SERVICES OF THE REGIMENT, 1858–63
[Sidenote: 1858.]
An expedition was organized for the reduction of the fortress of Awah,
and two companies of the regiment having joined it, about 1000 men of
all arms, with some siege guns, arrived before Awah on the 19th January.
Batteries were constructed, and their fire was warmly replied to by the
enemy; an assault was arranged for the morning of the 24th January,
but, favoured by a night of intense darkness and a heavy thunderstorm,
the enemy evacuated the fortress during the night of the 23rd, about 50
of their number being killed, or taken by the picquets. Thirteen guns
were taken in the place. The defences and fortified palace were mined
and destroyed. The detachment had two men wounded.
Colonel Trydell and Lieutenant-Colonel Kelsall having proceeded to
England, the command of the regiment devolved on Major Steele on the
24th February, 1858.
On the 8th March the regiment was joined by a draft of 152 men from
England commanded by Captain Wright.
SIEGE AND CAPTURE OF KOTAH
The strongly fortified city of Kotah on the River Chumbul had been
for many months held by a formidable insurgent force. Major-General
Roberts, of the Honourable East India Company’s Army, commanding in
Rajpootana, now moved against it from Nusseerabad, with two strong
brigades; the 1st marching on the 10th March. With this brigade were
three companies of the regiment, under the command of Captain (Brevet
Lieutenant-Colonel) Heatly.
The 2nd Brigade, commanded by Colonel Parke, of the 72nd Highlanders,
to which the head-quarters of the regiment (strength 11 officers and
300 men) was attached, moved from Nusseerabad on the 11th March. The
whole force comprised H.M.’s 8th Hussars, a company of Royal Engineers,
the 72nd, 83rd, and 95th Regiments, a numerous force of native
cavalry and infantry, a siege-train of 18 heavy guns and mortars,
also 3 troops and batteries of horse and foot artillery of the Hon.
Company’s service--about 4500 of all arms. The force encamped on the
22nd March before the city, on the opposite bank of the River Chumbul;
the regiment furnished the usual working parties, trench and battery
guards, outlying picquets, etc., until the 25th of the month, when,
the capture by the enemy of the Rajah’s palace, which was held by
our troops, being imminent, 200 men of the detachment of H.M.’s 83rd
Regiment, with the 1st Brigade, were directed to cross the river, with
other troops, for its protection; this detachment sustained a loss of
3 men killed and 5 non-commissioned officers and men wounded in the
following three days, in which some vigorous assaults by the enemy were
repulsed with heavy loss in killed and wounded. On the 30th the city
was taken, having been entered by three columns of assault, the centre
column being led by the head-quarters division of the 83rd Regiment,
under Lieutenant-Colonel Steele; the detachment of the 83rd with the
1st Brigade, commanded by Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Heatly, was in
reserve, and entered the city later in the day. The regiment sustained
a loss of 1 man killed and 6 wounded. The enemy abandoned their
defences and retired towards Gwalior, having sustained a considerable
loss in the siege and assault; about 80 guns were taken in the city,
with large magazines of ammunition and supplies.
Having remained encamped before Kotah till the 18th April, the
besieging force was broken up, and the regiment marched on return to
Nusseerabad, arriving there on the 29th. The usual relief of detachment
of one company in the fort of Ajmere took place on the 3rd May.
Enfield rifles were issued to the regiment at this time; the
waist-belt, with small pouch in front, had been supplied to the
regiment in supersession of the old cross-belts about one year
previously.
Lieutenant-Colonel Kelsall having retired on full pay, Major Steele
succeeded to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel of the regiment on the 13th
April, 1858.
On the 23rd May, the two companies which had been on detachment at
Neemuch, under command of Major Austen, since December, rejoined the
head-quarters of the regiment.
About the middle of June, the decisive successes of the division of
the army commanded by Major-General H. Rose having caused the rebel
army to evacuate the Gwalior territory, a very numerous hostile force,
estimated at 10,000 men, crossed the River Chumbul, and entered the
territory of the Rajah of Jeypoor, who had always displayed friendly
feelings towards the British Government. A considerable force, about
2500 strong, of which the head-quarters and 600 of the 83rd composed
a part, was placed under orders for field service in consequence,
and marched from Nusseerabad on the 28th June, under command of
Major-General Roberts. On the 3rd July this force arrived within
one march of the city of Jeypoor, which was in imminent danger from
the advance of the rebel army. On the approach of General Roberts’s
division, the enemy, changing their direction, moved southwards and
attacked the capital of the Rajah of Tonk, which was occupied and
partially plundered by them. The Rajah retired to his fortified palace,
and offered all the resistance in his power to their assaults. A
portion of his troops, however, proved faithless, and joined the enemy,
giving up to them the guns which had been in their charge.
