[Frontispiece: Charles Beresford, Admiral]
THE MEMOIRS OF
ADMIRAL
LORD BERESFORD
WITH TWENTY-THREE ILLUSTRATIONS
FOURTH EDITION IN ONE VOLUME
METHUEN & CO. LTD.
36 ESSEX STREET W.C.
LONDON
First Published (2 vols.) . . . . October 6th, 1914
Second Edition . . . . November, 1914
Third Edition . . . . December, 1914
Fourth Edition (1 vol.) . . . . September, 1916
TO
MY BROTHER OFFICERS
OF THE
ROYAL NAVY
{vii}
PREFACE
This work is a record of my life from the year 1859, when I entered the
Royal Navy, to the year 1909, when I hauled down my flag and came on
shore.
For the Introduction and the Notes, which have been written in order to
amplify the personal narrative and to connect it with the historical
events of the period, Mr. L. Cope Cornford is responsible.
I have dedicated the book to my brother officers of the Royal Navy.
As luck would have it, my career has been of a singularly varied
character. And my hope is that, in reading its story, boys and girls,
as well as their elders, may find pleasure.
CHARLES BERESFORD
_Admiral_
1 GREAT CUMBERLAND PLACE, W.
_June_ 1914
[Illustration: CURRAGHMORE]
{ix}
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
CHAP.
I. I SEE THE FLEET
II. THE BEGINNING OF SERVICE
III. THE SHIP OF HAPPIEST MEMORY
IV. THE SHIP OF UNHAPPY MEMORY
V. THE MIDSHIPMAN OF 1864
VI. STRICT SERVICE
VII. THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. _GALATEA_--
I. TO THE ANTIPODES
VIII. THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. _GALATEA_ (_continued_)--
II. MY TWO FAITHFUL SERVANTS
IX. THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. _GALATEA_ (_continued_)--
III. TAHITI AND THE SANDWICH ISLANDS
X. THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. _GALATEA_ (_continued_)--
IV. OLD JAPAN. NOTE
XI. THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. _GALATEA_ (_continued_)--
V. WITH THE DUKE IN JAPAN
XII. THE CRUISE OF H.M.S. _GALATEA_ (_continued_)--
VI. THE HOMEWARD VOYAGE
XIII. FLAG-LIEUTENANT AT PLYMOUTH
XIV. POLITICAL EVENTS OF 1873-80 AND POSTSCRIPT. NOTE
{x}
XV. AN IRISH ELECTION AND IRISH POLITICS
XVI. MEMBER FOR WATERFORD, AND COMMANDER, ROYAL NAVY
XVII. WITH THE PRINCE IN INDIA
XVIII. THE EGYPTIAN WAR--
I. THE BEGINNING OF TROUBLE. NOTE
XIX. THE EGYPTIAN WAR (_continued_)--
II. THE BOMBARDMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
XX. THE EGYPTIAN WAR (_continued_)--
III. CHIEF OF POLICE
XXI. THE EGYPTIAN WAR (_continued_)--
IV. GARRISON WORK
XXII. PASSING THROUGH EGYPT
XXIII. THE SOUDAN WAR OF 1884-5--
I. SUMMARY OF EVENTS. NOTE
XXIV. THE SOUDAN WAR (_continued_)--
II. HOW WE BROUGHT THE BOATS THROUGH THE GREAT GATE
XXV. THE SOUDAN WAR (_continued_)--
III. UP THE CATARACTS AND ACROSS THE DESERT
XXVI. THE SOUDAN WAR (_continued_)--
IV. THE FIRST MARCH OF THE DESERT COLUMN. NOTE
XXVII. THE SOUDAN WAR (_continued_)--
V. THE DESERT MARCH OF THE FORLORN HOPE
XXVIII. THE SOUDAN WAR (_continued_)--
VI. THE FIGHT AT ABU KLEA
XXIX. THE SOUDAN WAR (_continued_)--
VII. THE FIGHT TO REACH THE RIVER
{xi}
XXX. THE SOUDAN WAR (_continued_)--
VIII. DISASTER
XXXI. THE SOUDAN WAR (_continued_)--
IX. THE RESCUE
XXXII. THE SOUDAN WAR (_continued_)--
X. THE EFFECT OF THE ACTION OF WAD HABESHI
XXXIII. THE SOUDAN WAR (_continued_)--
XI. THE RETREAT
XXXIV. THE SOUDAN WAR (_continued_)--
XII. SEQUEL AND CONCLUSION
XXXV. ORGANISATION FOR WAR
XXXVI. THE TWENTY-ONE MILLION
XXXVII. H.M.S. UNDAUNTED--
I. WITH THE MEDITERRANEAN FLEET
XXXVIII. H.M.S. UNDAUNTED (_continued_)--
II. THE SALVING OF THE _SEIGNELAY_
XXXIX. THE SECOND SHIPBUILDING PROGRAMME
XL. STEAM RESERVE
XLI. VIEWS AND REVIEWS
XLII. COVETED CHINA. NOTE
XLIII. THE INTROMISSION OF THE ADMIRALS
XLIV. TRAFFICS AND DISCOVERIES--
I. CHINA
XLV. TRAFFICS AND DISCOVERIES (_continued_)--
II. JAPAN
XLVI. TRAFFICS AND DISCOVERIES (_continued_)--
III. THE UNITED STATES
{xii}
XLVII. H.M.S. _RAMILLIES_
XLVIII. HER MAJESTY'S MIDSHIPMEN
XLIX. THE PARLIAMENTARY ANVIL
L. THE CHANNEL FLEET
LI. BOAT RACING
LII. THE MEDITERRANEAN STATION
LIII. SPORTING MEMORIES--
I. RIDING AND DRIVING
LIV. SPORTING MEMORIES (continued)--
I. SHOOTING
LV. SPORTING MEMORIES (continued)--
III. FISHING
LVI. HOME WATERS: THE LAST COMMAND
POSTSCRIPT. THE MAKING OF AN ADMIRAL
INDEX
(The "Notes" are by L. COPE CORNFORD)
{xiii}
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
THE AUTHOR . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . _Frontispiece_
From a photograph by Heath
CURRAGHMORE
From a photograph by G. D. Croker
SIR JOHN DE LA POER BERESFORD, 4TH MARQUESS OF WATERFORD
CHRISTINA, MARCHIONESS OF WATERFORD
From paintings at Curraghmore
THE AUTHOR AS NAVAL CADET
From a photograph
H.M.S. _MARLBOROUGH_, 1861
From a painting in the possession of the Author
THE OFFICERS OF H.M.S. _SUTLEJ_, 1865.
