History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery Vol. 2: Compiled from the Original RecordsDuncan, Francis
History
History of the Royal Regiment of Artillery Vol. 2: Compiled from the Original Records
Duncan, Francis
Great Britain. Army. Royal Regiment of Artillery
The strength of the Royal Artillery ordered to embark for Egypt under
General Lawson was as follows:--
1 Field Officer,
7 Captains,
12 Subalterns,
3 Surgeons,
54 Non-Commissioned Officers,
7 Lance N.-C. Officers,
450 Gunners,
9 Drummers,
making a total of 543, besides 38 women and 7 children. The civil branch
of the Ordnance was represented by 1 paymaster, 1 paymaster’s clerk, 1
commissary of stores, 1 assistant commissary and 4 clerks, 6 conductors
of stores, and 19 artificers.
The names of the officers named at first were Colonel Lawson, Captains
Thomson, Lemoine, Evans, Meredith, and Miller; Captains-Lieutenant
Newhouse and Boger; Lieutenants Raynsford, Munro, Lawson, F. Campbell,
Fauquier, Cleaveland, Armstrong, Michell, and Trelawny; and 2nd
Lieutenants Kirby, Rook, and Nutt. This force was augmented in the
Mediterranean from Minorca and Malta, and received a contingent, which
will presently be mentioned, from Lisbon; certain changes, also, were
made in it by [Sidenote: Report to D. A. Gen. from Gen. Lawson.] landing
at Gibraltar a company of the 6th Battalion, receiving one of the 5th
Battalion in exchange. The battalions actually represented in Egypt were
the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 5th, and the companies, which were present are
detailed in the first volume of this work. The 3rd Battalion was at this
time mainly stationed in the West Indies.
On the 5th May, 1800, General Lawson reached Portsmouth to take command
of the Artillery of the Expedition, which he had been informed was on
the point of sailing. He had also been informed that all necessary
particulars had been communicated to him by the authorities; but in
neither respect was his information correct, and the official fountain
of his knowledge was found to have poured forth a somewhat muddy
stream. Three weeks elapsed before he sailed--three weeks of wild,
hopeless confusion--affairs having been complicated by the Government
having decided on a secret expedition elsewhere, the Artillery of which
was placed under the orders of Colonel Seward, then in command at
Portsmouth. An interchange of companies between his force and that of
General Lawson was threatened, and mutual drafts were made, as far as
officers and a few men were concerned. Another company, under Major
Cookson, who distinguished himself subsequently in Egypt, joined General
Lawson at Portsmouth--a fact of which the student first becomes aware by
finding a joint letter from the subalterns of the company, petitioning
the Board, with considerable presence of mind, for an advance of pay,
they “being quite out of cash.” It is presumed that their request was
granted, for, [Sidenote: Colonel Seward to Colonel Macleod, 25 May,
1800.] on the morning of the 25th May, Colonel Seward reported the
embarkation of this company “between eleven and twelve o’clock in _high
spirits_.” The whole of General Lawson’s force had sailed by the 3rd
June, and reached Gibraltar on the 22nd of the same month. The gallant
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Elsewhere in the archive
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account