Durnford Family Associations
With Some of
Queen Victoria’s Generals
 |
| The Generals of the Royal Engineers at the opening of Charles Gordon Memorial |
During the period of the Victorian Wars, many residents
studied for, and obtained commissions within the Military. Some however, purchased their commissions.
They fought in far flung lands, however within the Durnford
family, there are associations with many of the Generals who served Queen Victoria.
Of importance, is General Edward Durnford RE. He served in China. Some other notable soldiers also served there in
1860, among them General Redvers Buller and Sir Garnet Wolseley.
Some served in the Crimea, including General Sir Evelyn
Wood, General Redvers Buller, and General Edward Durnford’s son, Col Edward Durnford.
These same men also served in South Africa in the Zulu
Wars, along with General Edward Durnford’s eldest son, Col Anthony Durnford.
Some were related through marriage.
Today’s modern methods of research rely on a swab to
identify common family lineages.
However, old fashioned research is the preferred option
of most researchers, finding those common links, and writing about them.
Each of these Generals share components of the same DNA.
As the photo shows, this was in 1890 at the unveiling of the statue for General Charles Gordon
The
London Evening Standard 20th May 1890
The
Gordon Statue At Chatham.
General
Gordon's memory was honoured yesterday at Chatham, the locaility of so much of
his useful labour, in a manner which bore striking testimony to the affection
and esteem which his high character and gallant deed have inspired amongst all
classes of his fellow countrymen. Mr
Onslow Ford's Statue, the unveiling of which by the Prince of Wales was made
the occasion of a very imposing ceremony, has been rendered tolerably familiar
by the cast now on view at the Royal Academy, but one has to be projected into
the surroundings of the permanent work to grasp the full meaning of Mr. Ford's
production, and to see the appropriateness of its erection at the headquarters
of the Corps of which Gordon was so distinguished a member. The history of the movement which had its
crowning result yesterday was briefly recapitulated in an address which Lieut.
General Sir Lothian Nicholson, Inspector General of Fortifications, read to the
Prince of Wales.
Shortly
after the news of his death, General Gordon's comrades of the Engineers
resolved "to establish some visible monument in order to perpetuate the
name of one whose heroic life and death had so touched the world, and reflected
such credit on the Corps". A
Committee was appointed of which Sir Lothian Nicholson was President. The Royal Artillery asked to be allowed to
join in the movement, and placed a considerable sum of money at the disposal of
the Committee, to be applied as they thought fit, and a similar application
came from the Volunteer Corps of the Royal Engineers. The Royal Engineers' Memorial has taken the
form, first, of a stained-glass window in Rochester Cathedral, in connection
with the Engineers; "Egypt and Indian" memorial window, which were
unveiled by Lord Wolsely in August, 1888; secondly, of a monument to be placed
in Westminster Abbey; thirdly, of a bronze bust to be placed in the Engineer
Officers' mess at Chatham, with a replica for the Royal Artillery mess at
Woolwich; fourthly, of a silver shield to be presented to Miss Gordon, sister
of the General; and finally, of the Statue unveiled yesterday in the Brompton
Barracks at Chatham. Gordon is represented riding on a camel, and in the
uniform of an Egyptian General, which he wore as Governor General of the
Soudan, notably at Dara, when he broke up the army of slave-dealers commanded
by Lubair Pacha's son. The Statue stands
in front of the Engineers' Institute, and faces the Memorial Arch erected by
the Corps to commemorate their comrades who fell in the Crimea, where Gordon
himself played so distinguished a part.
The
people of Chatham had made preparations on a very extensive scale for the
reception of the Prince of Wales and the other invited guests. From one end to the other the town was
decorated in a lavish and, indeed, imposing fashion. Venetian masts, flags, banner, and trophies
of bunting, which adorned the whole of the way from the station to the Brompton
Barracks, pretty as they were in their aggregate effect, were by no means the
most striking features of the display.
Nearly every hose along the mile-and-a-half route exhibited a decoration
of some kind, of tasteful drapery with loyal mottoes, of flowers, or of various
ingenious emblematic devices. But the
most remarkable incidents of the whole decorative scheme were the triumphal
arches, which were really interesting and significant. The first of these was in the Military-road,
and was the contribution of the Masonic body to the loyal ceremonial of the
day.
It took
the form of an immense arch of canvas and wood, flanked on each side by
castellated towers, from one of which floated the Union Jack, and from the
other the British ensign. On the south
side was conspicuous in the centre a representation of the banner of the Lodge
of Antiquity, with the motto, "Audi,
Vide,Tace." The right tower
bore a shield, inscribed with the name of the Gundulph Lodge - called after
Bishop Gundulph, architect of a part of Rochester Cathedral, and, as some
antiquarians think, of Rochester Keep - and on the left was another shield
bearing the name of the Brownrigg, Benevolence, and Beacon Court Lodges, and
there was withal a show of beautiful flowers and festoons of greenery. Half-a-mile further on was another arch, the
work of the Fire Brigade. The arch
itself, if, indeed it may be properly so
called, was composed of two fire escapes, flanked by towers, from which
depended coils of hose and other appliances, and which were adorned by
well-executed pictures of fireman at work.
A third arch had been erected by the Engineers at the entrance to the
Gun Wharf, and a very brave show it made, constructed as it was of gabions,
sand-bags, and various engineering appliances, surmounted by three
self-righting boats, and guarded by life-size models in complete divers'
dress. In front of the Wharf gates stood
several brightly-polished brass howitzers and huge torpedoes, and on the gates
themselves were hung striking trophies, formed of breast-plates, bayonets,
rifles and flags.
