224 In justice to Mr. Jorissen, I should mention that he informed a civilian, attached to the Royal Commission, that the case was, in his opinion, one of murder. Mr. Kruger’s information as supplied to me was, moreover, erroneous, for later we heard the Court sentenced the Boer to a month’s imprisonment for killing the Kafir herd. On the other hand, the Transvaal High Court ordered a man who seduced a Dutch girl to pay the parents a solatium of £1000 and £7, 10s. a month for the maintenance of his child until it was twenty-one years of age. This statement gives, I think, a fair indication of the mind of the Transvaal Boer twenty-five years ago.
225 Now Major-General Sir Thomas Fraser, K.C.B.
226 Now Major-General Slade, Royal Artillery.
227 Now Major-General Sir Bruce Hamilton, K.C.B., Aldershot.
228 Now Sir William Brampton Gurdon, Bart., M.P.
229 Who was made a Privy Councillor.
230 Who was made a knight.
231 It should be remembered that the Boers at this time had no Artillery.
232 Sir George Colley’s predecessor had expressed dissatisfaction with the award which had been given on a disputed land case, but he was no horseman, and it was difficult to get to the spot on wheels. Sir George Colley equally doubted the propriety of the decision, and a quarter of an hour on the ground with a meeting of the contending parties left no doubt in my mind that the complaint of the Native was well founded.
233 Now Sir James and Lady Sivewright.
234 “Yet surely no greater proof of devoted steadiness was ever given than that shown by the Natal Carabiniers on the 22nd of January 1879. Imagine a gentle slope up which is storming a resistless, surging wave of encircling black bodies, which, though constantly smitten by leaden hail, breaks but to sweep on again with renewed force. Imagine a crowd of terrified non-combatants, and friendly Natives, flying through the already burning camp, and pressing on to the rapidly narrowing outlet over the fatal Nek.
“Then there comes on the scene a one-armed man, who, having slowly fallen back before the ever-increasing foe, is now determined to die. ‘Save yourself, as for me I shall remain.’ He thus dismisses the Staff officer, and H’Lubi’s black soldiers, who vainly urge the great Chief to retreat with them.
“Recognising his commanding courage, around him gather some 20 similar spirits, who, nobly disdaining death, resolve to cover the retreat of the guns, or die with them.
“That melancholy field of Isandwhlana is a Record of what Colonists did, in Silence and Death, but none the less a living Record now and for ever. In the place where Durnford fell there was a heap of slain; the enemy lay thick about him, but your sons were as close, and the brave hearts of the best of your fighting men ceased to beat, in the effort to shelter their elected heroic leader. He himself was fully worthy of their devotion, and history will narrate how the ring of dead White men that encircled him, formed a halo round his, and their, renown.”
235 The Secretary of State for War telegraphed to me, a small number of soldiers would be sent to strengthen the position in front of Alexandria, about which the Cabinet was apprehensive, and ended with the request, I would mention anything in which I desired help, officially or unofficially; this gave me an opportunity. I replied to the following effect:—“I am greatly obliged for your letter and telegram. I believe there is very little chance of the Egyptians attacking us, but if they do I am confident of defeating them. As a personal request, could you persuade your Department that I was alive from the 22nd December last to the 14th February, which has hitherto been denied, and I have been refused Half-Pay for that period.”
I wrote also fully to a similar effect, adding, “I am ashamed to trouble you on a personal matter, but I am more ashamed of the War Office’s interminable delays.” Mr. Childers was prompt, and long before he got my letter, had a telegram sent to me, “Amount claimed paid to your account at Cox’s.”
Later, I told Mr. Childers I had addressed his office three times without any result, and without his help I should never have got it, unless, perhaps, my refusal to pay some stoppage accruing in January 1882, on the grounds that I could not pay something out of nothing, brought the case to the notice of a higher placed civilian than he who at that time generally decided such questions, even in the case of claims made by Generals.
237 From the Secretary of State for the Home Department to Sir Evelyn Wood:—
“London, 16th March 1882.
“Sir,—Though I have not the honour of your personal acquaintance, the great esteem and admiration which I entertain for the service rendered by you in the course of recent events in South Africa induce me to make to you a proposal for which I have received the sanction of the Commander-in-Chief, and the Secretary of State for War.
“The post of Governor of the Isle of Man is vacant, and if it were agreeable to you, I should be happy to submit your name to the Queen to fill that office. I should not have thought of proposing to so distinguished a soldier as yourself a civil office if I had not ascertained from the Military authorities that the temporary discharge of its duties would form no impediment in the future to your military career.
