Historical record of the Eighty-eighth Regiment of Foot, or Connaught Rangers : $b containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1793, and of its subsequent services to 1837.Cannon, Richard
History
Historical record of the Eighty-eighth Regiment of Foot, or Connaught Rangers : $b containing an account of the formation of the regiment in 1793, and of its subsequent services to 1837.
Cannon, Richard
Great Britain. Army -- History; Great Britain. Army. Regiment of Foot, 88th (Connaught Rangers)
In June, 1834, the depôt marched in _two_ divisions from Sheerness,
and returned to Chatham, where, soon after, one of those incidental
riots took place between some soldiers and some of the seamen and
labourers in the Dock-yard, which, as in most cases of the kind,
originated from some trifling cause, and was in the first instance
considered of no importance; but unhappily it shortly after assumed
a more grave and serious form, as very frequent opportunities were
taken to grossly insult and assault the soldiers, who, though
fully impressed with that good sense of discipline which commands
forbearance, were forced in self-defence to retaliate. Again, on the
21st August, after the races, an altercation took place between some
soldiers and sailors, the origin of which could not be ascertained,
but the sailors were joined by a vast rabble of the lowest kind, who
aided in seriously maltreating the soldiers, whose numbers being
comparatively few, acted alone in self-defence, until some of the
well-disposed of the inhabitants ran to the barracks and gave notice
to the guard of what was passing: when the soldiers in barracks
were made aware of it, they rushed therefrom to the aid of their
comrades, some of whom they met, in appearance frightfully maimed,
the consequences of which might have been most serious, had not
the Officers of the depôt hurried forward and arrested the advance
of the soldiers, who in obedience to orders immediately returned
to the barracks. In the course of this proceeding, no interference
was made by the civil authorities, nor on the following day when a
party of seamen in a state of intoxication, accompanied by a vast
rabble armed with bludgeons, and preceded by persons with musical
instruments, marched up to the barrack-gate and called for the
soldiers of the EIGHTY-EIGHTH, to come out for fight, and decide
the affray of the previous day, a challenge which no doubt would
have been readily accepted, more especially as the men were termed
cowards, &c. had not the serjeant of the barrack-guard and his men
done their duty by keeping their comrades within the walls, until the
Commanding Officer and Officers were made aware of what was passing,
and ordered the barrack-gates to be closed, and thus terminated this
threatened fight. A detailed report of these proceedings was made
by the Officer commanding the depôt to the Commandant of Chatham,
and a complaint against the military having been forwarded in the
name of the inhabitants of that place, a Court of Enquiry of _five_
Officers (Major Dubourdieu of the Provisional Battalion, President)
was assembled on the 1st September for the investigation of the
complaints, of which due notice was given to the complainants, with
an invitation to attend and support the charges they had preferred:
notwithstanding which, not one individual appeared before the court;
and however blameable the civil authorities may be considered for
their non-interference to check the scenes which took place, it
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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