Assistant-Surgeon.
William Munro, Surgeon, half-pay.
On the 25th of February 1805 the regiment embarked at Fort George, and landed at Dover on the 9th of March, whence it marched into quarters at Hythe, then under the command of Major-General Sir John Moore.[489]
On the 19th of the same month they were inspected by their Colonel, Major-General Mackenzie-Fraser, who published an order expressive of his high approval of the condition in which he found the regiment.
On the 23rd of the same month they were inspected by Major-General Sir John Moore, who conveyed in an order his approval of their appearance.
“As one of the objects I have in view is to point out such characteristic traits of disposition, principle, and habits as may be in any way interesting, I shall notice the following circumstance which occurred while this regiment lay at Hythe. In the month of June orders were issued for one field-officer and four subalterns to join the first battalion in India. The day before the field-officer fixed on for this purpose left the regiment, the soldiers held conferences with each other in the barracks, and in the evening several deputations were sent to him, entreating him, in the most earnest manner, to make application either to be allowed to remain with them or obtain permission for them to accompany him. He returned his acknowledgments for their attachment and for their spirited offer; but as duty required his presence in India, while their services were at present confined to this country, they must therefore separate for some time. The next evening, when he went from the barracks to the town of Hythe, to take his seat in the coach for London, two-thirds of the soldiers, and officers in the same proportion, accompanied him, all of them complaining of being left behind. They so crowded round the coach as to impede its progress for a considerable length of time, till at last the guard was obliged to desire the coachman to force his way through them. Upon this the soldiers, who hung by the wheels, horses, harness, and coach-doors, gave way, and allowed a passage. There was not a dry eye amongst the younger part of them. Such a scene as this, happening to more than 600 men, and in the streets of a town, could not pass unnoticed, and was quickly reported to General Moore, whose mind was always alive to the advantages of mutual confidence and esteem between officers and soldiers. The circumstance was quite suited to his chivalrous mind. He laid the case before the Commander-in-Chief; and his Royal Highness, with that high feeling which he has always shown when a case has been properly represented, ordered that at present there should be no separation, and that the field-officer should return to the battalion in which he had so many friends ready to follow him to the cannon’s mouth, and when brought in front of an enemy, either to compel them to fly or perish in the field.”[490]
Major-General Alexander Mackenzie-Fraser.
From Painting in possession of
C. J. Mackenzie, Esq. of Portmore.
Having been ordered for foreign service, the regiment embarked at Portsmouth on the 28th of September 1805; but, hearing that the combined French and Spanish fleets had put to sea from Cadiz, the transports ran into the Tagus, where they remained until intelligence arrived of the total destruction of the enemies’ flotilla at Trafalgar. They then proceeded to Gibraltar, where they disembarked the first battalion of the 42nd and the second battalion of the 78th.