The Memoirs of Admiral Lord Beresford
hunt. From Nepal the Prince went to Allahabad, then to Bombay, whence
he sailed on 11th March, 1876, having been in India seventeen weeks
exactly. "The Prince," wrote Dr. Russell on that date, "has travelled
nearly 7600 miles by land and 2300 by sea, knows more Chiefs than all
the Viceroys and Governors together, and seen more of the country in
the time than any other living man."
On the outward voyage his Royal Highness visited the King of Greece.
When the King and Queen were leaving the _Serapis_ after dining on
board, we showed them compliment and honour by setting them alight.
The blue lights burning at the main-yard being exactly above the boat
in which their Majesties were going ashore, dropped flakes of fire upon
them. The Prince also visited the Khedive. On the return voyage, the
Prince met at Suez Lord Lytton, who was on his way to India to succeed
Lord Northbrook as Viceroy; was again entertained by the Khedive;
visited Malta; called at Gibraltar; and visited the King of Spain and
the King of Portugal. The _Serapis_ was accompanied by the royal yacht
_Osborne_, Commander Durrant, and H.M.S. _Raleigh_, Captain Tryon. The
Prince landed in England on 11th May, 1876.
It is worth noting that Lord Lytton went out in the _Orontes_, one of
the Imperial Service troopships, as they were called. The troopship
service was then at times conducted by the Royal Navy, a practice since
discontinued. The _Orontes_ was commanded by Captain E. H. Seymour
(afterwards Admiral of the Fleet the Right Hon. Sir Edward {160}
Seymour, G.C.B., O.M., G.C.V.O., LL.D.) In his very interesting book,
_My Naval Career and Travels_, Sir Edward Seymour writes: "At Suez, by
arrangement, we met H.R.H. the Prince of Wales (our late King) on his
way home in the _Serapis_. At Aden Lord Lytton landed in state, it
being the first point reached of his new dominions." The point
illustrates the working in detail of the great scheme of Imperial
organisation which was conceived by the master-mind of Disraeli, and
which he continued to carry into execution so long as he was in power.
Upon landing at Bombay, I rode up to Government House with my brother,
Lord William, precisely as I had ridden up with another brother, Lord
Marcus, exactly six years previously, on the same day of the year.
Lord William was then extra A.D.C. to the Viceroy, Lord Northbrook,
having been appointed to that post as a subaltern in the 9th Lancers.
He was subsequently appointed A.D.C. to Lord Lytton, in which capacity
he attended the Viceroy at the Durbar at which Queen Victoria was
proclaimed Empress of India. He was afterwards military secretary to
three successive viceroys, Lords Ripon, Dufferin and Lansdowne;
altogether he served on the personal staff of five viceroys. From 1877
to 1879, while nominally in attendance upon the Viceroy, Lord William
fought in the Jowaki expedition of 1877-78, the Afghan war, during
which he was present at the capture of Ali Musjid, and the Zulu war of
1879. "In the latter," wrote a military correspondent of _The Times_
(31st December, 1900), "he served as a staff officer during the
reconnaissance across the White Umvolusi River and at the battle of
Ulundi. It was in Zululand, in July, 1879, that Beresford won the V.C.
for halting, when closely pursued by the enemy, to take a wounded
non-commissioned officer on his horse. When the soldier at first
declined to risk the officer's life by giving the latter's horse a
double burden, Beresford is understood to have hotly declared that
unless the man immediately got up on the saddle he would himself
dismount and 'punch his head.'"
{161}
For his services in the Burmese expedition of 1886, he received a
brevet-colonelcy; and in 1891 he was promoted full colonel; in 1894 he
received the K.C.S.I.; and thereafter remained on the active list of
the Army, but unemployed. Of his exploits on the turf it is not here
the place to speak; but I may be pardoned if I have placed on record in
this place some account of Lord William's Indian service which extended
over nearly twenty years. Few men have earned so universal an
affection as that which Lord William inspired, alike in European and
native. His ability in matters of administration was remarkable, and
he acquired an extraordinary influence over the natives of India. The
correspondent of _The Times_, already quoted, observes that Lord
William might have had a distinguished career in any profession; that
he might have been a great soldier, a great diplomat, a great political
officer, had not his passion for the turf diverted a part of his
energies. It may be so; but perhaps one may be allowed to say that one
liked him for what he was and not for what he might have been; and also
that he did not do so badly. The warmest affection existed between my
brother and myself; and his death, which occurred in 1900, was a great
grief to me. But that was in the far future when I landed from the
_Serapis_ and we rode up to Government House together.
Of the other members of the Prince's suite I retain the most pleasant
recollections. Among them I especially recall Major-General Probyn
(afterwards General the Right Hon. Sir Dighton Macnaghten Probyn, V.C.,
etc. etc.); Major-General Sam Browne, V.C. (afterwards General Sir
Samuel James Browne, V.C., K.C.S.I., etc.); Major Bradford (afterwards
Sir Edward Ridley Colborne Bradford, Bart., K.C.S.I., G.C.V.O.);
Surgeon-General Fayrer (afterwards Sir Joseph Fayrer, Bart.); and Dr.
Russell (afterwards Sir William Howard Russell, C.V.O., LL.D.).
Major-General Probyn, of magnificent presence, black-bearded,
hawk-eyed, a hero of the Mutiny, was universally respected and beloved
by the native population, over {162} whom he owned a great influence.
