1794—1795.
Working dress—Company sails for West Indies—Martinique—Spirited conduct of a detachment there—Guadaloupe—Mortality—Toulon—Flanders—Reinforcement to company there—Return of the company—Works at Gravesend—Irregularities in the corps—Causes—Redeeming qualities—Appointment of Regimental Adjutant and Sergeant-major—Consequences—Woolwich becomes the head-quarters—Alteration in working dress.
This year the working dress of the corps was considerably modified. The raven-duck frock was succeeded by a plain round blue jacket for winter, and a raven-duck jacket for summer. The colour of the working hat was changed for the privates from black to white; and the corporals and sergeants were distinguished from the inferior ranks by a band of gold lace round the pole of the hat at the bottom. See Plate [VI].
The company from Flanders under Colonel Elias Durnford, royal engineers, intended for service in the West Indies, rendezvoused for a time at Spithead. While there, every care was taken to make it as efficient for active duty as possible; and several men who were suffering from the fatigues of the sieges of Dunkirk and Nieuport, were accordingly re-embarked and their places supplied by others from the Portsmouth and Gosport companies. After being provided with the necessary field equipment, the company sailed with the fleet from Spithead on the 3rd November, 1793, and arrived at Barbadoes the 6th January, 1794. Its strength on landing was ninety-four of all ranks, including its sergeant-major—Matthew Hoey.[[92]]
From Barbadoes the company proceeded with the expedition under General Sir Charles Grey and Admiral Sir John Jervis to Martinique; and having landed, commenced and completed, during the night of the 10th February, the erection of the required batteries on Mount Matherine against Pigeon Island. On the surrender of this island on the morning of the 11th, a portion of the company, under Lieutenants Fletcher and Durnford, royal engineers, was formed in line with a brigade of the royal artillery and a part of the 70th regiment, to protect the stores then landing, and to support the left of the army in the attack upon the heights of Souririe. The post was soon carried; and the entire company subsequently participated very essentially in the siege of Fort Bourbon. After a month’s unceasing exertion before that fort, it was captured on the 25th March, and Martinique then became the prize of Britain. In noticing the services of the company, Sir Charles Grey, in his despatch of 25th March, writes:—“Colonel Durnford, with the corps of engineers, have also a claim to my warmest approbation for their exertions in placing and constructing the batteries.” The casualties were one killed—private William Simpson, on the 11th February at Pigeon Island—and three wounded.[[93]]
After the successful attack on Souririe, corporal James Kerr of the royal military artificers, and a detachment of the company under his orders, were employed on field duty at noon-day in front of the army. A very superior force of the enemy attempted to surprise them, but as soon as they perceived their danger, they retired and defended themselves in so steady, spirited, and soldierlike a manner, as to command the admiration of many officers and others.
Nearly the whole of the company were subsequently employed in the reduction of the Islands of St. Lucia and Guadaloupe; but what services were rendered by them in those captures have not been recorded.
Sir Charles Grey, having succeeded in the enterprise with which he was intrusted, left Major-General Dundas in command at Guadaloupe and made arrangements to return home. The fever peculiar to the country, soon afterwards made its appearance in the island and the General died. Taking advantage of this event and the daily increasing sickness, the French rose against the British and retook Fort Fleur d’Epée. Sir Charles Grey, hearing of the disaster and anticipating its consequences, returned with all haste to Guadaloupe and resumed the command of the troops. At this time the company was divided into almost equal proportions at each of the subjugated islands, to assist in carrying on the various works. Thirty-one non-commissioned officers and men had been left at Guadaloupe on its capture under Lieutenants Dowse and Durnford, royal engineers; but at the period of the outbreak only twenty-one men were present, ten having already died of the fever.
