OSPREY' MEN-AT-ARMS SERIES

Text by ALAN SHEPPERD

Colour plates by MICHAEL YOUENS

MEN-AT-ARMS SERIES

EDITOR: PHILIP WARNER

'THE DEVIL'S OWN'

Text by ALAN SHEPPERD

Colour plates by MICHAEL YOU ENS

OSPREY PUBLISHING LIMITED

Published in England byOsprey Publishing Ltd, P.O. Box 25,707 Oxford Road, Reading, Berkshire© Copyright 1972 Osprey Publishing Ltd

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CJIle f9rigins

SEPTEMBER 1793

Within days of the execution of Louis XVI theRevolutionary Government of France declaredwar on Great Britain and Holland. The date was1 February 1793. France had never been so un­prepared. The army had shrunk to 150,000effectives - less than one fifth of its nominalstrength. Eighteen months previously two-thirdsof the officer corps, after generations of hereditaryservice to the King, had resigned and disciplinehad plummeted; nor had it been properly restoredby those elected to command by popular vote intheir place. The soldiers themselves were poorlyarmed and destitute of pay, clothing and equip­ment. The British were unprepared, but for adifferent reason. In the ten years following thePeace of Versailles the army had been cut back to44,000 officers and men, hardly enough to find theweak overseas garrisons, and only a few thousandmen remained for the defence of the realm or tocarry out any offensive overseas. The urgent needwas not just for recruits but for many moreregiments. Among the first of the new regimentsto be raised were De Burgh's, on 25 September1793, and the Scotch Brigade the following day.These two regiments, later numbered 88 and 94,

CJfie Gonnaught'l<&gers

became united under the Cardwell Reforms as thetwo regular battalions of the.Connaught Rangers.As we shall see the coincidence of the dates oftheir formation was only one of the ties that boundthem together for over a century and a quarter ofdevoted service to the British Crown.

THE SCOTS BRIGADE

It is a matter of historic interest that the Con­naught Rangers can claim a direct link with theancient Scots Brigade that was raised in 1572 forthe War of Dutch Independence. The ScotsBrigade remained in the service of the Netherlandsfor over two hundred years and for the majorityof this period the regiments were officially held tobe part of the armed forces of the Scottish andlater British Crown. As early as 1577 the regimentscarried the white St Andrews Cross on a bluebackground as their Colour and under theirnational flag won undying fame. The Brigaderecruited in the Lowlands, marched to 'Scotsduty', and in the very early days wore the old timegreat belted plaid. When, under the Truce ofTreves in 1609, Spain granted independence to'the seven United Provinces, the Dutch retainedthe Brigade to garrison the southern frontiers. Innearly a hundred actions against the Spanish theBrigade had gained a high reputation, and it wasat this period that two of the regiments servedunder Gustavus Adolphus, the Swedish soldier­king, whose country was invaded by the Danes.Within a few years, war with Spain again brokeout and dragged on until 1648, with the Brigadeconstantly occupied in guarding the Dutchfrontiers and taking part in many siege operations.

In recognition of two of their greatest feats ofarms, the defence ofBreda and siege ofBois-Ie-Due,the Scots Brigade was awarded the proud designa­tion 'the bulwark of the Republic' by the Princeof Orange. Sixty years later his son, William of

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The last colours carried by the Scots Brigade in Hollandand laid aside in 1782 remained in that country for over acentury until 1884. They were then recovered through thepersonal intervention of Lord Reay and laid up in StGiles's Cathedral, Edinburgh. (National Army Museum)

Orange landed at Torbay and the Brigade, intheir red coats lined in blue, white and yellow todistinguish the three regiments, marched withhim. Under King William the Brigade was soonback on familiar ground, this time to fight theFrench, notably at Steinkirk, Landen and thetaking of Namur. Shortly before the accession ofQueen Anne the English regiments in the Dutchservice were withdrawn and the Scots Brigadewas increased to six regiments. Under Marl­borough the Brigade won distinction at Ramillies,Oudenarde, Lille, Tournay and Malplaquet. Inthe long years of peace that followed the Brigadewas kept on garrison duty, but when Holland wasdrawn into the War of the Austrian Succession, toface the well organized armies of Marshal de Saxe,the Brigade was called on to make great sacrifices.This was due to the parsinomy of the DutchGovernment that had failed to maintain adequateregular forces. At Fontenoy where the Dutchattack failed, Col. Donald Mackay was killed atthe head of his regiment. He had succeeded hisfather in command and was the grandson of theveteran Gen. Hugh Mackay, who as a youngofficer seventy years· previously had reorganizedthe Brigade at the request of the Prince of Orange.The bitterly contested defensive battles ofRoucouxand Laffeld followed, both fought to protect thefortress of Maastricht.

In the autumn of 1747 the Scots Brigade foughttheir last battle at the fortress of Bergen-op-Zoom,an important fortress besieged by the brilliantand successful Count Lowendahl. A few days later

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the London newspapers carried a despatch thathad appeared in the Hague Gazette, 'The twobattalions of the Scots Brigade have as usual donehonour to their country; which is all we have tocomfort us for the loss of such brave men, whofrom 1,450 are now reduced to 330, and thosehave valiantly brought their colours with them,which their grenadiers recovered twice from themidst of the French at the point of the bayonet.'

There followed many years of frustration anddisillusionment. The British Government, des­perately short of troops for the Seven Years Warand the War in America, repeatedly applied forthe return of the Brigade. But the Dutch wereloath to lose their best troops, and politically theirsympathies lay with Britain's enemies. Finally, in1782, the officers of the Brigade were given thestraight choice of renouncing their oath of allegi­ance to the British Crown, or resigning andleaving Holland. As for the regimental traditions,the uniform, colours and ancient marching airs, allwere to be changed. All three regimental com­manders and the majority of the officers immedi­ately resigned and returned to England, whereas the Peace of Versailles had meanwhile beensigned they came on to half pay under a specialAct of Parliament. The colours carried at Bergen­op-Zoom remained in Holland for over a centurybefore they were finally handed over and laid upin St Giles' Cathedral, Edinburgh. During theyears of crisis preceding the outbreak of the Warof the French Revolution the officers of the ScotsBrigade petitioned his Majesty on four occasionsto revive the Brigade in the service of the Crown.Only the outbreak of war stirred the Governmentto action. In the summer of 1793 the three seniorofficers who had returned to England receivedtheir 'letter of service', giving His Majesty'sapproval to the raising of three new battalions.Shortly afterwards the Gazette announced theappointment of no less than twenty-six officers ofthe Scots Brigade to serve in the reformed ScotchBrigade.

THE SCOTCH BRIGADE

Regimental depots were established at Irvine,Dunfermline, Linlithgow and, when recruitingstarted for a fourth battalion, at Dalkeith five

Battle of Seringapatam. (National Army Museum)

miles outside Edinburgh. The command of thisbattalion went to Lt.-Col. Thomas Scott of the53rd. In the flurry of invasion scares so manyunits had been raised, however, that few were upto strength; a situation much deplored by thatadmirable administrator the Duke of York, whohad recently been appointed Commander-in­Chief. As the result of a series of amalgamations,Lt.-Col. Scott found himself, in 1796, command­ing the Scotch Brigade as a single battalion inGibraltar.

Within months the Brigade was sent to the Capeof Good Hope as reinforcements, to face a threatby the Dutch to recapture the colony. TheBattalion was brigaded with the 86th under thecommand of Maj.-Gen. David Baird, a highlyrespected officer who knew how to train and leadthese two 'remarkably fine bodies of men'. InIndia, war against Tippoo Sultan was imminentand towards the end of 1798 the Scotch Brigadeand the 84th under the command of Gen. Baird,sailed for Madras. Here a large force was assembl­ing under Col. Arthur Wellesley, for the invasionof Mysore and the capture of Seringapatam.

The last company of the Scotch Brigade did notreach Madras until the following February, bywhich time six companies of the battalion had leftto join the 'Grand Army' about to advance onSeringapatam. Under Capt. James Campbell thiscompany was temporarily detached to take partin a remarkable naval action.

CAPTURE OF THE LA FORTE

The La Forte, a fast and strongly armed Frenchfrigate, had for some time been operating in theBay of Bengal, capturing merchant men andterrorizing the coastal shipping. The only Britishnaval ship available was the frigate Sybille, recentlyin dock and undermanned through sicknessamongst the crew. Within three days of theirarrival, five officers and nearly a hundred men ofthe Scotch Brigade were again at sea serving asmarines on the Sybille, which cleared for actionand sailed immediately. After dusk on the ninthday of the search faint flashes were seen a greatway off. The Captain of the frigate decided thatthe flashes could be reflections from gunfire

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The breach of Cuidad Rodrigo, 19 January 1812. (NationalArl11Y MuseUl11)

beyond the horizon. The Sybille immediatelychanged course; a shadow slipping through thewater in a light breeze under a starlit sky. Onboard 370 men crouched at their action stations incomplete darkness. After an hour three shipsappeared on the horizon. All were brightly lit upand the largest could soon be seen to have adouble row of ports.

The French admiral, intent on putting a prizecrew on the two merchantmen, hardly gave aglance to the approaching vessel, whose watch, hethought, must be asleep - another blunderingIndiaman that would prove an easy prize. It waswell after midnight when the Sybille came withinrange. The first few desultory shots from La Fortewere ignored and it was some time before theFrench realized that the darkened ship headingstraight towards them was no helpless merchant­man. Now on La Forte 'all was shouting and noise',and the frantic beat of drum, urging the crew toaction stations, could be clearly heard across thewater, as the Sybille rapidly closed on an oppositetack. The French, in their excitement, badly mis­judged the range and their broadsides passed cleanover the Sybille, which still showed no light or

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movement on deck. Suddenly the British frigateturned close under La Forte's stern: in a momentthe tarpaulins screening the battle lanterns weresnatched aside and a double-shotted broadsidecrashed into the Frenchman's stern at forty yardsrange. The action continued for nearly an hourwith the two ships less than twenty yards apart, anideal range for the 'marines' that lined theSybille's bulwarks. At one point the Frenchattempted to disengage and sail away, but thesailors loosing the sails were shot down almost to aman, and soon afterwards Sybille's guns broughtthe masts and yards crashing down. The effect ofthe 'unremitting fire' which caused great havocon the quarter deck and fo'c'sle of the La Forte isreflected in the respective casualty lists. While theLa Forte lost 65 killed and 85 wounded, thecasualties on the Sybille were only 5 killed and 16wounded.

SERINGAPAT AM

The advance on Seringapatam took nearly twomonths. Of the 37,000 troops only just over 5,000were Europeans. Three of the four British batta-

lions were formed into an assault brigade underBaird, the 12th, the 74th and the six companies ofthe Scotch Brigade, which mustered 559 all rankswith Maj. Skelly in command. Lt.-Col. Scottcommanded a brigade of Madras Native Troopsthroughout the campaign. The forces available toTippoo were estimated at 59,000 men, whichincluded a large body of rocket troops, but onlyhalf-hearted attempts were made to delay theadvance into Mysore. The invading force facedtremendous logistic problems. Transport for thebaggage, commissariat and grain merchantsamounted to 120,000 bullocks. In addition therewere hundreds of personal retinues accompaniedby elephants, camels, more bullocks and coolies.The non-combatants outnumbered the fightingmen by five to one and the average advance withthis conglomeration of men and beasts, whichcovered twenty square miles, was only five milesa day.

The siege operations had to be pressed forwardas soon as Seringapatam was reached, as thetroops were half starved owing to the difficultiesof provisioning the huge army. The Scotch Brigadeplayed a major part in driving back the outposts,and by 2 May the trenches were sufficientlyadvanced and the siege guns in position. Betweenthe nearest parallel and the north-west corner ofthe fortress a branch of the River Cavery flowed.A practicable crossing point, some 280 yardsacross and not more than three feet deep, hadalready been reconnoitred by the engineers.Within forty-eight hours the batteries hadbreached the main ramparts and the assault wasordered for the next day. At this date the Sultan'sforce for the defence of the fortress totalled nearly22,000 men. Gen. Baird, who had old scores topayoff, volunteered to lead the attack. TheEuropean infantry battalions, mostly representedby their grenadier or flank companies, were joinedby twenty-eight companies of Native infantry tomake up nearly 5,000 men for the assault. Thetroops had moved into the trenches during thenight but the attack was delayed until the hottestperiod of the day, when it was hoped that muchof the garrison would be stood down and resting.Shortly after 1.00 p.m. Baird called out, 'men areyou all ready?' Those near him replied, 'Yes' andwith a shout 'then forward my lads' he scrambled

over the parapet and ran forward straight into thewater to where low stakes marked the ford. Therush of men was met by a heavy fire of grape,musketry and rockets, causing a number ofcasualties, particularly among the supportingtroops that were now leaving the trenches. Thewide ditch below the rampart was almost filledwith fallen masonry and hardly checked the menracing forward from the river bank. A staffofficer watching the attac~ later wrote, 'after ashort and appalling interval we saw the acclivityof the breach covered with a cloud of crimson andin a few minutes afterwards observed the filespassing rapidly to right and left.' Six minutes afterBaird's order to advance the British flag was seenwaving from the ramparts. The orders were forthe assault columns to swing outwards and clearthe ramparts and the Scotch Brigade led the right­hand column. The Grenadier company, underCapt. Molle, drove the Sultan's troops beforethem until they met a strong force led by Frenchofficers. The arrival of the flank companies, how­ever, restored the situation. Soon the two columnsmoving round the ramparts were within sight ofeach other and began to fire down onto theterrified mass of Mysorean troops, who struggledto escape out through the far gates. As volley aftervolley cut into the swaying mass, panic spread andthe Sultan was shot down, unrecognized amongstthe mass of struggling men. Then the sepoysmoved in and the number of Mysoreans that diedthat day in Seringapatam was reckoned as 10,000.

In the general order issued after the battle'Major Skelly received special mention. The ScotchBrigade lost 13 men killed and 80 wounded. Capt.Hay was killed during the siege, and four officerswere wounded in the assault. The capture ofSeringapatam cost the Grand Army over 1,500casualties of which 367 were in the assault.