“Of course, if any considerable command offered itself to you, you would be at liberty to accept it, to cancel it, and rejoin the Government when you pleased.
“(Signed) W. V. Harcourt.”
238 Now Lieutenant-General H. L. Smith-Dorrien, commanding the Quetta District.
239 I took the opportunity which Mr. Childers had given me of corresponding with him direct to tell this story, and to urge for an increased expenditure in the training of Mounted Infantry. I pointed out also that in spite of my remonstrances, we had only a Brigade Signaller, and thus when the Divisional Signalling Officer moved off with the General, the 4th Brigade was left without any signalling apparatus, as lamps, heliographs, were all taken away. The sailors put an electric light on the top of a fort on the extreme left of our position, which lit up at night the most vulnerable portion of the approach to the city.
240 Lord Granville to Sir Evelyn Wood:—
“Foreign Office, 28th November 1882.
“It is most important to get the best possible man to be the first of the English officers in the Egyptian service. Everything depends upon it. Should you be willing that I should tell Dufferin you would be available for the post....—Yours sincerely,
Granville.”
242 Now Major-General Sir Thomas Fraser, K.C.B.
243 Major-General F. Slade, C.B.
244 Colonel the Honourable E. Stuart Wortley, D.S.O.
245 Major-General Sir F. R. Wingate, K.C.B., K.C.M.G., D.S.O., Sirdar.
246 General the Right Honourable Lord Grenfell, G.C.B., G.C.M.G.
247 Major-General Sir H. C. Chermside, G.C.M.G., C.B., Late Governor of Queensland.
248 Major-General Sir C. Holled Smith, K.C.M.G., C.B.
249 Major-General Hallam Parr, C.B.
250 Lieutenant-General A. Wynne, C.B.
251 Colonel Duncan, later M.P. for Finsbury.
252 Lieutenant-General J. H. Wodehouse, C.B., C.M.G.
253 Lieutenant-General Sir Leslie Rundle, K.C.B.
254 Major-General Sir C. Parsons, K.C.M.G.
255 General Lord Kitchener, G.C.B., Commander-in-Chief in India,
256 Lieutenant-General H. S. Smith-Dorrien, C.B., D.S.O.
257 Lieutenant-General Sir Archibald Hunter, K.C.B., D.S.O.
258 Lord Dufferin to Sir Evelyn Wood:—
“Cairo, 1st May 1883.
“Before quitting Egypt I cannot help expressing to you in the warmest terms I can command my appreciation of the extraordinary energy you have exhibited in the creation of the Egyptian Army.
“Though not a military man, I am quite capable of understanding the innumerable difficulties you have had to encounter. I am sure it will be a satisfaction to you to know that the success of your efforts is recognised by everyone, by the Khedive, by his Ministers, and by the Egyptian colony, as well as by Her Majesty’s Government. The justice, the humanity, and the consideration with which you have treated your men have already changed the point of view from which the Native regards Military service, and all your countrymen are proud to think of the effect your character and conduct have produced upon all who have come into contact with you.—Yours sincerely,
Dufferin.”
259 Now Colonel Sir John Rogers, K.C.B.
260 He had shown remarkable courage at Tokar, Eastern Sudan, and was drowned later in the Nile.
261 Extract: Sir E. Malet to Earl Granville:—
“Cairo, 11th August 1883.
“I cannot forward Sir Evelyn’s report on the cholera Epidemic among the Egyptian troops at Cairo, without adding a word to record the high admiration which the conduct of the English officers towards their men has elicited. Sir Evelyn Wood and his Staff, and all the officers, have worked night and day at the measures necessary to ward off and mitigate the disease, and their efforts have met with an almost unhoped-for success. Beyond the immediate benefit of the saving of life which they have obtained, an example has been given of Self-devotion which may have lasting consequences for good in the promotion of respect and regard of the men towards the officers.”
262 Now Lord Cromer.
264 Telegram—Evelyn Wood to Gordon Pasha, Khartoum:—
“April 19th, 1884.
(Extract): “Fifthly: I would give anything to be allowed to go up to Khartoum by river with British and Egyptian troops when the Nile rises, but I fear I may not be so fortunate as to get the chance, and, I gather from your telegrams in March, you think Egyptians are useless. I think that, considering about two-thirds have four months’ service, and one-third three months only, they would do fairly well with British troops, or in fighting defensive actions. I could not recommend they should take the field without British support.”
The gradual restoration of confidence, coupled with the brilliant example of the Sudanese Battalions, so encouraged the Fellaheen that General Sir Herbert Kitchener wrote to me: “Cairo, 17th February 1888.—I hope my wound will soon be healed up. The Egyptian troops with me behaved splendidly, and were quite steady under fire, which was pretty hot at one time. If I had had more of them I could have cleared out the Dervishes. The Irregulars got quite out of hand.”
