Chapter VII: Part 7

In accordance with appointed arrangements, a military display took place on the 5th July, in the presence of Prince Albert and Her Majesty. Early in the morning about 8,000 troops were marched to the Water, on the north side of which an enemy was supposed to have established himself, represented by the second company of sappers and detachments of the Grenadier guards and 23rd fusiliers. While a sharp and prolonged attack was being made upon the brigade of Sir De Lacy Evans at Blacknest Bridge, a body of sappers 125 strong, directed by a captain and five subalterns of royal engineers, began to form the pontoon bridge, and to carry out other subsidiary means for effecting the passage of the lake. The six carriages of the train, packed with twelve pontoons and their superstructure, were horsed by the royal artillery, and moved down to the water’s edge, where they were unloaded. The remaining pontoons, eighteen in number, had already been stored on the margin of the lake in readiness for the service. The moment the order was given, the sappers in fatigue-dress launched the pontoons, and with the greatest silence, precision, and diligence, formed in forty-five minutes a bridge of thirty cylinders with two bays across an arm of the lake 324 feet broad. The pontoons were lashed in intermediate intervals of eight feet apart, which is considered to be the proper adjustment of buoyancy for the transport of the varied weights of artillery. While the bridge was booming out, Her Majesty and His Royal Highness Prince Albert, with their illustrious guests, embarked in a royally-decorated barge, drew near the bridge and watched with evident interest the movements and exertions of the men.

During the operation a party of twenty-one non-commissioned officers and men, under three subalterns of the royal engineers, formed two rafts and one demi-raft of the India-rubber pontoons, and rapidly ferried across the lake four companies of the rifle brigade, who took shelter in the woods close to the edge of the water. This service was executed in exactly the same time that was occupied in forming the bridge.

About noon, the cannonade on the left at Blacknest Bridge ceased, and the supposed enemy, having discovered Lord Seaton’s real intention, advanced to dispute his passage over the pontoons. Not a moment was now lost on either side. One wing of the rifles was thrown across, and forming line on the opposite bank, opened a spirited fire on their opponents. The batteries also boomed from the south side of the water, and under cover of the cannonade—for the whole woodland for some minutes was shrouded in the smoke it occasioned—a battalion of the Grenadier guards defiled over the bridge. Scarcely had they concealed themselves in the embowering woods when the sappers, who had left the pontoons for an interstitial duty, suddenly returned with bundles of fern and brake, which they strewed over the superstructure to render the passage as secure as practicable for the batteries and the cavalry. Now followed two 6-pounder batteries and a 9-pounder battery of 6 guns each, the 6th Dragoon guards, and a battalion of the Coldstream guards and of the 42nd Highlanders, with all the staff.

The remainder of Major-General Fane’s brigade of cavalry proceeded by the iron gate to the high ground on the north side of the lake, whilst the brigade of Sir De Lacy Evans, now unopposed by the enemy, marched by Blacknest Bridge to Smith’s lawn, where the troops were reviewed by Her Majesty. The second company only of the corps was present at the review; the other companies being necessarily detained with the pontoons.

To provide as much as possible for the safety of the horses in crossing, the sappers, with an oar extended from man to man, lined the bridge at each side, by which a kind of railing or balustrade was formed from one end of the bridge to the other. The plan had unquestionable advantages in encouraging the horses and retaining them in their places, but it was somewhat dangerous to the men. As the second battery approached the middle of the stream, the floating motion of the bridge caused some of the horses to become restive, and in the efforts made to control their progress, five of the sappers were thrown into the lake. No casualty, however, happened, and the men, after a little swimming, resumed their stations on the bridge.

In testimony of the services of the corps on this occasion, Lord Seaton published the following order from Her Majesty:—

“Horse Guards, 5th July, 1853.

“GENERAL VISCOUNT HARDINGE has received the Queen’s commands to
express Her Majesty’s satisfaction in having witnessed this day the
laying down of the cylindrical pontoon bridge, which was completed in
less than one hour, for the passage of the artillery, cavalry, and
infantry.

“Her Majesty did not fail to remark the order, the silence, and the
perfect acquaintance with every detail, which prevailed throughout all
ranks of the sappers and miners.

“Her Majesty highly appreciates the service of this portion of her
army.

“From the date of its original formation this corps has been
remarkable in the annals of the British army for the scientific
attainments of its officers and the practical knowledge of its men,
and has justly acquired the confidence and esteem of the army by its
skilful arrangements, and by being at all times foremost in the
perilous duties of war. In peace upholding its high reputation by the
useful labours which it so cheerfully performs.

“Viscount Hardinge requests Lord Seaton will convey to Colonel Jones,
of the Royal Engineers, who directed the pontoon train, and to Colonel
Vicars, in charge of the engineer duties in the camp, and to the
officers and men of all ranks of the Royal Sappers and Miners, the
Queen’s approbation of their state of discipline and conduct.

“By command of General Viscount Hardinge.

“(Signed) G. BROWN, _A. G._”

The 11th July was another day of field manœuvring appointed expressly to experimentalize with the pontoons. Before the arrival of the troops at the lake, a bridge was quickly formed with twenty-four pontoons, on the same site as that occupied on the 5th instant, and by the same detachment. At eleven o’clock a part of the division under Major-General His Royal Highness the Duke of Cambridge passed over it in the order of movement detailed below:—

4 companies of the 93rd Highlanders,
13th Light Dragoons,
6 companies of the 93rd,
38th regiment,
17th Lancers,
1st Life Guards,
1 troop of Royal Horse Artillery—six guns,
2 nine-pounder guns; and
4 small ammunition waggons.