General Roberts’s advance by forced marches caused the rebels to retire
from before Tonk, and a considerable portion of the British force was
detached in pursuit in a south-easterly direction; about 900 men,
including the 83rd Regiment, remaining under the personal command
of the general. The weather was at this time extremely hot, and the
exposure consequent on the urgent duties in which the force was engaged
proved fatal to many of the soldiers composing it. Six men of the 83rd
died from sunstroke between the 7th and 10th July.
The enemy, pressed upon by the detached column, changed their line of
march towards the west, and General Roberts, still moving by forced
marches, succeeded in coming up with them late on the evening of the
8th August. They were seen formed in great force near the village of
Sanganeer--the number was estimated at 8000 men, two-thirds of whom
were cavalry. The regiment at once advanced to the attack under a heavy
fire from the artillery of the enemy, which, however, being directed
too high, did no execution, while many of the rebels were killed and
wounded by the rifles of the 83rd. Darkness, however, coming on,
enabled the enemy to retire and withdraw the whole of their guns. The
force had marched this day thirty miles, and bivouacked on the spot,
having far outmarched their tents and baggage. Waiting one day to allow
the column which had been detached from Tonk to join him, General
Roberts’s force moved on the 10th August in pursuit of the enemy. This
brigade had been reinforced by the junction of one troop of Bombay
Horse Artillery, a squadron of the 8th Royal Irish Hussars, a squadron
of Native Light Cavalry, 4 companies 72nd Highlanders, and a Sepoy
Regiment of the Bombay army, as well as by a strong body of Belooch
horsemen.
A very persevering pursuit now took place on the track of the rebel
army, the outpost picquets of which were surprised and cut to pieces on
more than one occasion. At about 7 a.m. on the 14th August, the enemy
were seen moving in heavy masses, of horse and foot, on the further
bank of the Bunnass River, their line of movement being covered by
their artillery, which was posted in a battery on the crest of a rising
ground close to the village of Kottaria; only waiting to form and load,
the force at once advanced towards the river, the 83rd Regiment leading
in a double column of sub-divisions from its centre. The enemy’s guns
opened with round and grape, and were instantly vigorously engaged by
the British Horse Artillery, and the fire on both sides was for a time
extremely heavy. The 83rd, forming line, crossed the river, meeting but
little resistance, and the enemy, abandoning their guns, retired with
precipitation. The cavalry charged amongst the retreating artillerymen
and infantry, and the pursuit was continued for some miles, very great
numbers of the rebels falling under their sabres, while the fugitives
seeking shelter in the groves and copse-wood were destroyed by our
infantry. In the evening the force returned and encamped near Kottaria,
having sustained only the small loss of 22 killed and wounded, while
fully 1000 of the rebels were left dead on the field, and 4 guns, with
their ammunition, and many elephants and camels laden with stores,
were captured. The enemy’s flight did not cease till they had crossed
the Chumbul and entirely evacuated Rajpootana. The force returned
northwards by easy marches, and the regiment reoccupied its former
quarters in the camp at Nusseerabad on the 29th of August.
On the 4th October the first half-yearly inspection of the regiment
which had taken place since April, 1857, was made by Major-General
Roberts, commanding Rajpootana Field Force, who was pleased to issue
a highly complimentary order to the regiment on this occasion.
Lieutenant-Colonel Steele was commanding and Lieutenant J. N. Colthurst
was adjutant.
[Sidenote: 1858.]
By order of her Majesty, published 18th August, 1858, a medal and
clasp was granted to all the troops engaged in field service in the
repression of the mutinies in India, and lists of those so entitled in
the regiment were forwarded on the 3rd and 4th November, 1858.
By order of the Governor-General in Council, dated 29th September,
1858, a donation of six months’ full batta was granted to all officers
and men who had served with the Rajpootana Field Force.
On October 26th, 1858, Colonel Botet Trydell was promoted
to major-general, and Major C. W. Austen succeeded to the
lieutenant-colonelcy in the regiment.
