
£6,000 a year, and was amusing himself by travelling round the world.
He had already visited Japan, Ceylon and Java, the last of which he
considered by far the most beautiful of the three countries, and, as
regards vegetation, truly marvellous. He admitted that Ceylon was lovely,
but, in his opinion, it could not compare with Java, the natives of which
he also preferred to the Cingalese.
I was very glad to leave Bombay in 1875, though, as I disliked the sea
very much, I was not looking forward to the voyage to England with any
pleasurable anticipations. Among the passengers on board the troopship
were Captain Crompton, a Lieutenant Howard, who belonged to the Rifle
Brigade, and Viscount Campden, of the 10th Hussars, whose younger
brother, the Hon. H. Noel, was in the same battalion of the Rifle Brigade
as Crompton and Howard. Lord Campden, who was an amiable young man, with
a slight figure and reddish hair, occupied himself during the voyage by
reading Darwin’s “Natural Selection,” which was seldom out of his hand,
and did not talk much with anyone, with the exception of Crompton.
There was a battalion of infantry on board, under the command of a
Lieutenant-Colonel Rose, who had his wife and daughter with him. The
latter, who was a charming little girl of thirteen, with golden hair and
blue eyes, took such a violent fancy to Howard that the other officers
used to chaff him and inquire whether he intended to wait until she grew
up to marry her. Howard was a tall, good-looking fellow, with a fair
moustache, and he seemed rather pleased than otherwise by the little
lady’s infatuation.
The captain of the ship complained of Crompton dining in evening clothes,
and requested him to appear in uniform in future. Crompton answered
that he had no uniform on board, as he had come out to India to work as
a civil engineer. But the captain would take no excuse, and insisted
on his wearing uniform at dinner and also on deck. Crompton thereupon
asked me if I could lend him part of my uniform, as it only differed
in the facings, the facings of one regiment’s mess-jacket being black
velvet, and those of the other scarlet, braided with black lace, like the
Hussars. The uniform of both regiments was the same, supposed to be a
dark green, but really black. I therefore lent him part of my uniform, as
I had more than I required on board; but when he appeared in it at mess
and on deck, the captain at first believed that it was his own, and that
he had purposely avoided wearing it, and he had to explain that he had
been obliged to borrow from me.
During the voyage I was a good deal with Crompton, and had many
interesting talks with him on all kinds of topics. He told me that
his mother, who was dead, had published a translation of the poems of
Heinrich Heine, which was considered to be the best that had appeared
up to that time. She had held that this life was but a preparation for
the one to come, and that whatever we cultivated in this existence, we
should excel in in the next, and said that he was firmly convinced of the
truth of this. He was a very clever man and had invented an automobile
for the conveyance of troops, which he had sold to the Russian Government
for £4,000, as the War Office would not pay him the price he asked. His
knowledge, too, was astonishingly varied. Thus, when we touched at Malta,
some of the ladies on board showed him the lace they had bought and told
him the price they had paid for it, upon which he said that they had been
imposed upon. For it appeared that he knew more about lace and how to
make it than any lady on the ship, and I saw him showing them stitches
which were quite new to them.
There were, of course, a number of invalids on board, some of whom were
very ill indeed. I occupied a cabin with a lieutenant of the 11th Hussars
named Reid, who was in rapid consumption. He was a good-looking young
fellow, with, dark-brown curly hair, and very much liked by everyone. He
survived the voyage, as did a sergeant-major of the R.H.A., whom no one
had expected to live until we reached England; but several other persons
died, and were buried at sea.