The time occupied in the passage of the troops was fifty minutes, and on its completion, the bridge was speedily broken up into rafts. These, with the assistance of the India-rubber rafts, manned by the same detachment as on the 5th July, were afterwards employed in ferrying back the 38th and 93rd regiments at a spot 150 yards wide, below where the bridge had been constructed. This duty was also completed in fifty minutes. In all the operations, there appears to have been a remarkable coincidence of duration, which, had the facts not been carefully ascertained and recorded, would seem to be the errors of carelessness or inexperience.

In crossing the bridge, many of the horses of the Life Guards became unmanageable. Not a few of them got into a gallop and started off, sometimes as many as three abreast. Several of the artillery horses also were restive. Among so much violence and disorder, the sappers, who lined the bridge as before, had to bear their full share of accident and danger, and before the passage was effected, as many as twenty-five sergeants and rank and file were thrust overboard. All fortunately could swim, and soon made good their places on their respective rafts.

This day’s bridging closed the operations on Virginia Water. With the exception of seven rafts and the six carriages, the remainder of the pontoons and stores were packed up and removed to their original stations at Woolwich and Chatham. The seven rafts, &c., were soon afterwards conveyed to Staines, in readiness for ulterior service over the Thames.

On the 27th July another pontoon bridge was thrown, this time across the Thames, at Runnymede, celebrated alike for its historic claims and attractions, and for the beauty of the surrounding landscape. The point chosen was an angle of the river about a mile from the town of Egham, opposite Ankerwycke House. The operation bore some resemblance to that which took place on Virginia Lake on the 5th July. The sappers commenced their march at eight o’clock in the morning, and, proceeding with the pontoons along the Windsor and Staines roads, halted on the banks of the river at Runnymede at a quarter to eleven. At once the men set to work, and under the more natural circumstances of steep banks and a strong tidal current, unfelt at Virginia Water, threw in thirty-five minutes a bridge consisting of six rafts of twelve cylindrical pontoons in open order, twelve feet apart, and two half bays. To allow the operation to be conducted without interruption, a mimic battle was fiercely carried on some distance higher up the river, and to afford protection to the bridge as it approached the Ankerwycke shore, parties of the 79th Highlanders were rapidly rowed across in punts, which at the time were lying unemployed and captured for the occasion. Soon the combat was removed to the pontoons, and a heavy fusillade was for a long time kept up. Under cover of the guns of the horse artillery, fired from a commanding position, the troops poured over the bridge in a continuous stream, and followed the retreating enemy, with all the impetuosity of enthusiastic pursuit into Magna Charta Island. There the fight was hotly maintained, and ultimately won by the little band of mixed troops under the command of Lieutenant-Colonel Vicars.

The troops that crossed the bridge were a battalion of the Guards, 4th Light Dragoons, the other battalion of Guards, 79th Highlanders, the Horse Guards Blue, and some batteries of horse and foot artillery.

An accident took place just as the last battery was crossing the bridge. The vertical motion of the rafts was such as to startle the horses, and some, from the dull reverberating noise produced by their tramp, coupled with the booming roll of the heavy wheels on the superstructure, became ungovernable, and six horses tumbled into the stream dragging with them a gun with its carriage and limber. As usual, the sappers lined the bridge with extended oars, and in the struggling of the horses, four of the men were swept into the current. Three of them were injured—two severely. These were privates John Piper and William Swann,[126] who were also nearly drowned. The latter was entangled with the horses in the water, and it was with great difficulty he succeeded in getting on the back of one of them, when he was picked up by the crew of a boat quickly manned for the purpose. Four of the horses were cleverly rescued by colour-sergeant William Jamieson and private Henry Collins, who dexterously cut the traces; but the two wheel-horses, borne down by the carriage, could not be saved. Privates Daniel Port, Henry Collins,[127] and Elias Garratt conducted themselves with intrepidity on the occasion by plunging from the bridge into the river to rescue the men and save the horses.

After the operation the sappers bivouacked on the ground, and dined on the day’s ration taken with them from the camp. The bridge was afterwards dismantled, packed on the waggons, and then accompanied the troops to Staines. The company belonging to the Chobham force did not reach its tents till eight o’clock in the evening.

On field days the sappers, together with a company of the Guards, on several occasions under Captain the Prince Edward of Saxe Weimar, and a company of the 23rd fusiliers, represented the enemy under the command of Colonel Vicars, R.E. All acted as skirmishers; and when pressed by charges of the troops, formed squares, or resorted to such other simple manœuvres as were best adapted to their position and circumstances. On these days the expenditure of ammunition by the company was enormous; 100 rounds per man at least were consumed. On the first day of the pontooning at Virginia Water, the sappers, who were posted to prevent the passage of the troops by Blacknest Bridge, fired in an hour and a-quarter about 120 rounds a man. The firing of the main body of the division was always comparatively trifling. From the hard nature of the duties that devolved upon the enemy, the men composing it gained in camp the familiar designation of “The Kaffirs.” The last field day at Chobham was one of labour and fatigue to the men. They fired more than an average quantity of ammunition, and at its close the sappers marched at the head of the line in review, before the Duke of Cambridge and Lord Seaton. Their blackened faces, dingy accoutrements, and well-worn apparel afforded a striking contrast to the clean appearance, unsoiled appointments, and bright uniform of the passing squadrons and battalions; and it was no inappropriate commendation to say on this, their last camp inspection, that in their endurance, their hardihood, their wearied but dauntless aspect, they looked like “Polish patriots—few, but undismayed.”