The East India Company granted a medal forSeringapatam, but the British troops were notallowed to wear it for over fifty years. So far as isknown, none of the Scotch Brigade ever receivedthe medal. A small batch (nineteen silver and twobronze medals) was sent on to the battalion inSpain but these were presumably stolen en route.Similarly the Naval General Service Medal withbar for the Sybille action was eventually granted,but of the 365 survivors only a midshipman and

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three seamen could be traced. None were everissued to the gallant 'marines'. During theMahratta War the Scotch Brigade led the assaultat Asseerghur and were in the forefront of theBattle ofArgaum. After the storming ofGawilghur,a fortress previously considered impregnable, Maj.J ames Campbell and the light company underCapt. Frederick Campbell received the specialthanks of Maj.-Gen. Wellesley. In 1851 the issueof an India medal was authorized and fourofficers and forty men of the battalion were aliveto receive the medal.

94TH (SCOTCH BRIGADE)

In 1802, while the battalion was in Madras, it wasgiven a new title - 94th (Scotch Brigade). Theallocation of this low number caused much bitter­ness in a regiment that claimed more than ninetyyears seniority over the Coldstream Guards. In1808 the battalion returned to Dunbar in Scotland.Its services in India had not been forgotten by theEast India Company on whose representation thefollowing was published in the London Gazette,dated 16 April 1807:-'His Majesty has beengraciously pleased to approve of the 94th Regi­ment bearing the Elephant on their Colours andon their Appointments as an honourable andlasting testimony of their distinguished Services inIndia.' It was also about this time that the title'Scotch Brigade' was dropped from the Army List.Early in 18 IO the 94th joined Sir Arthur Welles­ley's army in the Peninsula. The 88th ConnaughtRangers were already there.

NovemberI Embarks for West Indies; transportsDecember scattered by storms and only three

companies reach Grenada.1796 Battalion reunited in England and

spends the next two years in Jersey.Strength 400.

1799-1800 Stationed in Bombay.1801 Ceylon, then to Egypt under Gen.

Baird and marches from the Red Seato the Nile to reach Alexandria.

1802 Egypt. Lands in England the daywar is declared against France.

1802-6 Anti-invasion role on South Coast.Inspected by Maj.-Gen. Sir ArthurWellesley and warned for a 'secret'expedition, originally to Chile.

C]he'Peninsular1;/Jar/808-14

BUENOS AIRES88TH CONNAUGHT RANGERS

1793

1794

1795April

September

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Connaught Rangers raised by Hon.John Thomas de Burgh (mainly inConnaug~t) and moves to Chatham.Numbered 88th. Moves to Jersey thento Holland to join Duke of York.Terrible deprivations of wintercampaIgn.Withdrawn to England, owing totyphus. 543 out of 773 men unfit forduty.Lt.-Col. William Beresford takes overcommand.

The Connaught Rangers embarked in September1806 but did not sail for two months. ReachingCape Town at the end of March 1807, the expedi­tion learned that Buenos Aires had been recap­tured by the Spanish and that this was now theirdestination. The force of eight battalions and threecavalry regiments (two ofwhich were dismounted)sailed up the Rio de la Plata. The river was twentymiles wide, but shallow water extended from thebanks for up to eight miles and naval bombard­ment was impossible, so the troops disembarkedon 28 June some thirty miles from Buenos Aires.The 88th had been almost continuously at sea for

nearly ten months. The direct route to the citywas across marshy land, which was intersectedby many muddy streams, and the winter rains hadturned the whole area into a swamp. The invadingforce was thus faced with a difficult and circuitousroute (of nearly fifty miles) further inland. Theconditions were appalling and the men unfit.There was no shelter from the rain and manystreams had to .be crossed. In negotiating theswamp to reach the high ground, five out of six­teen guns and all but a ton of biscuits (the onlyrations landed) had to be abandoned. On 3 July,after a five days' march, during which two of thebrigades lost their way, the outskirts of the city wasreached. Here the Spanish Viceroy, Gen. Liniers,waited with a force of unknown strength. Spasmo­dic skirmishing continued for thirty-six hoursbefore Maj.-Gen. Whitelocke, the British com­mander, launched his attack on the morning of5 July. Every available man was employed, some5,000 all ranks, divided into thirteen smallcolumns. The columns were ordered to advancedown the streets that were laid out in a conven­tional chess board pattern and led straight to thewaterfront. The 88th found 560 all ranks organ­ized into two columns under Lt.-Col. Duff andMaj. Vandeleur. In the city the Spanish Generalcould call on some 15,000 men, a third of whomwere partisans in organized groups, and the sup­port of nearly fifty guns. This well-armed forcewas held well back in ambush positions close to amain defence line, which was protected by strongbarricades and covered by the artillery. But thiswas not all, as the citizens had barricaded theirhouses and were ready to resist with improvisedgrenades and any other weapons to hand.

The core of the defence was centred on theCathedral Square and a fort on the waterfront andseveral of the little columns were allowed toadvance down silent and deserted streets untilthey were almost within sight of the beach. Assoon as fire was opened from the houses and roof­tops, Maj. Vandeleur led his men forward at thedouble. Ahead was a breastworks of bullock hidesfilled with earth and a six foot deep ditch whichwas negotiated under heavy fire. But the only exitfrom the street was up a narrow ramp enfiladed at200 yards range by guns from the fort, and themen of the 88th were falling fast from the steady

fire of marksmen posted on every rooftop. Thetrap had been carefully set. Any attempt to occupynearby houses was beaten back and men shelteringin the ditch, behind the dead bodies of theircomrades, were shelled by a field gun firing from aside street. Eventually ammunition ran out andthe survivors, who were completely surrounded,were forced to surrender.

The column under Lt.-Col. Duff actuallyreached their objective, which was a church notfar from the Cathedral, without a shot being fired,but suffered a similar fate. While attempting tobreak down the heavy doors of the Church, theparty came under such a d~vastating fire from thesurrounding houses that the only course open wasto sheer off into side streets, where the remnants ofthe force occupied three houses for several hours.Finally a handful of survivors surrendered. By theearly afternoon the fighting had died down allover the city. The British casualties amounted toover 1,000 killed and wounded and nearly 2,000

prisoners, compared with the Spanish losses ofover 30 guns and 1,000 prisoners and an unknownnumber of killed and wounded. Gen. Whitelockedecided that the task of occupying the province,even if he eventually captured the city, wasbeyond his means so an agreement to exchangeprisoners and evacuate the province within tendays was signed in 7 July.

The British troops felt humiliated and certainlyhad lost confidence in their commander. Lt.-Col.Duff, in giving evidence at the subsequent courtmartial of Gen. Whitelocke, stated that he had'deposited the Colours at his headquarters beforethe attack to avoid their possible capture. He alsorecounted the astonishing incident of his reservecompanies being ordered by his Brigadier to re­move the flints from their muskets and leave themon the ground before being sent up as reinforce­ments. This pig-headed instruction related to anequally unrealistic general order: 'the whole[force] to be unloaded and no firing to be per­mitted on any account!' So much for a regimentalcommander's opinion of the tactical handling ofthe battle ofBuenos Aires, in which the ConnaughtRangers lost 20 officers and 220 men killed andwounded. Within a year of arriving back inEngland the battalion (now under the commandof Maj. Vandeleur) was under orders to go to the

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aid of their recent enemy and landed at Lisbonin April 180g. Their Colonel, Lt.-Gen. Beresford,was given command of the Portuguese Army towhich the Connaught Rangers were temporarilyattached.

88TH (CONNAUGHT RANGERS)IN THE PENINSULA

After the passage of the Douro the ConnaughtRangers joined 3 Division to take part in thecampaign for which Sir Arthur Wellesley receivedthe title Viscount Wellington. A month's marchup the valley of the River Tagus, in pursuit of theFrench under Marshal Victor, brought the British,now joined by a Spanish army, to Talavera andthe crossing of the river Alberche. Wellesley,threatened on his open flank and frustrated bythe wretched supply arrangements that he hadunwillingly left to the Spanish, was forced to standand fight a defensive battle. On the afternoon of27 July, 3 Division, having covered the disorderlyretreat of the Spanish across the river Alberche,was moving back through wooded ground towardsTalavera itself. The main body, which included

the Connaught Rangers, was halted irt a clearingclose to the ruined walls of the Casa de Salinas.Covered by the smoke ofsome burning houses, theFrench slipped across the river and past the rear­guard. The first volley killed many men who hadbeen comfortably resting in the shade. Both the87th and 88th were thrown into confusion andwere only rallied to the rear after some difficulty.Wellesley galloped back and was nearly captured,and the French were only driven back after theDivision had lost nearly 450 men.

THE BATTLE OF TALAVERA

That evening the Allied troops formed up on theline of the Portina, a stream that flowed downfrom the mountains to the Tagus at Talavera.The key to the position was a ridge on the left ofthe ridge, the Cerro de Medellin, and the 88thwere hardly in position on its slopes when the firstFrench attack was launched. On the right, fourSpanish battalions panicked and ran. But forWellesley's personal intervention the battle mighthave been lost there and then. The fighting con­tinued throughout the following day with two

The Peninsular Colours of the 94th (Scotch Brigade). Left: the King's colour; right: detail of the centraldevice on the Regbnental colour. The RegiDlental colour has the custoDlary Union canton in the upperleft-hand corner. The elephant badge, conferred on the 94th by the King in October 1806 in recognitionof their services in the East, is in the centre with the arDlS supporters and DlOttO of the City ofEdinburgh(Nisi DoDlinus Frustra). Around the elephant badge is a ring bearing 'Edinburgh' above and 'ScotchBrigade' below

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separate assaults on the British posItIOn. Over­night the French pulled out, having suffered over7,000 casualties in their attempts to crush theBritish, whose loss of 5,363 men represented aquarter of Wellesley's force. In the two days'fighting the Connaught Rangers lost 136 includingfour officers killed. In their support role on theridge, the battalion had more than a taste ofFrench shelling and the previous day's lesson onthe value of sentries in close country had beenlearned the hard way. Talavera showed Welling­ton as 'the first General of his time on the field ofbattle' and the 'superiority of courage, steadinessand discipline' of the British soldier in their firstmajor action against the French in Spain.

THE 88TH AT BUSACO

While the abortive Siege of Cadiz was in progress,at which the 94th played a distinguished part, theFrench forces in Spain rose to 300,000 and byJuly a strong force of 65,000 men was assemblednear Ciudad Rodrigo under Marshal Massena forthe invasion of Portugal. Wellington, havingfortified the Lines of Torres Vedras and made hisown supply arrangements, sent Gen. Hill towatch the frontier further south and waited forMassena to advance. As Wellington slowly pulledback through the valley of the River Mondego theFrench, who were desperately short of transport,were drawn further and further into hostile terri­tory which had been completely denuded of allsupplies. Just north of Coimbra, and covering theapproach to the road that led south to Lisbon, isthe Serra do Busaco. Hill was recalled and by theevening of 26 September Wellington had 5,000men in position on the nine-mile-long ridge be­tween the convent of Busaco and Penacova on theMondego. The ridge, except for a successionof rocky peaks, stands up to 500 feet above thesurrounding countryside and is covered withheather and gorse. The sides are precipitous inplace and seamed with boulder-strewn ravines.Three roads crossed the Serra do Busaco andWellington had to split his force to cover each ofthese approaches, but to assist the movement ofre­inforcements a road had been specially constructedalong the reverse side of the ridge.

Picton's 3 Division held the central position

covering the road up from the little village of SanAntonio de Cantara. Believing the British were ona narrow front and preparing to withdraw by themain road past the convent, Massena orderedMarshal Ney with 22,000 men to attack in thisdirection, while Marshal Reynier with a further15,000 infantry took the centre road and had thetask of clearing the ridge up to the convent. Over­night, Picton was reinforced by a Portuguesebrigade, plus the 8th Portuguese Regiment, andhad moved the 88th to cover a deep and narrowgully that led up into the centre of his positionbetween his own two brigades. Soon after dawnon 27 September Reynier's divisions, totallingtwenty-six battalions formed into two columns,started to toil up the steep slopes north of SanAntonio. The assembly of the right-hand column(Gen. Marie with about 6,600 men) had alreadybeen spotted and Picton sent four companies of the45th to reinforce Wallace, commanding the 88th.

The other Frt'nch column, climbing up towardsthe head of the San Antonio pass, was met with astorm of grape and musketry and were broughtto a standstill, having suffered heavy casualties.Picton, judging the situation was in hand, andhearing the sound of heavy fighting on his leftfront, despatched the remainder of the 45th anda battalion of the 8th Portuguese in that directionand galloped off himself. With no road to guidethem Marie's battalions had climbed obliquely upthe slope and, coming under the well directed fireof Lightburne's Brigade, had swung back belowWallace's position and begun to penetrate be-'tween the 88th and the detached companies of the45th. Wallace, who had sent Major Dunne towatch where the French attack might develop,immediately saw the danger of the 45th beingoverwhelmed. The light companies were alreadyengaged with the French skirmishers but withouthesitation Wallace moved the remainder of thebattalion rapidly towards the head of the gullywhere the 45th had been posted. By now a numberofFrench sharpshooters were ensconced on a rockycrag on the crest of the ridge. Wallace having senthis grenadiers and two other companies to dealwith them had only six companies left. After theirlong climb the French regiments were intermixedand the men were much out of breath. Neverthe­less they surged forward intent on sweeping away

II

the weak force resolutely formed on the crest of theridge. At this moment the Connaught Rangerssuddenly appeared on their right. At close rangea single volley struck the mass of men debouchingon to the ridge. Wallace, jumping from his horse,led the charge straight down the slope into theflank of the French column. His orders had been'Press on the rascals to the muzzle,' and the shockof the charge brought fearful havoc to the crowdedranks. Wellington, who had witnessed the charge,had meanwhile brought up two guns, whichpoured grape into the flank and rear of the French.Their leading regiment gave way and carried withit the other two regiments, surging back from thebayonets of the 88th who were now joined by the45th and 8th Portuguese. The whole of Marle'sdivision was now in full flight down the slope andthe slaughter only ended when the French gunsforced the jubilant Allied infantrymen back totheir positions. Picton's arrival with reinforce­ments soon dealt with the remaining Frenchskirmishers among the rocks on the summit of theridge. A second attempt by the French to reachthe San Antonio pass was similarly foiled andbeaten back by the arrival of Leith's division thathad arrived at the double from the southern endof the Serra, over two miles away along the roadbelow the crest. To the north, opposite the con­vent, Marshal Ney's attack had also failed and theoverall French losses amounted to 4,600 includingfive Generals and over 300 officers. The Britishcasualties amounted to 631 and the Portugueseabout twenty less. The brunt of the casualties wasborne by two regiments, the 45th and the Con­naught Rangers, which between them lost 284officers and men. Immediately after the actionWellington personally congratulated Wallace withthe words, 'I never saw a more gallant charge thanthat made just now by your regiment', a tributeto the regiment that was repeated in his officialdespatch. Marshal Beresford and Gen. Picton hadmeanwhile arrived and added their congratula­tions, but the soldiers had not forgotten their firstencounter with their Divisional Commander,at which Picton had made an angry remark about'Irish robbers and Connaught footpads'. A certainPte. Cooney indeed greeted him with, 'Well,General, where were you this morning? We had awarm job of it, but our Colonel did it nately:

12

are we the Connaught footpads now?' Theseremarks brought an immediate reprimand fromCol. Wallace but Picton had taken them in goodpart. In addition to Wallace, one other officer ofthe Connaughts received particular mention inWellington's official despatch. This was Capt.Dansey. Armed with a musket and bayonet, hehad led his company with exceptional gallantry inthe desperate hand-to-hand fighting to evict theFrench sharpshooters from the rocky crag thatoverlooked the site of the Connaught's vital charge.

