The History of the Rifle Brigade (the Prince Consort's Own) Formerly the 95thCope, William Henry
History
The History of the Rifle Brigade (the Prince Consort's Own) Formerly the 95th
Cope, William Henry
Great Britain. Army. Rifle Brigade (Prince Consort's Own)
The 2nd Battalion proceeded by railroad to Guildford on June 13,
and marched from thence to Chobham, where they encamped and formed
part of the brigade under the command of Major-General Sir De Lacy
Evans. They continued to take part in the evolutions of this camp
of instruction till July 14. On which day they marched from Chobham
to Woking; and proceeded thence by rail to Portsmouth, where they
occupied quarters in Clarence barracks.
FOOTNOTES:
[207] Major-General Edward Arthur Somerset, C.B.
[208] Major General Lord Alexander Gordon Russell.
[209] Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. Gilbert Elliot, died May 25, 1865.
[210] _i.e._ track.
[211] Lieutenant-General the Hon. G. Cathcart had succeeded Sir Harry
Smith as Governor of the Cape.
[212] _i.e._ team.
[213] _i.e._ the upper rocky margin of a ravine.
[214] Now Major-General the Hon. Leicester Smyth, C.B.
[215] _i.e._ a rill, a rivulet.
[216] Letter of January 17, 1875. For the account of the affair at
Berea, I am indebted to Major-General the Hon. Leicester Smyth, with
some information gathered from Captain W. R. King’s ‘Campaigning in
Kaffir-Land,’ and from the ‘Correspondence of Lieutenant-General
the Hon. Sir George Cathcart, K.C.B.,’ published (after his death)
in 1856. And a remarkable letter of Sir William Eyre which appeared
in the ‘Morning Herald’ of October 23, 1856 (to which my attention
was kindly drawn by General Smyth), commenting on some statements in
the ‘Cathcart Correspondence’ as to the action at Berea, has also
afforded me important information.
[217] A full-page engraving of the Battalion marching along
Piccadilly is in the ‘Illustrated London News,’ vol. xxi. p. 477.
CHAPTER X.
The Service companies of the 1st Battalion arrived in Cowes Roads
on January 7, 1854, and disembarking on the 10th at Portsmouth,
proceeded direct by South Coast and South Eastern Railways to Dover,
where they joined the Depôt companies and occupied the Western
Heights barracks.
On March 12 and 13 the Battalion moved, by railroad, to Portsmouth in
two divisions and occupied Clarence barracks.
Previous to this move an order was received that a hundred men should
be transferred to the 2nd Battalion, then under orders to embark
for Turkey. The men readily volunteered for this service, and many
veterans who had served through both Kaffir wars were thus added to
the 2nd Battalion, and formed a valuable nucleus of old soldiers in
that Battalion, which since Waterloo had not been engaged in the
field. The 1st Battalion being subsequently ordered to hold itself
in readiness for embarkation, received an augmentation of 1 staff
sergeant, 10 sergeants, 10 corporals, 1 bugler and 240 rank and file.
These numbers were made up by a hundred volunteers from the 60th, and
many from other regiments. Most of these were very young soldiers;
many of them not dismissed drill.
On May 16 the Battalion was augmented to twelve companies, which were
to be distributed as follows:--
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