Major-General Trydell served in the 83rd for a period of fifty-four
years. He was present with the 1st Battalion at the taking of the Cape
of Good Hope in 1806, including the battle of Blueberg; and also in
Ceylon through the Kandyan rebellion.
Lieutenant-Colonel Steele having proceeded to England early in the
month of December, 1858, the command of the regiment devolved on
Lieutenant-Colonel Austen, the second lieutenant-colonel. On the 17th
of this month, a field force was formed at Nusseerabad under the
personal command of Brigadier Honner, commanding Rajpootana Field
Force, consisting of the head-quarters of the 83rd Regiment, 500
strong, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel C. Austen, with a troop and
a half-battery of artillery, a considerable force of cavalry of the 8th
Hussars and 1st Lancers, and the 12th Regiment N. I. The force marched
to Sanganeer on the Neemuch road, arriving there on the 21st. On the
23rd the head-quarters of the 83rd, 300 strong, with the 12th Regiment
N. I., and half a battery, were ordered back to Nusseerabad, arriving
there on the 27th. Three companies under Lieutenant-Colonel Heatly,
consisting of 200 men, remained with the brigade under Brigadier Honner.
[Sidenote: 1859.]
Early in the month of January, 1859, intelligence having been received
that the rebel force was again moving on Tonk, with the intention of
reaching Jeypoor, the head-quarters of the 83rd, with 300 men, part
of the 12th Regiment N. I., and half a battery of artillery, the
whole under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Holmes, proceeded on
the 8th in an easterly direction to Diggee, to cover the road from
Tonk to Jeypoor. Having received information that Tonk was threatened,
the force marched through Tonk to Bamboor on the 11th; here it was
discovered that the rebels had passed by, and the force accordingly
marched the following day (twenty-two miles) in a north-east route to
Jullai. Finding that the rebels had only left that morning, and were
encamped at Chatsoo, twenty-two miles distant, the force marched again
that night, arriving at Chatsoo before daybreak. The rebels had just
left when the brigade of Brigadier Showers--chiefly cavalry--having
come up, continued the pursuit. Colonel Holmes’s force then marched
on Jeypoor, arriving there on the 17th and leaving on the 18th, and
after four days’ severe marching through deep sand, came up with the
rebel force at “Seekur” at 4 a.m., having during the last thirty hours
accomplished a march of fifty-two miles. The moon was just setting when
our troops surprised the rebel camp, and owing to the darkness and
precipitation with which the rebels fled, together with our deficiency
of cavalry, our troops were unable to inflict any serious loss on them.
About 80 were killed, 50 taken prisoners, and many horses and camels.
The force halted at Seekur for one day, having during the previous
thirteen days marched a distance of 292 miles. After this, the force
proceeded in combination with other columns to harass the rebels, and
marched over a great part of Jeypoor and Joudpoor, arriving finally on
the 18th February at Suget on the road between Nusseerabad and Deesa.
Information having been here received that the rebels had escaped
through a pass in the hills, the force, after a halt of four days,
returned to Nusseerabad, arriving there on the 1st March.
The field force, under Brigadier Honner, to which were attached 200 men
of the 83rd Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Heatly, also returned on
the 1st March, having been in the field since the 14th December, during
which period they traversed 995 miles of country; and on one occasion,
in attempting to surprise the rebels, they marched forty-four miles
in twenty-four hours. In the pursuit of the rebels, terminating in
the affair of Kosana, Brigadier Honner’s force marched 130 miles, over
tracts of deep, heavy land, in four days. The 83rd detachment in this
last pursuit, consisting of 9 sergeants, 4 corporals, 1 drummer, and
119 privates, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Heatly, with Captain
Marsh, Lieutenants Onslow and Huyshe, were mounted on camels. Their
services during the operations terminating in the defeat of the rebels
at “Koshana” are honourably mentioned in Brigadier Honner’s despatch.
In the summer of 1859 a letter was addressed by the Earl of Howth,
Lord-Lieutenant of the county of Dublin, to General Sir Frederick
Stovin, G.C.B. and K.C.M.G., the colonel of the regiment, which is
subjoined:--
“HOWTH CASTLE, _July 28th, 1859_.