Ten years later there were some remarkable instances of the change effected in the spirit of the Fellaheen.
On the 9th April 1898, Captain Hickman, with two troops of Cavalry, intercepted, near the Southern end of the Second Cataract (Wadi Haifa), a raiding party of Dervishes, mostly mounted on horses and camels, under the command of Emir Wad Rahma, driving off a number of looted cattle. Hickman charged home in the centre, his men fighting hand to hand, killing all except two horsemen, who escaped, and eight prisoners whose lives were spared. The Emir resisted with desperate courage, until a trooper, dismounting, literally jumped on and slew him.
Half a Battalion 16th Regiment, 300 men (Fellaheen), in September 1898, in a force under Colonel Parsons, near Gedareff, repeated the manœuvre for which the 28th Gloucester Regiment wears a double fore and hind peak to its head-dress, and alone successfully resisted a determined simultaneous attack in Front and Rear. As the Dervishes came on the Rear Rank faced about, and both attacks were repulsed.
265 Now General Grant, C.B.
266 I heard later, in reply to various inquiries from Pall Mall as to whether I had not been unduly severe, he replied that he had the fullest confidence in my sense of justice.
267 The invariable answer in the East, where nobody does anything to-day that can be left till to-morrow.
268 Some officers, seeing little chance of promotion to be gained by serving in the Egyptian Army, got employment on the British Army Staff. I offered Colonel Wynne such a post, but he declined, saying: “I have a definite Command, and feel bound to hold it until the Expedition returns Northwards.”
269 Now Admiral Commander-in-Chief, Mediterranean.
270 Now Major-General Sir Holled Smith, K.C.B.
271 I had purchased every Native cargo vessel working on the Nile, north of Merowi.
272 Now Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, G.C.B., Commander-in-Chief of the Mediterranean Fleet.
273 Now commanding at Colchester.
274 Captain Lord Charles Beresford, to chief of Staff, 10th December 1884: “Colonel Wynne’s organisation here is perfect. I suggest he be made Captain of Cataracts.... Do not see any chance of a block here if all is left to Wynne.”
275 Now Roman Catholic Bishop of Nottingham.
276 Lord Wolseley to Sir Evelyn Wood: “Remain to see the desert posts cleared out yourself, an operation requiring wise calculation and a good military head. I have every confidence in your doing this difficult job well and quickly.”
277 I was advised by one of the first surgeons in London, whom I consulted on my return, that I should never get another nail, but Mr. Bader, the oculist, who was a warm personal friend of mine, discredited this opinion, and said if I kept the finger plastered up long enough a new nail would grow, and he was right.
279 We had boots sent out to the desert, but vanity causes the Briton to wear at home boots a size too small for him, and the men with swollen feet could not get on those they would have worn in England.
280 Now Lieutenant-General Sir J. D. French, G.C.V.O., K.C.B., K.C.M.G.
281 Died from the effect of a bite from a panther while in command of the Madras Army.
282 He wrote to me, Cairo, 18th March 1885: “You will be able to carry away the conviction that you did all that mortal man could do to make an army out of very indifferent material. I shall never forget all the support and assistance you gave me during a period of very great difficulty....” And as Lord Cromer, 5th October 1892: “I do not want to go to India; if, however, I were to go I should prefer you to be Commander-in-Chief to anyone else.”
283 Extract from despatch, sent by Lord Wolseley to the Secretary of State for War:—
“Cairo, 15th June 1885.
“Major-General Sir Evelyn Wood, V.C., G.C.M.G., K.C.B., was the General of Communications, and brought the utmost zeal to bear upon the arduous and difficult duties of that position. Our line of communications by rail, river, and desert, from Alexandria to Gubat, was about 1500 miles in length. The responsibility of supervising it was great, but, thanks to Sir E. Wood’s ability and energy, and to the efficient support he received from the large staff of officers under his command, the army operating in the front was well fed and provided with all it required. The officers and men of the Egyptian army, under General Wood’s immediate orders, worked along this line with indefatigable earnestness, and with the best possible results to the welfare of the Expedition.