Not far from the
entrance to the Barracks was another arch, the work of the Royal Marines,
bristling with boarding pikes, the grim suggestiveness of which was relieved by
an amplitude of greenery and flowers.
Everywhere were to be seen tokens of the respect in which Gordon's
memory is held in Chatham. "Honour
to Gordon," "Honour to the
memory of Gordon; Chatham is loyal;" "Honour our Prince, who honours
Gordon:" "To the Hero of Khartoum," may be given as typical of
the mottoes generally; and, of course, there were not wanting others expressive
of enthusiastic loyalty to the Throne.
The local police were reinforced by a couple of hundred of the County
Constabulary, and the route, which lay through Railway-street, Chatham
High-street, Military-road, Brompton-hill, and Old Brompton High-street, was
kept by the Royal Marines, the Hampshire Regiment, the Army Service Corps, and
the Volunteers.
At the
Barracks the preparations for the reception of the Royal Party were of a very
elaborate and effective character. Three
battalions of the Royal Engineers were drawn up on the outer parade, and a
guard of honour stood at the gate of the Institute enclosure, where a grand stand
had been erected, forming three sides of a square. Filled as this stand was, soon after twelve
o'clock, with gaily-dressed ladies and officers in brilliant uniforms, and
adorned with flowers and multi-coloured bunting, the scene was one of such
vivid picturesqueness and artistic grouping of colour as will not soon be
forgotten by those who witnessed it. The
Statue, up to the time of the unveiling ceremony, was concealed in the folds of
Union Jacks, and at its base were growing huge masses of blue forget-me-nots,
relieved at the corners by clumps of lillies.
The band of the Engineers occupied a stand at the side, and behind the
Statue were ranged detachments from the Gordon Boys' Home and the training ship
Arethusa. The distinguished officers
present were to be counted by hundreds, a large number of them being comrades
in arms of Gordon in the Engineers.
Amongst them were Sir Fitzroy Maclean, Colonel of the West Kent
Yeomanry; Sit Andrew Clarke, Sir Lothian Nicholson, Inspector General of
Fortifications; Sir F. Chapman, Sir L, Gallwey, Sir T Higginson, Sir Lintorn
Simmons, Admiral Lethbridge, Admiral Kelly, Superintendent of Chatham Dockyard;
Sir Gerald Graham, Sir C. Staveley, Sir Evelyn Wood, Sir C. Wilson, Admiral
Lethbridge, in command at the Nore; Colonel Fraser, Colonel Kitchener, Sir J.
Stokes, Lieutenant Staveley, and Major General Dawson Scott; and there were
also present Miss Gordon, sister of the General, and Major Gordon his nephew,
and son of the lat late Sir Henry Gordon.
The
Prince of Wales, whose party included the Duke of Cambridge, Lord Wolseley, Mr
Stanhope, M.P. Secretary for War; Major General Sir G. Harman, Earl Brownlow,
Under Secretary for War; Major General Grant, General Sir C. Teesdale, Colonel
Fitzgeorge, the Hon. W. Brodrick, MP Financial Secretary at the War Office; and
Sir John Gorst, MP for Chatham, left Victoria by special train at noon, and
arrived at Chatham a few minutes before one o'clock. The arrival platform had been most charmingly
decorated with masses of exotics and ferns and imitation rockwork, and the
compliment was evidently appreciated. A
Guard of Honour was furnished by the Engineers and the Hampshire Regiment, and
the Royal carriages drove to the Barracks through a dense and enthusiastic
crowd, with an escort of Hussars, the guns at Spur Point firing a salute.
Another
salute was fired, and the National Anthem played, as the Royal party entered
the enclosure, at half-past one. Without
delay Sir Lothian Nicholson read the address narrating the steps which led to
the erection of the statue, and then presented the sculptor, Mr Ford, to his
Royal Highness.
In
reply, the Prince of Wales, who was imperfectly heard, said:-
Sir
Lothian Nicholson, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is with sincere satisfaction that I
find myself here to-day, having accepted your invitation to unveil the statue
now erected to the memory of brave General Charles George Gordon, and erected
to his memory not only by his old comrades, but also by the Royal Artillery and
Volunteer Corps of Engineers. The name
of Charles George Gordon is one not likely ever to be forgotten (cheers), and
it is one which not only his own comrades like to honour, but it is a name
which will be honoured and esteemed forever by Englishmen as it deserves to be
(cheers). It seems almost superfluous
for me to say much more than to allude to his acts, as they are all so well
known to you. But I cannot help
reminding you of his distinguished services in the Crimea, where he remained
during the whole time of the war. In
China he distinguished himself, and he was with the ever-victorious army in
which he played a prominent part. Gordon
had seen service in India and in South Africa, and eventually was Governor
General in the Equatorial Provinces, where he did so much and had for his one
great object the suppression of the slave trade. Then we had him Governor General of the
Soudan, where he lost is life.
Unfortunately, the army sent out for his relief did not arrive in time,
and one of England's soldiers and greatest heroes fell a victim to the Mahdi's
army. I must again express the pleasure
I feel at being here to-day, to have the proud privilege of unveiling his
statue, which I am sure will ever be looked upon with honour and respect to his
name(cheers).
The cord
attached to the Union Jacks draping the statue was then presented to his Royal
Highness by a youthful bugler. The
Prince pulled the cord, but the drapery did not come away till after an awkward
hitch of two or three minutes. Then,
however, a work of art worthy of its subject was revealed, bearing on the
pedestal the inscription, "Charles George Gordon, Royal Engineers,
Companion of the Bath, Major General of the British Army, Mandarin of China,
Pacha of Turkey, Governor General of the Soudan. Born at Woolwich, 28th January, 1833 - killed
at Khartoum, 26th January 1885, together with the names of the various
engagements in which he took part.