THE 94TH JOIN 3 DIVISION

In 18 10, after defending Cadiz, the 94th returnedto Lisbon. Marching north they met the streamof wounded men sent back after Busaco, aheadof the army withdrawing to the Lines of TorresVedras. The battalion joined the second brigade of3 Division which was holding a forward sector ofthe Lines. Their introduction to the DivisionalCommander was somewhat dramatic! Some of the94th had been caught stealing sheep and looting awine store. The following Sunday, during theChurch service in their billeting area, Pictonstalked into the pulpit and addressed his 'con­gregation' in the bluntest soldiers' language,concluding with the damning words, 'you are adisgrace to your moral country, Scotland!'

For the next four years the 88th and 94th servedside by side in Picton's 'fighting division', and oneof their proudest battles was Fuentes de Onoroin May 18Il. But during the remainder of thesummer, 3 Division was kept busy with the siegefirst of Badajoz and then of Ciudad Rodrigo. Thesoldiers thoroughly detested siege work. For themore intelligent men, who were pulled out ofother companies to become temporary engineers,there was a change of routine and a chance towork with the much admired but mysterious'sappers', of whom there were all too few in thearmy. For the average soldier, who had to dig theparallels and saps, and man the trenches fo eekson end under the very muzzles of the fortress guns,it meant hard, dangerous and unspectacular work.The opening of the first parallel at Badajoz isdescribed by a sergeant of the 94th:

'We marched down towards the town for thepurpose of breaking ground: it was fortunately

The stonning of the castle at Badajoz, 6-7 April 1812.(National ArlDY MuseUID)

very dark, and as we kept the greatest silence theFrench were not aware of our approach ... weformed a line across the front of the town wheretwo thousand entrenching tools had been laid.We were then told our safety depended onexpedition, for if the French discovered ourpresence before we had worked ourselves undercover, a warm salute might be expected.'

Nearby, an officer of the 8th was getting hisfirst taste of siege operations. 'I scarcely venturedto breathe until we had completed a respectablefirst parallel and when it was fairly finished, justas morning began to dawn, I felt irrepressiblyrelieved.' Wellington, however, had no propersiege artillery. When Marshal Marmont, who hadreplaced Massina, advanced in strength, he movedback to cover the frontier.

WINTER QUARTERS

Winter quarters in Portugal were quite appalling.The poverty of the inhabitants and countryside,which had been burned and pillaged by theFrench and earlier denuded of supplies on

Wellington's orders, offered no comfort and littleshelter. Most of the British troops were in ragsand the men's shoes were of such poor quality thatthey were in tatters after a week or so, or suckedoff and lost in the sea of mud that threatened toengulf the billets. There were no tents, and thesoldiers' sole protection from the torrential rain,and freezing conditions, was a thin patrol coat anda single blanket. The officers fared better. Somehad provided themselves with oilskin cloaks andwhen the baggage came up they could at leastchange into dry clothes, which were not necessarilyof regimental pattern. Wellington judged bothofficer and man by his conduct in action and therewas a total disregard of any uniformity of dress.Col. Wallace knew the quality of his 'boys' inaction and equally respected their 'aisy' mannersand nonchalant disregard of any regulation thatthey considered unimportant. The men were'drilled' as hard as any in the army, but off paradethe officers never tormented or fussed over them.When the Brigadier asked a certain Pte. Rooneyto which squad he belonged, Rooney was unableeither to reply in English, or give the answer

13

through his sergeant. The incident caused muchamusement within the Brigade, but both theBrigadier and Col. Wallace knew that therewasn't a man in the battalion who didn't knowhis place in the company and how to use hismusket.

CUIDAD RODRIGO

By the New Year, Wellington was ready to marchagain on Cuidad Rodrigo. The siege train hadarrived, and the supply system had been reorgan­ized. At dawn, on 4 January 1812, 3 Division wasunder arms. Snow had fallen overnight, and thecolumn moved off in sleet, which turned tofreezing rain.

By the evening of 7 January, Cuidad Rodrigohad once again been invested. The fortress waswell supplied with artillery and ammunitions, butwas under-manned and poorly vitalled. Gen.Barrie, described by Marmont as a detestableofficer, commanded the garrison of somethingover 1,800 troops. The town stood on a hill andwas surrounded by a medieval wall 32 feet high.This in turn was enclosed by a fausse-braie or lowrampart and ditch, constructed so far down theslope, however, that the wall itselfwas ill protectedfrom direct fire. In contrast to the precipitoussouthern face of the fortress which overlooked theRiver Agueda, the ground to the north fellgradually towards a little stream, with beyond tworidges covered by outworks. It was here, againstthe north-west corner, that Wellington decided tomake the main assault. On the night of8 January,1 Division captured the redoubt on the GreatTeson, and work on the first parallel was startedimmediately only 600 yards from the town. Withina week the fortified convent of Santa Cruz hadfallen to 4 Division and the second parallel hadbeen opened, only 150 yards from the town. Atthis short range, the" French started using fireballsat night to light up the working parties at which,on one such occasion, Sgt. Fraser of the 94thseized a spade and 'regardless of the enemies' fireran forward to where it was lying, and having duga hole, tumbled it in and covered it with earth.'

By 19January, two breaches had been achieved,and Wellington ordered the assault for that samenight. Picton's Division was to storm the great

14

breach, while the Light Division stormed the lesserbreach to its left. At the same time, a Portuguesebrigade would make a feint attack on the San PelayoGate. Mackinnon's Brigade provided the stormingparty of500 volunteers and the honour offinding theforlorn hope went to the 88th and Lt. Mackie andtwenty men of his company. Two battalions ofPicton's other brigade (which was under thetemporary command of Lt.-Col. Campbell of the94th) and the remainder of Mackinnon's Brigadeprovided the reserve. The 5th and 94th had thetask of capturing the outer wall and ditch to theright of the great breach, so as to cover the mainassault.

As the ~8th waited in the darkness, Picton rodeup. His address was characteristic. 'Rangers ofConnaught! It is not my intention to expend anypowder this evening. We'll do the business withthe cold iron.' The cheer that followed almostdrowned the sound of the signal gun for the attack.With Picton and Mackinnon at their head thetroops moved rapidly into the trenches that ledtowards the breach. Contrary to Wellington'sintentions, the 94th arrived at the breach via theinner ditch a few moments before the mainstorming party, and both then scrambled to thetop of the breach. Here there was a check, as therewas a drop of between 12 to 16 feet to the streetbelow and the crush of men was being swept bygrape-shot from two heavy guns that enfiladedthe gap itself. At this moment there was a shatter­ing explosion as a large mine was fired. Maj.-Gen.Mackinnon and his A.D. C., Lt. Beresford of the88th, were killed and over 150 other officers andmen were killed or wounded. As those behindpressed forward the two flanking guns continuedto take a heavy toll. Sgt. Brazil and two privates(Swan and Kelly) of the 8th unscrewed theirbayonets to use as daggers, and leapt across theintervening trench on their left. In a desperatehand to hand struggle they killed four of theFrench gunners, and the fifth in attempting toescape was killed by men of the 5th who had nowreached the top ofthe breach. While the gun oppo­site was similarly being silenced, Lt. Mackie hadjumped down into the street and led the survivorsof the storming party in pursuit of the French whowere now falling back on the citadel. Here noresistance was offered, and the gates were opened

in order to surrender. At this moment, Lt.Gurwood of the 52nd, who had led the assault ofthe lesser breach arrived. Having a good com­mand of the French language, he promptlyarranged to escort the Governor back to Welling­ton's headquarters. Controversy over Mackie'sclaim to Gen. Barrie's sword, which in fact wassurrendered to Gurwood, continued until afterMackie's death over forty years later. 88th and94th both claim to have been first into the town.

Wellington's army suffered more casualtiesduring the siege than in the assault, 553 as against499 in killed and wounded, and the Frenchcasualties must have been small in view of the factthat 1,700 surrendered. In the assault, the 88thlost Lt. Beresford and 20 men killed, while 5officers and 46 men were wounded. The 94th lost2 officers and 5 wounded, while 13 other rankswere killed and 48 wounded.

For some hours after its capture Cuidad Rodrigowas the scene of serious disorders, with mobs ofsoldiers loose in the streets in search of liquor andplunder. During this wild house-to-house search adozen deserters were discovered, including fivemen from Picton's division. All were courtmartialled and sentenced to be shot. Two of thedeserters belonged to the 88th and one of these,Pte. Mangin, was pardoned by Wellington onaccount of his previous excellent conduct. Unfor­tunately, the pardon was not read out untilMangin had witnessed the execution of the others,and found himself standing alone in front of hisown grave before the complete division formed inhollow square. The experience unhinged his mindand he died from the shock a few hours later.

BADAJOZ

Within a month the men of 3 Division were onceagain working in the trenches - this time kneedeep in mud, close under the walls of Badajoz.The siege operations lasted twenty-one days andcost the Allies 1,000 officers and men, but duringthe assault the losses to the British alone were threetimes this figure. On the night, 6/7 April, theLight Division and 4 Division struggled side byside for two hours to surmount the breach. Theirlosses were terrible. Two regiments, the 43rd and52nd, of the Light Brigade lost 37 officers and

624 men. When the recall was finally sounded,with the dead and dying heaped against thechevaux-de-frise, made of sword-blades set in hugetree trunks, and in the ditch filled with burningcarts and every kind of explosive missile, not asingle officer or man of either division had pene­trated the defences. By a quirk of fate it was theflank attacks, by Leith's 5 Division down by theRiver Guardiana and by 3 Division, that eventu­ally captured the castle on th.e opposite side of thetown, and turned defeat into victory. It was thesound of bugles from Leith's columns, marching

'The JingUng Johnnie'

towards them along the line of the retrenchm~t,

that first brought doubt to the jubilant defenders atthe breaches. When the call of bugles sounding theadvance replied from the castle, the French startedto waiver and slip away to the rear. Within anhour the gallant and resourceful garrison com­mander, Gen. Phillipon, had abandoned the townand crossed to Fort San Christobal where hesurrendered early the following morning.

Picton's attack had preceded the main assaultat the breaches by about twenty minutes. Fromthe start things began to go wrong. Surprise hadbeen lost when a rifleman of the vanguard firedback at a sentry on the rampart, and the ninebattalions found themselves having to cross a milldam in single file in the face of well-directed fire.For three-quarters of an hour every attempt to

15

escalade the rampart was beaten back. Not onlywere the ladders too short, but the men crowdedin the ditch were caught in a terrible cross-firefrom two bastions. Picton, already wounded, led asecond attempt himself, but was forced to drawoff the leading battalions. By now the secondbrigade had negotiated the dam and movedfurther to the right below the castle walls. At thispoint the rampart, damaged during a previoussiege, was about ten feet lower and the grenadierofficers of the 5th succeeded in raising severalladders. The first officer to reach the rampart,Lt. MacAlpine of the 88th, was killed a fewmoments later, but the new attack had taken thedefence by surprise and the French were slowlydriven back. After an hour of confused fightingin the dark passages of the castle (which containedmost of the garrison's food and ammunition), theFrench abandoned the citadel but succeeded in

barricading the main gate from outside. Shortlyafterwards, the sound of the tramp of marchingtroops was heard and a voice in English de­manded admission. But Picton was not easilyfooled. When the gates were thrown open thevisitors, four companies of the French 88th Regi­ment, were met with a volley and a charge.

At Badajoz the 88th lost 16 officers killed orwounded, and upwards of 225 men, the heaviestcasualties of any battalion in the division. The94th, however, had been the last to cross the dam,and was spared the ordeal of the first attacks.The sack of Badajoz went far beyond anythingthat had occurred at Cuidad Rodrigo. Order wasonly restored on the third day, when a completebrigade of British troops was marched in withorders to clear the town. Wellington, who hadbroken down and wept openly when he learnt theextent of the casualties, was now so angry, one of

The 88th at the Battle of Salamanca, 22 July 1812. At thisbattle it was the Connaught Rangers who captured fromthe French their historic and much-prized trophy tbe'Jingling Johnnie' or set of Turkish bells

16

his staff reported, that he would 'hardly thank thetroops' for taking the town.

SALAMANCA

The year 1812 proved the turning point of the warin the Peninsular, and greatly enhanced Welling­ton's reputation that hitherto had rested on hissuccesses against ill-armed native troops in India.Now he was to prove himself in a battle of themanceuvre against the finest troops in Europe.After the Battle of Salamanca, fought on 22 July1812, Wellington became a General ofthe first rank.

The opposing forces were roughly equal, withabout 47,000 men on either side. Wellington'sarmy included some 15,000 Portuguese and asmall Spanish force - the remainder were British.Learning that Marmont would shortly receivelarge reinforcements, Wellington moved his bag­gage train to the rear and took up a concealedposition south-east of the town to cover his lines ofcommunication back to Cuidad Rodrigo. Mar­mont, however, believing that Wellington hadalready started a retreat, moved the majority ofhis troops in a wide, sweeping movement so as tothreaten the Allied right flank and cut off theirline of withdrawal. The route chosen by theFrench led them through wooded and undulatingcountry and the leading divisions got very strungout. This gave Wellington the opportunity toattack while the French army was divided and offbalance. As soon as the outflanking movement wasspotted, Wellington switched 3 Division fromtheir position covering the ford at Cabrerizos to alay-back position on his right flank in front of thevillage of Aldea Tejada.

