BRAVE BRITISH SOLDIERS
AND
THE VICTORIA CROSS.

Corporal Robert Shields, 23rd Regiment (Royal Welsh Fusiliers), finding the Body of his wounded Adjutant, Lieut. Dyneley.

BEETON’S BOY’S OWN LIBRARY.

BRAVE BRITISH SOLDIERS
AND
THE VICTORIA CROSS.

A General Account of the Regiments and Men
of the British Army.

And Stories of the Brave Deeds which Won the Prize
“for Valour.”

Edited by S. O. BEETON.

With Sixteen Full-Page Engravings and Illustrations
in the Text.

LONDON:
WARD, LOCK AND TYLER,
WARWICK HOUSE, PATERNOSTER ROW.

BEETON’S
BOY’S OWN LIBRARY,
COLOURED ILLUSTRATIONS.

Handsomely-finished bindings in cloth, plain edges, 5s.; gilt edges, 6s.

The best set of Volumes for Prizes, Rewards, or Gifts to English Lads. They have all been prepared by Mr. Beeton with a view to their fitness in manly tone and handsome appearance for presents for Youth, amongst whom they enjoy an unrivalled degree of popularity, which never flags.

LONDON: WARD, LOCK, AND TYLER.

TO THE READER.

This book is written for Boys. The majority of the articles were expressly prepared for the “Boys’ Own Magazine,” and the interest which their appearance excited, coupled with the favourable notices they won, encouraged the Editor to publish them in a connected form.

Boys—worthy to be called Boys—are naturally brave. There is not, so far as we are aware, any etymological connexion between the words boy and brave; but there is an association of ideas, which if it does not make the terms interchangeable, is still strongly suggestive of their being one and the same. The expression brave man is easily understood, but to us, brave Boy looks like a pleonasm. A man has experience. He has tested—if there be any good thing in him—his courage in the rough exploits of the world’s campaign. He has tilted, mayhap, with Quixotic chivalry against windmills, and in the encounter has been discomfited; he has awakened from his bright dream to a sad reality; he has been tempted to turn prosaic—inclined sometimes to beat his sword into a sickle, to gather in for his own special use the golden wheat from anybody’s cornfield, and to make those late foes of his—the windmills—grind up the corn to make his bread. Now he is no longer brave. His views of life are taken from a new point of sight. He smiles at the boy’s enthusiasm, and counts himself wise in his man’s selfishness. But a man who has done battle, who has been thrown in the lists, who has been ready to mount and splinter lance again, who in the gaining of experience has lost nothing of the Boy’s boldness—such a man is brave.

The drift of these remarks is that experience may ruin a Boy’s “pluck”—may give him the vulpine sagacity of Reynard in place of the courage of Leo Africanus.

But a Boy is brave. Youth is the season of confidence. “Your young men shall see visions” while our “old men shall dream dreams.” What visions are those which rise up before the young—what brave words to speak, what brave actions to do—how bravely—if need be—to suffer! “The young fellows,” said an old soldier to the writer, “are always pushing forward in a battle charge—they are in a mighty hurry to smell powder—the veterans fall into the rear!” Do they?—ah, well, ’tis the lesson, perhaps of experience! But is it better than the Boy’s eagerness to be foremost?—is it not—answer brave hearts—better to die planting the colours on the wall, than to share the spoil which others have won?

This is the leading thought in this book about Soldiers—it is meant to keep alive the bravery of youth in the experience of manhood. The editor of the book is very sensible of the incompleteness of the work. He knows that it is defective in many places, but it is honest. A good many of the papers were written by one who was then far away on a foreign station doing brave service; some of the papers are the work of dead hands. The articles have been put together as carefully as circumstances would allow, but there has been an anxious care on the Editor’s part to retouch as little as possible the work of absent contributors. He offers the book to the Boys of England—not as the best piece of work that can be done—but as a volume they will read with delight and keep as a souvenir of pleasant hours. He is of opinion that anything which helps to make Boys more in love with true courage is good work done—he believes that bravery excites bravery, just as iron sharpeneth iron; and so he has confidence in this book being useful—a record of brave deeds that shall make its readers echo the words of King Harry—

“If it be a sin to covet honour

I am the most offending soul alive.”