Gordon's
favourite hymn, "For ever with the Lord", was then played by the
band, and Sir Lothian Nicholson presented Miss Gordon to the Prince, who
conversed with her for a brief time, as did afterwards the Duke of
Cambridge. The imposing military
function ended with a march-past of three battalions of the Engineers, the
Training Battalion under Colonel Hill, the Service Battalion under Colonel
Champernowne, and the Submarine Battalion under Colonel Todd, Major General Dawson-Scott being Commandant,
and Colonel Fellowes Assistant Commandant.
The total force on the ground was about 2300. Subsequently the Prince was entertained at
luncheon by the officers, and left for London at four o'clock. In the evening the town was illuminated.
General Sir Redvers
Henry Buller, VC, GCB, GCMG (7
December 1839 – 2 June 1908) was a British
Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria
Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy
that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. He
served as Commander-in-Chief
of British Forces in South Africa during the early months of the Second
Boer War and subsequently commanded the army in
Natal until his return to England in November 1900.
Buller was
the second son and eventual heir of James
Wentworth Buller (1798–1865),
MP for Exeter, by his wife Charlotte Juliana Jane Howard-Molyneux-Howard
(d.1855), third daughter of Lord Henry Thomas Howard-Molyneux-Howard, Deputy Earl Marshal and younger brother of Bernard Howard, 12th Duke of Norfolk.
Redvers
Buller was born on 7 December 1839 at the family estate of Downes, near Crediton in Devon, inherited by
his great-grandfather James Buller (1740–1772) from his mother Elizabeth Gould,
the wife of James
Buller (1717–1765),
MP.
The Bullers
were an old Cornish family, long seated at Morval in Cornwall until their removal to
Downes. The family estates, including Downes, inherited in 1874 by Redvers
Buller from his unmarried elder brother James Howard Buller
(1835–1874) included 1,191 hectares (2,942 acres) of Devon and 880
hectares (2,174 acres) of Cornwall, which in 1876 produced an income of £14,137
a year.
After education at Eton,
he purchased a
commission in the 60th Rifles in May 1858.[4] He
served in the Second
Opium War and was promoted captain before taking
part in the Canadian Red River Expedition of
1870. In 1873–74, he was the intelligence officer under Lord Wolseley during
the Ashanti campaign,
during which he was slightly wounded at the Battle of Ordabai.
He was promoted to major and appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath.
He then served in South Africa during
the 9th Cape Frontier War in 1878 and the Anglo-Zulu War of 1879. In the Zulu War he commanded the mounted infantry of the
northern British column under Sir Evelyn Wood. He fought at the British defeat at
the Battle of Hlobane, where he was awarded the Victoria
Cross for bravery under fire. The following day he fought in the British
victory at the Battle of Kambula. After the Zulu attacks on the British position were beaten off, he led
a ruthless pursuit by the mounted troops of the fleeing Zulus. In June 1879, he
again commanded mounted troops at the Battle of Ulundi, a decisive British victory which effectively ended the war.
His VC citation reads:
For his gallant conduct at the retreat at Inhlobana, on the
28th March, 1879, in having assisted, whilst hotly pursued by Zulus, in
rescuing Captain C. D'Arcy, of the Frontier Light Horse, who was retiring on foot, and carrying
him on his horse until he overtook the rear guard. Also for having on the same
date and under the same circumstances, conveyed Lieutenant C. Everitt, of the
Frontier Light Horse, whose horse had been killed under him, to a place of
safely. Later on, Colonel Buller, in the same manner, saved a trooper of the
Frontier Light Horse, whose horse was completely exhausted, and who otherwise
would have been killed by the Zulus, who were within 80 yards of him.
Buller's VC action, painted by H. Montagu Love (1905)
In an interview to The Register newspaper of Adelaide, South Australia, dated 2 June 1917, Trooper George Ashby of the Frontier Light Horse (also referred to as "Pulleine's Pets") attached to the
24th Regiment gave an account of his rescue by Col. Buller:
... it was discovered that the mountain was surrounded by a vast horde
of Zulus. An attempt was made to descend on the side opposite to the pass. Cpl.
Ashby and his little party endeavoured to fight their way down, and at last he
and a man named Andrew Gemmell, now living in New Zealand, were the only ones
left.
With their faces to the foe, firing as they retired, they kept the Zulus
at bay. Then an unfortunate thing happened, Cpl. Ashby's rifle burst, but,
fortunately for him, Col. Buller, afterwards Sir Redvers Buller, who was one of
the party, came galloping by, and offered to take him up behind him. Col.
Buller was a heavy man, and his horse was a light one, and realizing this, Cpl.
Ashby declined his generous offer. But the Colonel stayed with him, and, Cpl.
Ashby having picked up a rifle and ammunition from a fallen comrade, the two
men retired, firing whenever a foeman showed himself. They eventually reached
the main camp, and for this service, as well as for saving the lives of two
fellow-officers on the same occasion, Col. Buller received the Victoria Cross.
Out of 500 men who made the attack on the Zjilobane Mountain, more than 300 met
their death."
In the First Boer War of 1881 he was Sir Evelyn Wood's
chief of staff and the following year was again head of intelligence, this time
in the Egypt campaign, and was knighted.