From a photograph
H.R.H. THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH
From a photograph by J. Russell & Sons
PIETER BOTH MOUNTAIN, MAURITIUS
From a photograph
THE AUTHOR AS LIEUTENANT
From a photograph
{xiv}
THE AUTHOR ÆT. 27
From a photograph
LADY CHARLES BERESFORD
From a photograph
THE BOMBARDMENT OF ALEXANDRIA, 11TH JULY 1882
From a chart drawn by the Author at the time
ON BOARD H.M.S. CONDOR, 11TH JULY 1882
From a drawing by Frederic Villiers
PROVOST-MARSHAL AND CHIEF OF POLICE, ALEXANDRIA, JULY 1882
From a drawing by Frederic Villiers
THE AUTHOR'S METHOD OF HAULING BOATS THROUGH THE BAB-EL-KEBIR
After a drawing made on the spot by the Author
THE NILE FROM WADY HALFA TO KHARTOUM
THE AUTHOR
From a photograph by Hallen, New York
"RUNNING THE GAUNTLET"--THE ACTION OF THE _SAFIEH_
AT WAD HABESHI, 4TH FEBRUARY 1885
From a painting in the possession of the Author
FIELD-MARSHAL THE RIGHT HON. VISCOUNT WOLSELEY
From a photograph by Elliott & Fry
THE AUTHOR SPEAKING IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS ON
HIS TWENTY-ONE MILLION SHIPBUILDING PROGRAMME,
13TH DECEMBER 1888
From the drawing by J. Walter Wilson in the possession
of the Author
{xv}
THE AUTHOR, 1898
From a drawing by Phil May in the possession of the Author
H.M.S. _KING EDWARD VII_ ENGAGED IN BATTLE PRACTICE, 1907
From a photograph
(_Design of Cover by HAROLD WYLLIE_)
{xvii}
INTRODUCTORY NOTE
THE HOUSE OF BERESFORD
Lord Charles William de la Poer Beresford, born in 1846, was the second
of five brothers, sons of Sir John de la Poer Beresford, fourth
Marquess of Waterford. Lord Charles's elder brother, Sir John Henry de
la Poer Beresford (to give him his full title), Earl and Viscount of
Tyrone, Baron de la Poer of Curraghmore in the county of Waterford, and
Baron Beresford of Beresford in the county of Cavan, in the Peerage of
Ireland, and Baron Tyrone of Haverfordwest in the county of Pembroke,
in the Peerage of Great Britain, Knight of the Most Illustrious Order
of St. Patrick, succeeded to these titles in 1866. Sir John joined the
1st Life Guards. He died in 1895, and was succeeded by his son (nephew
to Lord Charles), as presently to be noted.
Of the other three brothers, Lord William de la Poer joined the 9th
Lancers and became Military Secretary to five successive Viceroys of
India, was a patron of the Turf, and died in 1900; Lord Marcus de la
Poer joined the 7th Hussars, took charge of the King's racehorses, an
office which he still fulfils, and was appointed Extra Equerry to King
George; Lord Delaval James de la Poer (sixteen years younger than Lord
Charles) ranched in North America and was killed in a railway accident
in 1906.
The five brothers were keen sportsmen, hard riders, men of their hands,
high-couraged, adventurous, talented in affairs, winning friendship and
affection wherever they went. {xviii} Lord John-Henry, fifth Marquess,
the eldest brother, inherited the family tradition of good
landlordship. There was never any oppression of tenants on the
Waterford estate. In the House of Lords and in the country, Lord
Waterford took a strenuous part in the troubled and complex issues of
Irish politics; although during the last years of his life he was
crippled and helpless, the result of an accident which befell him in
the hunting field. Lord William won the V.C. by an act of cool and
audacious gallantry in the Zulu war of 1879; renowned for reckless
hardihood, there was hardly a bone in his body which he had not broken;
and it is probable that his injuries, diminishing his powers of
resistance, caused him to succumb to his last illness. Lord Charles
has broken his chest-bone,--a piece of which was cut out in his
boyhood, leaving a cavity,--pelvis, right leg, right hand, foot, five
ribs, one collar-bone three times, the other once, his nose three
times; but owing to his extraordinary physique and strict regimen, he
is younger and stronger at the time of writing than most men of half
his age.