CONTENTS.

CHAP.PAGE
I.OUR SOLDIERS AND THE VICTORIA CROSS[1]
II.THE GUARDS, OR HOUSEHOLD TROOPS OF ENGLAND[14]
III.THE ENGINEERS[24]
IV.THE ROYAL WELSH[40]
V.OUR HIGHLAND REGIMENTS[54]
VI.OUR HIGHLAND REGIMENTS—(continued)[64]
VII.OUR HIGHLAND REGIMENTS—(continued)[84]
VIII.OUR HIGHLAND REGIMENTS—(continued)[93]
IX.OUR HIGHLAND REGIMENTS—(continued)[107]
X.THE PIPERS OF OUR HIGHLAND REGIMENTS[123]
XI.COLONEL BELL AND THE VICTORIA CROSS[139]
XII.COMMANDER (NOW CAPTAIN) FIOTT DAY, R.N., AND THE VICTORIA CROSS[149]
XIII.LIEUTENANTS MOORE AND MALCOLMSON AND THE VICTORIA CROSS[158]
XIV.CAPTAIN W. A. KERR, SOUTH MAHRATTA HORSE, AND THE VICTORIA CROSS[168]
XV.PRIVATE HENRY WARD, V.C., 78TH HIGHLANDERS[176]
XVI.LIEUTENANT ANDREW CATHCART BOGLE, V.C., 78TH HIGHLANDERS (NOW CAPTAIN 10TH FOOT)[193]
XVII.DR. J. JEE, C.B., V.C., SURGEON; ASSISTANT-SURGEON V.M. M’MASTER, V.C.; AND LIEUTENANT AND ADJUTANT HERBERT J. MACPHERSON, V.C.[207]
XVIII.“LUCKNOW” KAVANAGH AND THE VICTORIA CROSS[221]
XIX.LIEUTENANT BUTLER AND THE VICTORIA CROSS[236]
XX.DR. HOME AND DR. BRADSHAW AND THE VICTORIA CROSS[244]
XXI.ROSS L. MANGLES, ESQ., V.C., BENGAL CIVIL SERVICE ASSISTANT-MAGISTRATE AT PATNA[257]
XXII.CAPTAIN HENRY EVELYN WOOD, 17TH LANCERS[272]
XXIII.SAMUEL MITCHELL AND THE VICTORIA CROSS; OR THE GATE PA AT TAURANGA[285]
XXIV.ENSIGN M’KENNA AND THE VICTORIA CROSS[299]
XXV.SERGEANT MAJOR LUCAS, OF THE 40TH REGIMENT, AND THE VICTORIA CROSS[313]
XXVI.THE HEROES OF THE VICTORIA CROSS IN NEW ZEALAND[322]
XXVII.THE NAVAL BRIGADE IN INDIA[334]
XXVIII.THE VARIOUS RANKS IN THE BRITISH ARMY, AND HOW TO DISTINGUISH THEM[347]
XXIX.A GRAND REVIEW[362]
XXX.A SOLDIER’S FUNERAL[376]

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS IN THE TEXT.

PAGE
BUSHIRE[167]
FINIAL, DEATH DEFENDING THE RAMPARTS[53]
GIBRALTAR[24]
GLENCOE[113]
GRENADIER, COLDSTREAM, AND SCOTS FUSILIER GUARDS[23]
NEW ZEALAND ARMS[285]
OFFICERS, EMBROIDERY ON UNIFORM OF[349, 350]
ROYAL ARTILLERY, BADGES OF NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS OF THE[356, 357]
ROYAL WELSH, INITIAL LETTER TO THE CHAPTER ON THE[40]
VICTORIA CROSS, THE[1]