He had
married Audrey, the daughter of the 4th Marquess Townshend, in 1882 and in the same year was sent to the Sudan in
command of an infantry brigade and fought at the battles of El Teb and Tamai, and the expedition to relieve General
Gordon in 1885.
He was
promoted to major-general. He was sent to Ireland in 1886, to head an inquiry
into moonlighting by police personnel. He returned to the Army as Quartermaster-General to the Forces the following year and in 1890
promoted to Adjutant-General to the Forces, becoming a Lieutenant general on 1 April 1891.
Although
expected to be made Commander-in-Chief of the British Army by Lord Rosebery's government on the retirement of the Duke of Cambridge in 1895, this did not happen because the government was
replaced and Lord Wolseley was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Army instead. On
24 June 1896 Buller was promoted to full General
Buller
became head of the troops stationed at Aldershot in 1898. He was sent as commander
of the Natal
Field Force in
1899 on the outbreak of the Second Boer War. On seeing the list of troops which
would make up his Corps Buller is said to have remarked "well, if I can’t
win with these, I ought to be kicked." By early September 1899 he had
serious doubts that the Boers could not easily be browbeaten, and that White's
forces in Natal might receive some punishment if they deployed too far forward.
He arrived at the end of October.
He was
defeated at the Battle of Colenso, during what was later to become known
as Black Week. Defeats at the Battle
of Magersfontein and Battle
of Stormberg also
involved forces under his command. Because of concerns about his performance
and negative reports from the field he was replaced in January 1900 as overall
commander in South Africa by Lord Roberts.
Defeats and questionable ability as commander soon earned him the nickname
"Reverse Buller" among troops. He remained as second-in-command and
suffered two more setbacks in his attempts to relieve Ladysmith at the battles of Spion Kop and Vaal
Krantz.
On his
fourth attempt, Buller was victorious in the Battle
of the Tugela Heights, lifting
the siege on 28
February 1900, the day after Piet Cronje at last surrendered to Roberts at
Paardeberg. After Roberts took Bloemfontein (13 March 1900), Buller
correctly predicted that the Boers would take to guerrilla warfare. Later he
was successful in flanking Boer armies out of positions at Biggarsberg, Laing's Nek and Lydenburg. It was Buller's veterans who won
the Battle
of Bergendal in
the war's last set-piece action.
Buller was
also popular as a military leader amongst the public in England, and he had a
triumphal return from South Africa with many public celebrations, including
those on 10 November 1900 when he went to Aldershot to resume his role as General
Officer Commanding Aldershot
District, later to be remembered as "a Buller day". He spent the
following months giving lectures and speeches on the war, was promoted to
a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George (GCMG) in Nov 1900, and
received the Honorary
Freedom of the Borough of Plymouth in April 1901. However, his
reputation had been damaged by his early reverses in South Africa, especially
within the Unionist government.
When public
disquiet emerged over the continuing guerrilla activities by the defeated
Boers, the Minister for War, St. John Brodrick and Lord
Roberts sought a scapegoat. The
opportunity was provided by the numerous attacks in the newspapers on the
performance of the British Army. The matter came to a head when a virulent
piece written by the Times journalist Leo
Amery was publicly
answered by Buller in a speech on 10 October 1901. Brodrick and Roberts saw
their opportunity to pounce and, summoning Buller to an interview on 17
October, Brodrick, with Roberts in support, demanded his resignation on the
grounds of breaching military discipline. Buller refused and was summarily
dismissed on half pay on 22 October. His request for a court martial
was refused, as was his request to appeal to the King.
There were many public expressions of
sympathy for Buller, especially in the West Country, where in 1905 by public
subscription a notable statue by Adrian Jones of Buller astride his war horse
was erected in Exeter on the road from his home town of Crediton (facing
away from Crediton to the annoyance of its inhabitants).
Buller described himself as a Whig and a Liberal Unionist, but declined a number of offers,
from both sides, to stand for parliament at the 1906 election Buller continued his quiet
retirement, until on 29 May 1907 he accepted the post of Principal Warden of
the Goldsmiths' Company which he held until his death
in 1908.
In 1882 at the age of 43 he married
Lady Audrey Jane Charlotte Townshend (d. 1926), widow of Greville Howard (son
of Charles Howard, 17th Earl of
Suffolk) by whom she had issue, and daughter of John Townshend, 4th Marquess Townshend by his wife Elizabeth Jane Crichton-Stuart,
daughter of Lord George Stuart, younger son of John
Crichton-Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute. By his wife he had issue an only child and daughter:
·
(Audrey Charlotte) Georgiana Buller (1884–1953), awarded the Royal Red Cross (R.R.C.) and a Dame
Commander, Order of the British Empire (1920), of Bellair House,
Exeter. She served as an administrator of the War Hospitals in Exeter during
World War I and died unmarried in 1953
Involvement at Isandlwana.
Report from the War Correspondent
with the London Standard 1879 excerpts
APA: Newman, Charles L. Norris. (2013). pp. 255-6.
At ten o'clock the General and his Staff made a halt at the top of
the valley for breakfast; and shortly afterwards Captain Buller, Rifle
Brigade, A.D.C., rode up with the
information that the mounted men were engaged on the extreme right; at the same
time the news first arrived that large bodies of the enemy were seen on the
left of our camp. The General then ordered the N.N.C., under Commandant Browne, to retire on the camp, and
scatter any small bodies of the enemy that might be found hovering about
between us and the camp. At 11 a.m., Lord
Chelmsford then rode away towards the right, sending two companies of the 2-24th over the hill; and the rest went back by the road
they had come, until they arrived at the place where it branched off to the
site of our proposed new camping ground, to which they at once proceeded, as
escort to the guns.