He was one of the finest soldiers and most delightful companions it has
been my fortune to know. In 1876, he already had twenty-five years'
service, including the Trans-Indus frontier affair of 1852-57, the
Mutiny (in which his name was a terror), in China in 1860, in the
Umbeyla campaign of 1863. He was Colonel of Probyn's Horse, 11th King
Edward's Own Lancers; afterwards Keeper of the Privy Purse, Comptroller
and Treasurer of the Household of the present King when he was Prince
of Wales; and since 1901, extra Equerry to the King.
Probyn and I assisted at a surgical operation. A mahout had his hand
smashed; and we held him while the surgeon amputated his finger and
thumb.
Major-General Sam Browne, V.C., had served in the second Sikh war with
distinction, and during the Mutiny led the surprise attack upon the
rebels at Sirpura, at dawn upon 31st August, 1858. Almost
single-handed, he charged the guns, receiving the wound resulting in
the loss of his arm. For this service, he was awarded the V.C. During
the Prince's tour he represented the Indian Army; nor could a finer or
more efficient representative have been selected.
Major Bradford had performed gallant and distinguished service in the
Mutiny. He had lost an arm, under circumstances which may be worth
repetition. Together with a brother officer, Captain Curtis, and a
trooper, Bradford was tiger-shooting. Seated in a mechan
(tree-shelter), he wounded a tiger, breaking its back; his second
barrel missed fire; and Bradford fell from the mechan on the top of the
tiger, which seized him. Bradford thrust his fist down the beast's
throat; and while Curtis was trying to get another shot, the tiger
mangled Bradford's arm up to the shoulder. Curtis eventually killed
the animal. The party had a long and painful distance to traverse
before they reached help. Bradford's arm was amputated without
chloroform. In 1890, Bradford was appointed commissioner of police in
the Metropolis, at a time when there was a good deal of {163}
discontent in the Force, and speedily proved the worth of his
unrivalled experience and ability.
Surgeon-General Fayrer, I remember, had a remarkable way with snakes.
He kept a selection of the most deadly reptiles in a wheelbarrow,
nestled in straw. With his naked hands he would uncover them, and,
deftly catching them by the neck, force them to exhibit their fangs.
Someone composed a set of irreverent verses dedicated to the
surgeon-general:
"Little Joe Fayrer
Sent for his bearer
And asked for his Christmas pie.
e put in his thumb,
And pulled out a plum,
And found it a K.C.S.I."
Dr. W. H. Russell, the famous war correspondent, who in his letters to
_The Times_ during the Crimean war did so much good service, was a most
delightful companion. He is remembered by all who knew him, both for
his talents and for his sympathetic and affectionate disposition and
his unfailing sense of humour. He was one of my greatest friends.
During the voyage, he occupied the cabin next to mine.
The Prince having requested him to provide himself with a uniform, Dr.
Russell designed a kind of Ambassadorial dress of great splendour, with
so generous a gold stripe to his kersey breeches, that we told him he
had gold trousers with a white stripe inside. These effulgent garments
unfortunately carried away when the doctor was climbing upon an
elephant, on his way to a Durbar. I executed temporary repairs upon
his person with safety pins; and implored him not to stoop. But when
it came to his turn to bow, bow he must; the jury rig parted, and a
festoon of white linen, of extraordinary length, waved behind him.
Fortunately, the assembled Indian Princes thought it was part of his
uniform.
At Mian Mir, during the ceremony of a great review of troops, Dr.
Russell, who was riding among the suite mounted on a half-broken Arab,
was suddenly heard to shout, "Whoa, you villainous brute!" At the same
moment, several of the {164} suite were knocked endways. The Arab then
got the bit in his teeth, and tore away past the Prince down the whole
line. Dr. Russell's helmet was jerked to the back of his head, his
puggaree unfurled in a long train floating behind him, he vanished into
the distance and we did not see him again until dinner-time. He passed
so close to the Prince, that had the doctor another thickness of gold
on his gold trousers, there would have been an accident to his Royal
Highness.
The Duke of Sutherland, during the Prince's journeys overland in India,
took an intense delight in driving the engine, from which it was hard
to tear him away. We had halted at a station where the customary
ceremonial had been arranged, and had changed into uniform, all save
the Duke, who was nowhere to be seen.
"Where can he be?" said the Prince.
I submitted that he might be on the engine, and went to see. Sure
enough, the Duke was sitting on the rail, his red shirt flung open, his
sun-helmet on the back of his head. In either black fist he grasped a
handful of cotton waste, with which he was mopping up the perspiration
of honest toil. He hurried to his carriage to change into uniform; and
presently appeared, buttoning his tunic with one hand. In the other he
still grasped a skein of cotton waste. The Prince looked at him.
"Can nothing be done?" said the Prince sadly.
The great elephant hunt in Nepal took place on the 25th February, 1876,
under the auspices of Sir Jung Bahadur (afterwards the Maharaja Sir
Jung Bahadur, G.C.B., G.C.S.I.). A herd of wild elephants, captained
by a male of gigantic size and valour, who had already vanquished Sir
Jung's most formidable righting elephants, had been tracked down in the
forest. Sir Jung determined that, come what would, he should be
captured. Sir Jung led the Prince and several of his suite, all well
mounted on horses, into the forest, to the rendezvous, to which the
wild herd was to be driven. But in the meantime, the big elephant had
given the hunters the slip.