Issuing orders for his main body, which was stillhidden from the French, to be moved forward,Wellington galloped over to 3 Division, this beingthe nearest to the French columns now approach­ing Monte de Azan. Picton was recovering fromhis wounds and on sick leave in England, andWellington's brother-in-law, Sir Edward Packen­ham, was commanding the division. The time wasabout 5.00 p.m. and the men, who had beenresting after their forced march, were called toarms as Wellington arrived at top speed. Hisorders were short and to the point: 'Ned, move onwith the 3 Division; take the heights to your front;

and drive everything before you.' As theirCommander-in-Chief galloped back to the centrethe division moved off in four columns. On theright was a mixed force oflight cavalry, then cameWallace's Brigade (with Maj. Seton commandingthe 88th), the Portuguese Brigade and finally theleft brigade, commanded by Lt.-Col. JamesCampbell of the 94th.

The objective was 21 miles away, but much ofthe advance was screened by intervening hills. Thelast 1,000 yards, however, had to be covered inthe face of the French skirmishers and of sometwenty field guns that were rushed forward ontoMonte de Asan. Undeterred by this harassingfire, the division pressed forward to reach thecrest line without serious opposition. On thesummit, the French columns were in some con­fusion and still only half formed. At this moment,a terrified horse bolted right across the front ofWallace's Brigade dragging the bleeding corpseof Maj. Murphy of the 88th, who had been shotas he led his company over the crest. The sight sostirred the blood of the men of the 88th that theybecame quite uncontrollable, and Packenhamturning to Wallace, shouted, 'Let them loose!'With a great shout all three regiments surgedforward. The charge was irresistible, and theleading columns of Thomihes' Division dissolvedinto a mob ofpanic-stricken fugitives. One of theseregiments, the 101 Line, was practically annihil­ated, losing their eagle and over 1,000 men. It wasfrom this regiment that the historic and much­prized trophy, the 'Jingling Johnny' was captured'by the Connaught Rangers. By now four moreBritish divisions had come up in line with 3 Divi­sion, and a general engagement ensued. Theclimax came with the dramatic and decisivecharge of Le Marchant's heavy dragoons, and bysunset the French were in full retreat. The Alliedlosses were around 5,000, a third of those of theFrench. But for the Spanish abandoning their postguarding the vital bridge over the river Tormes,the French losses might well have been doubled.

THE RETREAT FROM BURGOS

After Salamanca, the 88th and 94th formed partof the garrison of Madrid. As guests in the liber­ated capital the troops settled down to enjoy the

17

fruits of victory. Every place of entertainment wasthrown open, with public balls for the officers andfree seats at theatres and bull fights for all. Theinterlude, however was short-lived. In lateOctober, Wellington was forced to recall 3 Divi­sion, raise the Siege of Burgos and fall back intowinter quarters across the frontier. The retreatfrom Burgos is a classic example of the fortitude ofthe British soldier, and equally an example ofWellington's skill as a tactician when faced withheavy odds. In torrents of rain, shaken by agueand weakened by dysentery and fever, with theirclothing in tatters and mostly without shoes, thetroops struggled back with the French hard ontheir heels. The commissariat failed. No campkettles or rations ever arrived, and a few handfulsof acorns saved many men from death by starva­.tion. Grattan, the chronicler of the 88th, at leasthad a pair of serviceable shoes, but remarks thatfor three weeks he could never take them off, forhis feet were so swollen that he could not get themon again. His silk-lined frock coat, made out of acassock belonging to a priest captured at Badajoz,was in rags, 'A mere spencer and no longer theobject of envy that he had sported on the boule­vards of Madrid.' Many men owed their lives toCol. Lloyd of the 94th. Marching at the rear ofhisbrigade, Lloyd piled his horse with the knapsacksof men who were in the last stages of exhaustion.Time and time again, a soldier who had collapsedand was ready to accept death or capture ratherthan attempt to go on, would be hoisted into thesaddle, while Lloyd himself led the horse backwith the rear-guard.

THE END OF THE PENINSULAR WAR

The following summer, Wellington's army was onthe move again, marching north, and this time itwas the French who were in retreat. Lloyd ex­horted his men to even greater efforts in the forcedmarches that led to the victory at Vittoria and thecrossing of the Pyrenees. Lloyd was killed in theBattle of Nivelle. He was only 30 years old - aprofessional soldier of the highest quality, knownas a wit and for his courage and herculean strengththroughout the army, and as a leader whose firstthought was always for the men he led. One ofthese later wrote:

18

'When he came into camp he was never amoment idle, either reconnoitring the enemy'sposition, or drawing charts of the roads, etc.He scarcely allowed himself to rest, and wasalways up an hour or two before the buglesounded: but he would never allow the men tobe disturbed before the proper time. But then heexpected them to be alert . . . all his motionswere double quick and he detested nothing somuch as laziness.'

Within six months the French had again beenbeaten at the Battle ofOrthes, Toulouse had fallen,and the war was over.

C]lie88thfrom 1814 to 1881

In mid-]une the 88th were despatched to Canadato reinforce the garrison that for two years hadbeen defending the frontiers. The Americans,taking the opportunity of twisting the Britishlion's tail, had declared war in support of France,and had already gained naval supremacy on LakeErie. Under the command of Lt.-Col. Macphersonthe Connaught Rangers landed at Quebec on3 August and immediately sent a detachment toFort William Henry. Within a few weeks themajority of the battalion was in action at Platts­burg at the head of Lake Champalin. Gen. SirGeorge Prevost, the Governor-General of Canada,had crossed the frontier with about two brigadesand reached the west side of Plattsburg Bay. TheAmericans under Brig.-Gen. Macomb were seri­ously outnumbered. While Prevost waited for hisgun-boats to sail up the lake, militia and volunteers

men waiting to fill the ranks, all were present thenext day. The passage to Scutari took a fortnight.The battalion spent the next six weeks in theTurkish barracks that later became the basehospital, where Florence Nightingale and herdevoted staff slaved under appalling conditionsnot only to save the lives of the wounded butagainst endemic disease and Government inepti­tude. The 88th was brigaded with the 19th and77th Regiments under Brig.-Gen. Buller in theLight Division, commanded by Lt.-Gen. SirGeorge Brown. Brown, known throughout thearmy for his churlish manner and belief in theefficacy of the lash, was over. 70 years old. The nextthree and a half months were spent near Varna inBulgaria where ninety of the Connaught Rangersdied ofcholera and many more were left in hospital.

REGIMENTAL MEDALS

THE CRIMEA

In 1818, shortly before he was promoted Major­General, Col. Wallace handed over command toLt.-Col. James Fergusson of the 43rd. It was atthis time that Wallace instituted the award ofregimental medals. A number of N.C.O's andmen had fought in as many as twelve generalactions and been wounded three or even fourtimes. Wallace's proposal for recognizing suchexceptional service combined with good conductreceived the approval of the Duke ofYork himself.The Regimental Medals, in the form of a silverMaltese cross for the first class and of the usualshape for the second and third classes, weremanufactured at the expense of the officers. Thefirst class medal was given for twelve actions; thesecond, for seven to eleven actions; and the third,to those who had been present in six or feweractions.

The Regiment left Liverpool in April 1854 forthe Crimea under the command of Lt.-Col.Shirley. The night before the battalion marchedout of Fulwood Barracks, Preston, to embark atLiverpool there had been 150 men absent fromtattoo, but much to the disappointment of the Officer's shako, 88th, 1835-40

flocked to Jom Macomb. In the ensuing navalaction, an American flotilla won the day. Thelocally constructed vessels on both sides were'little better than a collection of shattered wrecks',but the British gun-boats were forced to retreat.Meanwhile, the leading British troops had crossedthe River Saranac, and driven the much weakerforce of American troops from their redoubts. Inthis skirmish, the Light Company ofthe 88th underCapt. Nickle and Lt. Delme showed considerabledash. Their Brigadier, Sir Thomas Brisbane, wasso confident that he offered to take the Americanfort with his brigade alone in twenty minutes.Prevost, however, would not agree and ordered ageneral withdrawal; a decision which led to hisrecall to England where, but for his death thefollowing January he would have faced acourt-martial for his incompetent handling of theoperation.

19

INKERMAN

positions. Seeing a large body of Russian cavalryon the high ground ahead, Gen. Brown halted the77th with orders to face left and the 88th withorders to form square. The remainder of thedivision, including three companies of the 88thwho did not hear the order to halt, continued toadvance against the Great Redoubt, urged for­ward by Brig. Codrington. Gen. Brown, mean­while, shouted in vain that the regiments were tobe dressed in proper line. After much confusedfighting and heavy casualties the Great Redoubtwas captured, but this success was short-lived as astrong Russian column was close at hand for acounter-attack. In the melee a bugler sounded'the retire' and the survivors of Codrington'sBrigade and the three companies ofthe ConnaughtRangers were seen scrambling back down the slopetowards the river.

The advance of the Guards and HighlandBrigades into the gap left by the Light Divisionbrought the battle to its climax. As the High­landers advanced past the two battalions that werestill halted, their Brigadier, Sir Colin Campbell,urged them to join in the attack, but Buller heldto his decision to guard the flank. By about 6.00p.m. the Russians were in full retreat and theConnaught Rangers moved forward after sunsetto bivouac amongst the dead and wounded on theslopes of Kourgani Hill. Here the grim work ofcollecting the wounded men and burying the deadcontinued for the next two days. Overall, thecasualties of the 88th were very light, except inthose companies that had taken part in the firstattack of the Great Redoubt.

When the church bells ofSevastopol rang out earlyon Sunday 5 November, it was to call the peopleto prayer for the success of a Russian counter­offensive by 30,000 troops who were already onthe march. The attack was dire€ted on the Heightsof Inkerman on the extreme right of the Britishposition. With insufficient troops for the siegeitself, this flank was only guarded by pickets foundfrom the divisional camps spread along the highground opposite Sevastopol. The nearest of thesewas the camp of 2 Division which was next to that

oUsting for the Connaught Rangers' by Lady Buder, 1879 of the Light Division. As usual Buller's Brigade

THE ALMA

The landing at Kalamita Bay, 25 miles fromSevastopol, started on 14 September. Knapsackswere left on board and the men's kit was reducedto a spare shirt and a pair of boots wrapped in ablanket. Three days' rations, consisting of saltpork and biscuits, were issued. The Battle of theAlma took place six days later. The first shotswere fired by the Russians at the skirmish line ofthe Light Division positioned on the extreme leftof the British line. This was shortly after 2.00 p.m.,and the 88th had already been under arms foreleven hours. Having waded across the river, the88th advanced under shell fire (coming from theGreat Redoubt) some 400 yards into more openground, somewhat on the flank of the Russian

Before the campaign in the Crimea opened, thelosses from this cause alone in the French andBritish armies amounted to 10,000 casualties.Hard living was the order of the day. Fourteenmen shared a bell tent and the only extra clothingallowed was the small kit carried in a knapsack.The commissariat arrangements were so defective,that but for Col. Shirley's careful day-to-dayhoarding of part of the ration there would havebeen no breakfast (of bread and coffee) before themorning parade, which often lasted from 8.00a.m. to 1.00 p.m.

20

The 88th at Agra, en route for Rawalpindi, 1866. (NationalAnny Muse1UD)

had paraded before daylight. Four companies ofthe 88th under Col. Shirley, who was in commandof the divisional trench guard on that day, hadalready marched off. One company was on nightpicket on the Middle Ravine and its relief had alsoleft camp. The four remaining companies (muster­ing eight officers and about 280 men) werepreparing breakfast. I t had been raining all night,and there was no sign of the heavy mist and foglifting. At about 7.00 a.m. Brig. Codrington, whohad been visiting the pickets since before dawn,heard an exchange of shots. As he turned to gallopback to camp, the sound of heavier firing spreadaway to the flank.

Within minutes of the alarm sounding, the menof the 88th in camp were under arms, and led byBrevet-Colonel Jeffreys set off towards the coastroad that led up to 2 Division's camp. On theridge below the camp a desperate struggle wastaking place. Maj.-Gen. Pennefather, who was intemporary command of 2 Division, was collectingevery man he could find to reinforce the outpostline. There was in fact no line, no cohesion, nochance to reconnoitre or to make any plan, otherthan to despatch each party as it arrived into theswirling mist with orders to hold the ridge at allcosts. The 'half battalion' of the 88th soon found

themselves posted at the head of the MikriakoffGlen. Shells had already begun to fall on theridge, but in this area the Russian infantry werestill hidden by the dense fog. Capt. Browne, tryingto discover what was going on, asked an officerwith one of the pickets who replied, 'Oh! you willsoon find out, there are about 6,000 Russians onthe brow of the hill.' As the 88th advanced into theglen the Russians poured down the opposite bank,but the broken ground which was covered withshrub and the dense fog hindered the attackers'more than the defence. The Light and No. 7Companies, charging down hill, drove some of theRussians before them until they were virtuallysurrounded and forced back to where the othertwo companies were making a stand near the headof the glen. Led by the sound of the regimentalbugle call, the four companies managed to join upnear the crest of the ridge, but by now theirammunition was nearly expended. The situationwas critical. Maj. Maxwell set off in search ofammunition and reinforcements and succeededin locating Gen. Pennefather, but not a round nora man was available. The General's orders werequite explicit: 'The 88th must stand their ground,give the Russians the bayonet, or be driven intothe sea.' The arrival of Moore, the Quartermaster,

21

with bat-ponies loaded with ammunition, who bysome miracle had tracked down the Regiment,and of NO.2 Company from the Middle Ravine,could not have been more timely. By now the fogwas lifting and very effective fire was opened at800 yards range against Russian guns on Shell Hill.By about 1.00 p.m. the Russians had lost 12,000men and their attack was called off. The casualtiesamongst the 15,000 British and French troops thathad been committed was less than 4,300. The 88thlost 119 killed and wounded, one-third of theirnumber engaged. They had been the first troopsof the Light Division to reach the scene of actionand, as Capt. Steevens later wrote, 'two of thecompanies penetrated further into the Russianposition than any of the troops that subsequentlycarne up.'