On the 21st June and 5th July the Queen inspected the second company in common with the rest of the troops at the camp. The Prince Albert and Lord Hardinge accompanied Her Majesty. The King and Queen of Hanover were present on the first day. The fifth company and a detachment of the eleventh were also reviewed by the Queen and the Prince Consort on the 4th and 6th August. On the latter date Her Majesty did not personally inspect the troops. On all occasions of the royal presence at the camp, the sappers were in full notice of Her Majesty, for they possessed the advantage of occupying a position close to the Bagshot road, and next to one of the special entrances, which led the Queen and the royal cortege immediately past their tents to the “Magnet.”

After the breaking up of the camp, the sappers remained for four days to dismantle the stables and collect the stores. All the canvas was stripped off the stables, and packed in two days and a half, throughout which time the men were exposed to a ceaseless rain, which fell in torrents. The pontoons and carriages were conveyed to Chertsey, and embarked for Chatham. After completing these duties, the fifth company and the detachment of the eleventh, under Captain W. M. Inglis and Lieutenant W. C. Anderson, R.E., arrived respectively at Chatham and Woolwich on the 24th August. On that day Lord Seaton finally gave up his command. A party of one sergeant and eight privates—_the last troops at the camp_—detained for the closing duties of clearing the ground, and collecting and packing the Ordnance and Commissariat stores, joined at head-quarters on the 27th August. Novel and memorable was the reappearance of these companies with the corps, for both officers and men had doffed their plumes, and substituted for them bunches of blooming heather, gathered from the ridges and valleys of the now famous Chobham. On their route to Chertsey they were met by Colonel Vicars, who complimented them for their excellent conduct and exertions during the period of their encampment, and expressed to them the satisfaction of Lord Seaton for their alacrity and readiness at all times to meet the wants of the service. This testimony was afterwards corroborated in a letter dated Hyam’s, 25th August, 1853, to Lieutenant-General Sir John Burgoyne, in which his lordship, after alluding to the active assistance of the officers of royal engineers, and the detachment of the corps of sappers under the command of Colonel Vicars, added “that their conduct and exertions on all occasions have been most satisfactory.”

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Footnote 119:

‘Morning Chronicle,’ June 27, 1853.

Footnote 120:

‘The Times,’ June 15, 1853.

Footnote 121:

Sergeant Brown has served twice in Gibraltar and also a campaign in
Syria. He was present at the capture of Tyre, Sidon, and Beirout, and
the defensive occupation of D’Junie and Jaffa. Has since gained credit
for his services at the capture and destruction of Bomarsund and the
siege of Sebastopol. Removed in a dangerous state of illness from the
trenches, he was sent to the hospital at Smyrna, from which, being
invalided, he arrived at Woolwich in July, 1855, and is now
quartermaster-sergeant at Chatham.

Sergeant Sillifant distinguished himself at Gibraltar as a first-class
artificer and foreman of works. Has since served at Bermuda, and
returned to England on the recall of his company.

Footnote 122:

‘Morning Herald,’ July 19, 1853.

Footnote 123:

Killed in the trenches before Sebastopol by a rifle-bullet, April 18,
1855.

Footnote 124:

‘Morning Herald,’ July 19, 1853.

Footnote 125:

‘Morning Herald,’ July 19, 1853. It is not a little strange that among
the unclaimed letters was one addressed to “His Eminence Cardinal
Antonelli, Secretary to His Holiness the Pope.” The correct epithets
of distinction in the superscription, made it evident that the missive
was written by a well-informed person. As however the Cardinal had not
pitched his tent among our troops, the letter which was directed “to
be left till called for,” formed one of the spoils of the camp.

Footnote 126:

Served in Turkey, Bulgaria, Wallachia, and the Crimea. Was promoted
for his gallantry at the battle of Giurgevo, and died of wounds
received in the trenches before Sebastopol, in May, 1855.

Footnote 127:

An accident occurred to this soldier at Virginia Lake, which but for
his presence of mind was likely to have terminated fatally. The
waggons were parked on the slopes of the water, and it being desired
to pack the stores on them, private Collins with three other privates
rushed to the spot, and put a waggon in motion. Collins laid hold of
the shafts,—the others pushed in the rear. By some mistake the men in
rear quitted their hold, and the waggon thus left to itself rolled
with great velocity down the slope, forcing Collins on with it. His
situation was now very critical; but seeing at once the danger and the
way to escape, he plunged from between the shafts, in an oblique
direction into the lake, and saved himself by swimming, while the
waggon with its own impetus dashed onwards, until its speed was spent
by the resistance of the water. Had he not thus extricated himself, he
would have been tumbled over by the waggon, and most likely drowned
under its body. Served afterwards in Turkey, Circassia, Bulgaria, and
the Crimea. Was present at the bombardment of Odessa, capture of
Redoubt Kaleh, and at the siege of Sebastopol, and bore the character
of being a good sapper and a first-rate man in bridge-making and boat
services. By his comrades he was respected for his wit and spirit. His
constitution giving way in the trenches, he died at Kululee on the 2nd
April, 1855.

1854-1856.

Staff appointments—Party to Melbourne—Mint detachment to Sydney—Survey
of Aldershot heath—Department of Practical Science and Art—Staff ranks
to the survey companies—Dress—Party detached to Heligoland—Also to
Paris for the Exhibition—Corporal Mack’s services in testing woods—A
foreigner’s surprise at the varied employments of the sappers—Sergeant
Jenkins’ interview with the Emperor—Fire at the Manutention du
Commerce—Radical change in the dress—Arms and accoutrements—Costume of
the quartermasters—Supernumerary sergeants—Additional staff
appointments—Exhibition at the Mauritius—Arrival of company from
Bermuda, and removal to Aldershot—Chatham becomes the
head-quarters—Rejection of the services of Van Diemen’s Land
detachment by the Legislative Council, which are accepted by the
Governor of New South Wales—Organization and pay of driver
troop—Additions to the corps and various incidental alterations—Detail
of establishment of corps—The band—Its costume—Dress of the
bandmaster—Party recalled from Purfleet—Detachment to Hythe for rifle
practice, &c.; the system pursued there becomes a leading feature in
the instruction at Chatham.