He was Aide-de-comp to Lord Chelmsford.
Colonel Redvers Buller, O.B., V.C., in responding to the toast of his
health at a banquet given to him at the Victoria Hall, Exeter, on Thursday,
October 2, paid the following tribute to the war correspondents of the English
papers : — 'The proceedings of this day will be always present in my memory. I
shall always recollect this day with feelings of gratitude and of friendship.
At the same time I must say that I confess to a certain feeling of unworthiness.
I cannot help remembering that in the old days the general was the central
figure of the army; the public obtained,
their information regarding the doings of that army only through the general's
despatches.
Communications were difficult, and they came home but seldom. The
general was trusted faithfully through reverses, and when, in the end, he
achieved success he reaped the greater part of the glory. In these days matters
have changed a good deal. The able and brave men who now represent the public
press in all parts of the world keep us soldiers in the full blaze of light,
and send home most rapid and graphic descriptions of all we are doing. They
have their duty to perform as we soldiers have, and they do it.
Their duty is to interest the public, and we cannot fairly
complain that in order to do that properly they are obliged to avoid
generalities and professional technicalities, and to, as it were, personify
everything. Every mail requires some striking word-painted picture, in which
some individual shall Be prominent. I will do them justice, and say that they
are all so kind-hearted they always try to make the best of everything, and the
consequence is that izom their descriptions the visible hand of him who is
called upon to execute is always recognised, praised, and perhaps overduly honoured,
while the hidden brain which has directed that hand, which has thought and
planned out the execution, is either forgotten or overlooked.'
Morning Bulletin (Rockhampton, Qld. : 1878 - 1954), Wednesday 29 October 1879, page 2
BRITISH VALOUR IS ZULULAND.
THE Victorian Cross has been awarded by
the Queen to a few of the British heroes who have valiantly upheld the fame of
the old country for bravery and dauntless gallantry under fire. The deeds which
won for these heroes of to-day the order of heroism which bears the honoured
name of Queen Victoria are eminently worthy of being commemorated apart.
Laconically and meagrely did the London Gazette describes these acts of heroism
:.......
"Home Paper.
Redvers Buller
Returning to England with the star of a knight commander of St. Michael and St. George, Sir Garnet Wolseley had now placed his foot securely upon the ladder, and if the topmost rugs were still some way above him, it rested, humanly speaking, only with himself to say how much higher he would climb. He was secured at once for the Horse Guards staff, and, entering upon the duties of assistant adjutantgeneral at head-quarters, was quietly moving on in a groove of useful but mechanical mediocrity, when he was called upon to give his aid in quelling one of the most threatening " small wars" with which England has ever been vexed. That nothing but prompt and adequate measures, wisely and judiciously applied by a firm hand, could satisfactorily terminate the Ashantee troubles, was now quite obvious, and the Government, having decided to act with vigour, prudently resolved also to give the general they had chosen carte blanche. Now at once were developed in Sir Garnet Wolseley those faculties of leadership of which he had given fair promise already. An admirable judge of character, he has the rare gift also of securing the personal devotion and attachment of all who serve with him. Directly he was nominated, the best officers in the army rallied round him to a man.
There were, of course, his old friends and comrades who had gone with him in the canoes to the Red River, John McNeil, Redvers Buller, ! poor Huyshe, Butler, of the " Great Lone Land." To these were added man rising names, known best perhaps in their own military circles, but which were certain some day to be more widely celebrated. Colonel Greaves, at first prevented, joined him at last as chief of the staff; _ Home, most energetic and pushing of scientific soldiers, was to be his commanding engineer. He secured the pens of Henry Brackenbury and Maurice to collaborate despatches; Evelyn Wood and Baker Russell, T. D. Baker, Alfred Charteris, the boyish Lord Gilford, were among those who started with him for the Coast. Others followed with all reasonable speed. Adjutants of Guards, Staff College I students, a professor, as Colonel Colley was then, | gladly resigned his chair to be in at the death.
Wolseley had, in truth, the pick of the best brains of the profession, and if the victorious march to Coomassie was primarily due to his own patience, foresight, and tenacity of purpose, he was himself deeply sensible, and has never since forgotten, all he owed to the able lieutenants at his side. Born to all seeming under a lucky star. Sir Garnet's good fortune never deserted him from first to last in this trying, but happily completely successful, campaign.
Albury Banner and Wodonga Express (NSW : 1873 - 1938), Friday 8 December 1899, page
9
SIR REDVERS BULLER.
Sir Redvers Buller comes of an old
Cornish family, and had he wished it he might have lived the life of a country
gentleman. But he early decided otherwise, says the Westminster Gazette, and was
wearing the Queen's uniform at 19. “ Eagles do not catch flies ' is the proud
motto of his house. Archibald Forbes, in speaking of Buller's achievements in
the Zulu war, says : — ' Here was a man with some six thousand a year, a
beautiful house in fair Devon waiting for his occupation ; a seat in Parliament
all but secured ; and yet for the patriotic love of leading that strange medley
of reckless adventures he was living squalidly in the South African veldt,
sleeping in the open for three nights out of the six with a single blanket
thrown over his body ; his hands so disfigured by cattle sores, the curse of
the veldt, that I never saw them not bandaged up. With his intrepid heroism he
had saved the lives of so many of his men that, in talking to them, it almost
seemed that he had saved all their lives. A strange, stern, strong-tempered
man, whose pride it seemed to be to repress all his own enaction and to smother
its display in others, he could order a man peremptorily back to his duty who
came into his tent to ask him to read a letter in which a mother thanked him
for saving the life of her son.' Sir Redvers Buller, who is just 70, has, it is
said, been more active service for his age than any soldier in Europe.
