It being considered that the objects of the expedition had been fully attained, the force was broken up and withdrawn. The 19th embarked on the 1st April, and returned to Cairo on the 6th.

By G.O. 10 of January 1885 the regiment was permitted to add the date “1884” to the badges on its appointments. A medal with clasps for El Teb and Tamai were granted to those present.

CHAPTER III
CAMPAIGN ON THE NILE

1884–1899

Troubles in the Western Soudan—Expedition to relieve Khartoum—19th ordered up the Nile—Korti—The Desert Column—Action at Abu Klea—Action at Abu Krou—Quartermaster Lima killed—The horses—Metemmeh—Fall of Khartoum—Return of the Column—The River Column—Action at Kirbekan—Return of the Column—Summer Quarters—Regiment returns to Cairo—Squadron sent to Suakin—Serious losses—Returns to Cairo—Designation granted of “Princess of Wales’ Own”—Death of Colonel Barrow—19th returns to England—Badge of “Mysore” granted—19th embarks for India—Bangalore—Secunderabad.

In the meantime, matters in the Western Soudan had steadily been getting worse. In March, the Mahdi’s forces had reached Khartoum; by the end of May Berber had fallen, cutting off communication between Khartoum and Cairo, and the wave of rebellion rolled steadily northward. Still the Government in England did nothing. They had resolutely ignored the whole Soudan question, and allowed matters to drift. Gordon’s urgent advice to occupy Berber with British troops, in order to keep open the route to Suakin, had been disregarded, and his demand for Zobehr Pasha to be sent to Khartoum, as the only chance of saving the situation, was emphatically refused. It was not till August, that the British Cabinet recognised that some effort might be required to relieve Khartoum, and even to defend Lower Egypt from the Mahdi. By the middle of August preparations were made for dispatching a small body of troops to Wady Halfa, and a squadron of the 19th Hussars was held in readiness. Then followed more delay. It was not till the middle of September that preparations for an advance beyond Wady Halfa began to be made in earnest.

On the 25th October, three squadrons of the regiment, under Lieut. Colonel Barrow, left Cairo, and reached Wady Halfa, by rail and steamer, on 12th November, with a total strength of 21 officers, and 353 Non-Commissioned officers and men. Two instances of the eager spirit to get to the front, that animated the whole regiment, must not go unrecorded. At the moment of leaving the barracks in Cairo, a man met with an accident that necessitated his being left behind. In a minute one of the men detailed to remain at Cairo stepped forward in his place, in marching order, with kit complete. He had got himself ready on the chance of some such opportunity occurring, and it is pleasant to know that he got it. At Assiout, next morning, a stowaway was discovered, a bandboy, who accounted for himself by saying “He was the only man in the band without a medal, and he could not stand it.”

Experience had shown that English horses could not stand hard work under a tropical sun, with scarcity of water and desert fare. It was therefore decided, before leaving Cairo, to mount the regiment entirely on the small Syrian Arab horses used by the Egyptian cavalry. Three hundred and fifty of these little horses had been sent up in advance, and were taken over by the regiment on arrival at Wady Halfa. The regiment was at this time in superb condition. The men had an average of seven years’ service, and most of them had been through the preceding campaigns of Tel-el-Kebir and Suakin. From Wady Halfa the regiment marched, by squadrons, to Korti, where it arrived on the 20th December.

Here was assembled the expeditionary force, under General Lord Wolseley; perhaps the most singular force ever put into the field by Great Britain, to fight in one of the most remarkable campaigns; starting from a base a thousand miles from the sea. In addition to the 19th Hussars, who were the only horsemen with the force, and nine battalions of infantry, there were four Camel Corps, composed respectively of picked men from different Heavy and Light Cavalry regiments, the Foot Guards, and Infantry of the Line; a Naval Brigade of Bluejackets and Marines; a Battery of Royal Artillery, and two Camel Batteries. The boats by which the Nile had been ascended had been built in England, and were managed by Canadian voyageurs, some of whom were of Indian blood, and by Kroomen from the west coast of Africa, while the camels were managed by Arab drivers brought for the purpose from Aden.