THE BAD OLD DAYS

Evening Star, Issue 20310, 19 October 1929, Page 27

THE BAD OLD DAYS

WHEN'TOMMY ATKINS GOT 50d LASHES ‘ DIARY* OF FORGOTTEN SIEGE _ An almost forgotten episode of British military history has been brougnt to light by the discovery of an officer’s diary, recording one of the minor sieges of Gibraltar in the year 1727 (says the Liverpool ‘ Weekly Post’). The Hon. Sir John Fortescue, well known as . the official historian of the military part which Britain played in thA Great War, has this diary in his possession. ; At .the time ■when the diary was recorded the British Army already had to its credit the. glorious victories of Marlborough, and was a well-organised fighting force. But great severity went hand in hand with great laxity. The morals and health of the private soldier were i never watched over by his superior officer, who, if anything, was more dissolute and profligate than his men. The soldier was the victim of the rapa'oious middlemen, who whittled down his rations before they reached him. Ho was the victim of a Government which was frequently months in arrears with his pay. He was preyed upon by low women, who helped him to spend all he had, It was an age little removed in time from the austere psalm-singing Roundheads of Cromwell; but the foulmouthed redcoats of the early eighteenth century had nothing in common with Oliver’s veterans—unless it was their fighting qualities. Punishments were of the severest character; and sentence of death often more merciful than the inhuman floggirigsfor what would now. be regarded as trivial offences.

_ But heaviest of all the menaces hanging over Tommy Atkins of the eighteenth century were plague and disease, which killed more British soldiers in a campaign than the enemy. Writing in ‘ The Times,’ Sir John says:—The second siege of Gibraltar was so trifling an affair that few people have even heard of it. It so happens, however, that there are two manuscript accounts of it in tho British Museum, while the third, through the kindness of a friend, has come into my possession. This last is by far the most human of the throe, and it is from thence that the following extracts are drawn. The writer gives no clue to his identity beyond his initials “ 5.H.,” which, after long search through the Commission-Registers, I have been unable to assign, with any approach to certainty, to any individual. LANCASHIRE TROOPS IN GARRISON. The British garrison at Gibraltar at tho end of 1726 consisted of Pearce’s (Northumberland Fusiliers), Lord Mark Kerr’s (Somerset L. 1.), and Egerton’s (Lancashire Fusiliers), besides gunners altogether perhaps 1.500 of all ranks. To recount the daily routine would be tedious. The firing and counterfiring, the damage done, and the repair of tho same are similar in all sieges. Two points only are noticeable—namely, the. regularity with which deserters flowed in from tho Spanish lines and tho almost equal regularity with which the British guns burst. First and last, nearly 900 Spanish deserters presented themselves, and seventy-eight pieces of British ordnance blew themselves into wreck. In fairness to the Royal Arsenal, which produced only brass guns* it must be mentioned that over seventy of these were iron; but, seeing that the defences of Gibraltar mounted only 120 pieces in all, the proportion or casualties Sounds rather high. Still, the garrison seems to have taken it all as a matter of course; and, indeed, tho men and women appear to have been an extraordinary collection:— February 24.—A (Spanish) deserter came to the,foot of the Rock next the sea and clambered up tho extreme part, 01 7 precipice, twice, but fell, and. attempting it a third time, a man-of-war’s boat came and took him in. Ho said . . . tho Spanish general has offered his head to his master if he does not take the town, also that ho has invited all his generals to dine with him at Gibraltar on tho 25th.

February 26.—A woman, housekeeper to Colonel Betsworth, being informed that four cannon balls that camo into the house stay there, got them carried to the King’s Battery, and, four guns being loaded with them, she, in revenge for the honour of her sex and country, fired them off, and seven more after them. . .- . Our men were put to an allowance of a pint of wine a day, to prevent their frequent drunkenness. ACCURATE FIRE. The next entry would seem to show that the Spanish fire was fairly accurate :• March 4.—A soldier not three minutes on his post must bo peeping over tho > wall at the Prince’s line; his curiosity cost him his head, which a cannon ball made bold to carry away without leave. Another just come on duty lost his firelock off his shoulder in the same manner, ... March 7.--Four officers and sixty men landed of Hayes’s Rcgt. (Ist Border). March B.—A cannon burst at the Queen’s Battery and beat a man to nothing. March 9.—Came a deserter who reports that while our guns were firing at them an officer pulled off his hat, huzzaed, and called God to damn _ us all, when one of our balls with unerring justice took off the miserable man’s head and left him a wretched example of tho Divine justice. BURIED ALIVE. On August 15 S.H. went with Colonel Disney on a mission to Morocco and Tangier, and was absent until September 3, happily returning in time to chronicle the following incident September 10.—A soldier coming this day from camp to town happened, as was thought, to die on the road, and was burying [being buried) in the sand; biit, while the people were busy performing the funeral, the colonel whom, the man belonged to came, by, and, asking who it was, was told it was one of his own men and his name. The colonel having some regard for the fellow, inquired how long he hair been dead and was answered, almost a quarter of an hour. Being concerned at this, or rather at the loss of the man, he peeps into the hole, thought he saw the man stir, and upon examination found him alive, had him taken out again, and sent him to the hospital. Tins person Is now living and well, and in a day or two desighs to mount guard. A HORRIBLE . CASE. . ffihe next incident seems rather hornble, but the case : was difficult. A soldier who had- disabled himself for further service was guilty of a serious crime. He was not entitled to pay, and was not even able to beg if discharged; It was probably better both tor 'him and for discipline that he should: be hanged. _ October, 11.—Benj. Gage, of Colonel Onslow s company (gunners), was con-