At Guadaloupe the military artificers were employed in the repairs of magazines and barracks, and in the construction of field works at Basseterre: subsequently they superintended the erection of batteries, &c., against Point à Pitre in the endeavours to recover Grandeterre; but as all attempts to regain this branch of the island were now abandoned, the detachment retreated to Berville with the army for the purpose of preventing Basseterre falling into the hands of the enemy. Here the artificers were engaged in various works for the defence of the camp, and shared in repulsing the three attacks made on the position in September and October. By climate, fatigue, and privation, their numbers gradually dwindled away; and when the post was captured on the 7th October, only ten men were living. Six of these were taken prisoners,[[94]] with Lieutenant Durnford of the engineers; and the other four, under Lieutenant Evatt, R.E., served at the defence of Fort Matilda from the 14th October to the 10th December, the date of its evacuation.[[95]] During that protracted struggle, the services of these four men, especially sergeant John Morris and private Samuel Bowes, were found to be particularly useful in every respect. Such was the opinion of Lieutenant Evatt, who, fifty years after, also afforded a general testimony to the merits of the company, by stating that “wherever their services were required they were ever conspicuously forward.”
The yellow fever continued its ravages throughout the year with frightful violence, and carried off more than half of the company. In May the sickness was very general among the artificers. That month twenty-five died; and of the survivors, very few were found sufficiently effective for the service of the works. In June, the party at St. Lucia, which so far had escaped the prevailing scourge, was removed to Martinique to hasten the restoration of Fort Bourbon. But little advantage, however, was obtained by this arrangement, as nearly the whole of the men were immediately seized by the sickness. At the close of the year sixty-five non-commissioned officers and privates had died; of whom forty-two were at Martinique and twenty-three at Guadaloupe; as also Colonel Durnford, Captain Chilcot, and Lieutenants Dowse and Lawson of the royal engineers. The strength of the company was now reduced to twenty-six of all ranks, including the prisoners of war, but the effectives of this number did not exceed ten.
Toulon was evacuated in the middle of December, 1793, and the remnant of the army employed there soon afterwards landed in Corsica. With this force the detachment of military artificers shared in the various actions and sieges of that island, particularly at San Fiorenzo, Bastia, Ajaccio, and Calvi. In directing the construction of the required works and batteries, more especially at the lengthened siege of Calvi, their services were highly spoken of by their officers and the assistant engineers under whose instructions they for the most part acted; and though so few in number, they were considered by the army to be most useful and valuable soldiers.[[96]] Most of them were killed at San Fiorenzo and Calvi, and the rest were wounded; of whom two privates only survived. These two men, previously to the evacuation of Corsica in October, 1796, were present at the capture of the Island of Elba, and in January, 1797, returned with Lieutenant De Butts, royal engineers, to Gibraltar.
Hostilities were resumed in Flanders as soon as the severity of the winter had subsided. To compel the French to evacuate Flanders was now the purpose of the allied commanders. To this end, on the 16th May, the whole force made a forward movement. The column under the Duke of York, to which the company of artificers was attached, marched to Lannoy and then to Roubaix driving the enemy before it. On the 18th May the French, making a determined stand, hotly pressed the British in front and rear by an overwhelming force, and obliged his Royal Highness to resort to the daring alternative of retreating through the enemy’s line, which he accomplished, but with great loss. In this action the artificers had four wounded, one missing—private John Smart—and seven taken prisoners.[[97]]
The Earl of Moira being appointed to command a corps intended to act on the offensive against France, one sergeant, one corporal, twenty-one artificers, and eight labourers of the home companies were selected to accompany it. Early in January the detachment was forwarded to Southampton and there encamped for several months, drilling with the troops. Ultimately the destination of the expedition was changed, and his lordship was directed to co-operate with the Duke of York. The armament forthwith embarked, and sailing for Ostend, landed on the 26th June. After a march of more than thirty days, executed with cheerful resignation, the Earl of Moira effected a junction with the Duke of York’s column at a time when, from the precarious situation of his Royal Highness, an addition to his resources was imperatively needed. The detachment of artificers with his lordship now joined Captain Mann’s company, the strength of which, since the opening of the winter of the previous year, had been reduced by deaths from eighty-two to seventy. With the present increase the total of the corps in Holland amounted to 101 of all ranks; but of this number, many were no longer equal to the fatigues of a campaign owing to the diseases contracted by them, from unavoidable exposure, during a season of unusual inclemency; and several suffering from incurable frostbites were placed in the category of wounded men.
