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