Extract
from Her Majesty’s Army
by Walter Richards.
The Border Regiment
The Border Regiment (Regimental District 34), which is the next
in order, is composed of the 34th and 55th
Regiments. The 34th, constituting the first battalion, was
raised in 1702 from the counties of Norfolk and Essex, the first colonel
being Robert, Lord Lucas, by whose name it was for some time known. In 1705 the regiment was one of those forming the expedition
under the Earl of Peterborough, which in May of that year sailed from
England on board the fleet commanded by Sir Cloudesley Shovel a name
which, thanks to the sculptor’s disregard of the unities, invariably
recalls the monument in Westminster Abbey, where the gallant sailor is
in the “combination costume of Roman armour and flowing periwig.
The first part of their service was light: garrisons capitulated
obligingly and worst places for a peaceful sojourn might well have been
found than the sunny plains and historical cities of “pleasant
Spain.” But the following
year the work became sterner, and when the enemy attempted to retake
Barcelona the 34th gave ample proof that their military
vigour remained unimpaired by their Capua-like residence.
An official record states, supported by two bodies of horse, on
the weakest and most westerly part of the outworks, and where were only
one hundred English of Hamilton’s (the 34th) Regiment, who
had that very morning come upon duty, from travelling forty leagues in
the two foregoing days, upon mules; notwithstanding all which they
fairly repulsed the enemy.” During
the siege the 34th suffered considerable loss. After this they were engaged in the campaign under
Marlborough, and at the siege of Douay lost no less than eighty-two of
all ranks killed, and one hundred and thirty wounded.
Passing over the following years, during many of which the
regiment shared in the active operations of the war, we come to Fontenoy
(1745), which, ungratifying as the battle and its causes are generally,
the 34th can look back on with unmixed pride, for in
recognition of its gallant bearing and valuable services on the retreat,
the laurel wreath is borne on its accoutrements.
About this period the uniform was the familiar three-cornered
hat, scarlet coats faced and lined with bright yellow, scarlet
waistcoats, and breeches and white gaiters. The 34th experienced the privations and shared in
the honour of the defence of Fort St. Philip, where the four regiments
defended the fort from April till the end of June in such wise to gain
from the foe-when capitulation became inevitable-the following
exceptional tribute: “The noble and vigorous defence which the English
have made having deserved all the marks of esteem and veneration which
every military man ought to show actions, and Marshal Richelieu being
desirous also to show General Blakeney the regard due to the defence he
has made, grants to the garrison all the honours of war they can enjoy
under the circumstances of going out for an embarkation, to wit:
firelocks on their shoulders, drums beating, colours flying, twenty
cartridges each man, and also lighted matches.
He consents also that General Blackeney and his garrison carry
away all the effects that belong to them.”
The 34th shared in this expedition against St. Malo
and Cherbourg, fought with signal credit in the Havannah, and after a
well-earned period of rest gained additional renown in the war in
Canada. In 1782 they
assumed the title of the 34th or Cumberland Regiment, and
“a connection, or mutual attachment, between the corps and that
country” was directed to be cultivated.
In 1795 the 34th were ordered to the West Indies,
where they remained till the middle of the following year, having
experienced much severe service, and having earned the praise of the
Commander-in-Chief and the thanks of the inhabitants for the bravery of
their conduct. In 1800 they went to the Cape, and two years later to the
East Indies, where in the years to come they were to do such signal
service. In 1805 a second
battalion was formed, which gained for the regiment the honours of the
peninsular war, while the first battalion were employed in India.
The whole record of that peninsular struggle is a proud one for
the 34th. At
Albuera they lost thirty-three killed and ninety-five wounded-amongst
the former Ensign Sarsfield, who parted with the colours at the same
moment only that he said good-bye to life, At Aroyo dos Molinos Sergeant
Simpson of this regiment captured the brass drums and drum-major’s
staff belonging to the French 34th Regiment of the line.
According to a popular and often most trustworthy narrative, the
French, when they discovered the coincidence, surrendered without more
ado, and embracing the officers of the hostile regiment, thus addressed
them: “Ah, messieurs, nous sommes des freres, nous sommes du
trente-quatreime regiment, tous les deux. Vous etes des braves. Les
Anglais se batten toujours avec loyaute, et traitent bien leurs
prisonniers.” The
anecdote is at any rate ben trovato.
At Vittoria, where the regiment was with Rowland Hill, they did
sterling service. At
Aretesque-one of the encounters included in the designation
“Pyrenees”-their conduct was gallant in the extreme and their loss
proportionately heavy. Captain
J. Wyatt, when cheering on his men-the 34th led the
charge-“fell pierced with many bullets the instant he gained the
summit, and nearly every man of the leading section met the same
fate.” Out of five
hundred and thirty men engaged, the regiment lost three officers and
thirty-seven rank and files killed, four officers and fifty-five
wounded, and four officers and seventy-nine rank and files taken
prisoners. After the
Peninsular war a period of comparative inactivity-so far as actual
warfare was concerned-fell to the lot of the 34th, though
their duties took them to divers quarters of the world.
When the Crimea gave anew the call to arms, the 34th
joined the British army in December, 1854-a period when the mere sight
of the state of things “at the front” was enough to appal the
boldest. “When the new
regiments landed they marched in with the pomp of war, forming a strange
contrast to the gaunt, bearded, and tattered men who welcomed them.
But in a few weeks the glitter was gone; their uniforms were as
torn, worn, and daubed with the mud of the trenches as those of the
older Crimean men; and hunger, cold, cholera, and fever soon destroyed
many ere they could cross their bayonets with the Russians.
The days and nights were simply horrible!
The troops shivered there for twenty-four hours at a time, often
amid mud that rose nearly to the knee, and as winter drew on became
frozen, especially towards the early and darker hours of the morning.”