On the 12th May, 1795, the above company, transferred to the command of Captain Johnson of the engineers, arrived at Woolwich. Its strength was eighty-six, including its sergeant-major. Being no longer required for foreign duty, the men were distributed among the Portsmouth and Gosport companies and the Guernsey and Jersey half companies. Twelve were left at Lisle sick and prisoners of war: three of them died, seven returned to England at different periods and the other two—Private George Horn and John Bristo—continued to be recorded as prisoners until February, 1797; when, not having rejoined their corps, they were struck off the strength. By the reduction of the Flanders company the establishment of the corps was diminished from 1,000 to 800 of all ranks.
About this period, a detachment of one sergeant, thirty-three carpenters, and two drummers, under Captain C. Holloway, royal engineers, was sent to Gravesend to make various repairs and additions to the defences on the shores of the Thames, as the state of European politics and our unsettled relations with France rendered these precautionary measures absolutely indispensable. They were picked men, of good qualification; and to distinguish them from the corps employed at Woolwich, Purfleet, and Chatham, were permitted to wear a very long fantastic feather of black, topped with crimson. Tilbury Fort and the Blockhouse at Gravesend were thoroughly repaired by this detachment, and the requisite arrangements and appliances for establishing a communication across the Thames, by means of barges for the passage of an army, were effected by them. They also constructed two batteries for four 24-pounders each, with temporary wooden barracks for artillerymen at Shornmead and Hop-Point, below Gravesend. These services were barely finished when thirty of the detachment were recalled to join the expeditions for St. Domingo and the Caribbee Islands. The party that remained, was shortly afterwards increased to one sergeant and fifteen carpenters. Detachments of varied strength were also employed in strengthening the defences on the coast of Sussex, and in repairing the castles at Hurst, Cowes, and Yarmouth.
Drunkenness and irregularity were now very prevalent in the corps. Many of the men, from their abandoned habits, were insensible either to advice or punishment: whilst others, whose moral conduct could not be reproached, were negligent of that proper respect for personal cleanliness and appearance which is one of the first considerations of a soldier in every well-regulated regiment. In some degree to check these evils, a few of the most incorrigible among the labourers were dismissed from the corps, or were either turned over to the navy or sent to the West Indies. But even these severe but necessary measures failed to produce that wholesome impression on the habitual delinquents, which it was reasonable to anticipate would be the result.
The first symptoms of disorder in the conduct of the men appeared when they found they were liable to be sent abroad if occasion required their services. Led by their constitution and employment to consider themselves permanently settled, they were quite unprepared for any innovation which had a tendency to subvert their position or to interrupt the advancement of their individual interests. The married men particularly received it with unequivocal dissatisfaction. Unwilling to submit to the change, which struck at the root of their privileges, several deserted; and others, not daring to involve themselves in the consequences of so serious a step, remained only to drown their discontent in dissipation, and bring discredit on the corps.
This was not the only source of demoralization. Ever since the formation of the corps little or no attention had been paid to its military efficiency. Discipline was almost entirely relinquished, and drill was an unfashionable exercise. The former was relaxed on account of the men being regarded more in the light of civilians than soldiers, and the latter was nominally given up on the plea, that it was of far greater public benefit to keep them constantly on the works than at drill. From the leniency of the one, numbers paid but little regard to authority on military matters, and were only too ready to evince a spirit of disaffection when anything occurred to infringe upon liberties or privileges that the usages of the corps had given them a sort of right to enjoy; and from the neglect of the other, they were awkward and dirty in appearance and slovenly in their attire. By the many well-intentioned and orderly men in the corps, the laxity of the discipline and infrequency of the drill were certainly recognized and appreciated as indulgences; but the advantages bestowed were more than counterbalanced by the evils they induced; for several men—not labourers only, but artificers—distinguished by their abilities as tradesmen, but too depraved to profit by the mildness of the discipline, plunged into all the excesses of disorder and drunkenness. Yet, with all this misconduct and want of training in soldierlike principle and bearing, they always exhibited an active pride in their fair name as mechanics, and committed, comparatively, but few offences on the works.
