The 93rd made a long stay at Sealkote, during which it sent detachments to garrison various forts in the surrounding district. It quitted Sealkote on Nov. 1st, 1866, and, under command of Col. Burroughs, proceeded to Jhansi, which, after a long march and many encampments, it reached on January 18, 1867.
During its stay at Jhansi, the regiment sustained a great loss, in the promotion, in March 1867, of Surgeon-Major William Munro, M.D., C.B., to be a Deputy Inspector-General of Hospitals. Dr Munro had been surgeon of the Sutherland Highlanders since 1854, when he joined the regiment whilst on its march from Old Fort to the River Alma. He was present with the regiment throughout the Crimean and Indian campaigns, and we have already referred to his conduct during the attack of cholera at Peshawur. By his zeal, ability, and heroic devotion to duty, Dr Munro had endeared himself to every officer and man of the regiment, by all of whom, whilst rejoicing at his well-earned promotion, his departure was sincerely deplored. At his departure he expressed a wish to be enrolled as an honorary member of the officer’s mess, a request that was acceded to with acclamation.
While at Jhansi, the colonel, General Alex. Fisher M’Intosh, K.H., died, Aug. 28, 1868. He had formerly been a major in the regiment, and was succeeded in the colonelcy by Lt.-General Charles Craufurd Hay.
In August 1869, the regiment was again scourged with cholera, a very large number being attacked, both at Jhansi and among the detachment at Sepree; the deaths, however, were only 11. During the latter part of September, moreover, and throughout October, the regiment was prostrated by a fever, which though not deadly, was very weakening. On October 20th, 50 per cent. of the soldiers at headquarters were on the sick list.
The 93rd, under Col. Burroughs, left Jhansi on December 27, 1869, en route for Bombay, to embark for home, after an absence of 12½ years. Partly by road and partly by rail, it proceeded leisurely by Cawnpoor, so full of sad memories, Allahabad, Jubbulpoor, Nagpoor, and Deolalee, to Bombay, which it did not reach till February 14, 1870.[577] On the same evening, officers, men, wives, and children, 681 in all, were safely on board the troop-ship “Jumna,” which steamed out of the harbour on the following morning. By Suez, Alexandria (where the 93rd was transferred to the “Himalaya”), and Gibraltar, the regiment arrived off Portsmouth on March 21, sailing again next day for Leith, which it reached on the 25th, but did not disembark till the 28th. One detachment, under Col. Dawson, and another, under Bt. Lt.-Col. Brown, disembarked at Burntisland, the former proceeding to Stirling, and the latter to Perth. Headquarters, under Col. Burroughs, disembarked in the afternoon, and proceeded by rail to Aberdeen, and, after an absence of 19 years, was welcomed home to Scotland with unbounded enthusiasm by the citizens. Before leaving India, 117 non-commissioned officers and men had volunteered into other regiments remaining in the country.
After a stay of upwards of a year at Aberdeen, the 93rd was removed to Edinburgh, where on its arrival on June 15, 1871, notwithstanding the miserable state of the weather, it met with a warm welcome. One company was left at Ballater, as a guard of honour to the Queen, one at Aberdeen, one at Fort George, and another was sent to Greenlaw.
On Aug. 4, 1871, while the regiment was stationed at Edinburgh, it was presented with new colours by Her Grace the Duchess of Sutherland. The ceremony in the Queen’s Park was witnessed by about 10,000 spectators. Accompanying the Duchess were the Duke of Sutherland and the Marquis of Stafford. After the old colours, worn and tattered by service in India, had been trooped, and the usual ceremonies gone through, Ensigns Cunliffe and Hannay advanced, and kneeling, were presented with the new colours by the Duchess, who addressed the regiment in a few appropriate and touching words. Colonel Burroughs made an exceedingly appropriate reply, in which he offered for Her Grace’s acceptance the old colours of the regiment, which had waved over so many deadly struggles. The Duchess accepted the colours, returning the Queen’s colour, however, to be placed over the memorial erected in St Giles’ Cathedral to the officers and soldiers who fell in the Crimea. Shortly after, however, it was decided that, owing to the little care taken of the colours at St Giles, they should be removed and sent to Dunrobin, to be placed beside the others. The Duke of Sutherland, in January 1873, was elected an honorary member of the officer’s mess of the 93rd.
The Duke and Duchess, and a large party of ladies and gentlemen, were entertained at luncheon by the officers in the Picture Gallery of Holyrood. After a number of appropriate toasts had been drunk, the tables were cleared away, and reel dancing commenced, and entered into enthusiastically. It is said that till then, no dancing had taken place in Holyrood since the days of Bonnie Prince Charlie; according to some even, not since the days of the “braw gallant” Charles II. The Duke and Duchess of Sutherland afterwards went to the Castle, and visited the non-commissioned officers and soldiers, and their wives and families, by all of whom they were enthusiastically received. A few days after, the sergeants gave a very successful ball to their friends to celebrate the occasion.
In the autumn of 1870, we may mention here, Her Majesty the Queen, having noticed that a detachment of the regiment, under, Capt. M. W. Hyslop, H.M.’s guard of honour at Ballater, wore kilts and plaids of hard tartan, and that after a march in wind and rain the men’s knees were much scratched and cut by the sharp edge of this tartan, the Queen was graciously pleased to direct that soft instead of hard tartan be in future supplied to Highland regiments. Accordingly, as soon as the hard tartan in store was used up soft tartan kilts and plaids were issued to the non-commissioned officers and men of the 93rd; this took place in April 1872.
Another instance of Her Majesty’s womanly disposition, and of her thoughtfulness and care for all about her, we shall mention. During her stay at Holyrood in August 1872, a captain’s guard of the 93rd Highlanders was stationed at the palace. Her Majesty walked across from the palace to the guard-room, and satisfied herself that the guard was comfortably housed and properly taken care of, entering into conversation with the soldiers cooking the day’s rations.