Ernest Marsh Lloyd

“ The centre column had encamped under the hill so named, and Chelmsford, learning that his scouting troops, ten miles ahead, were in need of support, joined them on that morning with more than half his force, leaving six companies of the 24th with two guns and some native troops to guard the camp. The cavalry vedettes were to be far advanced, but the infantry outposts to be drawn in closer, and the force was to act on the defensive if attacked. At mid-day this camp-guard was suddenly attacked, enveloped and annihilated by a body of 10,000 Zulus. Of the six companies only three men escaped ”

“ But the whole of the British force could not reach South Africa before December, so that the Boers had the advantage of the initiative.
They declared war on 11 Oct., and invaded Natal with 23,000 men. When Buller arrived at Cape Town at the end of the month, he learnt that Sir George White not only had been unable to drive them back but was shut up in Ladysmith. The situation was of the gravest, and Buller decided to sacrifice the organisation of his army corps, to send most of the regiments on to Natal as the transports came in, and to go there himself. ”

“ In private life he was the most affectionate of men. His mother lived long enough to send her blessing to ‘the best son that ever lived,’ while he was being entertained at the United Service Club to celebrate his military jubilee. ”

“ During the next few years much was done to fit the army for war: supply and transport were organised and barracks improved; but the secretary of state found that the military hierarchy hindered his personal consultation of experts.
In June 1888 a very strong commission was appointed, with Lord Hartington (afterwards duke of Devonshire) [q. v. Suppl. II] as chairman, to inquire into naval and military administration; and in May 1890 they recommended that the office of commander-in-chief should be abolished when the duke ceased to hold it, and that there should be a chief of the staff. ”

“ He became responsible to parliament for the whole military administration; but the general commanding in chief, as representing the crown, enjoyed some independence in matters of discipline and command, appointments and promotions. The abolition of the board of ordnance brought the artillery and engineers under his authority, and the duke was made colonel of these two corps on 10 May 1861. The amalgamation (of which he was a strong advocate) of the European troops of the East India Company with the army of the crown in 1862 gave him general control of troops serving in India. ”

“ On his return from Chitral Gatacre went to England for three months in the winter of 1895-6. During the summer of 1896 he was in temporary command at Quetta, and during the first half of 1897 he was fighting the plague at Bombay. The deaths there in January from this cause rose to more than 300 a day. Gatacre not only took care of his own troops but served as chairman of a committee to deal with the problem generally. Thanks to his energy and tact, the outbreak was well under control by July, when he left India to take command of a brigade at Aldershot. ”

“ In October 1898 he was offered and accepted the command of the troops in South Africa, vacant by the death of General Goodenough. It was not a happy choice at such a time, for he was predisposed to sympathise with people who came in collision with England. He landed at Cape Town on 30 Nov., and in the absence of Sir Alfred Milner he was sworn in as high commissioner. He found himself in 'the central stormspot of the world,' having received no directions to guide him on leaving England. ”

“ Chelmsford had been warned by Kruger and others that laagers should be formed, but that precaution was not taken ; and the troops, relying on the effect of their fire, fought in too open formation. 'We have certainly been seriously underrating the power of the Zulu army,' was Chelmsford's own confession (Verner, ii. 148) .
In addition to the loss of men and the moral effect of such a blow, the transport and camp equipment of the column were lost and the natives deserted in large numbers. The invasion of Zululand was brought to a standstill ”

“ He returned to Canada; but before he left Ireland he learnt that Colonel Wolseley, whom he had met two years before, was organising an expedition to the Red River. He telegraphed 'Remember Butler 69th regiment.' There were no vacant berths on the staff, when he reached Toronto, but he was sent independently on a special mission to the Red River settlement, to find out what was the state of affairs there, and what the rising of the half-breeds really meant. ”

“ In January 1898 lie went to Egypt, with the local rank of major-general, to command the British brigade in the advance up the Nile for the recovery of Khartoum. He brought it into such condition that it was able to march 140 miles in a week. On 8 April the Anglo-Egyptian army under Sir Herbert Kitchener attacked the Mahdist forces under Mahmoud in their intrenched camp on the Atbara. The British brigade was on the left. Gatacre was one of the first men to reach the zariba, and would have been speared if his orderly had not bayoneted his aissailant. ”

“ On the 28th Lord Roberts telegraphed, 'If you have enough troops at your disposal, I should like you to occupy Dewetsdorp,' and he sent there three companies of the Irish rifles and two of mounted infantry. ”

“ As soon as the railway was repaired Buller advanced to Standerton, and by 4 July the Natal army came in touch with the main army. A combined movement on Belfast was arranged, and on 7 Aug. Buller marched north with 11,000 men. On the 21st he came into collision with the left flank of the Boer forces under Louis Botha, which were opposing the advance of Roberts eastward, along the Delagoa Bay railway. On the 27th the Boers were defeated in the battle of Bergendal, so called from an intrenched kopje on the Boer left which was stormed by Buller's troops. ”

