The history of the 1st Batt. Wilts Volunteers, from 1861 to 1885Gibney, R. D. (Robert Dwarris)
History
The history of the 1st Batt. Wilts Volunteers, from 1861 to 1885
Gibney, R. D. (Robert Dwarris)
Great Britain. Army. Wiltshire Regiment. Battalion, 1st -- History
It was necessary to have meat and drink for six hundred hungry men on
the morrow by noon in Windsor Park, and Mr. Fawcett met the difficulty
by hiring a medium-sized furniture van, in which beer, wine, bread,
cheese, and pasties of pig's flesh (said to be) for about one thousand
individuals were stowed away (the pasties making were the night's work
for half the cooks at Salisbury), and the van with its contents placed
upon a truck and conveyed with the regiment to Slough. Here horses,
previously telegraphed for, were found, and when all was ready the
feeding van followed the battalion into the Royal demesne of Windsor,
causing it to be, after all, far better provisioned than many hailing
much nearer home. Hungry men are not very particular, but the pasty
was----
The day was very fine, and the review a complete success. Among the
thousands of volunteers wandering about the Park (being dismissed on
arrival until the assembly should sound) not one case of the slightest
impropriety occurred. It was a grand sight; so many citizen soldiers
drawn up in column, and afterwards marching past their sovereign; held
together, as her defenders, by no stern military codes. The love of
country, respect for law and order, had made these, and four times
these, study the art of war; and now one quarter of the whole, drawn
from all parts of her kingdom, assembled to do her honour. God grant
that their services may be never required for sterner purposes.
The following general order by H.R.H. the Commander-in-Chief was
published:--
"Windsor,
"_10th July, 1881_.
"The Field Marshal Commanding-in-Chief having received the Queen's
commands to express the gratification and pleasure with which Her
Majesty yesterday reviewed so large a force of her volunteer troops
in the Great Park at Windsor, and Her Majesty's entire satisfaction
with the soldier-like appearance and bearing of all ranks, His Royal
Highness desires, without delay, to notify Her Majesty's commands to
the forces.
"The troops reviewed consisted of 96 battalions, besides the Royal
Naval Artillery and the Honourable Artillery Company, the whole
composing upwards of 52,000 officers and men, representing the
volunteers of England and Wales.
"The concentration and subsequent disposal to their homes of so
large a body in so short a time would have been impossible without
proper subordination and strict obedience to orders, and judging
by the punctual performance of the railway service as well as
by his own observation of the battalions from the time of their
arrival to the close of the Review, His Royal Highness is satisfied
that the discipline and endurance of all ranks would do credit to
troops employed on permanent service, and are worthy of the highest
commendation.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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