Major Walpole, on his promotion to be lieutenant-colonel, was removed from the appointment of brigade-major to the corps, and succeeded by Captain Frederick A. Yorke, R.E., on the 17th February. Lieutenant-Colonel Walpole had been commissioned to the office from the Cape of Good Hope, where he had served for many years in command of the tenth company, and been twice dangerously wounded in action with the Kaffirs at Fort Peddie. During the six years he had held the appointment he carried out in all respects its requirements with a diligence, consideration, and success, that were of great advantage to the corps, and enhanced in public estimation its services and merits.

In Major Yorke, now Lieutenant-Colonel, the corps has the good fortune to have for its chief executive an officer who, for the greater part of his military career, has been much employed with it both at home and abroad. Under Major-General Matson, when brigade-major, he was the acting-adjutant at head-quarters, and thus early became acquainted with the organization, character, services, and resources of the royal sappers and miners.

On the 3rd March one sergeant and five rank and file sailed from Southampton for Melbourne to reinforce the civil staff employed in the survey of the waste districts of the Crown, and landed on the 24th July. This addition was made to the colonial establishment, as applications for land by the emigrants were increasing and urgent, and could not be met by any resources to be engaged in the colony.

In April a party, hutted on the bleak heath of Aldershot, commenced a series of surveys, having reference to the use of the moor as a military camp for periodical evolution and exercise. The detachment mustered at one time as many as twenty-four non-commissioned officers and men, and dwindled down to an initial party of a few choice hands to finish the operation. Captain Cameron, R.E., had the direction of the service; and corporal James Macdonald, now sergeant, a non-commissioned officer of tried ability and indefatigable activity, was its local superintendent. In ten months the detachment, after being instructed by the corporal, completed a survey of a selected district of about 800 acres for the Commander-in-Chief; another of some 1,500 acres for the professional use of Major-General Sir Frederic Smith; and a general one for the Ordnance, including the ground specially surveyed, extending over an area of 13,000 acres. Each survey provided its contours to suit particular requirements; and the whole range of duties for providing data for the plans, usually performed by different parties, with qualifications adapted to each particular service, were wholly carried out by corporal Macdonald[128] and his party. The work has since been engraved on the 6-inch scale.

Six rank and file to complete the mint detachment at Sydney, embarked in two parties on the 8th April and 19th June, taking with them the portable houses, shops, machinery, and stores necessary for the formation of the establishment. The men had all been instructed prior to leaving the royal mint in London in the art of coining, and were taught by Messrs. Walker, of Millwall, the method of fitting together the iron roofing, cisterns, girders, &c., to form the mint buildings. One man had also been instructed by Messrs. Whitworth and Co. at Manchester, in the manipulation and action of the several lathes to be used in the coining processes. They respectively reached Sydney on the 10th July and 24th October.

Three men were withdrawn from the department of science and art in the summer for service in the East, viz., two for employment as photographers, and one—corporal Dickson—as conductor of the pontoon equipment and stores. One of the photographers—corporal Pendered—had, while in that department the care of the students’ drawings sent from the various local schools of art, in competition for prizes offered by the commissioners. Corporal Dickson, who until his removal had acted as a clerk at Marlborough House, received from the Board of Trade a gratuity of 5_l._ in recognition of his usefulness. The non-commissioned officers who remained under Captain Owen, R.E., were corporals Frederic Key and James Mack; the former, stated to be full of invention and intelligence, continued throughout the year to act as overseer of the civil carpenters employed at Gore and Marlborough Houses; and the latter, remarkable for his good information and acquirements, was found a most useful clerk and draughtsman. It should also be noted that one or other of these non-commissioned officers travelled during the autumn to several provincial towns in England and Scotland, such as Nottingham, Coventry, Sheffield, Warrington, York, &c., and exhibited to local institutions in connection with the central school of design at Somerset House, a collection of students’ drawings for which prizes had been awarded at the spring examination at Gore House. The exhibition was so arranged as to be packed and conveyed from town to town with readiness and facility, and wherever they itinerated with their charge, were treated with attention and courtesy.

As a reward for undoubted merit two staff ranks—sergeant-major and quartermaster-sergeant—were given to the survey companies on the 28th July by Sir Hew Ross, Lieutenant-General of the Ordnance. Similar appointments had been held by the companies for many years with only modified advantages, but now they were constituted permanent ranks and carried with them all the benefits prescribed by the rules of the service.

This year the moustache, under certain restrictions, was permitted to be worn; and the Kilmarnock bonnet, discarded in 1837, was revived. Its dimensions, however, were of a more reasonable measurement than in olden times, and suitable for campaigning. A yellow band was added, also a plain yellow ornament on the crown, and the scanty peak worn for nearly forty years, was replaced by one familiarly termed the war peak, sufficiently large to offer an efficient shade to the face from the sun.

Leaving the great events which occurred about this period, to be treated without interruption in subsequent chapters, the more ordinary incidents of the corps will first be disposed of.