Another element in producing the irregularity complained of is traceable to the manner in which the corps was recruited. From the difficulty of obtaining good tradesmen with satisfactory testimonials of previous conduct, the pernicious system of receiving men without characters was resorted to. Ability as tradesmen was the great specific, conduct being a non-essential qualification. Consequently, in the removals from the line especially, many men were transferred to the military artificers, whose dissolute habits rendered their influence both mischievous and demoralizing, although, from their merits as mechanics, they were found far too valuable to dismiss, and too useful to be subjected to a protracted punishment.
But with all this dissipation and disorder there was much in the corps to approve, much to admire. The non-commissioned officers, the majority of the artificers, and a goodly number of the labourers were well-conducted men, and upheld their military character and appearance in a becoming manner. On the works, besides being able and expert artificers, they were found to be industrious and efficient, supporting and assisting their officers in every duty or enterprise of difficulty or danger with readiness and zeal. Though differing from other troops in many essential points, still there was much sterling worth in the royal military artificers, rarely to be met with in any other corps in the service.
Recourse to discipline and drill seemed to be the only chance of preventing the increase of irregularity, and of permanently improving the character and condition of the corps. At each of the stations the experiment was now in partial operation, but, simultaneously with this judicious effort, another measure had been effected which promised to be of material advantage in bringing about the desired change. This was the appointment, on the 15th May, of Lieutenant John Rowley of the royal engineers, to be Regimental Adjutant to the corps. To each company, from its formation, an adjutant had been and continued to be attached; who, however, from the paramount importance of the works and other circumstances, was too engrossed by his attention to professional duties and details to be of much service to his company. The Regimental Adjutant was stationed at Woolwich, and through him was carried on all the correspondence of the corps. His office, however, was at Westminster. To assist him, therefore, company sergeant-major Anthony Haig, who was an excellent drill-master and a talented non-commissioned officer, was promoted to be regimental sergeant-major on the Staff at Woolwich with the pay of 3s. a-day.
These appointments were immediately followed by an alteration in the system of recruiting as conducted by the officers commanding companies. Experience had proved that such a system was detrimental to the corps, and that its discontinuance would narrow the sources from which some of the existing evils originated and were fed. With this view, the particular charge of the service was intrusted to the Regimental Adjutant. Recruits were now enlisted for general service, and when ready to join the corps, were, in the first instance, sent to Woolwich. On their arrival they were clothed, equipped, and subjected to the same drilling as infantry soldiers under the sergeant-major and adjutant; and, when trained, were posted to the companies, whether at home or abroad, most in want of men. Even this slight modification produced a more than corresponding improvement in the corps, and revived in some degree, at the different stations, the discipline and drill. At Portsmouth especially, at a later period, under Colonel Evelegh, who was the first Adjutant of the corps and served with its companies at the siege of Gibraltar—the disciplinary arrangements were so satisfactorily enforced and sustained, that it was a custom for some years to remove all the irregular men to that station, to place them under the operation of a strict and wholesome surveillance. A few years after, about 1806, to give the corps the advantage of manœuvring in masses, the companies at Portsmouth and Gosport, with all the subaltern officers in command, were, once a week during the summer months, brought together for drill under their respective Adjutants—Lieutenants Hamilton and Oldfield.
Woolwich now became the head-quarters of the corps, and all invalids were ever after sent to it from the different stations for discharge, instead of being disposed of, as heretofore, by the captains of companies.
This year the working jacket was somewhat altered. Broad skirts with pocket slashes were appended to it, and, for the sake of giving a more military appearance to the men, a yellow worsted lace triangle was sown between the two back buttons, and a frog was added to each side of the collar. These ornaments on the sergeant’s jacket were of gold lace. The hats of the privates were changed from white to black felt, and the sergeants, in addition to the gold band, wore rosettes and crimson plumes. See Plate [VII]. All ranks wore clothing of precisely similar fabric.
Royal Military Artificers
Plate VII.
WORKING DRESS 1755
Printed by M & N Hanhart.