THE 94TH FROM 1814-18

The Battle Honour 'Seringapatam', the first to bewon by the 94th (Scotch Brigade) was the last that

battalion was destined to receive. Between 1814and 1818 the British regular army was reduced by160,000 all ranks, but the politicians clamouredfor still more cuts. In 1818, ten months afterSeringapatam was added to the eight battlehonours won by the 94th in the Peninsular, theBattalion was disbanded. Of the 900 men wholanded at Lisbon in 1808 only 150 survived thewar. The Peninsular colours were handed over tothe veteran Commanding Officer, Sir JamesCampbell, and as a token of their respect andaffection he was presented by the officers with asplendid sword of honour.

THE 94TH RECONSTITUTED

Five years later, almost to the day, with the threatof serious trouble in the West Indies, as well as inIreland, the 94th was reconstituted along with fiveother regiments of foot. Five officers of the old94th, including Lt.-Col. Allan, were gazetted to thenewly raised regiment. The headquarters was

Officers of the 94th - a cartoon drawn at Newport, 1873.(Nadonal ArDlY MuseUDl)

22

established in Glasgow and recruiting opened allover the United Kingdom with such success,particularly around Edinburgh and in CountyCork, that within a month the establishment hadbeen more than filled. In fact, when the recruitsassembled in Glasgow, there were 1,007 men foran establishment of 617, and volunteers wereposted to the 96th and 99th. Lt.-Gen. Sir ThomasBradford, who had commanded a PortugueseBrigade, was appointed Colonel of the Regiment.A few years later he was succeeded by Lt.-Gen.Lord Keane under whom the 94th had served inthe Peninsular. The links with the old ScotchBrigade were further cemented when Sir JamesCampbell, who had served with the regimentsince 1802 right through the Mahratta andPeninsular Wars, was appointed Colonel of the94th in 1831.

RESTORATION OF THE BATTLEHONOURS

In 1874, when the regiment was stationed atCurrah under the command of Lt.-Col. JohnTaylour, notification was received from HorseGuards that Her Majesty had been graciouslypleased to approve of 'the Honours and Dis­tinctions previously born by the Scotch Brigadebeing carried on the Regimental colour of the94th Regiment of Foot.' The reasons for permis­sion being withheld for the Regiment to resumethe historic title, 'the Scotch Brigade', have neverbeen disclosed. Many of the intervening years,since the raising of the 'new' 94th, had been spenton garrison duties overseas, with long stretches inIndia. The period of 'little wars', interrupted onlyby the near disasters in the Crimea, was soon toend. Slowly the army set about putting its housein order with the abolition of purchase, the in­stitution of short service and introduction ofmodern weapons such as the Martini-Henrybreech-loading hammerless rifle which was issuedin 1871.

<Southu1frica

THE ZULU WAR

The Battle ofUlundi, in which the Zulus suffered afinal crippling defeat, took place three monthsafter the 94th landed at Durban in April 1879.Four companies (twenty officers and 593 men)under Lt.-Col. Sydenham Mathus were part of aforce of 5,000 with twelve guns and two Gatlingsunder Lord Chelmsford. The final advance towithin a mile and a half of King Chetewayo's'capital' was made with the infantry and gunsmarching across the Mahlabatini Plain in anenormous hollow square covered by a cavalryscreen. The kraals ahead appeared deserted, butat about 8.30 a.m. black masses of Zulu warriors,estimated at 20,000 men in all, were seen movingdown from the surrounding hills and slippingthrough the tall grass to form a great 'sprawlingsemi-circle', slowly closing in to ring the red­coated square. The 94th were posted at one of thecorners of the rear face of the square. The menhad been marching in column of twos but hadnow closed up and were halted in four ranksfacing outwards, a movement that had left about100 yards of trampled grass for a field of fire. Itwas here at the corners of the back of the squarethat the most determined attacks came, falling onthe 94th and the 2/2 I st. The latter had theircolours uncased and can claim to be the lastBritish regiment to carry their colours in action.Again and again the Zulu regiments charged, butthey were swept back by volley-fire and the9-pounders. Chetewayo's Royal Regiment nowadvanced from Ulundi Kraal, but its attack was

23

broken up by shrapnel before the massed warriorscould deploy. Shortly afterwards, the 17th Lancersmoved out of the square from behind the 94th.The action had lasted a bare half-hour. A thousanddead warriors .ringed the square, but none laywithin twenty paces of the men who now cheeredthe Lancers forward as they charged the retreatingZulus. Of less than a hundred British casualties,those of the 94th, with 2 killed and 13 woundedincluding their adjutant, Lt. Brooke, were heavierthan in any other unit. It is of interest to note thatthe 88th were at this time operating in the coastalarea within forty miles of Ulundi. The tworegiments, however, never met, as the 88th wereordered back to the Cape en route for India.

One of a pair of huge elephant tusks which were fonnerlyChief Sekukunl's badge of office. Captured by the 94th(Connaught Rangers) in 1879, one tusk was presented toQ.ueen Victoria, while the other, shown here, was lDadeinto a snuff horn and presented to the officers' lDess of the94th

SEKUKUNI CAMPAIGN

The 94th now joined the Transvaal Field Forcefor operations against Sekukuni, a Chief whosepowerful confederation of tribes in the Transvaalwas in open revolt. The tribesmen occupied afortified mountain area, the key to which was anisolated hill at the head of a ravine, overlookingSekukuni's 'town', known as the 'fighting kopje'.This Ioo-ft mass of piled boulders was honey­combed with caves, protected by stone barricades,and was garrisoned by a large force well suppliedwith water. The town was attacked at dawn on28th November 1879 and the action lasted twelvehours before the garrison of 'the fighting kopje'was finally forced to surrender by being dynamitedout of their caves. The life of Col. Baker Russell,the Force Commander, was saved by Pte. Woodsof the 94th who, seeing a rifle put through a cleftin the rocks, rushed forward as the hidden nativefired. Woods was severely wounded by the shot

24

that must otherwise have killed his officer. Woodswas recommended for the Victoria Cross butnothing came of it. At about the same time, how­ever, Lt. T. J. Dewar of the King's DragoonGuards, who was attached to the mounted com­pany of the 94th, having been severely wounded,was being carried down the hillside by six of thenative contingent. Suddenly forty of the enemyleft cover and made a rush for the party, at whichthe Swazis dropped the wounded officer and ranoff. The only soldiers anywhere near were Ptes.Francis Fitzpatrick and Thomas Flawn, whoimmediately ran forward and engaged the on­coming tribesmen. Finally, with one man coveringthe retreat and the other carrying the officer on hisback, the two Irishmen brought Dewar into safety.Both men were awarded the Victoria Cross.Sekukuni was captured a few days later by adetachment of the 94th commanded by Capt. E. S.Brook. Meanwhile, two huge elephant tusks, theChief's badge of office, had been discovered afterthe capture of the town. One of the tusks was laterpresented to Queen Victoria and the other wasmounted in silver by Lt.-Col. Murray and pre­sented to the officers' mess of the 94th.

BRONKHORST SPRUIT

Within a year the Transvaal became the seat ofBoer resistance to British rule, and at the end ofNovember 1880 the 94th was ordered to beginconcentrating at Pretoria. The headquarters withtwo companies under Lt.-Col. Robert Anstrutherset off to march from Lydenburg, unaware thatfurther instructions warning of the possibility ofhostilities had been delayed on route. On thefifteenth day of the. march the column, totallingjust under 250 all ranks with three wives andthree children, was approaching BronkhorstSpruit. A mounted Boer suddenly rode up andhanded the Colonel an ultimatum, demanding areply to a letter they had sent to the Governor ofPretoria, and said that any further advance wouldbe taken as an act of war. The Colonel replied,'I have orders to proceed with all possibledespatch to Pretoria, and to Pretoria I am going,but tell the Commandant I have no wish to meethim in a hostile spirit'. The messenger turned andas he galloped back towards a wood only 200

A

1 Fusilier, Scots Brigade (Gordon's Regi­ment), 1760

2 Musketeer, Scots Brigade (Dundas's Regi­ment), 1777-83

3 Grenadier, Scots Brigade (Dundas's Regi­ment), 1777-83

1

o MleHAEl VOUENS

B

1 Private, Battalion CoDlpany, ScotchBrigade, 1794

2 Officer, India Service Dress, ScotchBrigade, 1779-1807

3 Private, Battalion CoDlpany, 94th (ScotchBrigade), c. 1812

2

3

C M1CH'II'l YOUENS

C MICHAEL YOUENS

I

I Reg:bnental Colonel, 94th Foot, 18232 Officer, BattaUon Cotnpany, 88th Foot, 18423 Private (Heavy Marching Order), Flank

Cotnpany, 88th Foot, 1844

c

D

1 Sergeant, 88th Foot, 18532 Corporal, 88th Foot, Crhnea, 18563 Pioneer, 88th Foot, Crhnea, 1856

2

C MICNAEl YOUENS

o MICHAEL YQUENS

1 Officer, 88th Foot, Zulu War, 18792 Officer (Undress), The ConaaUSht Rausers,

18c}o3 BanclSDllUl (HoDle Service Dress), The

ConaaUSht Rause..., 18cn

E

F

1 Private, Mounted Infantry Company, IBtBD., South Africa, IC)OI

2 Officer (Full Dress), The ConnaughtRangers, 1902

3 Private, IBt BD., India, 1902

C MICHAEL VOUENS

o MICHAEL YOUENS

1 Officer (Full Dress for India), 1St Bn., 19112 Officer (Mess Dress for India), 19113 Officer ('Frock Coat' Undress for India),

1St Bn., 1911

G

o MICHAEL YOUENS

I Sesoseant, 2Dd BIL, India, IC)08:z Private, 1st Bn., Mesopotauda, 19163 Sesoseant, The CoanaUSht Raqers, 19U

H

yards away he fired a shot into the air. At thissignal a murderous fire came from both sides ofthe track. Col. Anstruther was hit immediatelyand in less than fifteen minutes six out of seven ofthe officers and over 150 men had been killed orwounded. The Colonel was hit five times and theAdjutant was killed in the act of passing theColonel's orders for the ceasefire to be sounded. Atruce was arranged by Lt. Hume, the only remain­ing company officer, who later paid tribute to thedevoted work of the regimental surgeon, E. C. R.Ward who himself had been wounded. SurgeonWard was faced with attending to over 100wounded, and with an average of five wounds perman, it was sixteen hours before he had dealtwith every case, in addition to arranging for thepitching of tents and provision of food and water.The Regimental colours were smuggled out byConductor Egerton, of the Commissariat andTransport Department, and Sgt. Bradley whovolunteered to walk to Pretoria to get medicalassistance. Mrs. Fox, the Sergeant-Major's wife,had been seriously wounded and the colours wereat first hidden under the blanket on the stretcheron which she lay. The two men walked out of thecamp under the eyes of the Boers with the colourswound round their bodies under their uniforms,and on reaching Pretoria handed them to theColonel of the 2 I st for safe custody. In April 188 I ,

during the Armistice, and after the survivingwounded had reached Pretoria, the colours wereformally handed back to Capt. F. B. Campbell ata special ceremonial parade held jointly by the21st and 94th. All three wives, Mrs. Fox, Mrs.Maistre, a sergeant's wife, and Mrs. Smith, the

Mounted Infantry CODlpany, 94th, at Pretoria, 1880.(National Anny Musewn)

wife of the Bandmaster, were awarded the RoyalRed Cross for their courageous conduct anddevotion in attending the wounded during theaction and the three months they were heldprisoners of war. Apart from members of theRoyal Family, these three ladies were amongst theearliest recipients ofthis award. Mrs. Smith later re­ceived the silver medal of the Order of St John ofJerusalem. The devoted work ofSurgeon Ward un­fortunately went unrecognized, except by his com­rades, many of whom owed their lives to his skill.

THE CONNAUGHT RANGERS ATCOLENS'O

The 1st Battalion under Lt.-Col. Brooke, arrivedin South Africa at the end of November, 1899.The attempted relief of Kimberley had resultedin the British being defeated at the Modder Riverand Magersfontein. Gen. Buller's attempt to crossthe River Tegels to relieve Ladysmith brought athird defeat within five days. At the Battle ofColenso, which was fought on 15 December andcame as the culminating disaster of the 'BlackWeek', the Connaught Rangers were in 5 Brigadecommanded by Maj.-Gen. A. F. Hart, of whomBaring Pemberton writes, 'This dashing Irishmanmight have stepped straight out of the Crimeafor all his apparent ignorance of what had beenachieved in gunnery and small arms over the lastfifty years'. It was, however, Gen. Buller's tacticalineptitude that denied any possibility ofsuccess.

The Boers, with only a third of the Britishstrength, occupied carefully concealed and en­trenched positions amongst a tangle of kopjes andridges that overlooked the far bank of the river.The river itself has been described as a 'swirling,muddy torrent'. The British advance was made inbroad daylight over an open plain in full view ofthe Boers, and nearly 20,000 men were committedto a three-pronged attack. The advance wasordered for 4.30 a.m. but Maj.-Gen. Hart'sbrigade had been paraded early so that halfan hour's drill could be carried out. Havingsatisfied himself that the men were 'well in hand',Hart ordered the advance in quarter column. Hisinstructions were to make for Bridle Drift immedi­ately west of the junction of Doornkop Spruitand the Tugela, and to cross the river at this point.

25

Officer's full dress, 94th, c. 1878. Ueutenant J. MacSwineydied of wounds at Bronkhorst Spruit, 20 DecelDber 1880.(National ArlDY MuseUID)

To assist him Hart was given a guide and aninterpreter, together with a tracing from a sketchmap that was based on a land registration survey.The topographical features had in fact beendrawn from some distance away by a RoyalEngineer Officer a day or so previously. On thesketch map the Bridle Drift was misplaced by amile, and as the guide knew that this crossingpoint was impassable, he led the Brigade towardssome rapids near his own kraal which he knew tobe just fordable breast high. Unfortunately, thekraal was at the furthest point of a tongue of landformed by a very prominent loop in the river.

