In August of this year Her Majesty was pleased to place the name of Col. Bertie Gordon on the list of officers receiving the reward of £100 a year for distinguished service.
The 91st remained at Dover until June 1870, during which time two events occurred of some importance in its domestic history. The first of these was the presentation of new colours on the 24th of Aug. 1869, on the glacis of the Western Heights, Dover. As the Duke and Duchess of Argyll were unable to be present, the colours were presented to the regiment by Mrs Bertie Gordon, as her Grace’s representative. The Archbishop of Canterbury consecrated the colours, being assisted by five other clergymen in full canonicals. After an impressive prayer by his Grace the Archbishop, the colours were received by Mrs Gordon at the hands of Major Penton and Major Sprot, and by her given to Ensigns Lloyd and Gurney, with these words:—
“Colonel Gordon, officers, non-commissioned officers, and soldiers of the 91st Argyllshire Highlanders,—Proud as I am this day to present to you your new colours, I would fain have had my place better filled by her Grace the Duchess of Argyll. Soldiers, your colours have been well earned, not alone in the protracted struggle of three Kaffir campaigns, but also by long service in tropical climes under a burning sun. I know you will receive them as a sacred trust. Guard them carefully. Fight manfully around them when called upon. Be foremost, as you have always been, in serving your Queen and country; and be the pride, as you are at this moment, of your commanding officer.”
After a fervent address by Col. Gordon, thanking Mrs Gordon for the service she had performed, which was only one of “many acts of unobtrusive kindness” by which she showed her interest in the welfare of the regiment.
The old colours having been gladly accepted by the Duke of Argyll, were, in the month of October, taken by an escort to Inverary Castle, in the great hall of which they now occupy a conspicuous position.
The other important event in the history of the regiment while it was stationed at Dover, was the retirement of Colonel Bertie Gordon. This was indeed an event of very great moment in the career of the 91st, and we therefore must find space for the pathetic order in which Colonel Gordon bade farewell to the regiment he loved so dearly. He had left on leave on the 11th of Nov. 1869, handing over the command of the regiment to Major Sprot, and his farewell order is dated “Ellon Castle, Ellon, 29th January 1870:”—
“His Royal Highness the Field Marshal Commanding-in-Chief having been pleased to grant compliance with the request preferred by Colonel Bertie Gordon, to be permitted to retire on the half-pay of the army, Colonel Gordon bids farewell to the noble regiment in which he has served for more than seven and thirty years, and in which he has held command ever since April 1855. Colonel Gordon’s service in the 91st Highlanders comprises exactly one-half the period of its existence as a corps, and he has held command in his regiment during a fifth part of its history. Years have gone by since every officer, non-commissioned officer, and private soldier with whom he stood in these noble ranks, when he commenced his career in the army, have passed away. For twelve years Colonel Gordon has been the very last of the 800 who formed the Argyllshire regiment in 1832, and in its ranks of the present day he leaves behind him but one soldier (Lt. Grant) who shared with him those hours of impending death, when he commanded the Reserve Battalion of the regiment in 1842, cast away on the shores of Africa in that dark night of tempest, when its discipline and devotion came forth from the shattered wreck unbroken and undiminished by that sorest trial. Colonel Gordon calls to mind that he has served under three stands of colours presented to the regiment, and that at the recommendation of His Royal Highness the Field Marshal Commanding-in-Chief, he was permitted, by the favour of Her Most Gracious Majesty, to announce to his old regiment, seven years ago, the restoration of that nationality in its designation and uniform, under which it was embodied by its ducal chieftain in the last century.
“Colonel Gordon believes that the time has come to retire from the regiment he has loved, and to leave its fortunes in younger and stronger hands. But, although severed from its noble ranks, Colonel Gordon will still feel that the words of his regimental order of 1863 must ever prove true—‘The Argyllshire regiment has ever served their sovereign and their country steadily;’ while he calls upon all ranks to remember those that the late Lieut.-General Sir George Napier addressed to the Reserve Battalion in 1842—‘Ninety-first, I have known you in camp and quarters, and I have seen you in action, and I have never known or seen a better.’”
In such words did this brave, noble-minded, and accomplished soldier bid farewell to his dear old regiment. He survived the “farewell” only a few months, having died at Ellon Castle on the 27th of July of the same year, at the comparatively early age of 57 years. So long as the name of the 91st Argyllshire Highlanders remains on the roll of the British Army, the memory of Colonel Bertie Gordon ought to be cherished in its ranks.
As we have already said, Colonel Gordon found a successor in every way worthy of him in Major Sprot, who succeeded to the lieutenant-colonelcy of the regiment on the 29th of January 1870. Captain Wood succeeded to the vacant majority, Lieutenant Alison to the company, and Ensign Chater to the lieutenancy and adjutancy, in which latter capacity he had acted for one year.[557]