Memoir of the Services of Colonel Samuel Bolton, C.B. of the THIRTY-FIRST Regiment.

This officer was appointed an ensign in the THIRTY-FIRST regiment on the 5th of February 1807, in which regiment he was promoted to be lieutenant on the 6th of April 1809. Lieutenant Bolton served with the second battalion during the Peninsular war from 1808 to 1814, and was present at the battles of Talavera, Busaco, and Albuhera, in the last of which he was wounded: took part in the capture of Marshal Girard’s division at Arroyo dos Molinos on the 28th of October 1811, and shared in the battle of Vittoria; also in the actions in the Pyrenees, at the Nive, Garris, Orthes, Aire, and Toulouse.

Lieutenant Bolton was appointed adjutant to the second battalion on the 31st of March 1813, but returned to his duty as lieutenant upon the reduction of the second battalion on the 24th of October 1814. He was promoted to the rank of captain on the 24th of October 1822; and on the 7th of February 1825, embarked with the left wing of the regiment for the East Indies. Captain Bolton was promoted to the rank of major in the THIRTY-FIRST regiment on the 14th of June 1833, and to that of lieutenant-colonel on the 24th of November 1835.

Lieut.-Colonel Bolton served in the Affghanistan campaign of 1842, and commanded the THIRTY-FIRST regiment in the action at Mazeena, in the Shinwaree valley, on the 26th of July 1842; at Tezeen on the 13th of September 1842, and at the occupation of Cabool by Major-General Pollock.

For his services in Affghanistan, Lieut.-Colonel Bolton received a medal, and was promoted to the rank of colonel on the 23rd of December 1842; he was also appointed aide-de-camp to Her Majesty, and was nominated a Companion of the Most Honorable Order of the Bath.

Colonel Bolton served with the army of the Sutlej in 1845, as Brigadier to the first brigade under the command of General Sir Hugh (now Viscount) Gough, Commander-in-Chief in India at that period. Colonel Bolton received a severe wound at the battle of Moodkee on the 18th of December 1845, from the effects of which he died on the 4th of January 1846.

Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Skinner, C.B.[43]

Lieut.-Colonel Thomas Skinner, the eldest son of Lieut.-General John Skinner, while at Eton College, was on the 25th of January 1816, appointed to an ensigncy in the sixteenth regiment of foot, to which regiment his father had been attached for thirty-nine years, before he attained the rank of Major-General; Ensign Skinner joined the sixteenth regiment in Ireland in the year 1817, then commanded by the late Major-General (then Colonel) Tolley. Major-General Tolley, the best Greek scholar of his day at Westminster, amused his leisure with classical literature, and invited the young Etonian to share his studies; and thus making complete his education, fortunately imbued him with that taste for letters which secured to him through life a most agreeable resource. In 1819, the regiment being ordered to Ceylon, he obtained, by purchase, a lieutenancy on the 6th of August, and proceeded to that colony. While there he was employed to make the roads constructed by the late Lieut.-General Sir Edward Barnes, afterwards Colonel of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment. Lieutenant Skinner was appointed adjutant to the sixteenth regiment on the 20th of April 1820, and did duty in that capacity until 1822, when his Commanding Officer returned to England, and obtaining leave of absence for his young friend, they travelled home together through India and Egypt, visiting Malta and Sicily, and thence through Italy and France to England. Lieutenant Skinner was promoted to an unattached company on the 9th of October 1823, and on the 20th of March, 1824, was appointed Captain in the THIRTY-FIRST regiment. In February 1825, he sailed with the left wing of the THIRTY-FIRST in the Scaleby Castle for Calcutta, the regiment being ordered to reinforce the army at that time acting in Burmah; but owing to the burning of her consort, the Kent East Indiaman, in the Bay of Biscay, with the right wing, the regiment was inefficient, and remained in garrison at Calcutta. In 1829, Captain Skinner returned home on leave of absence in the Cartha, and nearly suffered shipwreck on the coast of Wales. The vessel being driven by storm when off Liverpool, was unable to weather Bardsea Island, and fortunately passed safely through the narrow channel between that rock, and the coast of Carnarvon into Pwelli Bay. He did not lose his time in India; for with his brother, Captain James Skinner, of the sixty-first regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, he travelled to the sources of the Ganges and the Jumna, an account of which was published in 1833, from letters written at the time, in two volumes, entitled “Excursions in India,” and the work passed through two editions. During his leave of absence he travelled over England and Scotland, and made himself as well acquainted with those parts of his native land, as, in the course of his professional duties, he had previously become with Ireland. In December 1833, by permission of General Lord Hill, Commanding in Chief, he travelled by the Holy Land and Bagdad to India to rejoin the THIRTY-FIRST regiment. An account of these travels, in two volumes, was published in 1836, under the title of “Adventures during a Journey overland to India” which also passed through two editions. On the 24th of November, 1835, he was promoted Major in the THIRTY-FIRST regiment. Emulous of his father’s skill as an officer of Light Infantry, he diligently cultivated that branch of the service, availing himself of the opportunity of practising manœuvres in the field afforded to those serving in India, by the collection of large bodies of men at the principal stations. In 1840, his health being affected by the climate, Lord Hill considerately forwarded to him, through the General commanding in India, leave of absence, of which he declined to avail himself, as he thought his services might be useful in the then state of India. On the 23rd of November 1840, he was entrusted to take from Chinsurah a large body of recruits, about twenty young officers, and about twenty-two young women and as many children, to their destinations where they arrived in health, and without complaint of any sort against them in the districts through which they passed. The Commander-in-Chief in India thus expressed his thanks for this unprecedented success in such duty.

