Memoirs and Services of the Eighty-third Regiment, County of Dublin, from 1793 to 1907 / Including the Campaigns of the Regiment in the West Indies, Africa, the Peninsula, Ceylon, Canada, and India

by Edward William Bray

On October 26th, 1858, Colonel Botet Trydell was promoted to major-general, and Major C. W. Austen succeeded to the lieutenant-colonelcy in the regiment.

Major-General Trydell served in the 83rd for a period of fifty-four years. He was present with the 1st Battalion at the taking of the Cape of Good Hope in 1806, including the battle of Blueberg; and also in Ceylon through the Kandyan rebellion.

Lieutenant-Colonel Steele having proceeded to England early in the month of December, 1858, the command of the regiment devolved on Lieutenant-Colonel Austen, the second lieutenant-colonel. On the 17th of this month, a field force was formed at Nusseerabad under the personal command of Brigadier Honner, commanding Rajpootana Field Force, consisting of the head-quarters of the 83rd Regiment, 500 strong, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel C. Austen, with a troop and a half-battery of artillery, a considerable force of cavalry of the 8th Hussars and 1st Lancers, and the 12th Regiment N. I. The force marched to Sanganeer on the Neemuch road, arriving there on the 21st. On the 23rd the head-quarters of the 83rd, 300 strong, with the 12th Regiment N. I., and half a battery, were ordered back to Nusseerabad, arriving there on the 27th. Three companies under Lieutenant-Colonel Heatly, consisting of 200 men, remained with the brigade under Brigadier Honner.

1859.

Early in the month of January, 1859, intelligence having been received that the rebel force was again moving on Tonk, with the intention of reaching Jeypoor, the head-quarters of the 83rd, with 300 men, part of the 12th Regiment N. I., and half a battery of artillery, the whole under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Holmes, proceeded on the 8th in an easterly direction to Diggee, to cover the road from Tonk to Jeypoor. Having received information that Tonk was threatened, the force marched through Tonk to Bamboor on the 11th; here it was discovered that the rebels had passed by, and the force accordingly marched the following day (twenty-two miles) in a north-east route to Jullai. Finding that the rebels had only left that morning, and were encamped at Chatsoo, twenty-two miles distant, the force marched again that night, arriving at Chatsoo before daybreak. The rebels had just left when the brigade of Brigadier Showers—chiefly cavalry—having come up, continued the pursuit. Colonel Holmes’s force then marched on Jeypoor, arriving there on the 17th and leaving on the 18th, and after four days’ severe marching through deep sand, came up with the rebel force at “Seekur” at 4 a.m., having during the last thirty hours accomplished a march of fifty-two miles. The moon was just setting when our troops surprised the rebel camp, and owing to the darkness and precipitation with which the rebels fled, together with our deficiency of cavalry, our troops were unable to inflict any serious loss on them. About 80 were killed, 50 taken prisoners, and many horses and camels. The force halted at Seekur for one day, having during the previous thirteen days marched a distance of 292 miles. After this, the force proceeded in combination with other columns to harass the rebels, and marched over a great part of Jeypoor and Joudpoor, arriving finally on the 18th February at Suget on the road between Nusseerabad and Deesa. Information having been here received that the rebels had escaped through a pass in the hills, the force, after a halt of four days, returned to Nusseerabad, arriving there on the 1st March.

The field force, under Brigadier Honner, to which were attached 200 men of the 83rd Regiment, under Lieutenant-Colonel Heatly, also returned on the 1st March, having been in the field since the 14th December, during which period they traversed 995 miles of country; and on one occasion, in attempting to surprise the rebels, they marched forty-four miles in twenty-four hours. In the pursuit of the rebels, terminating in the affair of Kosana, Brigadier Honner’s force marched 130 miles, over tracts of deep, heavy land, in four days. The 83rd detachment in this last pursuit, consisting of 9 sergeants, 4 corporals, 1 drummer, and 119 privates, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Heatly, with Captain Marsh, Lieutenants Onslow and Huyshe, were mounted on camels. Their services during the operations terminating in the defeat of the rebels at “Koshana” are honourably mentioned in Brigadier Honner’s despatch.

In the summer of 1859 a letter was addressed by the Earl of Howth, Lord-Lieutenant of the county of Dublin, to General Sir Frederick Stovin, G.C.B. and K.C.M.G., the colonel of the regiment, which is subjoined:—

“Howth Castle, July 28th, 1859.

“Sir,—An application has been made to me by Lieutenant-Colonel Steele, of the 83rd Regiment, in my capacity of the Lord-Lieutenant of the county of Dublin, to give the assistance of my sanction and co-operation in forwarding an application from him as commanding officer of the 83rd Regiment, that the distinctive appellation of the ‘County of Dublin’ Regiment may be conferred upon that corps. Lieutenant-Colonel Steele has suggested that I should communicate with you as the colonel of the 83rd on the subject of his wishes, and I accordingly beg to do so. Lieutenant-Colonel Steele accompanied his application to me by an extract from the records of the 83rd Regiment, and it most plainly appears that the regiment was raised in the county of Dublin in the year 1793, under a letter of service granted to its first lieutenant-colonel commandant, William Fitch, who was killed at the head of the regiment in the Maroon war, in the island of Jamaica, three years afterwards. It further appears from its records that the 83rd Regiment has seen much active foreign service, and has been distinguished by its discipline and valour in many parts of the world, and recently in the suppression of the mutiny in India, where it is at present serving.

“Under these circumstances, and having regard to the fact that the regiment was originally raised exclusively in the county of Dublin, I have much pleasure in expressing my concurrence in the application made by Lieutenant-Colonel Steele on the part of his regiment. I consider that it would be creditable to the county of Dublin, that a regiment raised in it, and of whose services it may be very justly proud, should be distinguished by its name, and I give this letter to Lieutenant-Colonel Steele for conveyance to you, in the hope that it may aid in inducing his Royal Highness the Commander-in-Chief to recommend to her Majesty that the title of the ‘County of Dublin’ Regiment may be conferred on the 83rd.