Unable to obtain British troops to furnish contingents of sufficient magnitude for the East, parliament voted the formation of regiments of foreigners to meet the pressure. Depôts for their enrolment were fixed at different places, but the principal station was at Heligoland, a small rocky island in the North Sea. As however the embodiment could not take place without the means of sheltering the force, the island itself having only accommodation for the native population, Lieutenant A. R. Lempriere of the engineers, with three sapper carpenters, were sent there in March, in the steamer ‘Hamburg.’ Towards the end of the month the party landed, and with the assistance of some broad-backed women—the men being too indolent to work—the huts brought out were carried up the stairs—a stupendous flight exceeding 200 steps formed in the face of the steep cliff—to the position where the cantonment was to be established. Hopeless to complete them within the time required, twelve other sappers, mostly carpenters, under sergeant Goodear, sailed from Woolwich on the 28th July. In a few days they were deep in the work. Rows of huts covered with Croggan’s asphalted felt, built in streets, were always ready by the time the troops arrived to occupy them. It took one hundred and four of these portable houses to accommodate the legion. Tanks were also built to supply water in case of fire, and an apparatus was erected for distilling sea-water so that it might be used for domestic purposes by the troops. When all these services were completed, the sappers no longer needed in Heligoland were shipped for England, landing at Folkestone on the 29th December. Lieutenant Lempriere remained, as did also sergeant Goodear, to oversee the native workmen in the formation of roads and in executing repairs to the huts. At the conclusion of the war they returned home. The efficiency and usefulness of the party were warmly acknowledged by Colonel Steinbach, commanding the legion.

At the instance of the Royal Society, a sergeant and three rank and file were sent to Paris in April to exhibit, at the Palais de l’Industrie, several specimen maps and some of the chief instruments used in the trigonometrical surveys of the United Kingdom. The two non-commissioned officers employed under the Board of Trade at the department of Practical Science and Art also accompanied Captain Fowke and Mr. Henry Cole, to assist in the British section of the Exhibition. The sappers were—

● Sergeant—William Jenkins. ● Corporals—Frederick Key and James Mack. ● Second-corporal—Nicholas Clabby. ● Privates—Ludovico Hart and James Kelly.

Besides arranging spaces for the exhibitors, opening the cases as they arrived, and arranging the articles for exhibition, the sappers turned their hands to a hundred different duties, making themselves generally useful and sustaining the character which the corps had received for its services at the Great Exhibition of 1851. The British department was surveyed by them and corporals Mack[129] and Clabby drew the plans. Key was the overseer of skilled labour and likewise superintended the hanging of the paintings at the Palace des Beaux Arts. The remainder had the care of the professional instruments. Of these Hart was instructed at Paris in the process of photography by Mr. Thurston Thompson, and the proficiency he attained there in the art, has introduced him to a similar duty at Southampton, in which the progress he has made promises to be a great saving to the public by reducing plans photographically, and thus superseding the hand-labour of draughtsmen.[130]

The Emperor in one of his visits to the Palace examined the maps and instruments, and sergeant Jenkins had the singular distinction of explaining their nature to His Imperial Majesty.[131] This was the first party of English soldiers that had been in Paris since the army of occupation quitted the suburbs of the French metropolis in 1815. Appearing invariably in the uniform of the corps they were regarded with peculiar interest, and from all quarters were received with a friendliness more than ordinarily debonair and cordial. For their assistance in extinguishing a fire at the Manutention du Commerce, the press of Paris handsomely acknowledged their services.[132] Individuals left for England at different times, and on the return of the last two in January, 1856, the Board of Trade honoured the whole party with presents. Sergeant Jenkins received a silver watch with the most approved compensation arrangements for use in connexion with astronomical observation; Key a gold one; Mack an expensive photographic apparatus; and the other three each a case of beautifully finished mathematical instruments. The gifts bore an inscription to the effect that they were given “for services at the Paris Exhibition, 1855.” The French Commissioners also gave them bronze medals.

An agitation which for more than a quarter of a century had exposed the inappropriateness of the old costume, at last succeeded in effecting its abandonment. Involved in the change the royal sappers and miners adopted an uniform under royal sanction, which has the credit of being the neatest in the service.

Late in the summer the coatee with its double breast, short body, garish trimmings, and narrow skirts gave place to a scarlet single-breasted tunic with facings and edgings of dark blue plush. Falling back with a curve, the collar is bound all round with yellow cord while the pointed cuffs are embellished with an Austrian knot of yellow cord which, stretching over the plush rises with a flowing involution more than seven inches up the sleeve. Plain skirts measuring about twelve inches long, lined with white shalloon, are broken in their plainness by two upright pocket slashes with plush edgings having three points and as many buttons. Double cords take the place of the huge epaulettes of former days, and the buttons unaltered in shape and device, are sewn two inches asunder down the breast as low as the waist, and two smaller ones add to the ornamentation of the cuff. All ranks wear the same description of tunic. That for the drivers is shorter in the skirts for riding.

Corresponding with their grades the sergeants and staff-sergeants have finer cloth and wear royal gold cord on those parts where the rank and file display yellow worsted cord only. Rank is shown by chevrons of gold lace worn above the elbow, but the badges to denote the staff-sergeants occur just above the sleeve knot with the points upward. Lance-corporals have one stripe on the right arm; other ranks have the marks on both arms. Second corporals one on each arm; corporals two; sergeants three and an embroidered crown; colour-sergeants an equal number of chevrons surmounted by an open banner and based by a couple of crossed swords; and the staff-sergeants four badges of broader lace and an embroidered crown. The last, in addition, have facings of garter blue silk velvet, shoulder knots of treble twisted gold cord with blue eyes bearing silver embroidered grenades; sleeve knots traced in and out with Russia gold braid and the skirts lined with white kerseymere. The bugle-major’s rank, in addition to the chevrons and crown, is indicated by a musical device with banners, which must have puzzled the professors of embroidery to make it sufficiently characteristic, elaborated with cross trumpets, rams’ horns, tambourines, and other insignia, around a lyre and grenade.

The artificers of the driver troop—farriers, shoeing smiths, wheelers, and collar-makers—are distinguished by the usual devices, worn above the elbow.

