Lord William Beresford, V.C., Some Memories of a Famous Sportsman, Soldier and WitMenzies, Stuart, Mrs.
History
Lord William Beresford, V.C., Some Memories of a Famous Sportsman, Soldier and Wit
Menzies, Stuart, Mrs.
Beresford, William Leslie de la Poer, Lord, 1847-1900
I am afraid Lord William constantly broke Dr. Perry’s rules, and
was frequently being sent away in consequence; but his mother, Lady
Waterford, said she took no notice of the letters telling her of her
son’s dismissal, as they were invariably followed by others recalling
the sentence. Dr. Perry was really much attached to his unruly pupil,
and his pupil had a very loyal feeling towards him, and was the means
once of saving his life. Sir Eric Barrington tells me the story, and
I feel I cannot do better than repeat it in his own words.
“Our Easter holidays were short and spent in expeditions to
Switzerland or the Tyrol. In the spring of 1866 Dr. Perry took six
of us to the latter. We were to walk across a pass with two guides,
carrying our knapsacks. We walked for ten hours with very little
food; the guides became exhausted and refused to go any further, but
Dr. Perry was determined to reach the village we were making for.
He misunderstood the directions of the guides and lost his way. We
boys were exhausted also by this time, so stopped at a small hay-hut,
where we resolved to stay the night. Dr. Perry went on in the dark,
and attempted to descend the mountain-side alone. Beresford became
uneasy about his safety, and went off to look for him. The rest of
us settled down and went to sleep, when we heard Beresford shouting
he had found Dr. Perry, but could not persuade him to return, as he
had sighted the lights of the village in the distance. Still uneasy,
Beresford started off again with a friend in the early hours of the
morning to look for Dr. Perry and see if all was well. After some
time he thought he heard a faint cry, and looking over the side of
the mountain descried the object of his search some way down sitting
astride an old tree stump, which had mercifully broken his fall, but
still in a most perilous position, and trying to keep himself awake
by digging his fingers into the decayed wood. From a cottage nearby,
Beresford managed to get a rope, but it proved too short, so he set
off for the village, where he found his companions and the guides had
arrived. Though feeling thoroughly tired out and done up, he insisted
on returning with the guides to show them where to find Dr. Perry,
and to help in the rescue. He was released with difficulty and after
some hard work.
“Dr. Perry always felt he owed his life to Beresford’s perseverance,
and on that account was disposed to show leniency when his high
spirits led him into mischief on future occasions.”
Bill’s main characteristics were courage and loyalty; it was
impossible not to be warmly attached to him.
It having been decided that the Army was to be the profession of
Lord Waterford’s third son, after leaving Dr. Perry, several other
tutors were requisitioned to put the necessary finishing touches to
his military education, after which he passed very creditably into
the Army at the age of twenty, joining that popular regiment, the 9th
Lancers, as a cornet in 1867.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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