284 Warren’s Ten Thousand a Year.
285 Each unit taking it in turn for three months.
286 This discussion lasted from the time Sir Garnet Wolseley joined the Horse Guards Staff, after the Red River Expedition, till 1904, when a Chief of the General staff was appointed. The Duke of Cambridge’s opposition to any change was shared by many of his contemporaries. General Sir John Michel, who was singularly broad-minded, opposed it. In the 1872 Manœuvres, from my accident I was unable to ride until the last few days, so undertook the office work of both branches. One evening Sir John Michel was arguing the point against his two Senior Officers, Colonel A. Herbert287 and Sir Garnet Wolseley, and as neither disputant would give way, Sir John, to terminate the discussion, said, “There is no overlapping of work where Staff officers are properly trained, as I’ll show you.—Here’s Wood who has done all our writing, we’ll leave it to him. Tell me, Wood, have I ever in the last three weeks made a single mistake in addressing the Adjutant-General, when I should have written Quartermaster-General, or the reverse?” I owed much to Sir John, but had to speak the truth: “Sir, I cannot recall a single day when you have not made mistakes.”
287 Later, Sir Arthur Herbert, Quartermaster-General.
288 Now a General officer on the Staff.
289 General Sir John Ardagh, K.C.B.
290 Lord Wolseley, when informing me privately the matter was settled, wrote: “And I hope you may be as successful in teaching soldiers at Aldershot as you have been at Colchester.”
291 Now Major-General Sir Charles Parsons, commanding at Halifax, Nova Scotia.
292 Now Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Hildyard, Commanding Troops in South Africa.
293 Now General Sir C. Mansfield Clarke, Bart., Governor and Commander-in-Chief, Malta.
294 Now Major-General Sir Charles Parsons, K.C.B.
295 Extract from a private letter to Sir Evelyn Wood from Brigadier-General Rimington, one of the most successful Light Cavalry Leaders, who commanded a mounted column in the Boer War, dated Heilbron, O.R.C., 5.8.01: “Nearly all our work is done at night, and we have not yet made a night march without a fairly good result.”
296 This has since been changed.
297 He died when commanding a Division in India.
298 The contractor became a Bankrupt.
299 Lieutenant-General Sir James Yorke Scarlett told me in 1868, that to a committee in the early 60’s on which he served, it was clearly shown that on one Station all non-commissioned officers and men on duty received various sums from the forage contractors, down to the orderly officer’s batman, who received 1s. 6d. per diem.
300 Now Lieutenant-General C. J. Burnett, C.B.
301 The War Office system of centralisation was shown markedly by a Paymaster’s conduct in this case. I received several telegrams suggesting I should give way to the contractors’ demands, rather than risk a failure of supply; and when I declined, I was asked if I was prepared to accept the full responsibility of feeding the Troops. I answered in the affirmative. On the 30th May, sending for a Paymaster, I ordered him to give me a cheque for £1700. He absolutely refused to do so, without War Office authority. However, when I told him to go away under arrest for disobedience, and to send me the next senior Paymaster, he wrote the cheque.
302 Lieutenant-General Sir Henry Hildyard, K.C.B., Commander-in-Chief in South Africa.
303 Now Major-General Sir Edward Hutton, K.C.B.
304 Sir C. Mansfield Clarke, Bart, G.C.B., now Governor and Commander-in-Chief at Malta.
305 Now General Sir John French, K.C.B., commanding at Aldershot.
306 In discussing a possible successor to the Aldershot Command, he wrote, 6th October 1889: “It would be a real calamity to the Army that you should leave it.”
307 Now Lieutenant-General C. J. Burnett, C.B.
308 As indeed I have often been, but may say now that its statements, and awkward questions, have enabled me, since I became a General, to check many undesirable practices.
309 Now the General commanding at Aldershot.
310 On the 2nd October 1891: “No man has in my time effected more useful Military work than you, and the Army is beginning to realise this as fully as I do.”
311 Such rigidity of movement was suitable to the smooth-bore musket, “Brown Bess,” used in the Peninsular, armed with which our troops embarked for the East, in 1854, and which the 4th Division still carried at the Alma, as sufficient Minie rifles had not been issued to equip it. Unfortunately in the eighties all the Heads of the Army had not, like Higginson, appreciated the history of the Campaigns of 1866, 1870–71, and the bloody lessons around Plevna in 1877.
312 Now Lieutenant-General Sir Ian Hamilton, K.C.B., Southern Command.
313 Killed in the Boer War.
314 He wrote to me from Boston, U.S.: “These two books give descriptions which are realistic and modern. In my judgment, you are quite alone in this, and also in giving unbiassed descriptions of facts.”
315 Now Major-General and Q.M.G. in India.
316 Now Brigadier-General H. Lawson, C.B.
317 Parliamentary Debates—16th March 1896. Supply in Committee—Army Estimates 1897:—“The Quartermaster-General, Sir Evelyn Wood, has in the last two years produced an annual saving of £21,000, on a not very large vote, by systematising transport of stores.” And again, 12th February 1897:—“Sir Evelyn Wood has succeeded in making arrangements to send soldiers by the shortest route, and to give the discharged soldier free conveyance to his selected place of residence.”