The buglers wear worsted embroidered cross trumpets on both arms, and the good conduct men are distinguished by badges of narrow gold lace on the right arm just above the knot.

No better colour for trowsers than dark Oxford mixture cloth could be introduced. They have therefore been retained, as also the red stripes down the outer seams. The working trowsers are of the same colour, and similarly striped, but a few shades coarser in texture. The driver troop wear strapped trowsers of the regimental quality, of which each man receives two pairs annually.

In the midst of a variety of conflicting ideas as to what constitutes the best head-dress, the uncomfortable chaco still holds its unsightly place as a component of sapper uniform. Top-heavy for the drivers in riding, the chaco forms no part of their uniform, and so the forage-cap is made to do double duty.

The fatigue jacket is of red cloth. Loose and suitable for working it descends as low as the hips, but is militarized by blue cloth pointed cuffs, single twisted shoulder-cords of yellow worsted, and a blue cloth rounded collar. As before, the buttons are small and convex, bearing the garter device, and worn about an inch apart, evincing less coxcombry than in the defunct days of close buttons. All the non-commissioned officers wear gold chevrons and gold single twisted shoulder-cords.

Scarlet jackets, after the fashion of the fatigue ones, are worn by all ranks on drill parades and in walking. In addition to their chevrons the sergeants and colour-sergeants wear embroidered crowns, the latter rank being distinguished from the former by a fourth chevron. Besides the plain single-breasted blue surtout, modernized with a rounded collar, the staff-sergeants appear, on parade occasions, in scarlet jackets with the badge of their rank, gold studs down the front, and dark blue silk velvet cuffs and collar, both trimmed with Russia gold braid, and finished with what the tailors, in the poetry of their trade, term crowsfeet. There are no buttons on the jacket, except two on each cuff and two to sustain the double shoulder-cord. The fronts are closed by hooks and eyes.

The cloth forage-cap—a delicate institution of peaceable times—was set aside by the adoption of a small Kilmarnock bonnet and chin-strap, well suited for the rough usages of war. Worn with a dragoonish air in the day, it offers itself as a substitute for a pillow at night without the fear of spoiling its shape. It is of dark blue wool banded with a yellow stripe manufactured in the web and decorated with a brass boss in the centre of the crown. The buglers wear the distinction of a pair of crossed trumpets on the front of the cap, while the sergeants and staff-sergeants have small dark-blue cloth caps with large projecting peaks, trimmed with scarlet piping and gold lace bands. The crown of the cap, à la cavalry, is formed of eight pieces—a curious fancy—radiating from the centre and covered at the point of union with a gold netted convex boss. The band of the staff-sergeants is wider and richer than that of the sergeants.

That important article of dress, “the ammunition boot,” has been much improved in these late days. Before railways were invented the laced-up boot was a favourite among soldiers, particularly those who could boast of having performed long marches in the Peninsula and France; but when travelling by rail began to be the fashion of the service, it was discovered that the laced-up boot was not only odious in regimentals and uncomfortable, but not water-tight. So by degrees the Blucher boot was introduced in the army, and the sappers, the last troops, perhaps, to adopt it, received Bluchers this year for the first time. The troop of drivers wear half Wellingtons.

The carbine introduced in 1843 being discarded, the Lancaster percussion-musket was given to the corps late in the year. Bored elliptically without groove, and carrying an elongated bullet, its range exceeds 1,000 yards: that of the carbine, even in extravagant instances of flight, scarcely ever struck a mark at 300 yards and was uncertain at 200. After a few rounds had been fired it was inefficient, and impromptu expedients had to be resorted to, when the bore fouled with the powder, to ram the cartridge home. Many a man broke the ranks to find a brickbat or other rude assistance to hammer the ramrod into the barrel. These primitive severities are now at an end. The bayonet can be used in the double capacity of a sword or bayonet. With a hilt partly of black skin cross-pressed, and partly brass, with a transverse brass bar guard, it is fixed to the musket by a suture and spring. The blade, about two feet long, has a rounded back and runs on with a spine to the point, from whence a return stretches with a slight swell up its back, and then loses itself in the spine about ten inches from the tip. Thus the sword for a certain distance is two-edged, and when fixed, the length of the musket, prepared for a charge, is shorter by one inch than the abandoned carbine and sword bayonet.

The accoutrements remain as formerly; but the appointments of the staff-sergeants, now of white patent buff, consist of a waist-belt with slings and gilt waist-plate bearing the royal arms, and a pouch-belt, both plain and two inches broad. To the latter is attached a black leather pouch carried by gilt rings and mountings, having on the flap the device of the royal arms and supporters with the corps motto. Swords hilted like those of the quartermasters, but of a peculiar metal, sheathed in steel scabbards and tasselled with gold acorns, complete the improvements of this period.

The drivers have no rifles or muskets, but are armed with light Prussian swords having half basket-hilts and buff leather tassels. The gripe is partly of black japanned wood, ridged; all else, with the scabbard, are steel. The narrow buff waist-belt, with slings which suspend the sword, have a plain brass waist-plate. In addition, the non-commissioned officers have a buff pouch-belt carrying a small plain black leather pouch. The former bears a brass slide at the breast as a substitute for a buckle. All ranks wear swan-necked spurs with spiked rowels.

Of the dress of the quartermasters nothing has yet been recorded in these pages. Their costume is similar to that of the subalterns of engineers, with the exception of the appointments. The tunic harmonizes with that of the staff-sergeants, except that the sleeves bear no device beyond the Austrian knot, and the gold cord is larger.

The jacket is also similar to the staff-sergeants, deviating only by the addition of gold Russian braid down the fronts and round the girth, finished at the centre of the waist and collar seam with crowsfeet.