“SIR,--An application has been made to me by
Lieutenant-Colonel Steele, of the 83rd Regiment, in my capacity
of the Lord-Lieutenant of the county of Dublin, to give the
assistance of my sanction and co-operation in forwarding an
application from him as commanding officer of the 83rd Regiment,
that the distinctive appellation of the ‘County of Dublin’
Regiment may be conferred upon that corps. Lieutenant-Colonel
Steele has suggested that I should communicate with you as
the colonel of the 83rd on the subject of his wishes, and I
accordingly beg to do so. Lieutenant-Colonel Steele accompanied
his application to me by an extract from the records of the 83rd
Regiment, and it most plainly appears that the regiment was
raised in the county of Dublin in the year 1793, under a letter
of service granted to its first lieutenant-colonel commandant,
William Fitch, who was killed at the head of the regiment in the
Maroon war, in the island of Jamaica, three years afterwards.
It further appears from its records that the 83rd Regiment has
seen much active foreign service, and has been distinguished
by its discipline and valour in many parts of the world, and
recently in the suppression of the mutiny in India, where it is
at present serving.
“Under these circumstances, and having regard to the fact that
the regiment was originally raised exclusively in the county of
Dublin, I have much pleasure in expressing my concurrence in the
application made by Lieutenant-Colonel Steele on the part of his
regiment. I consider that it would be creditable to the county
of Dublin, that a regiment raised in it, and of whose services
it may be very justly proud, should be distinguished by its
name, and I give this letter to Lieutenant-Colonel Steele for
conveyance to you, in the hope that it may aid in inducing his
Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief to recommend to her
Majesty that the title of the ‘County of Dublin’ Regiment may be
conferred on the 83rd.
“I have the honour, etc.,
“(Signed) HOWTH.
“To General Sir F. Stovin, G.C.B. and K.C.M.G.,
Colonel 83rd Regiment.”
This application was brought to the notice of his Royal Highness the
Duke of Cambridge, Commander-in-Chief of the Army, by Sir F. Stovin,
and the title of the “County of Dublin” Regiment was conferred on the
83rd.
The following letter from the Adjutant-General reached the regiment at
Nusseerabad on the 19th December, 1859, just sixty-seven years after
the regiment had been raised in the county of Dublin:--
“HORSE GUARDS, S.W., _October 29th, 1859_.
“SIR,--By desire of his Royal Highness the General
Commanding-in-Chief, I have the honour to acquaint you that
her Majesty has been graciously pleased to authorize the 83rd
Regiment, which was raised principally from recruits obtained
in Ireland in 1793, and embodied in Dublin in that year, being
designated the 83rd (County of Dublin) Regiment.
“I have the honour, etc.,
“(Signed) W. F. FORSTER, D.A.-Gen.”
[Sidenote: 1860.]
The regiment remained at Nusseerabad and Ajmere till the end of
February, 1860, when they were ordered to proceed to Belgaum, in the
southern Mahratta country; and the head-quarters division, commanded
by Lieutenant-Colonel Austen, marched on the 17th February, reached
Cambay, distant 390 miles, on the 30th March, and proceeded by sea
to Vingorla, on the Malabar coast, whence they marched to Belgaum,
arriving there on the 16th April.
The left wing moved on the 30th March, under command of Captain
Baumgartner, and had a trying march in very hot weather, during which
they lost an officer (Lieutenant Colebrook) and several men from
cholera. They proceeded from Cambay by sea to Wagotna, and marched to
Kolapore, where they remained on detachment under command of Captain E.
B. Cooke.
A highly complimentary farewell order was issued to the regiment on the
occasion of its ceasing to belong to the Rajpootana Field Force, by
Brigadier Honner, C.B., commanding in Malwa and Rajpootana.
Lieutenant-Colonel Austen was then in command of the regiment.
The half-yearly inspection of the regiment was made by Brigadier Adams,
C.B., commanding the southern Mahratta division, on the 7th
November, 1860, at Belgaum.
The wing of the regiment which had been on detachment at Kolapore since
May, 1860, joined head-quarters on November 27th, 1860.
[Sidenote: 1861.]
The medals awarded by her Majesty to the officers and men who had been
engaged with the enemy during the Indian Mutiny were received from the
Adjutant-General, Horse Guards, on 2nd February, 1861, and on 11th
February they were presented to those entitled to them on a parade
of the garrison of Belgaum by Miss Straith, the step-daughter of the
brigadier commanding.
The officers of the regiment who were presented with the Indian war
medal were:--
Lieut.-Col. Steele, C.B.
Lieut.-Col. Heatly.
Captain Pigott.
Lieut.-Col. C. W. Austen.
Captain Wright.