318 “Despite these concessions, by a most careful economy in conveyance of stores, etc., Sir Evelyn Wood shows a reduction on the vote apart from special services on the manœuvres. The Vote was £329,000 in 1895–6, £309,000 in 1896–7, and £281,000 in the present year. This is, I think, peculiarly satisfactory.”
319 Supply, 19th February 1897. Mr. Powell Williams, Financial Secretary, in reply said: “With regard to Land Transport, a sum of £13,000 had been saved under this head, owing to the Quartermaster-General having made satisfactory arrangements with the Railway Companies.”
320 Extract from Diary: 10.1.96—Up at 4 a.m. Left St. Pancras by 1st train.
321 See pp. 16, 17, Official History of the War in South Africa, 1899–1902. By Major-General Sir Frederick Maurice, K.C.B.
322 Major Milton was not only a clever instructor, but a first-class fighting man, who always carried his troops to the Front. The two companies under his command at Belmont, on the 10th November 1899, lost two officers killed and two wounded, and when he fell, showing a grand example, on the 11th December, the three companies under him, comprising 13 officers, had lost six killed and six wounded. Captain E. M. FitzG. Wood being the only surviving Duty officer who had served with Major Milton throughout the month’s operations.
323 My eldest son, now Major and D.S.O., Royal Dragoons.
324 Major-General the Hon. Sir F. Stopford, K.C.M.G., C.B. commanding the Home District.
325 The pressure may be gauged by the fact that whereas in other years I had taken for hunting purposes forty-six of the sixty days’ leave granted to a Staff officer, yet with the same number of horses I took twelve days only that hunting season.
326 I had previously, on hearing Redvers Buller had gone to Natal, telegraphed and written to him my anxiety to serve under and assist him in any way I could. In reply, he wrote: “Frere Camp, 27th December 1899.—Your telegram offering to come and serve under me was a very great compliment to me, and also a temptation.... I was twice on the point of telegraphing from Cape Town to ask that you might come out, and then I thought it was not fair to ask you to come and undertake a job that I in my heart thought only doubtfully possible.”
327 The British army had 2½ guns for 1000 sabres and bayonets. On the Continent, armies had 4 or 5 guns for 1000 men.
328 He came under my notice in February 1885 at Gakdul, where he arrived on a camel from Abu Klea, with an amputated leg, and I have never forgotten his cheerful demeanour, with the prospect of another 100 miles’ journey to the Nile, which I endeavoured to make as little painful as possible.
329 Letter from Major-General Sir George Marshall, K.C.B., general officer commanding the Artillery:—
“I thank you very sincerely for all the assistance you have given us in so promptly supplying all our heavy demands in the Artillery, in men and horses, since we came out. I can assure you that the feeling of Gunners is one of amazement and admiration at such a large force of Field Artillery being sent out so efficiently and promptly. We owe you much for all you did to make us Shoot, and improving our Tactical efficiency, and now when we succeed we give you the praise and gratitude.”
330 I put in 64 hours a week in office, besides what I did at home, making up the time after an occasional day’s hunting, by working till after midnight.
331 Now Brigadier-General.
332 I had ridden the horse for a year or so, my friend Colonel Tollner, who is the best judge I ever met, having purchased it for me at £30 out of the Woolwich Drag Hunt, where it had been ridden by a succession of Subalterns who desired to qualify for Horse Artillery. Hounds no sooner broke covert than the little horse, for he was small, invariably tried to travel faster than I wanted. In a run of thirty-five minutes he got away with me after every fence, until exhausted I left hounds, and I never controlled him until I covered bit and snaffle with gutta-percha, on which he would not close his teeth. The horse had never before given me a fall, although he had occasionally been very nearly down, for being unusually sagacious with all his high courage, he generally contrived to land on his feet. On one occasion, led by the ex-master of the Essex hounds, Mr. Loftus Arkwright, we were galloping to the west of Parndon Wood, near Harlow, and approached a gate which was locked and chained. My companions went a hundred yards down, and then pressed slowly through a hedge with high growers. This was impossible for me, without grave risk to my eyes, and so riding the horse up to the gate, I put his head over it, that he might see that the field bridge beyond was broken down, and covered over with faggots, and then taking him back fifty yards I let him go. The horse’s usual habit at timber was to rise straight up in the air, but he was so clever that on this occasion, “spreading himself,” he cleared the broken bridge by two feet.