The Boer commander, Louis Botha, had madecareful plans to overwhelm the British by asurprise counter-attack after they had startedcrossing the river. The sight, however, of fourbattalions advancing in close formation into aconstricted area where they were hemmed in onthree sides by a broad, and fast-flowing river, was

26

too much for the Boer gunners who opened fire.Within moments, there was an eruption ofrifle fire from the Boer trenches which coveredall three sides of the loop in the river. Instinc­tively, the advancing regiments deployed andmany men ran forward eager to get at the enemy.Not all were trapped in the loop, but the Con­naught Rangers, and the Royal Dublin Fusiliersfrom that moment on were pinned to the ground.Although a general withdrawal was eventuallyordered (at about 10.00 a.m.) it was another eighthours before the last parties could be extricatedfrom their untenable positions in the loop. Ahandful of Connaught Rangers had managed toreach the river's bank about 200 yards from theBoer trenches. A Boer describes the plight ofthe six survivors, 'Finding no shelter on the riverbank, exhausted, wounded almost to a man, theyceased firing, whereupon our men left them inpeace until the end of the fight, when they werebrought over and complimented upon their pluck'.The British lost the Battle of Colenso before a shotwas fired, but as a German observer reported, 'itwas the General and not his gallant force that wasdefeated'. Buller lost 1,139 men and 10 guns. TheBoer losses totalled 27 men. A third of the Britishlosses were suffered by two battalions, the RoyalDublin Fusiliers and the Connaught Rangers.

MOUNTED INFANTRY

The 1St Battalion was in South Africa for twoand a half years, and when the campaign de­veloped into a series of anti-guerrilla operationswith columns almost continually on the move inall weathers, and through the most difficult andwildest terrain, five out ofthe eight companies weremounted infantry. In order to achieve surprise,many marches took place at night and the brokenand often mountainous terrain gave the Boer com­manders endless opportunities for 'hit and run'and other delaying tactics. The details given in theregimental history of no less than 457 marches (atotal of approximately 4,800 miles) by the batta­lion, indeed, hardly reflect the real achievementof the Connaught Rangers in South Africa.Except for a break of a single month on garrisonduties, the battalion was constantly engaged onoperations against a skilful and elusive enemy. In

extremes of heat and cold the men faced up to the.restless moves, day after day, through difficult andhostile country, with a cheerful acceptance ofhardship, that could only stem from an exception­ally high esprit de corps, that intangible and muchprized quality in any regiment.

CjlieGonnaught~gers

in the greatCWar

On the outbreak of war the Connaught Rangersmobilized four battalions. The 2nd Battalionwas on its way to France within a few days aspart of the British Expeditionary Force. The1st Battalion left Karachi on 19 August in thesame ship as the 1st Manchester Regiment whowere in the same division. The 3rd and 4th Batta­lions, formed from the Galway and Roscommon

1St BattaUon Rifle Team, Cyprus, 1894. (National ArmyMuseum)

Officer's full dress, India, 1902. Second-Lieutenant Little.(National Army Museum)

Militia, were part of the Special Reserve. Bothhad been in existence since 1793 and were thedirect descendents of the Irish Militia that hadstarted as County Regiments 130 years previously.The role of the two Special Reserve Battalions wasto provide drafts for the battalions serving overseasand for most of the war they remained in CountyCork. On mobilization the 3rd Battalion mustered11 officers and 424 other ranks, but by Februaryof the following year the establishment was raisedto over 2,000 all ranks. The importance of thisunspectacular but vital task of training reinforce­ments is well illustrated by the situation that facedthe two regular Battalions within four months ofmobilization. As the war progressed, trained menhad to be found in addition for the 5th and 6thService Battalions raised from amongst the hun­dred thousand volunteers called for in August 1914.Maj. H. F. N. Jourdain who, as O.C. Depot, hadmobilized the reservists at the outbreak of war,was appointed to command the 5th Battalion on19 August. A few weeks later the 6th Battalion was

27

raised under the command of Lt.-Col. ]. S.Lenox-Conyngham. The two new battalionsjoined respectively 10 and 16 (Irish) Divisions.By the end of the year the 5th Battalion had filledits establishment of I, I 17 all ranks and early inMay 1915 the battalion moved to Basingstoke, andon 25]une was ordered to hold itself in readinessfor service in the Dardenelles. The 6th Battalionmeanwhile was under training at Kilworth Campuntil August 1915, when 16 Division concentratedat Aldershot before proceeding to France inDecember. Their destination was the Loos Sector.

On the night 23/24 August the 2nd Battalionwas across the Belgian frontier and digging areserve position overlooking Mons. Twelve hourslater they were the last regiment to leave thebattlefield. The retreat from Mons had startedand it was another full day's marching on roadsjammed with refugees before the men got a hotmeal - the first for three days. On 26 August thebattalion provided the rearguard to the Brigadewithdrawing through Le Grand Fayt. TheGermans were in great strength and had littledifficulty in driving past the French on theConnaught's right. Contact with Brigade Head­quarters had been lost and Lt.-Col. A. W.Abercrombie, with the surviving elements of twocompanies, was ambushed in the village which hadfalsely been reported clear by the French. Theparty fought their way out and attempted to makea stand but were surrounded and captured.During the fighting on 26 August the battalionlost 6 officers and 280 men. The other companieswere now very split up and without orders. One ofthe Company Commanders, Capt. E. G. Hamiltonwrote, 'I shall never forget that night. I could notride my horse as I fell asleep the moment I got up.I even fell asleep walking - to be awakened bybumping into the men in front of me, most ofwhom were also half asleep.' Nine days later theConnaught Rangers· reached Champlet east ofParis. The retreat was over and a counter-offen­sive had already been ordered. On 8 September,the battalion captured Orly and the following daycrossed the Marne with surprising ease. 'Fortun­ately for us, near the bridge that we were to crossthere was a big chateau with a very fine cellar.The Germans discovered this, and next morningour advance guard walked over the bridge and

28

Colours and regbnental trophies of the 94th (and :zndHattaHon) - Malta I8c)I. (National ArJny MuseuJn)

took 500 very drunk German prisoners.' Thebattalion was the first British regiment across theAisne and beat off two very determined counter­attacks at La Cour de Soupir. Again the losseswere very heavy; 8 officers and over 240 men.

Within a month the whole of the B.E.F. wasrushed northwards to fill the gap between theFrench and Belgian Armies in 'the race to the sea'.Under the command of Maj. W. N. S. Alexanderthe battalion reached Poperinghe on the openingday of the First Battle of Ypres. Between2 I October and I I November the ConnaughtRangers took part in three bitter battles: Lange­march, Gheluvelt and Nonne Bosschen. Thebattalion was in the line for eighteen out of thetwenty-two days, and repulsed nine separateGerman attacks. On the last day of the Germanoffensive the Prussian guards broke through northof the Menin road, but were halted by a line ofBritish l8-pounder guns firing at point blankrange. The Germans waivered and were finallydriven back by a counter-attack in which theConnaught Rangers (in reserve near PolygonWood) took part. Three weeks later, the battalion,now so reduced in strength that it could not beput back into the line, was amalgamated with the1st Battalion.

The 1st Battalion with Lt.-Col. H. S. L.Ravenshawe in command, reached Marseilles on26 September. En route for Orleans their train

stopped at Toulouse, where each man was servedwith a litre of wine to mark the centenary of thebattle fought there a hundred years previously.Three weeks later the battalion was rushed for­ward, from their assembly area close to theBelgian frontier, in a fleet of London buses. Theirdestination was Messines, the key to the Britishposition south of Ypres. The battalion was thefirst unit of the Indian Corps to enter the trenchesand the urgency of their move was so great thatonly a single day's rations, entrenching tools andan extra hundred rounds of ammunition per man,was all that was carried forward. The battalionwas not relieved until 15 November by which datewinter had set in, with snow and severe frost.Within a week the battalion was engaged in bitterfighting near Festubert where the Germans cap­tured part of the front line and isolated one of thecompanies. A counter-attack, jointly mounted bythe Rangers and 2/8 Gurkha Rifles, retook theposition and nearly reached the German linebefore it was stopped by cross-fire from machine­guns. The battalion was now down to a third of itsoriginal strength. There had been many instancesof a handful of men holding out in isolated posi­tions, without hope of reinforcement and display­ing a courage and determination that was beyondpraise. When the trenches of the Poona Horsewere overrun, Sgt. Caldwell collected twelve menand, attacking along a connecting trench, drovethe Germans back. Caldwell and four men thenheld a vital sap-head for twenty-four hours before

Private T. Hughes receiving the Victoria Cross. (NationalAnny MuseulU)

ut Battalion colours and trophies, photographed atJullundur, 1919. Left to right: Dinner President's chair;Jingling Johnnie; Bachelor's chair. Front: InkennandruJns. (National Anny MuseUlU)

being relieved by Lt. Badham and his platoon,who secured the position against all attacks for thenext three days. Within a week the battalion wasjoined by the survivors of the 2nd Battalion and adraft from home, and so the long winter monthspassed with the routine of trench warfare, foughtout in waterlogged trenches, with the nightlytasks of sandbagging, wiring parties and raids,and a daily toll of casualties.

At the end of April 1915 the Germans, usinggas, broke through north of Ypres and reinforce­ments were rushed to hold the breach. TheConnaught Rangers marched through Ypresunder shell-fire before dawn on 26 April andformed up about 1,000 yards from the Germanpositions on the Pilckem Ridge. The divisionalattack opened shortly after 1.00 p.m. The artillerysupport was called off too early, with disastrousresults. The last 500 yards of the advance met thefull blast of the enemy's fire. Nevertheless theRangers, 'true to their splendid reputation, neverfaltered, and ... eventually reached a point about120 yards from the German trenches.' At thismoment a cloud of chlorine gas was released andthe Corps Commander later wrote, 'when the gasfirst caught our bewildered troops, totally unpre­pared for such devices, and forced them to retirerapidly, such was the confusion ... that an IndianHalvidar shouted out "look out, we've arrived inhell". But even so the gates of hell can be held by

29

brave men, and such were Maj. Deacon of theConnaught Rangers and Lt. Henderson of theManchesters ... who held out for many hours,unconquerable!' The position, however, wasquite untenable, and 15 officers and 351 men ofthe Connaughts had fallen or were missing. Of thesurvivors many officers and men were singled outfor recognition, including Sgt. Caldwell, who tookcommand of his company when all the officerswere killed, and L(Cpl. Reilly who rescued awounded officer of the 47th Sikhs, lying helplessclose to the German wire.

Towards the end of the year the Indian Corpswas sent to Mesopotamia. Once again theConnaught Rangers and the 1st Manchesters werein the same troopship. They arrived just as theoperations to relieve Kut were starting. Within afew days Lt.-Col. Murray was leading the batta­lion in the assault on Hanna. In bitter rain andflood conditions, which turned the ground into a

5th BattaHon on the tnareh in Serbia, Novetnber I9I5(Itnperial War Museum)

sea of mud, the Rangers lost a third of theirstrength. It was over a year before the Britishreached Baghdad and the Rangers had taken partin the attack on the Dujaila Redoubt and BaitAissa and the capture of the Khadairi Bend. Inthe middle of Ma;ch 1918 the battalion, nowcommanded by Lt.-Col. Hamilton, was orderedto Palestine. On the march up from the railheadat Ludd they passed the signposts 'RangerCorner' and 'Connaught Road' that marked thepassage of the 5th Battalion through the same areathe previous December. In the Battle of Sharonthe battalion took a prominent part in the captureof Fir Hill and drove the Turks before them taking

30

many prisoners and capturing six: field guns.When the Armistice was declared the battalionwas providing the garrison at Nazareth.

The fighting traditions of the ConnaughtRangers were magnificently maintained by theirservice battalions. The 6th Battalion reachedFrance one week after the I st Battalion had sailedfor Mesopotamia. For several months they heldpart of the Hulluch Sector at Loos, but towardsthe end of August 1916 they moved into thetrenches opposite Guillemont. The battle of theSomme had been raging for two months, and thevillage which the Germans had held against allattacks was 'a shambles of blended horror andmystery'. Division after division had been com­mitted against the massed German machine-gunsand artillery in a terrible battle of attrition. On3 September at 5.00 a.m. the battalion formed up- the leading battalion in the brigade for yetanother assault on the village. Only twelve hours'notice of the attack had been received and theassault was not due until noon. Meanwhile theartillery duel was mounting and the Rangerssuffered 200 casualties before the signal for theassault was given. Within six minutes the firstobjective had been captured, and in less than anhour the third objective was reached and the 8thRoyal Munsters and the 6th Royal Irish passedthrough on to the final objective. A number ofRangers accompanied them to share in beatingoff the fierce counter-attacks over the nextforty-eight hours. When the battalion was relievedin the afternoon of 5 September, 200 officers andmen answered their names. Lt.-Col. Lenox­Conyngham was killed as he left the trench at thehead of the first wave. In the next few moments,as the Rangers surged forward across the narrowstrip of shattered ground, cratered and smokingfrom the intense barrage, the German machine­gunners took a terrible toll. At Guil1emont, Pte.T. Hughes won the Victoria Cross 'for mostconspicuous bravery and determination'. Althoughwounded, he returned to the firing line and latercaptured a German machine-gun single-handed.Wounded a second time he succeeded in bringingback several prisoners. Two days later, Capt.R. C. Fielding, Coldstream Guards, assumedcommand of the battalion, and yet another attackwas ordered in which the Rangers suffered

Surviving officers of the sth Battalion at Salonika afterKosturino, DeceDlber I9IS. (IDlperial War MuseUDl)

further crippling loss of 9 officers and 83 otherranks.

On 2 I March 19 I 8, the German offensive inPicardy opened. The full weight of the attack fellon 16 (Irish) Division, and in the next six daysthe 6th Battalion lost 22 officers and 618 otherranks. The Rangers were in reserve, four milesback, with orders to counter-attack if the Germansbroke through. By a disastrous mischance theorder cancelling this attack was never received.Their lone and unsupported effort was 'a vainand costly sacrifice against impossible odds'. Thefew remaining Rangers joined up with othersurvivors in the Brigade to form one weak com­posite battalion under the command of Fieldingand fought on. In March 19 I 8 the 6th Battalionwon undying fame. When the survivors were sentto strengthen another regiment there was muchbitterness. One man spoke for all: 'I've been aRanger for eighteen years and my father was aRanger before me - I shall always be one!'