The family home of the five brothers was Curraghmore, a noble estate
lying some twelve miles west of Waterford. The great house stands in a
cup of the hills, whose slopes are clothed with woods of oak, the
primæval forest of Ireland. The oak woods adjoining the house were
planted with the design of supplying timber to the Royal Navy. Built
foursquare, like most houses in Ireland, the mansion faces upon a vast
gravelled quadrangle, closed in on left and right by the long ranges of
stables. Beyond the lawns of the terraced garden, beyond the hanging
woods, the bony shoulders of the mountains of Comeragh hunch upon the
changing sky; nearer hand, darkens the lone hill of Croughaun; and day
and night the noise of running waters, the voice of the Clodagh River,
flowing through tawny shallow and sombre pool, breaking white-maned
upon rock and fall, rises upon the quiet air. Looking westward from
the bare summit of the hill above the deer-park, you shall {xix} view
the rich valley parcelled into garden and farm and paddock, which are
set among deep groves; in the midst, flanked by a gleam of water, the
house darkens upon the westering sunlight; and beyond, the sparkling
landscape fades into the profound and aerial blue of the mountain wall.
Eastward, the rounded bosses of the forest clothe the hills; and in the
valley's gentle opening, the river Suir, like a scimitar laid on cloth
of tapestry, glimmers dark and bright upon the plain, which, studded
with woods and dotted with white specks of villages, stretches to where
the dim sea-line merges in the sky.
Over yonder, cloven through the heart of the ancient woods, a green
drive rises to the skyline, bordered on either side by rhododendrons,
like huge ropes of jewels, three miles long. In the forest there is
silence. Few birds or none nest in that deep labyrinth of
silver-barked and shaggy trees, rooted for centuries in the mould of
their own perennial decay. The martin-cat is lord of that hoary
solitude. As a boy, Lord Charles trapped the martin-cats, and
presented his mother with a muff made from their skins.
High on the hill rising to the north of the house of Curraghmore, set
in a grove of beeches and enclosed within a wall, the last
resting-place of the Beresfords opens upon a great and shining prospect
of wood and mountain. Here is a wide and broad stone platform, like an
ancient altar, the hue of rusty iron, compact of the granite slabs
whereon the names of the dead are graven. On three sides it is walled
with the tall silver stems of beeches, whose branches high overhead
interlace in a green canopy.
Hard by stands the private chapel, once the parish church of Clonegam,
a bleak and an unfeatured edifice. Within, there reclines the bronze
effigy of the third Marquess, he of the aquiline profile and the full
beard, who broke his neck out hunting in 1859. Opposite to him lies
the white marble figure, urbane and majestic, of Lord John, his
successor, father of Lord Charles Beresford. In the south wall of the
chancel, in an arched recess cut out of the {xx} thickness of the wall,
the white light falls from an unseen opening above upon the sculptured
figure of a lady, sleeping recumbent, and beside her nestles the tiny
form of her child. She was the first wife of the fifth Marquess, and
she died in childbirth. Near by the private chapel, high uplifted on
the bare shoulder of the hill, stands a round tower, a mark for
leagues, the monument set up to the memory of the little boy, Marcus,
Lord le Poer, heir to Lord Tyrone, afterwards first Marquess. He died
from the effects of a fall from his pony, the accident occurring when
he was jumping hurdles just outside the great courtyard of the house.
His portrait, painted by Gainsborough, hangs in the drawing-room. It
is a noble head, done with Gainsborough's inimitable delicacy. The
lad's blue eyes gaze frankly out of the picture; his fair hair curls
upon his shoulders; his coat is scarlet, with the open falling collar
of the time; the face is of a singular beauty.
Near by, in the centre of the wall, hangs Sir Joshua Reynolds's
portrait of Sir Francis Delaval, K.B. A tremendous figure, Sir
Francis, posed in a commanding attitude upon a hillside, right arm
extended, grasping a musket with fixed bayonet, and clad in a rich suit
of claret colour and cocked hat. He was the uncle of the wife of the
second Marquess of Waterford. By reason of that alliance, many of the
Delaval family pictures came to Curraghmore.
Here is Lord Delaval himself, who died in 1808, a nobleman of a
somewhat rugged and domineering countenance. Here is the first
Marquess of Waterford, with a long hooked nose; he is thin-lipped,
narrow-eyed (it seems that he had a squint), wearing the ribbon and
star of a Knight of St. Patrick. Henry, second Marquess, was painted
by Sir Thomas Lawrence; a handsome head, crowned with a mass of fine
light hair. In the hall hangs the portrait of the third Marquess; he
whose bronze effigy lies in the chapel. He is reading. With his pale
and finely cast features, his thick brown hair and beard, he might have
been (but was not) an ascetic student. He married the Hon. Louisa
{xxi} Stuart, second daughter and co-heiress of Charles, Lord Stuart dc
Rothesay. The Marchioness was a lady of taste, and was considered the
most talented amateur painter of her day. She laid out anew the
gardens, where heretofore the horses used to graze close to the house,
took great interest in the improvement of the mansion itself, designed
the Cawnpore Memorial, designed Ford village, formerly the property of
the Delavals in Northumberland, and achieved a series of cartoons
representing religious subjects, which adorn the walls of the school at
Ford.