A waistcoat is also worn of scarlet cloth, single-breasted, with gilt studs crowded down the front. Hooks and eyes serve the place of buttons. Collar, pockets, and edges are trimmed with gold braid and graced with crowsfeet at the centre of the collar, and at each end and centre of the pockets.

A surtout is permitted as a lounging appendage to the costume, but it would require the professional assistance of a Buckmaster to describe without fault the man-millinery of this military frock. It is of dark-blue cloth, single-breasted, opening five inches down the breast to show the waistcoat, up to which from the waist the fronts are closed by hooks and eyes. Eight loops of braid nearly two inches broad, with two rows of netted barrels or olives on each side—two on each loop—descend from the shoulders in lessening lines to the waist. The ends of the loops inwards have flys three inches long which fall down like tags, covering the inner row of barrels. The front edges, rolling collar, and pointed cuffs, hind arm and back seams are trimmed with braid seven-eighths of an inch broad traced in and out and finished on the cuffs and centre of collar with crowsfeet. From the back seams flow two streamers eight inches long on each skirt of the same width of braid as that which covers the seams; and the tracing on both edges terminates in two crowsfeet. All the trimming and traceries are of mohair braid.

The trowsers are the same as the uniform of the corps, but with gold lace stripes one inch and three-quarters wide for dress occasions. The cloak is of blue cloth, riding length, with sleeves. Lined with scarlet shalloon, and amassed with a cape, make it waterproof in a storm. An upright collar of scarlet cloth with gilt fuming grenades, chains, hooks, and buttons, make up the sum of its ornaments.

Every non-commissioned officer, as he ascends the weary ladder of preferment, keeps his eye steadily on the cocked-hat. It would therefore be unpardonable to omit the description of a badge which has given rise to more ambition in the ordnance corps than can possibly be satisfied. It is the _only_ commission open to them, and the struggle to gain it is far more difficult than for born gentlemen to attain the rank of General. If life be spared this comes as a matter of course, but only one in thousands can hope to be invested with the latter. The cocked-hat then is a small one compared with the Kelvenhuller, and though as confined in its dimensions as the Ramilies, is very unlike it. It seems to be a sort of compromise between the two. The right leaf stands six inches and three-quarters high, while the fan, its fellow leaf, tops it by nearly an inch. The former bears a cockade of black watered ribbon and a gold-laced loop two inches broad, which is stayed by a regimental button. The corners or shoots are nearly five inches long and two and a half broad, bearing tassels of small gold and crimson bullion affixed to gold netted pads which lie snugly in the recesses formed by the overlapping of the fan. The ribbon worn on the sides of the left leaf is of plain black silk. Surmounting all is the plume, five inches and a half long, made of cock-tail feathers, which fall over the crown of the hat in the shape of a mushroom.

The forage-cap is assimilated to that worn by the staff-sergeants; the gold-laced band being broader and richer.

Coming to the appointments, they consist of waist and pouch belts of white patent leather, respectively one inch and a half and two inches wide, the former having narrow slings, gilt buckles, rings, and waist-plate with the corps’ device in silver, and the latter a gilt engraved buckle and mountings to correspond with the hilt of the sword. These ornaments are worn on a fly of the belt just above the pouch, which is small, of black patent leather, bearing the regimental badge of the royal arms and supporters with the corps’ motto, and attached to the belt by rings issuing from gilt leaves. The sword is thirty-two inches and a half long by one inch and a half wide. Its gripe, of black fish-skin, is ribbed with treble gold wire, sustained by a plain gilt back, the lower half grated to assist the grasp. The hilt is of the half-basket kind, formed of rolled gilt metal, scrolled, pierced, and engine-turned, embellished with a gold acorn attached to a length of royal gold cord, which after ramifying the perforations, evolves in a tassel. To complete the details, let it be added, that the scabbard which sheathes the blade—proof against any amount of hard work and figured with military insignia—is of burnished steel.

Some important augmentations had been made to the corps, which will be found among the services out of which they in great part arose. Other desirable additions followed, which, belonging more to the incidents of home, will follow in this chapter. A number of sergeants usually employed as clerks, drill-masters, and instructors in the schools, always kept the companies to which they belonged more or less impoverished; so to end a system that could not be avoided, but which operated injuriously, Lord Panmure gave authority, on the 9th October, for the removal of fourteen specially employed sergeants from the companies, bearing them on the rolls of the corps as supernumeraries. Two of the number were appointed staff-sergeants.

Widening daily into unwieldy dimensions, with a meagre controlling staff, gave rise to other essential appointments in the corps. On the 17th December, an Adjutant (Captain F. E. Cox, R.E.) and a Quartermaster (Michael Bradford, from the rank of sergeant-major) were commissioned.[133] The appointment of Brigade-Major, long felt to be an inadequate staff rank, was changed to that of Assistant Adjutant-General. Heretofore the chief executive of the royal sappers and miners held no higher regimental rank than that of Captain, with the staff commission of Brigade-Major. Under the same authority a sergeant-major and a quartermaster-sergeant were added to the corps.

There was an Exhibition at Fort George, Mauritius, in December, 1855, of a collection of productions indigenous to the island, and subjects of a constructive nature, to represent the industrial habits of the community in that distant region. Indebted for the idea to its great prototype in London, the Exhibition originated with the 22nd company of the corps stationed there, and most of the articles—such as models of inventions and objects of mechanical interest in the island—were contributed by non-commissioned officers and privates of the company, of whom sergeant Frederick Hibling was the chief exhibitor. The exposition was open for a week. Each day had its appointed charge varying from 3_d._ to 2_s._, and the surplus receipts were applied to charitable purposes.