The 5th Battalion disembarked at Anzac Coveon the day of the landing at Suvla. That afternoonthe Anzac Corps captured 'Lone Pine' in the firstof a number of diversionary attacks. As the daysslipped by the fierce Turkish resistance broughtmounting casualties at Anzac. Movement by daywas almost impossible with every gully and ravineunder gun fire. There was no shelter, practically

no water and everywhere under the swelteringsun the myriad of flies and the stench of death.The daily ration was a little bully and fourbiscuits per man. In a desperate attempt to restorethe situation at Suvla an attack on Hill 60 waslaunched. The objectives given to the ConnaughtRangers included the wells at Kabah Kuyu. In acharge over 400 yards ofopen ground that won theadmiration of the hardened veterans of Anzacthe Rangers captured the wells with the bayonetand got a footing on the slopes beyond. Six dayslater another attempt was made to capture themaize of trenches on the crest line and the Rangerscarried their first objective - 'it was an extra­ordinary feat, for it was done within a fewminutes. The dash of the Irishmen had beensimply irresistible.' Five counter attacks were heldoff for thirty-six hours before fresh troops eventu­ally took 'Hill 60'. A week later the Connaughtssailed for Salonika. Since landing at Anzac thebattalion had suffered 800 casualties.

The 5th Battalion was amongst the first Britishtroops to reach Macedonia, and marching intoSerbia through the Dedeli Defile reached the linenear Kosturino just over the Bulgarian frontier.Here they took over the French outpost positionson the mountainous uplands. But the Serbianwithdrawal had already started and a week earlierthan expected the Bulgarians attacked with heavy

31

artillery support and a surprisingly inexhaustiblesupply of infantry. The Rangers held out for twodays before their ammunition ran out and theywere forced back to the head of the Dedeli Defileby weight of numbers alone. At Kosturino, 'theDevil's Own', as Picton had named the ConnaughtRangers, fought with a tenacity and couragebeyond praise, but the cost was high and half thebattalion was lost. Many men had to be carriedback incapacitated by frost bite but in the retreatto the Doiran line there was not a single straggler.

For nearly two years the Rangers bore the hard­ships and frustrations of the campaign, beforebeing sent to Palestine to take part in the ThirdBattle of Gaza. In June 1918, they joined FourthArmy in France to fight through the battles for theHindenburg Line and in the Final Advance..When the 'cease fire' came the 5th Battalion wasadvancing near Mons where the 2nd Battalionhad fought their first battle of the Great War. AtHuy on 8 February 1919, the Battalion was

Captain H. F. N. Jourdain, c. 1914. He was later the 1a8tConunanding Officer of the Connaught Ranger8. (NationalAnny MU8ewn)

32

Officers of the Connaught Rangers at Rawalpindi, April1922, before dishancbnent of the repent began. (NationalAnny Museum)

paraded and the Divisional Commander person­ally gave the order, '5th Battalion The ConnaughtRangers, ground arms'; followed by, '2nd BattalionThe Connaught Rangers, take up arms'. This isbelieved to be only the second time since 166 I

that this order had been given.

THE POST-WAR YEARS, 1919-22

After a year at Dover the 2nd Battalion was des­patched in May 192 I to Upper Silesia to helpkeep the peace between the Germans and Poleson the new frontier. The 1st Battalion had mean­while been stationed in India since November1919. While stationed at Jullundur in June of thefollowing year, some newly drafted recruits,ostensibly influenced by the political news fromIreland, persuaded a few others to join them in apolitical gesture. In military terms this amountedto 'a mutinous refusal to parade'. By a coincidencethe number of men concerned was 88 and theincident was quickly settled and the ringleadersbrought to trial.

THE REGIMENT DISBANDED

In February 1922 the recommendations of theGeddes Committee on National Expenditure wereannounced. Six Irish Regiments, including theConnaught Rangers, were among the twenty-fourInfantry Regiments to be disbanded. On 12 June1922 the Colours of both regular battalions werelaid up in St George's Chapel, Windsor.

In turn, the colours of each of the Irish Regi­ments were handed to His Majesty the King. Inaccepting the Colours, and speaking with very

BATTLE HONOURS

SevastopolCentral IndiaSouth Mrica

1877-8--9ReliefofLadysmithSouth Africa

1899-1902

evident emotion, the King said'... I pledge myword that within these ancient and historic wallsyour Colours will be treasured, honoured andprotected as hallowed Memorials of the gloriousdeeds of brave and loyal Regiments.' In a farewellmessage to the Connaught Rangers His Majestysaid, 'I mourn indeed the loss ofa Regiment whichwas prominent in Picton's glorious FightingDivision. But your fame is assured by the names ofBusaco and Badajoz, even if you had not earnedfresh honours in subsequent campaigns and in thegreat world war ... be very sure that ... the fameof your great work can never die. I thank you foryour good service to this country and the Empire,and with a full heart I bid you-"Farewell!".'

The following battle honours were won in theFirst World War. Those chosen to be borne onthe King's 'Colour are in capitals.1st Battalion: MESSINES 1914; Armentieres

1914; YPRES 1914; Festubert 1914; Givenchy1914; Neuve Chapelle; Saint Julien; Aubers;YPRES 1915; Tigris; KUT ALAMARA 1917;Baghdad; Mesopotamia 1916-18; MEGIDDO;Sharon; Palestine 1918.

2nd Battalion: MONS; Retreat from Mons;Marne 1914; AISNE 1914; YPRES 1914;Langemarche; Nonne Bosschen.

5th Battalion: Suvla; Sari Bair; SCIMITARHILL; Gallipoli 1915; KOSTURINO;Struma; Macedonia 1915-17; GAZA; Jeru­salem; Tell'Azur; Palestine 1917-18; Hinden­berg Line; CAMBRAI 1918; Selle.

6th Battalion: Somme 1916; GUILLEMONT;Ginchy; MESSINES; Ypres 1917; SaintQuentin; Bapaume 1918; Rosieres.

The following Battle R0:l0urs are borne on theRegimental Colour:Seringapatam VittoriaTalavera PyreneesBusaco NivelleFuentes D'Onor OrthesCiudad Rodrigo ToulouseBadajoz PeninsularSalamanca Alma

Inkerman

Uniforms

Very little is known about the dress worn by theearly Scots volunteers who served in the ScotsBrigade. An account of the companies engaged atthe Battle of Mechlin (I August 1578) describeshow the men threw off their plaids and shirts tofight half-stripped in the summer's heat, while aprint dated 1630 shows these 'Scottish mercenaries'in a mixture of their native dress distinguishableby the bonnet and the old-style, belted plaid. Bythe end of that century, however, the companieshad been formed into regiments and the men werewearing breeches. Throughout the eighteenthcentury, and up to 1782, the brigade wore theuniform of the Dutch Army, but retaining thescarlet of Great Britain. Thus, in the early 1700'Sthe uniform was similar to any other line regimentwith the caps of the Grenadiers bearing the DutchArms. The facings of the scarlet coats that dis­tinguished the various regiments of the brigadewere either yellow or white, but these coloursvaried from time to time. For instance, Gordon'sRegiment (later Dunadas's) had originally wornyellow facings and a red shoulder strap withyellow edging but changed in 1760 to green facingswith the same colour for the collar and cuffs. Thecuffs and pockets each had two white buttonholesand white looped buttonholes were placed twoand two down the lapels. The coat had a whitelining and green hearts on the turnbacks. Thewaistcoat and breeches were greyish white. In1777 the same regiment, now Dundas's, became'the blue regiment', and the details of the muske­teer's uniform were as follows:'Hat: Black with white lace, black cockade and

33

Ueutenant A. B. Church, 1890. (National Army Museum)

white tassels with a red heart. Coat: Red withlace and pewter buttons. White shoulder straps,on the white turnbacks, light blue hearts.Waistcoat and Breeches: Greyish white. Gaiters:White with pewter buttons. Shoes: Black.Sword: Brass-hilted, sword knot of white leatherwith a different coloured tassel for each company.Belt: White, the waist belt having a brass beltplate.'The uniform of a grenadier in the same

regiment, was somewhat more elaborate:'Bearskin: Black with red bag and white tassel.Coat: Red with light blue lapels and cuffs. Onthe lapels, seven loops of plain white lace(1+2+2+2). On the cuffs two loops and threepewter buttons on the sleeves. Under the lapelstwo loops of a special pattern, broad with whitetassels on both sides and a light blue worn inthe lace. On the left shoulder a plain whitestrap; on the right shoulder a white epaulettewith a light blue worn in the lace, and white lace

34

loops. Waistcoat and gaiters as for the muske­teer's uniform. Sword: Brass-hilted, with whitesword knot and orange tassels. Belt: White withbrass buckle on the waist belt, and brass matchcase on the shoulder belt.'In April 1809, shortly after the 94th returned

from India, the Horse Guards issued an order thatthe regiment along with five others would dis­continue wearing the kilt to 'facilitate' transfersfrom the English militia. This order must havecaused much amusement in the orderly room ofthe 94th. The other five regiments were HighlandRegiments, but the 94th had been raised as a Low­land Regiment and wore the normal British LineRegiment's uniform. In more recent times, theexistence of this order has brought claims that the94th wore Highland dress during the two shortperiods of home service prior to the order beingissued, but it is hardly surprising that the identi­fication of the appropriate tartan has remained amatter of some conjecture. When the ScotchBrigade was raised in 1793, twenty-four formerScots Brigade officers found themselves posted tothe three battalions. Other regiments raised at thesame time wore yellow facings and it is perhapsmore than a coincidence that the Scotch Brigadesported the distinctive green facing (described asLincoln green) that had been worn by many of theofficers while in the Dutch service, includingLt.-Col. Hay Ferrier, the youngest and mostdynamic of the three battalion commanders. Aportrait of Ferrier painted in 1774, shortly beforehis promotion to Major, shows him dressed in ared coat with green facings and gold lace, a whitewaistcoat and breeches, a crimson sash wornround the waist and the usual black stock andgold gorget. But for the cockade and tassels on hishat and the date alongside the artist's signature,the portrait might well have depicted Ferrier atthe head of his new regiment, the 3rd Battalion ofthe Scotch Brigade in 1793.

A portrait of Col. John Reid, the first Colonelof the 88th, shows a similar scarlet coat, but withyellow facings, silver epaulettes and regimentalbuttons with '88' in their centre. The details ofthe officer's coat for the 88th Regiment in 1807were 'Scarlet coat lined with white. X flaps, 4holes. 2 each side of back. White turnbacks seweddown, pt in plait. Yellow lapels 10 holes. Yellow

collar I hole and small button each end. Yellowcuffs,4 holes-by 2 all over.' The details includeda white, short, single-breasted cashmere waistcoatand breeches, blue pantaloons, trimmed with brbadand narrow braid; also the firm supplying thirty­eight large, and three small regimental buttonsand the silver epaulettes and ornaments. Themen's lace at this date was two black, two red andone yellow stripes, while the 94th was one redstripe. A few years later (in 1813) the lace on anofficer's coat of the 94th is noted as 9t-12 yardsfine check lace. Skirt and other details include,skirt ornaments, two single-leaved thistles on green,while the epaulette was gold fine check wire

Officer's (Ueutenant-Colonel) scarlet patrol jacket of184)0-1902. (National Anny MuselUD)

strap, round top, corded with a pointed, flatfeather crescent and a rose in centre and loopedall round.

When the 94th was reformed in 1823, bastion­shaped loops were authorized and these were ofwhite tape with a dark green stripe near each edgeupon a green cloth. The following notes on thetrouser lace to be worn by officers give some ideaof regimental variations at a time when the dressregulations stipulated that all infantry and officers'trousers should be plain without lace! Two-inchgold stripes of plain basket with half-diamond

Ueutenant G. F. Callaghan, 1905. (National Army Museum)

edges were to be worn on white dress trousers,while the undress blue-grey trousers had a differentpattern gold lace described as, 'gold 1-7/8ths inchbasket waive edge' which was altered to '2t oakand thistle FS'. Two years later, while the undresstrousers are noted as plain-mixed mill cashmere,the officers' dress trousers were green with goldlace down the side seams edged with scarlet. In thesame year, the officers' shell jacket had smallbolster hips, pointed cuffs laced round in gold,a green Prussian collar and no buttons, and it wasseveral years before the regulation shell jacket wasadopted in the regiment.

In 1854, when the 94th were on duty atWindsor an artist (Mr. R. Elesworth) made thefollowing notes on a sketch of a bandsman:

'The green facings were of a peculiar leaden hue,possibly altered by sun. The band played onWindsor Castle terrace on Sunday afternoons; avery good one under Van Maanen, afterwardsBandmaster of the Scots Fusilier Guards. Drums,

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Lieutenant H. WUberforce-Bell, 1907. (National ArlnYMuseUln)

very plain. Drum-major had a scarlet scarf-belt,not green, band instruments all very old­fashioned; they still carried a "serpent", black,with brass fittings. The regiment in 1854 wasthen wearing dark-blue serge trousers.'In his memoirs of service in the 88th in the

Crimea, Steevens records how he marched hiscompany down to Balaclava on Christmas Day,1854, to collect their knapsacks. The hardshipsuffered by the men through the lack of anychange of clothing since the landing had beentruly appalling. Earlier in the month, some warmclothing had arrived, but the issue had to besupplemented by the Colonel who provided somewarm coats. Otherwise, the regiment was in rags,and in the bitter winter conditions there were only300 men fit for duty. 'The men suffered very muchfrom swollen feet, brought on from not being ableto take off their wet boots, and some couldconsequently hardly walk.' As for Capt. Steevens,

36

much of his off-duty time was devoted to 'themanufacture of gaiters out of sacking, or indarning socks, and mending (his) clothes'. ByFebruary, 1855, the situation had begun toimprove, and Steevens writes,

'we began to be well supplied with warm clothingfrom private sources, as well as from Government,who besides the waterproof cloaks, issued warmunderclothing. I now, at last, possessed a goodmackintosh and stout boots, my forage-cap beingcovered with an oilskin cover which I picked upon the field of Inkerman.'

A brother officer on trench duty is described as'Got up in a pea-coat, pistol round his waist,waterproof leggings over his long boots, and - to

Captain's tunic, 1915. (National ArlnY MuseUln)

crown all - a scarlet comforter converted into acap and drawn over his forage cap and ears.'