These and many other ancestral portraits gaze from the walls of gallery
and hall and chamber, in the great house of Curraghmore. Each
generation as it grew up has traced in them its own lineaments
fore-ordained, and has marked the miracle of heredity repeated again
and again, from Sir Tristram Beresford, darkling in full armour,
through the masterful Katherine le Poer and the beautiful Susanna
Carpenter, whose mother was a Delaval, to the penultimate head of the
house of De la Poer Beresford.
The entrance hall of the mansion of Curraghmore is the ancient keep,
which was built by the De la Poers in the late twelfth or early
thirteenth century, foursquare, the walls ten feet thick. The rest of
the house is eighteenth century. The original edifice is briefly
described in _The Antient and Present State of the County and City of
Waterford_, by Charles Smith, published in Dublin in 1740, and in _The
History, Topography and Antiquities of the County and City of
Waterford_, by the Rev. R. H. Ryland, published by Murray in 1824. Sir
Marcus, first Earl of Tyrone, and his son, afterwards first Marquess of
Waterford, made considerable additions, which, according to the date
inscribed upon the lead work, were completed in 1771. From the old
keep, transformed into an eighteenth-century entrance hall, a flight of
steps leads to the inner hall, whence a wide staircase rises, following
the walls, and out of which open the reception rooms. These face upon
lawn and fountain and terrace. Over the entrance door are carved the
family coat; {xxii} and the crest of the De la Poers, a stag couchant
bearing a cross upon his forehead, crowns the parapet. Upon the garden
front are sculptured the Beresford shield and their crest, "a dragon's
head erased, the neck pierced with a tilting spear, and holding the
point broken off in the mouth." Motto, _Nil nisi cruce_.
Such was the home of the five brothers, when their father, Lord John dc
la Poer Beresford, in holy orders, succeeded his brother in 1859. Lord
Charles Beresford, who had been for some years at school in England,
joined the Navy in that year. He came to Curraghmore in his brief and
widely spaced intervals of leave, while his brothers came home more
frequently during their vacations. In those days, the stables were
filled with horses, the house was populous with guests; and the great
courtyard in front of the house, now silent, resounded with the cheery
bustle of a jovial company coming and going. All winter the house was
thronged; there was hunting six days in the week; and more than a
hundred horses were stabled at Curraghmore. Lord Charles Beresford has
told how that many a time, when, as a midshipman, he was humping beef
into the blood-boats for the Fleet, did he think not without envy upon
his brothers, each with his two or three hunters, riding to hounds at
Curraghmore.
The house of Beresford derives from the "very old and eminent English
family of Beresford of Beresford, in the county of Stafford," and from
the De la Poers, an ancient Breton family, and their quarterings
include the noble houses of Hamilton, Monck, Carpenter, Plantagenet,
Lastile and Leon, Mortimer, De Burgh, Holland, Wake, Wevill, Beauchamp,
Delaval, Blake. The Beresfords represented the English plantation in
the North of Ireland, until the marriage was made which united them
with De la Poers, who were of the first English plantation in the South.
[Illustration: SIR JOHN DE LA POER BERESFORD, FOURTH MARQUESS OF
WATERFORD, FATHER OF LORD CHARLES BERESFORD. CHRISTINA, WIFE OF THE
FOURTH MARQUESS OF WATERFORD, MOTHER OF LORD CHARLES BERESFORD]
Tristram Beresford came into Ireland in the reign of James I., as
manager of the corporation of Londoners, known as "The Society of the
New Plantation in Ulster." {xxiii} The first Tristram settled at
Coleraine, in county Londonderry. His son, Sir Tristram, first
Baronet, in common with the first created Baronets of Ulster, bore on
his shield the open red hand of Ulster, hitherto borne by the forfeited
O'Neils. Sir Randal, second Baronet, sat in the first Parliament held
after the Restoration.
Sir Tristram, his son, commanded a regiment of foot against King James
II., and was attainted. He it was who married the Hon. Nicola Sophia
Hamilton, concerning whom a legend of the supernatural is current.
Briefly, it is that the friend of her early years, the Earl of Tyrone,
visited her after his death, according to agreement, and, to prove the
reality of his appearance, touched her wrist, shrivelling nerve and
sinew, so that ever afterwards she wore a bracelet of black velvet. A
picture, supposed to represent this lady, hangs in Curraghmore. It
must be said that the evidence of it extant is so highly dubious, that
the story is not worth telling in detail.
