GENERAL WAUCHOPE.
From a Photograph by arrangement with Mr Thomas Kemp, Dalkeith.
In such exercises Wauchope was an adept. In military science he made it a point to be thoroughly conversant not only with the details of drill, but in general strategy, to be able to grip a given situation with comprehensive tact. A born soldier, he instinctively realised what was the right thing to do and the right time to attempt it. Nor was he the man to ask his men to do anything that he would not himself do, or take a part in. When in Edinburgh Castle it was his habit, in order to keep the regiment up to the fighting standard of physical endurance, to march them out a nine or ten miles round of country, and that in all sorts of weather; sunshine or rain apparently made no difference. Frequently have we seen him swinging along at the head of his men, sometimes on horseback, but more often on foot, over roads inches deep with mud. Like most favourite officers, he had his pet name. As we have already said, the name by which he was familiarly known in the Black Watch was 'Red Mick.' One day the regiment had been ordered out for a march, and in passing a group of the men the Colonel happened to overhear one of them say, 'Red Mick will be going to ride to-day.' The regiment was in due time drawn up on parade, and addressed by their commander as to the order of march; then looking the man who had made the remark straight in the face, he finished up by saying, 'but to-day Red Mick will walk!'
Military life at York
While the regiment was in York, Wauchope took a deep interest in the benevolent institutions of the city, and specially in the Scotch community. He was the President of the St. Andrew's Society, which, through his active interest in its affairs, greatly increased in numbers and influence. 'He always,' says one who knew him there, 'let it be known that he was a Scotsman, and was proud of his country. The stirring speeches that he made before the St. Andrew's Society are still remembered with delight; and as an evidence of the regard in which his memory is still held there, that Society is about to erect a tablet in the Presbyterian church to the memory of the officers and men of the Black Watch who have since fallen in battle.'
It was noticed also that the same chivalrous feeling of relationship existed between him and his men as existed formerly between a Highland chief and his clan. His interest in them and their families was ever showing itself in kindly visits to the married quarters of the barracks, in order to look after the welfare of the women and children, so as to increase their comfort. Fêtes and social meetings were not unfrequent, and at Christmas time it was his custom to have a well-laden Christmas tree, on which were suitable presents for the children, while the mothers had welcome little gifts of money distributed to them. All this, says the Rev. Alexander Stirling, minister of the Presbyterian church, York, was at his own private expense, and must have cost him not less than £50 on each occasion. In spite of the attractive splendours of a grand cathedral, Colonel Wauchope preferred to worship according to his accustomed manner in the simpler form of the Presbyterian church. There, too, by his arrangement, the regiment worshipped in force, and he always insisted upon a full complement of officers accompanying the men. Not only so, but, as Mr. Stirling informs us, Mrs. Wauchope and the officers of the Black Watch were in many ways helpful to him and his congregation, taking a part in much of their church work, and showing their loyalty to their Presbyterian principles in many ways.
In July 1898, Colonel Wauchope was selected by Lord Wolseley to command a brigade in the expedition then being organised under General (now Lord) Kitchener for the reconquest of the Soudan. The 42nd regiment was not ordered out for this service, and so the time had come when, after thirty-three years of close connection with them both in peace and in war, that connection must for a time be broken. One of his brother officers, writing afterwards of that period and the grief that was in every heart over the prospect of losing him, says: 'The send-off he received at York when he left will never be effaced from the memory of those who took part in it. I have never seen Scotch soldiers exhibit any such emotion, or give way so thoroughly to their feelings. They knew whom they were losing; they realised their loss, and gave vent accordingly.'
At the same time, the circumstances, if touching, were not without a dash of the ludicrous; but they show how warmly attached the Black Watch were to one who from the rank of subaltern had risen steadily to be their colonel, and was now to leave them for the command of a brigade. Many a man among them wished he had the chance to accompany him.