West Africa, 1893.
The campaign of 1893 was under the command of Colonel Ellis, of the West India Regiment, and was undertaken for the punishment of the Sofas, a tribe which had been giving much trouble on our own and on the French frontier. The expedition was marred by an unfortunate contretemps between our forces and the French Senegalese troops, in which we lost three officers killed, the subaltern in command of the French detachment falling a victim to the mistake of his men.
West Africa, 1894.
This year was marked by two expeditions—the one from Bathurst, under Captain Gamble, of the Royal Navy, accompanied by a detachment of the West India Regiment. In this the navy were roughly handled, losing 3 officers and 14 men killed, 6 officers and 32 men wounded. In the following month Major Fairtlough, of the Royal Artillery, took up the threads of the affair, and brought it to a successful conclusion. The recalcitrant chief, Foda Silah, took refuge in French territory, and was handed over to us for deportation.
In the month of September, 1894, the attitude of the ruler of Benin compelled us to destroy the armed towns on his frontier. Admiral Bedford, commanding the Cape of Good Hope Station, was entrusted with the chief command. The bulk of the forces were drawn from the ships on the Cape Station, but a detachment of the West India Regiment well and worthily upheld the fame of that corps. Our trophies included 106 guns of all calibres, a large number of small arms, 14 tons of gunpowder, and 8,300 dozens of gin!
British East Africa, 1896-1899, 1901.
This battle honour has been conferred on the
104th Wellesley's Rifles.
116th Mahrattas.
124th D.C.O. Baluchistan Infantry.
127th P.W.O. Baluch Light Infantry.
It commemorates arduous work, of which little is heard in England, in tropical regions of East Africa and the fever-haunted hinterland of Zanzibar. Split up into a number of small detachments, these regiments have showed themselves worthy successors to the old Bombay army, which more than a century ago broke the power of the Mahrattas and set the stamp of civilization on the coast of Malabar. The list of casualties shows that sickness was not the only foe these distinguished regiments had to face.