Sir Tristram was succeeded by his son, Sir Marcus, fourth Baronet, who
married the Lady Katherine de la Poer, who was Baroness in her own
right. Thus the two houses were conjoined. Lady Katherine was the
only daughter and heiress of James, third and last Earl of Tyrone. She
was allowed the Barony of La Poer in fee by resolution of the Irish
House of Lords, on 16th November 1767. Sir Marcus her husband was
created Earl of Tyrone in 1746. The son of Sir Marcus and Lady
Katherine, George De la Poer, was created Marquess of Waterford in
1789, and Knight of St. Patrick at the Institution of the Order in
1783. First Marquess, he was the first De la Poer Beresford.
The De la Poer, Power, or Poher, family traces its descent from Comorre
I., Count of le Poher, who married the widow of Jonas, King of
Domnonée, and who died A.D. 554. Le Poher was one of the five
independent states of Brittany, of which the others were La Domnonée,
La Cornouailles, Le Vannes, and Le Leon. The genealogy of the Le Poers
is {xxiv} interesting, if only by reason of its romantic names. From
Comorre I., Count of le Poher, descended the Counts Comorre, Erispoë,
Rivallon, Nominoë. Nominoë married one Argantal, defeated Charles the
Bald, drove the Franks out of Brittany, and was proclaimed King of that
country in 841. He was succeeded by his son Erispoë, who married
Mormohec. From the aforesaid Rivallon descended Salomon, who (having
achieved a little murderous intrigue) succeeded King Erispoë, and
married Wembrit. From the brother of Salomon, Mathuedoi, descended
Alain, Count of Vannes and Duke of Brittany, who fought against the
Normans, and who was driven by them to take refuge in England. His son
Alain (called Barbe-torte) returned to Brittany, drove out the Normans
in his turn, and united Le Poer to the Duchy.
From the Pohers, in the female line, descended Arthur, Duke of
Brittany, who was done to death by John, King of England, A.D. 1203.
There is this other link between John of England and the De la Poers,
that in the demesne of Curraghmore an ancient bridge of stone, over
which the English King is said to have passed, spans the river and is
called John's Bridge to this day. From the Duchess Constance, the
mother of Arthur of Brittany, descended the Duchess Anne, who married
King Louis XII. of France. Brittany was thus incorporated in France.
The Pohers seem to have come to England with Duke William of Normandy,
called the Conqueror. In 1066 they are found in Devonshire; and later,
in Leicestershire, Northamptonshire, Shropshire, Warwickshire,
Gloucestershire, Wiltshire, Herefordshire; a fructuous and an
acquisitive clan. They came to Ireland in the reign of the second
Henry: then came Sir Robert, Sir Roger, William and Simon. Sir Roger
helped in the invasion of Ulster. But the founder of the De la Poers
of Curraghmore was Sir Robert, who, in the year 1172, accompanied King
Henry II. as Knight Marshal, and to whom was given by the King, the
town of Waterford and a great parcel of county Waterford.
{xxv}
Towards the end of the sixteenth century, Sir Henry Sidney, in the
course of his account of the province of Munster, communicated to the
Lords of the Council, describes his visit to John, Lord le Poer, who
was born in 1527. "27th Feb., 1575. The day I departed from Waterford
I lodged that night at Curraghmore, the house that Lord Power is baron
of, where I was so used, and with such plenty and good order
entertained (as adding to it the quiet of all the country adjoining, by
the people called Power country, for that surname has been since the
beginning of the Englishman's planting inhabitants there), it may be
well compared with the best ordered country in the English Pale. And
the Lord of the country, though he be of scope of ground a far less
territory than his neighbour is, yet he lives in show far more
honourably and plentifully than he or any other, whatsoever he be, of
his calling that lives in his province."
The "Peerage of Ireland" of 1768 urbanely observes: "It is very
remarkable, that in so long a succession in this family, and in a
country continually disturbed and torn by rebellion and civil wars,
that not one of this family was ever engaged in any rebellion against
the crown of England, nor was there ever a forfeiture in the family
during the space of six hundred years that they have been planted in
Ireland; and they at this day enjoy the family lands, and reside at the
same place they were originally settled in, in the county of Waterford.
In a grant of letters patent from King Charles II. to this Richard,
Lord la Poer, bearing date the 9th May, the twenty-third year of his
reign, there is this recital. That the ancestors of the said Richard,
Lord la Poer, from their first planting in Ireland, for above four
hundred years, had entirely preserved their faith and loyalty to the
crown of England, in consideration therefore," etc.
Sir Tristram Beresford, up in the North, fought against King James
Second; but the De la Poers harboured that monarch; who in the course
of his retreat from Ireland, {xxvi} slept a night at Curraghmore, and
departing thence took ship at Waterford, and was no more seen in Erin.
Sir Marcus, the son of Sir Tristram, as above recited, united the two
houses by marrying the Lady Katherine le Poer; and their descendants,
as in 1768, "at this day enjoy the family lands and reside at the same
place they were originally settled in." The earldom of Tyrone, which
was extinguished by the death of Lady Katherine's father, the third
Earl, was revived in Sir Marcus Beresford. Tracing back the direct
line of the De la Poers of Curraghmore, we find that Nicholas de la
Poer was summoned to Parliament in 1375, in 1378, and in 1383, by the
most ancient writs contained in the Rolls Office in Ireland. This Sir
Nicholas of Curraghmore traced his descent from Brian Boru, King of
Erin, who died in 1014. The line of Irish Kings (as recorded in
_Whitaker's Almanack_) goes back to A.D. 4; and some say much further.
A collateral branch of the De Pohers, or Powers, was the Barons of
Donoyle, or Dunhill, the ruins of whose castle remain to this day. It
was stoutly defended against Cromwell by the Baroness; and, according
to tradition, was betrayed into the hands of the enemy by the
lieutenant of her garrison. These Powers were then transplanted to
Connaught, and their estates were forfeited. Another collateral branch
was the Powers of Knockbrit, county Tipperary. In the year 1789, to
Edmund Power and his wife, who was a daughter of "Buck" Sheehy, was
born Marguerite, who became Lady Blessington. It seems that her
father, "Buck" Power, dissipated his fortune, as the mode was in those
days; that he compelled his daughter to marry one Captain Farmer, who
ill-treated her; that Mrs. Farmer left her husband, came to London with
her brother, was painted by Sir Thomas Lawrence, and, after Farmer's
death, married Lord Blessington. Here is a link with my Lord Byron.