fined : upon information givenby Thomas White, of the said company, for cursing all those who .had been or were assisting in keeping the garrison from the Spaniard, affirming lit belonged to them, and damning them that should hinder them. Will Garen, of Newton’s (1/Dorset), - was taken up at Middle Hill—deserting that way he happened to fall as he was getting down the Rock, and broke his back, In this; condition he lay ..four . days,, then called- to w Guards, who took , him up. .../ , . , ... October 15.—Came a Spanish deserter who was sentinel at the mouth of the mine, and says they have dug 35yds inwards since the cessation. An officer reports the enemy have finished another battery of five ’ guns to eastward. . October 16.—The whole garrison was called to take the oath' to the King (George 1. had died on June TO). Also Will. Garon) who broke Ins back, was hanged, and others severely punished. AN UGLY INCIDENT. ; Now crimes the ugliest - incident of the siege. It may . be’explained that the flogging at five, different posts was akin to the naval punishment of Hogging round the fleet. The man’s bade had time to grow cold between post and post, making the pain far more severe; ' , . ,■ . December , 24.—Last night" . a Cameronian attempting to desert, came into the Prince’s Line, and ■would have inveigled a sentinel there to go, too, but , being missed by chance from his duty ho was pursued arid taken, brought to the officer of the guard, and sent to the provost. To-day at his trial before a court martial he . behaved in a very impudent manner, prevaricating and equivocating with the court, blit the evidence against him being very full, and having nothing to say to the contrary 7, he was cast. There was . found upon him a plan or description of the strength and weakness of the garrison, of brass and iron cannon, good and bad, of mortars, howitzers, coliorns, etc., also of the fortifications, where strong and weak, the officers’ posts, and number of men at each guard every day and night, and where, how every cannon, mortar, etc., were mounted. , He was condemned to have a halter put about his neck, to be, whipped under the gallows, at the New Mole, South Post, Market place, and Water Post, in all 500 lashes by the common hangman; after which he was drummed out of town with the Rogue’s March and rope about his neck. Then, naked as he was, put on hoard ship designed for the West Indies, then to be set on shore as a slave in one of the plantations, and never to be redeemed. This was the deserved reward of the villainous Cameronian to attempt to betray the garrison and all tho blood of his fellow soldiers. REFRACTORY FEMALES. Wo learn from the next entry that the pillory as well as; the whirligig was used for the coercion of refractory females: December 29.—A gentlewoman of the Foot Guards was pinioned in the market place thus—viz.: She was set upon a storio and an iron bar about sft high supports her hack, upon which bar is a chain or collar that moves up and down and is fixed to her neck. This made her sit in great pain, each hand being fastened to a ring on the sides of the stone. Tho time of suffering is three hours, or more in proportion to tho offence, and an inscription _ which signifies tho nature of the crime is pinned to the stomach. January 2, 1728.—Here is nothing to do nor any 7 news,. all things being dormant and in suspense, with the harmless diversions of drinking, dancing, revelling, gaming, and other innocent debaucheries to pass tho time; and really, to speak my own opinion, I think and believe that Sodom and Gomorrah were not half so wicked and profane, as this worthy city and gai’rison of Gibraltar. I beg leave to be understood that tho great officers are not any of them guilty of tho abovementioned irregularities in the least. Two days later the diarist embarked for England in a man-of-war, and after a stormy passage anchored at Spithead 011 April 9. Ho ends with an eloquent apostrophe to Gibraltar, arid three poor lines of blank verse by the “immortal Mr Addison.” The picture which he draws of a Mediterranean garrison two centuries ago is not a pleasing one.