‘“The true test of real excellence is not immediate success, but durable fame;” and Sir Harry Smith trusts, with all his heart, that this may ever be applicable to his old comrades of the Rifle Brigade.’
On June 6 the Head-quarter division embarked at Cape Town in the ‘Duchess of Northumberland,’ and sailed the same day; and after touching at St. Helena for water on the 19th, proceeded for England.
But the other division of 8 officers and 100 men of other ranks were still at East London; where they embarked in surf boats on June 10 and 11, and were conveyed on board the ‘Hermes.’ They disembarked at Falk bay on the 17th, and proceeded to Cape Town, where they were quartered until July 11.
On that day they embarked on board the ‘Himalaya,’[206] and sailed on the 12th for England.
We must now return to the movements of the Depôt companies which left Bristol in two divisions on April 8 and 11, and arrived at Brecon on the 9th and 11th.
They removed in three divisions from Brecon on June 17, 18 and 19, and proceeded to Canterbury, where they arrived on the 19th, 20th and 21st, and were there stationed until the arrival of the Service companies.
The first division of these disembarked at Gravesend on Sunday, August 11, and proceeded by railroad to Rochester, and marched into Brompton Barracks Chatham; and on the 13th marched to Canterbury, where they arrived the next day.
The second division did not reach Gravesend till September 23, when they disembarked, and marched to Canterbury, where they arrived on the 26th. Thus the whole Battalion was reunited; but owing to the free discharges given in Africa it was greatly below its strength; and recruiting was actively carried on and the staff and parties at the principal stations in England, and at Edinburgh, Glasgow, and Newry were directed, by order from the Horse Guards, to raise 160 men at once for the Battalion; yet up to the end of the year it had only succeeded in obtaining 114 recruits.
On December 30 and 31 the Battalion marched in two divisions from Canterbury to Dover, where they were quartered; Head-quarters with five companies in the Western heights, and five companies in the Castle.
By an order from the Horse Guards dated February 6, 1850, the Reserve Battalion of the 2nd Battalion was to be done away; and the 2nd Battalion and Reserve, of six companies each, were from April 1 to be absorbed into one Battalion of ten companies. The officers (1 Lieutenant-Colonel, 2 Captains, 2 First Lieutenants, 2 Second Lieutenants and an Adjutant), who thus became supernumerary, were retained en second, until vacancies occurred. Pursuant to this arrangement the six companies which formed the Reserve Battalion left Quebec, where they had been stationed since their formation in August 1846, and proceeded to Kingston in two divisions; the first, consisting of three companies under Major Norcott, leaving Quebec on May 1, and arriving at Kingston on the 3rd; the remaining three companies leaving on the 8th, and arriving on the 11th.