Major Skinner, for this service, was rewarded with the appointment of Commandant of the Convalescent Depôt at Landour.

Upon the march of the army under Major-General Pollock to Affghanistan, where Captain James Skinner, of the sixty-first Bengal Native Infantry, was reported to be a prisoner, having been wounded on the retreat from Cabool, Major Skinner resigned at once his lucrative and pleasant post, and by forced journeys, joined the THIRTY-FIRST regiment, in February 1842; his anxiety for his brother, whom he had hoped to be in part the means of rescuing, only appeased by the distressing certainty of his violent and untimely death. Major Skinner rendered very important services at the battle of Mazeena, for which he was particularly thanked by Brigadier Monteath; Major Skinner’s account of the transaction was also included in the despatches published in the “London Gazette.”

From the fatigue and exposure in the action at Mazeena on the 26th of July 1842, Major Skinner was seized with the fever of that country, living, to avoid the heat and dust, in a hole dug in the ground, the air being pestilent and the water corrupt, from the mortality of animals. His life was, however, spared for the service of his country. Though still suffering from the malignant disease, which rest might then have cured, he commenced his labours, being removed from the sick list on the very day he marched with the second division, under Major-General McCaskill, commanding, on the 8th of September 1842, the advance guard to Soorkhab, on the 9th to Jugdulluck; a running fight being kept up the whole way; on the 10th to Kutta Sung; and on the 11th the rear-guard to Tezeen. He was specially thanked in Major-General McCaskill’s despatches for the manner in which he performed these duties. In the afternoon of the 12th of September he was despatched to the heights of the Huft-Kotul, and commenced at daylight of the 13th, by attacking the enemy on the heights, those operations which ended in the victory of Tezeen. Major-general Pollock stated, “that the Major’s duty was performed with great gallantry, and his operations contributed much to frustrate the attempts of the enemy on the right flank.” The Major-General enclosed in the despatches the detailed account of Major Skinner’s movements, which were published in the “London Gazette.”

Proceeding from Tezeen to Cabool on the 10th of October, he commanded five companies of the THIRTY-FIRST regiment at the destruction of the Great Bazaar, which, from the skilful arrangement of the force, was effected almost without loss of life. On the march from Cabool to India his conduct was thought from time to time deserving of praise by those under whom he acted. On his arrival at Ferozepore, he was chosen for the imposing duty of commanding the Guard of Honor, consisting of artillery, cavalry, and infantry, escorting the embassy to Lahore.

On the 23rd of December 1842, he was promoted to the rank of lieut.-colonel in the army, was three days afterwards made a Companion of the Most Honorable Military Order of the Bath, and was presented by the government of India with the silver medal of Cabool, bearing on one side “Cabool 1842,” and on the other “Victoria Vindex.”

Unfortunately Lieut.-Colonel Skinner did not live long to enjoy the rewards of his useful services, for his decease occurred on the 5th of May 1843, at Mussoorie, in the Himalaya Mountains, from disease brought on by privation and fatigue during the Affghan campaign. Lieut.-Colonel Skinner was buried the next morning at Landour with military honors, the arms of a native corps being borrowed for the European invalids stationed there at their own request. They formed the funeral procession and firing party, an honorable mark of respect never before paid by them on any similar occasion. The body was attended to the grave by every European, civil or military, in the place, and by a very large proportion of the native population, to whom he had been previously known as commandant, and by whom he was greatly loved and deeply lamented. His brother officers erected over his remains a tomb of Delhi stone, and his death was announced to the regiment by Colonel Bolton in a regimental order, which did full justice to his merits “as a good and gallant officer,” expressing at the same time, that “he was devotedly attached to his profession, and that he was the warm advocate and steady friend of the well-deserving soldier.”

Major George Baldwin.

This officer commenced his military career as ensign in the thirty-sixth regiment, on the 2nd of June 1808. He served in Holland during 1809 and 1810, and was present at the capture of Walcheren and siege of Flushing. Ensign Baldwin was removed from the thirty-sixth to the third Ceylon regiment on the 4th of April 1811, and was promoted to the rank of lieutenant in the fourteenth regiment of foot on the 9th of November 1814. Lieutenant Baldwin was present at the memorable battle of Waterloo, for which he received a medal, and served at the storming of Cambray on the 24th of June 1815. He exchanged from the half-pay of the seventy-fifth regiment to the THIRTY-FIRST on the 14th of March 1822, and embarked for India on the 7th of February 1825, with the right wing of the regiment on board the ship Kent, which was burnt at sea on the 1st of March following. Lieutenant Baldwin received a severe injury when the ship was in flames, by an iron spike running into his thigh. Lieutenant Baldwin was promoted to the rank of Captain in the THIRTY-FIRST regiment on the 14th of June 1833. He served in the campaign of Affghanistan in 1842; was present in the action at Mazeena on the 26th of July 1842; at Tezeen on the 13th of September following; and at the occupation of Cabool by Major-General Pollock. For his services in Affghanistan he was rewarded with a medal, and received the brevet rank of major on the 23rd of December 1842. On the 8th of October 1844 he was promoted to the rank of major in the THIRTY-FIRST regiment. Major Baldwin served with the army of the Sutlej in 1845, was present at the battles of Moodkee and Ferozeshah; in the latter he was mortally wounded. Major Baldwin died on the 30th of December 1845.