In the sortie made by the Russians on the 22nd of
March 1855, the 34th particularly distinguished them.
Returning to England in June 1856, the following year they were
among the first troops sent out when the tidings came of the terrible
mutiny. At Cawnpore, under
Wyndham, we read that the fire from the party of the 34th was
“so terrible that scarcely a trooper escaped unwounded,” though the
next day, amongst the spoils which fell into the hands of the enemy were
the Aroyo dos Molinos trophies, so valued by the regiment.
At Lucknow and Azinghur they were amongst the troops burning for
righteous revenge that Colin Campbell let to victory.
The year following saw them in Oude, crushing out the smouldering
embers of revolt that still lingered.
Their subsequent history has been with the exception of six or
seven years between 1868 and 1875-identified with India, where they now
are.
The second battalion of the Border Regiment is the old 55th.
This regiment came into existence in 1775, and was at first known
as the 57th, its present number not being accorded till 1757.
At about this time it acquired the nickname of the “Two
Fives.” This first active
duty of the new regiment was in America, where, at Ticonderago, they
experienced dome sever fighting, Lord Howe killed amongst the first
while leading the right centre column against a body of French whom he
surprised in a wood.
Later on while the troops were advancing “with incredible
ardour,” soon to find they struggling in an abattis of trees and bush
wood, and offering an easy mark to the ambuscaded enemy, Colonel
Donaldson and Major Proby, both of the 55th, were killed at
the head of their men.
Afterwards they were present at the siege and surrender of
Louisburg, where the prisoners taken by the British amounted to 5,600
officers and men. In
addition to this, eleven ships of war with 500 guns were sunk, burnt, or
taken, and amongst the spoils in our hands were 140 pieces of cannon and
7,500 stands of arms.
The 55th served in Canada from 1757 to 1760, and
subsequently in America at Brooklyn and Brandywine, the latter being one
of the many combats in which British troops have proved that their
weapon is pre-eminently the bayonet.
Orders were given, we read, “that not a shot should be fired,
but the bayonet only should be used. The surprise was in consequence most complete, and the
slaughter of the enemy dreadful, at the expense of only one British
officer and seven men killed and wounded.”
Nimeguen, Martinique, Guadaloupe, all saw the 55th
fighting-as England all the world over was then fighting-against all who
crossed them. When in 1799
England found herself for the nonce in an alliance offensive and
defensive with Russia, and the expedition to the Helder was agreed upon,
the 55th-who, with the welsh Fusiliers formed the reserve
under the command of Colonel MacDonald, of the former regiment-were the
first to land, and took their due share of the ferocious fighting of the
ensuing month. They fought
at Bergen, and under General Abercromby took part in the capture of
Hoorneand the occupation of Alkmaar.
They fought at Bergen-op-Zoom a few years later.
Their course of duty prevented from being present at Waterloo,
and the next campaign of importance in which they found themselves
engaged was that in North China, in the year 1840.
Yet the interim to the 55th was no time of idleness;
services are admittedly none the less arduous and thankworthy because
unconnected with stirring episodes.
It was greatly due to the presence and conduct of the Regiments,
scattered, like the 55th, in various comparatively tranquil
portions of the empire, that the years following Waterloo were peaceful
as they were. There were
plenty who would fain have made them otherwise, who chafed and fretted
beneath the rule and dominance of England; but whatever such feelings
were likely to develop into action, there were English regiments
stationed, integral portions of the mighty army, servants of the
Imperial Power which but recently had dictated terms to the nations. The malcontents saw that the strong man was armed and ready,
and they kept the peace lest they should fall beneath his anger.
The campaign in china, short and decisive as it was, afforded
opportunities for the regiments engaged to distinguish themselves, a
chance of which the 55th availed them.
In the attack upon Chiang-Kiang-Foo, there is little doubt that
the course taken by colonel Schaedde of the 55th, “a
Peninsular officer a long service and great experience,” in converting
a feigned attack into a real one, conduced not a little to our speedy
success. Yet, though the
success was gratifying and important, the circumstances attending it
were terribly sad. “Finding
that the struggle was likely to prove hopeless, the barbarous Tartars,
before finally giving away, murdered all their families by cutting the
throats of their wives and flinging their children into wells.”
When the armoury was entered there was found “in the centre of
the place a deep draw-well, filled to the brim with young Tartar girls
recently drowned.” “In
sight of our troops, after the town was taken, the Tartar women were
seen in one instance drowning their children in two large tanks, wherein
they were in turn drowned by the men, who then leaped in and perished
last.”
After the china War came a period of quiet, till the war-blast
from the Baltic summoned the 55th to join their brethren in
arms in the Crimea. At
Inkerman they fought desperately in defence of the dismantled redoubt,
which seemed destined to form the centre of one of the fiercest battles
on record. So desperately
did they fight that one chronicler of the events records his opinion
that, “not a man of the regiment would have been left alive to tell
its story,” but for the opportune arrival of supports.
In the assault on the “Quarries” in June, 1885, the 55th
particularly distinguished themselves, as they did again in the
desperate assault on the Redan, on the 8th of September
following.
Ten years later, being then stationed at Lucknow, they were
ordered to join the Bhotan force, and in the attack on Dewangiri the
skirmishers of the regiment particularly distinguished themselves.
In dilating on the merciless cruelty of the native troops, an
historian of the campaign adds: “Very different is said to have been
the conduct of the men of the 55th regiment.
They were seen supplying the wounded with water and doing what
they could to relieve their sufferings.”
With this ends the chronicle of the more important actions in
which the 55th, the old Westmoreland Regiment, now the second
battalion of the border Regiment, have been engaged.