The relation of the De la Poer Beresfords with the Delavals of
Seaton-Delaval in Northumberland, consists in the marriage of Sir Henry
de la Poer, second Marquess {xxvii} (1772-1826), with Lady Susanna
Carpenter, who was the granddaughter of Lord Delaval. Her mother,
daughter of Lord Delaval, married George, second Earl of Tyrconnel.
The Lady Tyrconnel was famed for her beauty. The portrait of her
daughter, Lady Susanna, now at Curraghmore, represents a singularly
beautiful, fair-haired creature, delicately featured, blue-eyed. The
Delavals would seem to have been a high-spirited, reckless, and
spendthrift race. Extravagant entertainments were devised at their
house of Seaton-Delaval, which was built by Sir John Vanbrugh,
playwright and architect. The actor Foote was a friend of the family;
they were devoted to amateur theatricals; and Garrick once lent Drury
Lane Theatre to them. The Delavals were singularly addicted to
practical jokes; a tendency to the same diversion has reappeared in
later generations. Lord Delaval's only son died young, and the title
expired. There is a picture of the sturdy, brown-haired lad at
Curraghmore. It is worth noting that an ancestor of Lady Susanna, and,
therefore, of Lord Charles Beresford, was a naval officer of some
distinction. George Delaval, vice-admiral of the Red, was present at
the action fought off Cape Barfleur in May 1692.
The generation of the second Marquess, he who married the Lady Susanna,
produced an Archbishop: even the Right Honourable and Most Reverend
Lord John George de la Poer Beresford, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate
of all Ireland. He was born in 1773, and died in 1862. Possessing
great wealth, he was known for his immense benefactions. He gave
largely to Dublin University, and to the College of Saint Columba;
restored the Cathedral at Armagh at a cost of £30,000; and augmented
the salaries of his clergy. The bust of this magnificent prelate
stands in the private chapel at Curraghmore. His body is interred in
Armagh Cathedral. The Archbishop bequeathed his Property in county
Cavan to Lord Charles Beresford; the townlands on the estate bearing
such euphonious names as Ballyheady, Corraleehan Beg, Crockawaddy,
{xxviii} Kiltynaskeelan, Derrynacrieve, Gubnagree, Scrabby,
Tullynamoultra.
The third Marquess, Sir Henry de la Poer, having met his death in the
hunting-field, was succeeded in 1859 by his brother, Sir John, who was
Dean and Prebendary of Mullaghbrack, in the Arch-diocese of Armagh. He
married, in 1843, Christina Leslie, daughter of Charles Powell-Leslie.
She was born in 1820, and lived until 1905. The Marchioness learned to
ride when she was between forty and fifty years of age, and speedily
became a noted rider to hounds. Their sons, as before recited, were
Sir John-Henry de la Poer, fifth Marquess of Waterford; Lord Charles,
Lord William, Lord Marcus, and Lord Delaval; of whom Lord Charles and
Lord Marcus survive at the time of writing. Lord Charles was born on
10th February 1846 at Philipstown Glebe, Louth. It was the year of the
great famine; and at Curraghmore, half a regiment was then quartered in
the house.
The fifth Marquess, elder brother of Lord Charles, was succeeded in
1895 by his son, nephew to Lord Charles. The sixth Marquess lost his
life by a sad accident in 1911. The present heir is a minor.
In this chronicle, brief as it is, three notable figures cannot be
omitted: Mr. Commissioner John Beresford, Admiral Sir John Poo
Beresford, and the Marshal. (For information concerning these
worthies, I have drawn upon the _Dictionary of National Biography_.)
John Beresford, whose name is even yet occasionally reproached by the
descendants of his political opponents, was born in 1738, and died in
1805. He was the second son of Marcus, Earl of Tyrone (brother of the
first Marquess) and Lady Katherine, Baroness de la Poer. Appointed
First Commissioner of Revenue in 1780, John Beresford became in fact
ruler of Ireland. He was entrusted by Pitt with the management of all
Irish affairs. Viceroys came and viceroys went, but Beresford
continued to hold a position "greater than that of the Lord Lieutenant
{xxix} himself"; much to the indignation of Lord Fitzwilliam, who, when
he was appointed Lord Lieutenant, permitted himself to address the
First Commissioner in terms so indigestible that Beresford promptly
challenged him. The duel, however, was prevented. John Beresford took
a great part in the preparation and passing of the Act of Union; was
M.P. for Waterford and a Privy Councillor; and did much to improve the
city of Dublin, the fine Custom-house being built under his auspices.
He married Barbara Montgomery, who was one of the "Three Graces" in the
painting done by Sir Joshua Reynolds, now in the National Gallery. The
other two Graces were her sister, Lady Mountjoy, and the Marchioness of
Townshend.
Admiral Sir John Poo Beresford (1768 (?)-1884) was a natural son of the
first Marquess of Waterford. He entered the Royal Navy in 1782; fought
a smart action in the capture of the French store-ships in Hampton
Roads on 17th May 1795; and performed distinguished service in the West
Indies. He took part in the famous eight months' blockade off Ferrol
in 1808, and in the blockade of Lorient, commanding one of those
"weather-beaten ships upon which the Grand Army never looked." In 1810
he was co-operating off Lisbon with Wellington's army, with which his
younger brother the Marshal, in command of the Portuguese Army, was
also co-operating. He represented in Parliament, in succession,
Coleraine, Berwick, Northallerton, and Chatham. In 1835 he was Junior
Lord of the Admiralty. His career, a combination of fighting seaman,
member of Parliament, and Junior Lord, presents a singular resemblance
to the career of his relative, Lord Charles Beresford.