Inquirer and Commercial News (Perth, WA : 1855 - 1901), Friday 3 November 1899, page 10
SIR REDVERS BULLER.
THE BRITISH .GOMMANDER. A SKETCH OF HIS
CAREER.
Sir Redvers Buller has had a
distinguished career. ' He comes of-one of the oldest, of Devonshire families,
and his father, Mr. James Wentworth Buller, was M.P. for a constituency in his
county in the 'early days, of the present reign His mother was a daughter of
the late Lord F H. M. Howard. Redvers Henry Buller was born in 1839, and he
entered the army by purchase as an ensign in 1858. It was by purchase that he
became, lieutenant in 1862, and captain in 1870, but each of his further: steps
to the position of General, which he 'now occupies, was gained- by distinguished
'service in the field. From Ensign to Major. The Crimean War and, the Indian Mutiny
were over at the date- on which Buller became a .soldier, but it was not long
before he had an opportunity of winning his spurs. He served the ensign in the
King's Royal Bide Corps (formerly the 60th).- — of which he is now Colonel
Commandant, and the' Duke of Cambridge, being the Colonel-in-Chief throughout the
campaign of 1860, in China, for which he wears a medal with- two claps. ' Then
there came a time of rest, during which he reached by purchase the rank of
captain.
In 1870 he commanded his Battalion on the Red River Expedition, and his behaviour here won high encomiums. Three years later the young officer accompanied the present Commander-in Chief of the British Army, then plane Sir Garnet Wolseley, to the Gold Coast and in the - subsequent Asbanti War of 1874 he filled the responsible positions of- Deputy- Acting Adjutant and Quartermaster-General, and Head of the Intelligence Department. This was possibly one of the 'little wars' to which reference is often made deprecatingly, but it at least gave plenty of scope -to- individual talent and courage.
This campaign included the action
of Eastinan, the battle of Amoafui, an advaneed guard engagement at Jarbinah,
and 'the battle of Ordaham. Here Captain Buller was wounded, but this did not
prevent him from securing a share in the honours of the British forces who
captured_Coomassie. The records of the war' show' how distinguished was the
part Buller took in the brilliant achievements of Sir Garnet Wolseley's force.
He was four times mentioned in despatches, besides which he was advanced to the
brevet rank of major. At the close of the war he was gazetted CB., and obtained
the medal with clasp. For the following four years he occupied at army
headquarters the same sort of position as that which he had filled with so much
credit to himself during the Ashanti war. This gave, him ample opportunity to
make himself fully acquainted with the details of administration and with all
those little matters without which the most brilliant of generals cannot hope
to obtain a lasting success: .We may expect to reap the fruits of 'this
training in the present Transvaal war.
In the Kaffir and Zulu Wars.
Then came the Kaffir war of 1878-9.
Buller- was known Brevet Lieutenants Colonel, 'and he raised for. service in
the field the Frontier Light Horse, a useful corps of cavalry, the privates and
non commissioned officers of which were all British colonists. Here Colonel
Buller emphasised; his reputation as a brave and dashing- officer, stern in
discipline, but eminently a soldiers' general — a leader that his men would
follow anywhere. He commanded this corps
in the engagement at Taba ke Udoda,in the operations at Molyneux Path, and
against Manyanyoba's stronghold. For his services here he was several times
mentioned in despatches. In the Zulu war of 1879, which closely followed, he
was the right-hand man of Sir Evelyn Wood, the- great general whom public
report has named as his competitor for the command of the British' forces in
the present war.
Colley's Opinion of Buller.
It is interesting now to note that
Colonel Buller was 'at first very doubtful as to, whether he should go to South
Africa, at all and that his doubts on this point were set at rest by the man
who rendered the present war necessary. Sir George wrote, to his wife in July
of 1879: — 'Every one is loud in Colonel Buller's praises, and speaks of him as
having made his name in this wars and impressed them with his talent for war,
and especially as a leader of irregular horse. - Although stern enough in,
maintaining discipline, his men worship him. He has on several occasions
brought men. out under, fire and saved lives; he is everywhere himself, leader
in 'every charge, rear-guard in every retreat, and seems to combine an
admirable military eye and, very, cool judgment with wonderful -courage and
dash.
He is an old friend of mine, originally
a Staff College pupil, and. one of whom I always formed a very high opinion,
and I am pleased to think that I had something to say to bringing him out here,
as he had considerable doubt, and come to consult me when I was in England
last.'
New Honours.
In this Zulu war Buller gained, as we see
from Colley's letters, very high praises as a soldier and as a leader of men.
He certainly seems to have been everywhere he was wanted. He commanded the
cavalry'' in the engagements at Zlobane -Mountain and Kambula. It was he who
conducted the reconnaissance before Ulundi on 'which the redeeming victory of
Lord Chelmsford's campaign was based ; and he took part in that decisive battle.
For this he was several times mentioned in despatches.
He was thanked in General Orders, and
at the close he was appointed A-D.C- to the Queen, and was created a C.M.G.
Later he received the war medal, with clasp. Besides all this, he had the
gratification of being bracketed with his immediate chief by Sir Garnet
Wolseley, in a letter which both may well be proud.
In a private letter to Wood, the
present - Commander-in-Chief — who, it will be remembered, was on the way to
relieve Lord Chelmsford when Ulundi made
the recall of that unfortunate officer unnecessary — wrote: — 'You and Buller
have been the bright spots in this miserable war, and all through I have felt
proud that I numbered you both among my friends and companions in arms.