When the 88th were in Zululand, in 1879,improvisation as regards dress was again therule, certainly among the officers. A group photo­graph of officers in camp at Fort Tenedros showsmany variations of dress. Three officers are wear­ing the braided blue patrol jacket. One has anIndia pattern scarlet patrol jacket, and another aplain frock of his own design. The majority,

however, have adopted the red serge frock wornby the rank and file. There is, however, rathermore conformity as regards head-dress. Two of theofficers are wearing forage-caps, but the remainderwear the glengarry, which was correct for officerson active service. In 1889, the glengarry wasreplaced by an Austrian field service cap, whichwas green with a thin gold braid. In 1903, how­ever, two forage caps were authorized, one khaki,and one blue, with a green band and green welts.The blue caps worn by other ranks at this timehad a curved patch of green cloth in front whichbore the regimental badge. A photograph ofwarrant officers and sergeants of the 2nd Battaliontaken in Poona in 1908 shows the warrant officerswearing blue forage-caps with a white cover,while the sergeants are wearing the blue fieldservice cap. The brown leather bandolier equip­ment continued in use in India for some timebefore it was replaced by the 1808 sealed patternweb equipment. In service dress, breeches withputtees, or leggings for field officers, were wornup to the outbreak of the First World War, andthis dress for officers was again adopted afterthe reforming of the two regular battalions in19 I 9. The officers' mess dress waistcoat is afurther link with the 94th. It was of dark greenwith a thin gold braid and gold buttons of a verysimple design embossed 'CR'. First worn in theregiment in 1848, this pattern continued in useright up to the regiment's disbandment in 1922.

The harp and regimental motto 'Quis Separabit'appeared on the breast plate for the officers'sword belt of the 88th as early as 1800. Both theharp and the motto were adopted by the newregiment with the old title, 'The ConnaughtRangers' in 1881. At that time it was decided thatIrish regiments should have green facings, so the94th on becoming the 2nd Battalion The Con­naught Rangers, retained this link with theirancient past. Similarly, the elephant badge wasadopted as the collar badge for other ranks, andfrom 1894 was also worn on the officers' tunic.Between 1881 and 1903 the elephant badgeappeared on the officer's sword belt plates. Thesimple harp and crown badge, however, was usedon the officers' mess jacket from 1897 until thedisbandment.

C]he PlatesAI Fusilier, Scots Brigade (Gordon's Regiment), 1760The traditional green facings of the 94th (ScotchBrigade) can be traced back to 1760 when theywere adopted by Gordon's Regiment of Fusiliers,which later became the 24th 'Infantry Regimentof the Dutch Army. The turned down collar andthe distinctive lace underline the fact that theuniform is entirely Dutch, with the sale exceptionof the scarlet colour of the coat. The coat buttonsare of plain white metal.

A2 Musketeer, Scots Brigade (Dundas's Regiment),1777-83This plate shows the uniform of the same regimentin 1777 when the facings were changed to lightblue. The cut of the coat has been streamlined andthe coat-tails lengthened. Note the embroideredhearts or 'knots' in the same colour as the bluefacings. The details of the black cockade andtassels (with red hearts) on the smaller hat areclearly shown.

A3 Grenadier, Scots Brigade (Dundas's Regiment)

1777-83The grenadiers of Dundas's Regiment in 1777were distinguished by their bearskins. They alsocarried a brass match case, or holder, on the cross­belt and wore a single white epaulette. The coathas lace on both arms and below the facings infront. All grenadiers wore moustaches. Thebayonet is triangular and of the early socket-typefitting.

Bl Private, Battalion Company, Scotch Brigade, 1794When the Scotch Brigade was raised in 1793 theiruniform was that of a British Line Regiment, butthe distinctive green facings form a link with theirancient origins. Note the white lace on the coat,formed in square loops and set in pairs. The coatbuttons are of pewter. The crossbelt plate is ofengraved brass, but without the numerals '94'.The red-and-white plume on the hat indicatesthat the soldier belongs to one of the 'battalion'companies and not to one of the flank companies.

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B2 Officer (India Service Dress), Scotch Brigade,

1779-1807The uniform worn in India was lighter in weightand the scarlet coats were much shorter. Theofficer wears gold lace, and the buttons on the coatare gilt; the hat band is also of gold lace. Anobvious concession to the hot climate is the shortgaiters and the white cotton drill trousers andwaistcoat.

B3 Private, Battalion Company, 94th (Scotch Brigade),c. 1812This plate shows a soldier of the 94th during thelatter part of the Peninsular War. He is wearingthe 'universal' pattern shako with the crown andRoyal Cipher on the shako plate. The brass cross­belt plate bears the Elephant and '94' in the centrewithin a wreath with 'Scotch Brigade' below. Thehair is still powdered, but worn short without aqueue. The musket is the Brown Bess.

CI Regimental Colonel, 94th Foot, 1823This plate is based on a portrait of Lt.-Gen. SirThomas Bradford, who was the first Colonel ofthe reconstituted 94th Foot in 1823. The loose­fitting trousers are worn as overalls with a strapbelow the boot. The shako plate is an engravedsilver star with '94' in the centre on a silver groundwithin a gilt wreath surmounted by a small giltcrown. The belt buckle plate also bears theCrown, wreath and '94'.

C2 Officer, Battalion Company, 88th Foot, 1842The 88th Foot, like the 94th, wore the uniform ofthe British Line. The facings of the 88th wereyellow and the white lace was formed in bastion­shaped loops. This officer of one of the battalioncompanies is wearing the new pattern shako andhas the yellow facings on the collar and cuffs of hiscoatee. The scarlet welt to his trousers is a recentintroduction. The 'shako badge is the universalstar and crown in gilt, with a silver star super­imposed which bears the battle honours. In thecentre is the Irish harp with below the number'88'. The belt buckle is of gilt with a silver starsuperimposed. In the centre is the Crown andGarter enclosing the words 'Connaught Rangers'and the number '88'. Below the Garter is theIrish harp.

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C3 Private (Heavy Marching Order), Flank Company,88th Foot, 1844In heavy marching order this private soldiercarries just about all he possesses. The special typeof epaulettes and the green pompon on the shakoshow he belongs to a flank company. Note thatthe hair is no longer powdered. The regimentalfacings are on the collar, shoulder straps and cuffsof the coat. The trousers are ofwhite duck.

DI Sergeant, 88th Foot, 1853In the summer of 1853 the 88th carried outmanreuvres at Chobham Camp and this plateshows a sergeant dressed in review order. Note thesword and sash that, in addition to his threestripes, denote his rank. The fitting of the pack,with rolled cape and mess tin, is clearly shown.

D2 Corporal, 88th Foot, Crimea, 1856When the 88th reached the Crimea they soon 'cutout the frills' and wore the most comfortable dressfrom amongst the meagre kit they carried onlanding. Few stores ever arrived from England,and this corporal is wearing a 'stable jacket' whichhas no facings and the minimum of lace, in realitywhite tape, which is in the correct bastion-shapedloops. The collar of the jacket is cut low and showsthe black stock clearly. The numerals on theshoulder straps are embroidered in white. TheKilmarnock undress forage cap is made of knittedworsted which is shrunk to shape. The rifle is the1853 pattern Enfield.

D3 Pioneer, 88th Foot, Crimea, 1856This pioneer of the 88th in the Crimea carries apick and a shovel. He is armed with a short swordwith a distinctive brass hilt. The crossbelt is ofbrown leather with brass buckles and two orna­mented brass slides. The waist-belt buckle plate isengraved with '88' within a simple decorativecircle.

EI Officer, 88th Foot, Zulu War, 1879In the Zulu War both officers and men wore themost comfortable dress they could devise - oftena complete mixture of various uniforms. Thisofficer wears a glengarry with a silver badge(which is correct for an officer on active service)and a soldier's serge frock (undress tunic). The

only regimental detail on the tunic is the narrowyellow edging to the shoulder straps. The tunichas five small brass buttons. To complete his verynon-regulation dress the officer is wearing buttonleggings over his ordinary dark blue trousers. Hecarries a revolver, field glasses and a fly whisk.

£2 Officer (Undress), The Connaught Rangers, 1890The cap badge adopted by the ConnaughtRangers after the amalgamation of the 88th and94th in 188 I was the Irish harp and Crown. Thisofficer is in undress uniform and has the newbadge embroidered in silver thread on his cap.The ancient green facings of the 94th are broughtout in the piping round the top of the cap and inthe colour of the cap band itself. The overalls areworn over black Wellington boots.

£3 Bandsman (Home Service Dress), The ConnaughtRangers, 1897This plate shows the home service dress. Thebandsman is wearing the usual scarlet tunic withwhite piping down the front. As a bandsman hewears shoulder 'wings', these are white, slashedwith the dark green of the regimental facings. Abrass regimental title is worn on each shoulderstrap and the Elephant badge on either side of thecollar. The belt buckle bears the Elephant andCrown within a circle of the words 'ConnaughtRangers'.

FI Private, Mounted Irifantry Company, 1st Bn., 19°1In South Africa many men of the 1st Battalionserved in the Regiment's Mounted Infantrycompanies. In dismounted action a minimum ofequipment was carried, often only a rifle andbandolier ofammunition. The felt hat has a narrowgreen puggaree and the left side of the wide brimcould be clipped up. It was usually worn withoutany badge as this could give away the position toa Boer sniper.

F2 Officer (Full Dress), The Connaught Rangers, 1902This officer is wearing 'full regimentals'. The hel­met badge is of gilt. In the centre is the Harpand motto 'quis separabit', surrounded by theGarter and a laurel wreath bearing the title 'TheConnaught Rangers', the whole backed by a starsurmounted by a Crown. The Elephant badges on

the collar are embroidered in gold thread. Thetraditional green facings appear on the collarand cuffs.

£3 Private, 1St Bn, India, 1902This is the service dress worn by men of the 1stBattalion in India just after the battalion hadarrived from South Africa. No collar badges areworn on the khaki drill frock, and the letters CR,in brass, are used as shoulder titles. Note thedouble braces supporting the cartridge boxesand bayonet. The haversack, however, and thewater bottle are slung separately. The rifle is thelong Lee-Enfield.

GI Officer (Full Dressfor India), 1St Bn., 1911This plate shows an officer in India in full dress atthe time of the Delhi Durbar. The puggaree onthe white helmet has an edging, or lining, of darkgreen and the badge is silver. Note also the silverElephant badges on the collar. The gold lace onthe sleeves of the tunic is worked in a rather moreelegant style than previously.

G2 Officer ('Frock Coat' Undress for India), 1st Bn.,1911In hot weather stations abroad white mess jacketsand soft fronted white dress shirts were worn, butnote the stiff white collar. The 'fore and aft' cap isgreen, the colour of the regimental facing, withgold piping along the top. The cap badge isembroidered. The lapel badges are in gilt metal,as also are the badges of rank worn on the darkgreen shoulder straps. In place of the waistcoata black cummerbund is worn.

G3 Officer (Mess Dressfor India), 1911This officer of the same period is wearing the moreinformal undress uniform. The cap has a darkgreen band and the badge is worked in silverthread. The double-breasted frock coat is of avery dark blue and for hot climates would be madeoflight weight material. The sword is slung from anarrow soft leather belt which is worn over thecoat and under the sash.

HI Sergeant, 2nd Bn., India, 1908This sergeant is serving with the 2nd Battalion inPoona and is wearing his best khaki drill tunic and

39

breeches. Web equipment, already authorized ofhome service units, has not yet been issued inIndia. The letters 'CR' are 'still used as shouldertitles and the stripes on the sleeve of the jacket arebacked with dark green.

H2 Private, lSt Bn., Mesopotamia, 1916This soldier serving with the 1st Battalion inMesopotamia will have to face sub-tropicalconditions, with scorching winds and dust storms,but during the winter months there is rain andmud and cold nights. The combination of service­dress jacket and khaki drill shorts is a sensiblecompromise under these conditions. The hosetops, turned down over the top of the puttees, can

be pulled up to protect the knees. The topee wasissued before the battalion left France, but thenewly issued steel helmets are still in short supply.The flash on the side of the topee is a square ofplain khaki material with the title of the regimentin green letters.

H3 Sergeant, The Connaught Rangers, 1922This plate is based on one of the illustrations inLt.-Col. Jourdain's History of the Regiment,which was published a few years after the Con­naught Rangers were disbanded, and pays tributeto all Rangers who served in the Great War1914-18. Through them the spirit of the Regimentlives on.

The arrival of the 5th Battallon at Baslnsstoke, May 1915.(hnperial War Musewn)

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Men-at-Arms Series

Each title in this series gives a brief history of a famous fighting unit, with a fulldescription of its dress and accoutrements, illustrated with eight colour platesand many drawings and photographs. Collectors of militaria, war-garners, andhistorians will find no other series of books which describe the dress of each unitso comprehensively. The series will range widely in time and terrain, with aspecial effort to include some of the lesser-known armies from other lands.About twelve titles will be published each year.

TITLES ALREADY PUBLISHED

THE STONEWALL BRIGADE John Selby

THE BLACK WATCH Charles GrallJ

FRENCH FOREIGN LEGION Martin Windrow

FOOT GRENADIERS OF THF.IMPERIAL GUARD Charles Grant

THE IRON BRIGADE John Selby

CHASSEURS OF THE GUARD Peter Young

WAFFEN-SS Martin Windrow

THE COLDSTREAM GUARDS Charles Grant

U.S. CAVALRY John Selby

THE ARAB LEGION Peter Young

ROYAL SCOTS GREYS Charles Grant

THE CONNAUGHT RANGERS Alan Shepperd

FUTURE T1TLES INCLUDE

ARGYLL & SUTHERLANDHIGHLANDERS W. McElwee

30TH PUNJABIS James lAwford

GEORGE WASHINGTON'S ARMY I'eler lol/ng

THE BUFFS Gregory Blaxland

NAPOLEON'S MARSHALS Peter J'ol/ng

U.S. MARINES John Selby

THE RED ARMY A. Seaton

THE ROYALIST ARMY OF THECIVI I. WAR Peter Young

THE COSSACKS Albert &aton

THE ROYAL ARTILLERY W. r. Carman

THE KING'S REGIMENT Alan Sheppm!

LIEUTENANT.COLONEL ALAN SHEPPERD (Retd.) was educatedat Magdalen College School, and the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst andserved as a regular officer during the years 1931-47. Since 1947 he has beenSenior Librarian at the Royal Military Academy, Sandhurst. Amon~ his pub­lished works are The Italian Campaign 1943-5 and Arms and Armour 1660-1918,as well as his contributions to The History of the British Army, Battlefields ofEurope, Vol. 2 and Purnell's histories of the First and Second World Wars.

£1'35 net (in U.K. only) SBN 85045 083 7