Marshal Beresford, or, more precisely, General Viscount William Carr
Beresford, was born in 1768 and died, full of years and honours, in
1854. Son of the first Marquess, he also, like the Admiral, bore the
bar sinister on his escutcheon. As captain of the 69th Regiment, he
was with Lord Hood at Toulon in 1793, and commanded the storming party
at the tower of Martello. He was present at the {xxx} captures of
Bastia, Calvi, and San Fiorenzo. After service in India, Beresford's
brigade led the march across the desert in the Egyptian campaign of
1801. Eighty-four years later, his relative, Captain Lord Charles
Beresford, took his Naval Brigade across the desert with Sir Herbert
Stewart's forlorn hope.
Beresford was present at the capture of Cape Colony under Baird in
1805. Then he went up to Buenos Ayres, and with 1200 men took that
place from the Spanish. After three days' hard fighting, Beresford was
driven out of Buenos Ayres by an overwhelming force. Then he went with
Sir Arthur Wellesley to Portugal; where he commanded two brigades under
Sir John Moore. In the terrible winter retreat to Corunna, Beresford's
brigade, told off to assist the rescue, was constantly engaged with the
French vanguard. At Corunna, Beresford fought on the English left,
achieving the greatest distinction.
In 1809, at the request of the Portuguese Government, Beresford was
appointed to reorganise the Portuguese Army. Gifted with that
marvellous capacity for handling men and for organisation, which
Irishmen of English descent sometimes combine with a reckless
gallantry, Beresford speedily transformed an ill-found, insubordinate
mob into an efficient, well-fed, fighting force. He knew how to
establish obedience to discipline, together with the confidence that
good conduct would be rewarded; or, in Lord Charles Beresford's phrase,
he coupled "commendation with condemnation." The Portuguese Government
made him marshal in the Portuguese Army while he was lieutenant-general
in the British Army; nor did the annoyance discovered by British
officers at the double rank, which gave Wellington trouble, perturb the
Marshal in the least. His Portuguese fought well alongside the English
at Busaco, an action which earned Beresford the K.C.B. and other
decorations.
He won the battle of Albuera, defeating Soult, though not without heavy
losses. The victory was said to be due {xxxi} to the action of one of
his Staff, rather than to Beresford's tactics; a good deal of
controversy was waged on the subject, in which the Marshal, after his
retirement, took a vigorous part; but the fact remains that Albuera was
won.
Beresford was present at the tremendous siege of Badajoz and at the
battle of Salamanca, at which he was severely wounded. He speedily
recovered, and fought at Vittoria in 1813, in the battles of the
Pyrenees, and in the battles of Nivelle, Nive, and Arthez. He then
returned to Portugal to command the Portuguese Army; so that he was not
present at Waterloo. At the conclusion of the war he was created
Baron. He left Portugal in 1822, and took his seat in the House of
Lords, where he was a sturdy supporter of the policy of the Duke of
Wellington. In 1828 he was appointed Master-General of Ordnance. In
1830 he retired.
Wellington wrote of the Marshal in 1812: "All that I can tell you is
that the ablest man I have yet seen with the army, and that one having
the largest views, is Beresford ... he is the only person capable of
conducting a large concern." And upon another occasion, Wellington
affirmed that if he were removed by death or illness, he would
recommend Beresford to succeed him, not because he was a great general,
but because he alone could "feed an army."
General Lord Beresford married the Hon. Louisa Hope, his first cousin,
daughter of the Most Rev. William Beresford, Archbishop of Tuam and
Lord Decies, and widow of Thomas Hope, author of _Anastatius_. His
stepson was A. T. Beresford-Hope, sometime member for Cambridge
University.
In 1824 the Marshal purchased the ancestral estate of the Beresfords in
Staffordshire. His portrait, which bears a singular resemblance to
Lord Charles, hangs in Curraghmore. It depicts a burly, martial
figure, gorgeous in full uniform, with a broad, jovial, open
countenance, and a bold blue eye, head thrown back, and a vast spread
of chest and {xxxii} shoulder. Endowed with extraordinary physical
strength, he was a born fighter, a great administrator, a big,
warm-hearted, quick-tempered, irrepressible Beresford.
The formal list of his titles is: Viscount and Baron in the peerage of
England, Duke of Elvas in the peerage of Spain, Conde de Trancoso in
the peerage of Portugal, K.C.B., etc., colonel-in-chief 60th Rifles,
colonel 16th Regiment, general in the English Army, marshal in the
Portuguese Army.
The generations pass: the House remains. The House of de la Poer
Beresford derives, from among other sources innumerable, from the
Counts of Brittany, in the sixth century; from Brian Boru, King of
Ireland, in the eleventh; from the Beresfords, that "very old and
eminent English family," Norman in origin; from the Delavals of
Northumberland, whose forefathers fought in the Crusades. This is the
virtue of ancient lineage: that from generation to generation, an
honourable tradition of service, of peculiar obligation, gathers
reinforcement. Every scion of the House is judged by the stern company
of his forefathers; who, together with his dower of body and of mind
and heritage of land or wealth, bequeath him warning or example. No
traffic in titles can purchase that unique inheritance, nor can any
forfeiture of material possessions diminish its essential value.