Captain Wakefield.
Captain Minhear.
Captain Meurant.
Captain Baumgartner.
Captain Gandy.
Captain Gore.
Captain Molony.
Adjutant J. N. Colthurst.
Lieutenant Browne.
Lieutenant Wardell.
Lieutenant Onslow.
Lieutenant Karslake.
Lieutenant Healy.
Lieutenant Coote.
Lieutenant Beazley.
Lieutenant Huyshe.
Lieutenant Pennefather.
Lieutenant Anderson.
Paymaster Swinburne.
Assistant-Surgeon Touch.
Assistant-Surgeon W. Sharp.
Quartermaster Hayes.
Captain Sprot.
Lieutenant-Colonel Steele, who had commanded the regiment in several
engagements in the early part of the Mutiny, had been decorated by her
Majesty with the insignia of a Companion of the Bath for his services.
The half-yearly inspection of the regiment was made by Brigadier Adams,
C.B., commanding the southern Mahratta division on April 25th,
1861.
A frock of scarlet serge, and a wicker helmet covered with grey linen,
with a turban round it, were ordered to be adopted by the regiments in
India, in supersession of the shell jacket and chaco hitherto worn, and
the regiment was provided with them accordingly about this time.
Intimation was received in August that the regiment was to embark for
England in the approaching cold season. On the 18th November, his
Excellency Lieutenant-General Sir William Mansfield, K.C.B.,
Commander-in-Chief of the Bombay presidency, having visited Belgaum
on a tour of inspection, went through the barracks of the regiment,
and afterwards reviewed the 83rd on a brigade field-day, at the
conclusion of which he was pleased to make a speech to the regiment,
in which he expressed his approbation of the state of the corps in the
strongest terms; his Excellency used the words that “he never in the
course of his service had seen a regiment in higher order, and that
he should not fail to report accordingly to his Royal Highness the
Commander-in-Chief.”
Immediately afterwards the regiment was permitted by general order to
give volunteers for further service in India to every regiment serving
there, and a number of non-commissioned officers and men, as per
margin,[19] having volunteered to other regiments, were struck off the
strength of the 83rd from the 19th December, 1861.
[Sidenote: 1862.]
The regiment commenced its march to the coast on the 22nd January,
1862, and reached Vingorla on the 29th of that month, where they were
encamped till the 5th of February, on which day the regiment, under
command of Lieutenant-Colonel Steele, C.B., embarked in the
hired transport _King Lear_; the ship sailed the same evening for
Plymouth.
During the service of the regiment in India of 12½ years, it lost by
deaths 18 officers, 30 sergeants, 417 rank and file; and 51 sergeants
and 629 rank and file were invalided.
The _King Lear_ anchored in Table Bay, Cape of Good Hope, on the
morning of the 18th March, and having obtained supplies sailed again
for Gravesend, where the regiment disembarked on the 21st May, 1862,
and proceeded to Dover on the same day by rail, and was quartered in
the citadel.
The regiment was soon afterwards inspected by Brigadier-General
Garvock, commanding at Dover, and by Major-General Hon. A. A. Dalzell,
commanding the division.
Lieutenant-Colonel Edward Steele, C.B., sold out of the regiment on the
29th July, after a service of twenty-eight years in the 83rd. He died
in London on the 6th August, only eight days after he had been gazetted
out.
Major A. Barnard Hankey succeeded to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the
regiment.
In August the regiment was reviewed by Lieutenant-General Viscount
Melville, K.C.B., who commanded it for several years in Canada
and England.
Several drafts of recruits, both officers and men, joined head-quarters
from the depôt at Chatham, and brought up the strength of the regiment,
which had been reduced to a mere skeleton by the volunteering at
Belgaum, and the discharge of many men on its arrival at Dover.
In October the regiment was inspected on the Castle Hill parade
ground by H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge, Commander-in-Chief, who, in a
complimentary speech, expressed his approval of its appearance, and of
the rapid manner in which the regiment had been brought forward since
its arrival in England.
In October a large number of the men were sent up to see the Great
Exhibition of 1862 by the officers.
[Sidenote: 1863.]
The 83rd remained quartered at Dover until the 23rd April, when
it marched to the camp at Shorncliffe, where it relieved the 69th
Regiment, which had been sent to the Cape, and was quartered in C lines.
In May the regiment was inspected by Brigadier-General Sutton,
Lieutenant-Colonel Hankey commanding.