From Bermuda the 21st company arrived on the 22nd December, leaving a small detachment of invalids to carry on the works. Its removal was accompanied by a representation which told of the loss the colony would sustain by the step; but the urgency of affairs in the East admitted of no consideration interfering with the resolve of sending the company to the Crimea, constituted as it was of climatized men and competent artificers. At the time of their landing, however, there were strong indications of diplomatic negociations putting an end to existing differences; but to prepare the company for the worst, it was forwarded to Aldershot on the 8th January, 1856, under the command of Lieutenant J. H. Wilson, to be trained in camp to the discipline and usages of war.

Another of the changes which resulted from the incorporation of the ordnance service with the army was the removal of the head-quarters from Woolwich to Chatham. Successive Directors of the establishment at Chatham had shown the benefits probably to accrue to the corps by the measure, but forty years’ representation were insufficient to dispose of the counter-advantages which were considered to be the effect of instruction carried out at two stations—one for forming the soldier, the other for working up the soldier into a sapper. At a time when the country was expecting changes, and those changes promised a return to the State more beneficial than an adherence to old systems was likely to yield, nothing was permitted to stand in the way of making the trial. Accordingly the fiat was issued by Lord Panmure; and Chatham from the 10th January became the head-quarters of the corps. On that day, Lieutenant-Colonel Yorke, Assistant Adjutant-General, marched into Brompton Barracks at the head of the sappers, leaving for the works at Woolwich a strong company quartered in temporary huts erected in Mill Hill road.

A detachment had been sent to Van Diemen’s Land in 1852 at the request of the Colonial Legislature to carry on the surveys of the settlement, but it had barely entered on its duties when a feeling of hostility was shown to its employment. Whenever a chance offered of presenting it in an unfavourable aspect, the Legislative Council greedily accepted it, and gave the imperial party the full weight of its opposition. In August, 1855, the Governor-General sent a message to the Council recommending Captain Hawkins who commanded the surveyors, for the appointment of Surveyor-General, but between a select committee nominated to inquire into its necessity and the Legislative Council, the office was never conferred. Matters went on coldly enough; the Council had grown stubborn in its sentiments; and to show that the colony had a will of its own, notwithstanding a royal warrant had been issued to form the detachment in accordance with the warm wishes of those who had authority to represent the wants of the province, the colonial secretary coolly intimated to Captain Hawkins, on the 16th October following, that himself and detachment were at the disposal of the Governor of New South Wales! The men composing the party were volunteers, had made sacrifices to emigrate, had purchased land in the vicinity of their labours, and were collecting about them members of their families, who, by ones and twos, had struggled to leave their English homes and were on their way to distant Tasmania. In revoking the service, the conduct of the rulers was as heartless and supercilious as absolute; and in beguiling men, by fair promises, to volunteer to serve them; then discountenancing their efficient exertions, and finally, without consulting their wishes, arranging for their transfer to any colony which might be in need of such a detachment, was a feature in colonial management strongly savouring of exceptional faith. The end of all was, that a few of the party, sooner than break up their new homes, took their discharges, and the remainder leaving Hobart Town on the 9th February, arrived in five days after at Sydney, to renew in that colony, under the auspices of Sir William Denison, those services so little appreciated by the censors of Van Diemen’s Land. Captain Hawkins, still in command of the detachment, fixed his head-quarters at Paramatta.

Under the authority of Lord Hardinge, the Commander-in-Chief, dated 2nd April, several increases and alterations took place in the corps. The 23rd company being composed of drivers was thrown out of the numeral roll of the companies and designated the A troop of the royal engineer field equipment. Its constitution and pay was fixed as under:—

_s._ _d._
1 troop sergeant-major 3 9 a-day.
1 troop quartermaster-sergeant 3 9 ”
4 sergeants each 2 10 ”
6 corporals ” 2 4 ”
6 second-corporals ” 2 2 ”
1 farrier 3 4 ”
4 shoeing smiths each 2 0 ”
2 collar-makers ” 2 0 ”
2 wheelers ” 2 0 ”
100 drivers ” 1 9 ”
2 buglers ” 1 9 ”

To fill up the gap occasioned by its withdrawal, another company, numbered the 23rd, was formed in April. The Corfu company which held a distinct organization, had its establishment risen from 82 to 120, so that it might take its place among the general service companies. A Band was also formed, consisting of one sergeant, one corporal, one second corporal, and thirty private musicians. The detachments raised by special royal warrants for service in Van Diemen’s Land and Sydney were absorbed in the 20th company. The result of all was that the corps gained a clear augmentation of 169 non-commissioned officers and men, and its organization was established according to the following detail:—

Colour
Ser- Ser- Cor- 2nd Pri- General
geant. geants. porals. Corp. Bugl. vates. Total. Total.
22 general service companies, 1 5 6 6 2 100 120 = 2640
each
1 survey company 1 5 6 6 2 100 120 = 120
3 survey companies, each 1 7 8 8 2 99 125 = 375
3135
The band 1 1 1 33 33
——
Sergt. Q.-mast.- 2nd Artif-
Major. Sergt. Sergts. Corpls. Corpls. icers. Bugl. Drivers. Total.
Driver troop 1 1 4 6 6 9 2 100 129 = 129

Staff—Supernumerary sergeants with the rank of colour-sergeant 12
4 sergeant-majors; 4 quartermaster-sergeants; 1 bugle-major, and 2 11
staff-sergeants
1 assistant adjutant-general; 2 adjutants to corps, 1 adjutant of field 8
equipment, and 4 quartermasters
——
General Total 3328

This establishment was far greater than had been allowed even during the oppressive years of the Peninsular war, and the number of companies, long in its teens, had swept on by successive augmentations to 27—one being a driver troop.