L.C.C.
{1}
THE MEMOIRS OF ADMIRAL
LORD CHARLES BERESFORD
CHAPTER I
I SEE THE FLEET
I saw the Navy for the first time in the year 1858, when I was twelve
years old. The Channel Squadron came into the Downs; the admiral, who
was a friend of my father, invited me to visit his flagship. The
admiral put off from Deal in a six-oared galley, and I was taken into a
second boat. Both crews began to pull with all their might. I
remember being intensely excited, beating with my hand on the gunwale
and urging the men to row faster. We were overhauling the admiral,
when the boat in which I was slackened her pace.
"Row!" I shouted. "Why don't you go on rowing?"
"We can't pass the admiral, sir," said the coxswain. And that was my
first lesson in naval etiquette.
As we drew near to the ships, there arose a great tumult of shouting,
and I could see the men running to and fro and racing aloft, and
presently they stood in rows along the yards, manning yards in honour
of the arrival of the admiral.
The neatness and order of the stately ships, the taut rigging, the
snowy sails, the ropes coiled down neatly on deck: these things left an
abiding impression upon my youthful mind.
{2}
It was in the winter of the same year, 1858-9, that a certain young
soldier, who had fought throughout the Indian Mutiny with great
gallantry and conspicuous ability, came to his home in County Waterford
on his first furlough. He was Lieutenant Roberts, V.C.; now
Field-Marshal Earl Roberts of Kandahar.
"During the winter months," he writes, "I hunted with the Curraghmore
hounds, and was out with them the day before Lord Waterford was killed.
We had no run, and at the end of the day, when wishing us good-bye, he
said 'I hope, gentlemen, we shall have better luck next time.' 'Next
time' there was 'better luck' as regarded the hunting, but the worst of
all possible luck for Lord Waterford's numerous friends; in returning
home after a good run, and having killed two foxes, his horse stumbled
over quite a small ditch, throwing his rider on his head; the spinal
cord was snapped, and the fine sportsman breathed his last in a few
moments." (_Forty-one years in India_. By Field-Marshal Lord Roberts
of Kandahar. Bentley. 2 vols. London, 1897, p. 451, vol. 1.)
My father, the Rev. Lord John Beresford, succeeded to the marquisate.
In the same year, 1859, I joined the Naval Service. I remember, some
years afterwards, thinking with some degree of envy of my two younger
brothers, each of whom had three hunters, while I was only the
"blood-boat" (the jolly-boat bringing beef to the ship) midshipman of a
man-of-war.
At that time the Navy consisted of both sailing ships and steamships.
Steam was used as seldom as possible in those ships which were fitted
with masts and yards. The flagships of the Cape of Good Hope, East
Indies and China, South-east Coast of America, Pacific and North
America and West Indies stations were all sailing ships. The Navy List
of 1859 gives the names of no less than 548 "effective" ships, together
with a list of 185 "steam gunboats" and a list of 121 vessels employed
in Harbour Service.
That there was so large a number of "steam gunboats" {3} was the result
of the Crimean war, during which very many were built for service in
the Baltic. There is a story that an admiral returning from foreign
service noticed eight gunboats aground on the Spit. Upon his inquiry,
he was informed by one of his crew that they were "commanded by these
old Baltic War mates and second masters, the sort what knows nothing
and fears nothing." But of the sailing master there will be more to
say.
The line-of-battle sailing ships which were flagships on naval stations
abroad were:--the _Boscawen_, 70 guns, Rear-Admiral Hon. Sir Frederick
W. Grey, Cape of Good Hope; _Calcutta_, 84, Rear-Admiral Sir Michael
Seymour, East Indies and China; _Cumberland_, 70, Rear-Admiral Sir
Stephen Lushington, S.E. Coast of America; _Ganges_, 84, Rear-Admiral
R. L. Baynes, Pacific; _Hibernia_, 104, Rear-Admiral H. J. Codrington,
Malta; _Indus_, 78, Vice-Admiral Sir Houston Stewart, North America and
West Indies.
The number of ships distributed among the various stations in 1859 was
no less than 130. "Trade follows the flag."
East Indies and China . . . . . . . 36
Pacific . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12
W. Coast of Africa . . . . . . . . 17
N. America and W. Indies . . . . . 14
S.E. Coast of America . . . . . . . 13
Mediterranean . . . . . . . . . . . 22
Cape of Good Hope . . . . . . . . . 5
Australia . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
River Gambia . . . . . . . . . . . 1
Channel . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
---
Total 130
===
The presence of so large a force in Chinese waters was due to the
affair of "the lorcha _Arrow_," which occurred on 8th October, 1856, in
the Canton River. The _Arrow_, a small vessel flying the British flag,
was captured by the Chinese authorities and the crew were arrested on a
charge of piracy. In the result, Admiral Sir Michael Seymour bombarded
{4} Canton. Operations were suspended during the Indian Mutiny, to be
resumed in 1858, with the assistance of France. Canton was captured,
and the treaty of Tien-Tsin was concluded with China. It was not,
however, ratified, and in June, 1859--six months before I entered the
Navy--hostilities were resumed, to terminate in the burning of the
Summer Palace at Pekin, and the subsequent signing of a convention.
{5}