The Victoria Cross.
A distinction which soldiers of the
Queen value more highly than almost any other honour which may be conferred
-upon them was gallantly won thrice over by Colonel -Buller- on a memorable day
in this campaign. Sergeant Toomey, in his 'Heroes of the Victoria Cross,'
records it in a simple, inartistic -way which suits fee subject.
He writes -'During the retirement on
the Inhlobane (Zlebane) Mountain, on March 28, 1879, Buller rescued three men
from certain death at the risk of his own. The Zulus were in hot and close
pursuit. The first saved was Captain C D'Arcy, Frontier Light Horse, whom he
took behind him on his horse and galloped to the rearguard. Hardly had this
been effected when it came the turn of Lieutenant C. Everett, of the same corps,
whose horse had been killed, to owe his life to Colonel Buller. Once again,
this time a trooper of Captain D'Arcy's regiment was in danger. His horse was
exhausted, and unable to move. His doom appeared sealed. The foe was within a
hundred yards of him. In a moment he was taken out of danger in the same manner
as his officers, and by the same hand.' Small wonder that soldiers worshipped a
man like this.
Against the Boers. -After a short
period of service as Chief of the Staff in Scotland and at Aldershot, we find
Buller again in South Africa, where he was chief of the staff to his old friend
Sir Evelyn Wood. This was in the short and disastrous campaign of 1881, when
Sir George Colley fell at Majuba Hill.
In Egypt and the Soudan.
The following year saw the Egyptian
War, and Buller prominently engaged in it. Lord Wolseley was in command, and
Buller was in charge of the Intelligence Department. This particular duty never
seems to have prevented him from being in the thick of any fight that was going
on, and we accordingly find him present at the action of Kassassin and at the
battle of Tel-el-Kebir. Here, besides being mentioned in the despatches, and
decorated with the medal, he was made a K.C.M-G., besides being allowed to
receive honours from the Khedive.
In 1884 he as second in command to Sir
Gerald Graham in the Soudan expedition, and, with his usual luck, he shared in
the engagements at El Teb and Temai. In this
last- affair he showed that he had not lost the qualities which had
gained for him the character of a ''Soldiers' General”. In a moment of threatened disaster, when
charge after charge was directed ferociously on the square which he personally
commanded; the men trusted to him, and stood firm, and won the day. If that
square had yielded the British defeat was assured. It' was here that he was
promoted Major General 'for distinguished service in the field,' besides
getting other honours. Lord Wolseley appointed him chief of the staff for the
Nile expedition in this and the following year, and when Sir Herbert Stewart
was wounded, and Colonel Fred Burnaby had been killed, it was Buller who took
command of the Desert Column, and led it safely to victory at Abu Klea Wells,
over a toilsome and dangerous route, in the face of the enemy. It was for this
service that he was appointed a K.G.B.
In the United Kingdom.
On his return from the Soudan Sir Redvers
Buller was engaged in army headquarters. He was Deputy Adjutant-General 1885-6,
and during the years 1887-1890 he was Quartermaster General to the Forces.
Between the last two appointments he filled for the first time a civil
position, a position which he very speedily resigned. He was sent to Ireland as
a special Commissioner in the disturbed district of the county Kerry, and
subsequently he became Under-Secretary for Ireland, to which fact he owes his
title of “Right Honorable,' as he incidentally became a member of the Irish
Privy Council.
While
Quartermaster-General he reorganised the Commissariat and Transport Department,
and formed the Army Service Corps. This work had hardly been well accomplished
when Lord.. Wolseley went to Ireland as Commander-in-Chief of the Forces there,
and he was succeeded by General Buller as Adjutant General. Sir Redvers became
Lieutenant-General in 1891 ; and about a year after he had been gazetted
Colonel Commandant of the King's Royal Rifle Corps he was promoted to the rank
of General in 1896. Last year he took command at Aldershot, being succeeded in.
the position of Adjutant-General by his old friend and chief, Sir Evelyn Wood.
And then it all became unstuck
Telegraph (Brisbane, Qld. : 1872 - 1947), Saturday 11 January 1902, page 4
..............GENERAL BULLER DISAPPOINTS LORD ROBERTS.
" As I understand it, Lord Roberts three times in the month of May sent strenuous appeals to Sir Redvers Buller to advance. Each time Sir Redvers found excuse, pleaded an enemy in overwhelming force before him, and represented that he was not in condition to move. In all this he was held up by the War Office. Lord Roberts was powerless to enforce his will. He had to advance without the strong supporting force on his right upon which he had counted so much, and had the terrible pain of seeing his entire plan of campaign made ineffective by the stubborn opposition of one map, supported by the jealous ill-will of a competing school.
Because of that lack of- co-operation Great Britain is still in the field to-day, the Boers are still an effective fighting force. On May 20, 1900, General Lukas Meyer, the general in command of the Boer Natal force, came back to Pretoria, and I saw him. Ho said: “I have returned to report to General Botha that my men will no longer stand should General Buller advance against them. If General Botha has the same tale to toll of his men at the Vaal, I shall, as its chairman, immediately call the Volksraad together and propose measures of surrender.
"At that time General Buffer was consistently reporting his inability to attack the large , force of Boers opposing him. That force of Boors was 1,200 men under Commandant Christian Botha, who succeeded General Lukas Meyer in supreme command. They guarded the whole border of Portuguese East Africa, Swaziland, Zululand, and Natal from Komatipoort to Van Reenen's Pass— 1,200 men in charge of 400 miles of frontier— and General Buller with 80,000 troops could not force s passage!
