"England expects that every man will do his duty" was the last signal of the immortal Nelson—one which he kept flying to the end. That, too, is the signal held before every soldier when the colours are uncased. The names embroidered in their letters of gold are a perpetual reminder to him that those who have gone before him, and whose privilege it has been to die under those standards, have ever acted up to Nelson's signal and to the immemorial traditions of the British army,
DULCE ET DECORUM EST PRO PATRIA MORI.
[APPENDIX I]
EGYPT, 1884
This distinction has been conferred on the
10th Hussars.
19th Hussars.
Royal Highlanders.
King's Royal Rifles.
York and Lancaster Regiment.
Royal Irish Fusiliers.
Gordon Highlanders.
It commemorates a short campaign which entailed some hard fighting in the neighbourhood of Suakin, on the Red Sea, in the early part of the year 1884. The campaign of 1884 in Egypt was primarily due to the action of the mutinous Egyptian army, but it was soon found that the evil was far more deeply seated. The British occupation struck at the root of the prosperity of Upper Egypt, where thousands depended on the slave trade, and serious risings against the authority of the Khedive took place throughout the Soudan. The forces despatched to restore order were signally defeated. As these were under the command of English officers, lent to the Egyptian Government, we at once became involved. One of these armies, commanded by Hicks Pasha, which had been sent from Khartoum towards the Equatorial provinces, was annihilated. A second, under Valentine Baker Pasha, was cut to pieces in the near neighbourhood of Suakin. It was to wipe out the stain of this defeat that General Sir Gerald Graham was despatched with the above force in February, 1884. The 10th Hussars and 89th (Royal Irish Fusiliers) had been stopped on their way home from India; the other regiments formed a portion of the army of occupation. Sir Gerald fought two general actions—the one at El Teb on February 24, the other at Tamai on March 14. The Egyptian medal of 1882 was conferred on the troops present in the campaign, with clasps for the two actions, those present in both receiving one clasp with the two names engraved on it. The regiments received but one battle honour—"Egypt, 1884."
Casualties at El Teb, February 24, 1884.