Sir Hussey Vivian, the Master-General, entertained so favourable an opinion of the corps, that he felt it right, on the 6th October, to order increased encouragement to be given to non-commissioned officers of proper attainments and merits, by appointing them occasionally to be foremen of works in the royal engineer department. The first appointed under this order was sergeant Henry French,[[281]] and at distant intervals the following non-commissioned officers were promoted to that rank—viz., sergeants Nicolas Markey,[[282]] William Spry,[[283]] John Wood,[[284]] William Jago,[[285]] Hugh Munro,[[286]] John Hopkins,[[287]] second-corporal Daniel Rock,[[288]] sergeant William Sargent,[[289]] and quarter-master sergeant Noah Deary.[[290]]
Quartermaster James Galloway died on the 9th November at Wellesley House, Shooters' Hill, after an active service of forty-five years, which he performed with a faithfulness amounting to devotion. Few officers in the army in passing from the ranks to a commission, gained higher respect than he did, and in his death few were more regretted or more honoured.
Sergeant-major James Hilton succeeded to the vacancy—a distinction he merited by his long services, uniform zeal, and soldier-like qualities. He was presented on the occasion by the officers of royal engineers at Woolwich with a sword, and a grant was made to him of 20l. to assist him in his outfit.
Sergeant James Forbes was promoted to be sergeant-major by Sir Hussey Vivian as a reward for his services. For six years he had been employed, during every spring and autumn, at the royal military college at Sandhurst, in the instruction of the gentlemen cadets, and returned to his corps on every occasion with fresh claims to approbation. Every season at the college was marked by his effecting some improvement in the course and in rendering some new and essential service to the institution. Among many minor subjects necessary to complete the experimental course, he introduced the use of various mechanical expedients in connexion with purposes of military science, and the construction of military bridges of different kinds, from the rudest adaptations of rough timber and wicker work to the finished formation of a pontoon bridge.[[291]] Observing his indefatigable exertions in carrying out his professional duties at the institution, Sir George Scovell, the Lieutenant-Governor, was induced to say, that “sergeant Forbes had laid the college under great obligations to himself and the admirable corps to which he belonged;” and in acknowledgment of that obligation, Sir Edward Paget, the Governor, presented him with a valuable case of drawing instruments. Subsequently he had the high honour of being admitted to an audience with his Majesty, William IV.;[[292]] in which interview the King graciously commended his conduct, ability, and zeal. Soon afterwards the Master-General, who frequently wrote in eulogistic terms of his services, promoted him from the rank of sergeant to be sergeant-major.[[293]]
In December, Lieutenant Robert Dashwood, R.E., was appointed acting-adjutant at head quarters, to assist the brigade-major in the office and parade duties. This was the first appointment of the kind in the corps at Woolwich. Smart, strict in discipline, and exact in the performance of duty, he promised to advance the sappers to the high development attained in well-disciplined regiments, but his career of usefulness was suddenly cut short by disease of the heart, of which he died on the 21st September, 1839.[[294]]
In the summer of 1834 an expedition under the command of Colonel Chesney was projected, to ascertain the practicability of the Euphrates for opening a route by steam navigation to India. A detachment of the royal artillery and five men of the corps were appointed to it. One, sergeant Thomas Sim, was a surveyor, and the rest were smiths, and their qualifications in steam machinery, surveying, and drawing, had particular reference to the wants of the enterprise. When selected their names were submitted to the King.[[295]] For their military dress was substituted a plain blue suit, consisting of a slouched cap, frock coat with gilt buttons, and loose trousers, as more suitable to the climate of the East. The beard and moustache after the oriental fashion were also worn.
In September the party was sent to the factory of Messrs. Laird and Co., at Birkenhead; and after receiving instructions in riveting and the management of steam engines, sailed on the 10th February, 1835, for Syria. Three of the party only landed; the other two having, by some mismanagement, returned to England from Malta. From the mouth of the Orontes to Bir, a distance of 145 miles, the three sappers, as well as the other soldiers and seamen, were employed in transporting the materials for the construction and armament of two steamers, across a country of varied and difficult features, intersected by a lake and two rapid rivers. Boilers of great weight were forced up hills, inch by inch, by means of screw-jacks; and through the unflagging exertions of officers and men, and their patient endurance of suffering and fatigue, was accomplished “one of the most gigantic operations of modern times.”[[296]]
While these arduous labours were in operation, two of the three sappers died—sergeant Sim and lance-corporal Samuel Gidens. For the most part, the sergeant had been employed with Lieutenant Murphy, R.E., or alone, in surveying the country from Latakia to the Gulf of Scanderoon; and in which, from his previous knowledge and experience, he was found of great use; but while prosecuting this duty, he frequently slept on the sands or in open boats, and thus contracted a disease no skill could eradicate. When surveying on Beilan mountain he suffered much from the keen and penetrating wind to which he was exposed, and was removed to Antioch for the benefit of his health. A slight improvement urged him to the field again; but at Suedia, being thrown from a horse and much injured, he was again sent in a litter to Antioch, where he breathed his last on the 19th September, 1835.
The corporal died at Fort William on the 3rd August. Up to the date of his illness he worked most diligently; and to mark the sense entertained of his services, a gratuity of 100l. was granted by the Treasury to his bereaved family on the recommendation of Colonel Chesney, to whose honour it should be recorded that out of his own purse, he liberally supported the widow and her children, until the award was made by the Government.
Feeling the want of the two smiths who had been sent home from Malta, Colonel Chesney applied to have them re-attached to the expedition. His wish was at once acceded to, and with them sailed two other privates, on the 3rd January, 1836, for Syria. Arriving at Malta, they were passed on with all dispatch in the ‘Columbia’ sloop of war, and reached Antioch late in February, in time to take part in the final preparations for floating the steamers. This reinforcement of “promising men, brought the party,” so the Colonel writes, “to efficiency once more,” and on the 16th March the descent of the river was commenced. There were now five sappers with the expedition—one surveyor, and four blacksmiths and millwrights, including corporal William Black, all valuable as artificers and engineers. Three were allotted to the ‘Euphrates’ steamer, and two to the ‘Tigris.’ Civil engineers were also attached to each vessel, to whom the sapper smiths acted as subordinates, and were styled assistant engineers.