It is told that a Scottish officer of Highlanders redo through Mullet's Pass in full uniform into the Free State, round the Free State face of the mountains, and back to Natal through Van Reenen's Pass. He reported the passes totally unoccupied by Boers—and General Buller put him under arrest for undertaking such an adventure without specific authorisation. On May 15 General Buller entered and occupied Dundee with only the opposition of a picket. On May 80 Lord Roberts entered Johannesburg; on Juno 5 the Union Jack, floated over the Pretoria Raadzaal. General Buffer still tarried in Natal. Roberts had performed his duty but his supporting columns to right and left were wanting. The enemy were all around him, and the field-marshal in Pretoria was as far from ending the war us when he arrived at Capetown. It was not till after the middle of Juno that Sir Redvers Buller ventured to walk through Laing's Nek into the Transvaal. Never once since their entry into Ladysmith had his men been in touch with any considerable force of the enemy. Once in the Transvaal, he was under the direct command of Lord Roberts, and from that moment he did good work in the campaign.
LORD ROBERTS IMPLACABLE.
To prove, though, that Lord Roberts had not- forgotten nor forgiven the past, a little incident that occurred in Pretoria may be cited. A newspaper in London published an item of harmless gossip, absolutely without application to any of the events of the war, representing that Lord Roberts and General Sir Redvers Buller had put their horses at some hurdles in the Pretoria racecourse. Three days later came a cabled official denial from Lord Roberts that he had taken part in any such exorcise with Sir Redvers Buffer.
There was not one word of the kindly encouragement granted to all other generals singlcd out for mention in that “Gazette." Lord Roberts had done his duty. He rested there. And yet, all over the British empire, there is no more popular leader of men than General Buller. To his soldiers, he is an idol. No other British general, save perhaps Wauchope or Hector Macdonald, could have maintained the same sickening, day by day assault on the banks of the Tugela with the same losses as did Buller. To Tommy in the ranks, he was the man who showed him fighting, who led him where it was to be had in plenty.
To his senior in the field, be was the dog in the manger, the man who ruined a great triumph.. Loyalty to a brother-in-arms is as valuable an attribute in a general as courage in the field. To his inferiors, Buller is loyal as man can be; his telegram to Sir George White was but a manifestation of the chivalry, in the man. To his superiors, if they stand in his way, he can be defiant as a bulldog on guard. For that defiance he has paid with his place on the active list. Last December I received from the general a letter in which he expressed the definite determination to make no comment in writing upon matters in South Africa. Had Sir Rcdvers Buller carried that resolution to the platform he might still be Commander of the British. First Army Corps, but the cause of his offending with the war Office would not have been, removed...' .
Traralgon Record (Traralgon, Vic.: 1886 - 1932), Friday 9 February 1900, page 3
Gen. Sir Redvers Buller. A story to
illustrate the character of Sir Redvers Buller is worth repeating. During the
late Nile Campaign, while on board a river steamer descending to some dangerous
water in one of the higher cataracts, Sir Redvers entered into a discussion
with Lord Charles Beresford as to the proper channel that should be taken. Each
obstinately defended his own course, but in the end that which Sir Redvers
recommended was adopted, with the result that the steamer got through without
accident. "You see I was right," ex-claimed Sir Redvers, triumphantly,
"mine was the proper channel."
"That was mine, too," coolly replied
Lord Charles. "I only recommended the other because I knew you would go
against whatever I said." Of self-confidence Sir Redvers has abundance. He
believes in himself thoroughly, and sticks to his own opinion in opposition to
that of all the world. This confidence, however, is generally justified. He is
a man of wide knowledge, and whatever he takes up he carries through with
dogged persistence. Despite his bluntness of manner, he has earned the respect
and confidence of the British Army. Every soldier believes in him, and trusts
him, and even the civilians with whom he is un-popular cannot but admire the
man's force of character, his terse language, and his masterful methods. Sir
Redvers has more than once been severely wounded, and has lost the sight of one
eye.
Buller became a Scapegoat.
Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 -
1950), Tuesday 7 October 1902, page 2
Mr. Fortescue says he understands that Sir R. Boiler's view of the position was this: — Ladysmith and Kimberley each required a division to ensure their relief, or two divisions in all; there was but one division to hand, and it could not be ready for work on the Tugela for a month. ' Sir Redvers wanted to employ it at once for operations on the side of Kimberley. The Government, however, did not share this view.—London 'World.”
Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 -
1950), Friday 23 January 1903, page 1
Dr. Bakewell, of Auckland, has received the following reply from
Sir Redvers Buller to a letter sent to him: — 'Downes Credition, Devonshire,
Oct. 20, 1902. Dear Sir,— I. have to thank you for your letter, of Sept., 8 last,-
which I have just received. I highly appreciate the kind spirit in which your
letter is written. In these days of rather bitter party feeling, Governments
have to live in order to rule, and if our present English Ministers find it to
their advantage to make me their scapegoat I don't know that I can seriously
complain. It is just another risk of war. I know I did all that I know how to
do, and so am satisfied, with myself, and the people of England have been very
good to me. As for the rest, time will show what I did, and why I did it, and I
can well afford to wait for the verdict of Time as to how I did it. Such
letters as yours — and, indeed, I have many such— make that waiting an easy task.
With renewed thanks, yours faithfully, Redvers Buller.'
A
bronze equestrian statue of Buller by Adrian Jones (1905) is
situated in Exeter, at the junction of New North Road and Hele Road, near St
David's Church, on the route between the City and Buller's home at Downes,
Crediton.
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