“ Death was certain, if the Sikhs were still there ; but Chamberlain swam across with a few men of the 9th lancers, found that the Sikhs had gone, and was greated by Gough on his return as 'the bravest of the bravo.' At Chillian-walla his brigade was left to protect the baggage, but at Gujarat it was actively engaged. Chamberlain distinguished himself in the pursuit, and Gough promised him the command of the first regiment of irregular cavalry that might be in his gift. He received the Punjab medal with two clasps, and when he became captain in his regiment on 1 Nov. ”

“ He had been colonel in the Jäger battalion of the Hanoverian guards since he was nine years old; he now began to learn regimental duty both as a private and an officer.
On the accession of his first cousin, Queen Victoria, in June 1837, Hanover passed to the duke of Cumberland, and the duke of Cambridge returned with his family to England. On 3 Nov. Prince George was made brevet colonel in the British army, and in Sept. 1838 he went to Gibraltar to learn garrison duties. He was attached to the 33rd foot for drill. ”

“ MONCRIEFF, Sir ALEXANDER (1820–1906) , colonel and engineer, born at 27 George Square, Edinburgh, on 17 April 1829, was eldest son of Captain Matthew Moncrieff, of the Madras army, by Isabella, daughter of Alexander Campbell. His father was a descendant of Alexander Moncrieff [q. v.] . He retained the 'superiority' and designation of Culfargie, but the estate had passed to Lord Wemyss, and he lived at Barnhill near Perth.
Moncrieff was educated at Edinburgh and Aberdeen universities, and spent some time in a civil engineer's office, but did not settle down to a profession. ”

“ In Feb. 1875 Sir Garnet Wolseley went there as temporary governor, to put things straight. Butler accompanied him, and was made protector of Indian immigrants, with a seat in the council and assembly. He was sent on a mission to the Orange Free State, to Kimberley, and to Basutoland, and made many acquaintances, British and Boer. He returned to England in Oct., and on 30 Nov. he was placed on the headquarters staff as deputy assistant quartermaster-general. He remained on it till the end of Feb. 1879, when he went back to South Africa for the Zulu war. ”

“ He was a frequent lecturer at the United Service Institution and before the military societies of Aldershot and Ireland. Some of these lectures have been reprinted with other of his papers in 'The Science of War,' 1905, with a prefatory memoir by Lord Roberts, who writes of Henderson's 'most fascinating personality,' his gifts as a lecturer and a writer, and his value as a staff officer. ”

“ He had been allowed to join headquarters as a spectator, and was put in charge of a small scouting party, which was surprised by a few Zulus. Five of the party rode off, but four, including the prince, were killed. On 4 July Chelmsford crossed the Umvolosi with 4166 white and 958 native troops, twelve guns and two gatlings. Formed in a hollow rectangle, they marched on Ulundi. The Zulu army, estimated at 20,000, attacked in its usual enveloping fashion, but was soon driven off and suffered severely from the cavalry in its flight. ”

“ In February 1854 the duke was chosen to command a division in the army to be sent to the Crimea. He accompanied lord Raglan to Paris on 10 April, and went thence to Vienna, bearing a letter from the Queen to the Emperor Francis Joseph. Leaving Vienna on 1 May, he reached Constantinople on the 10th. He was promoted lieutenant-general on 19 June, went with his division (guards and highlanders) to Varna, and thence to the Crimea. ”

“ By the death of his father on 8 July 1850 Prince George became duke of Cambridge, and an income of 12,000l. a year was voted him by Parliament. He was made K.P. on 18 Nov. 1851. For nearly two years from 1 April 1852 he was inspecting general of cavalry at headquarters, and the memoranda on the state of the army which he then drew up (Verner, i. 39–59) show how much he concerned himself with questions of organisation. He was in command of the troops at the funeral of the duke of Wellington. On 28 Sept. 1852 he was transferred as colonel from the 17th lancers to the Scots fusilier guards. ”

“ In 1891 he published 'The Battle of Spicheren,' a masterly study in its breadth and minuteness. From 17 Dec. 1892 to 22 Dec. 1899 he was professor of military art and history at the Staff College, where 'he exercised by his lectures and his personality an influence upon the younger generation of the officers of the British army for which it would be difficult to find a parallel nearer home than that of Moltke in Prussia' (The Times, 7 March 1903) . ”

“ In April 1880 Buller was appointed to the staff in Scotland, and in July he was transferred to Aldershot. In February 1881 he went back to South Africa, and was appointed chief of the staff to Sir Evelyn Wood, who was commanding the troops, and was also acting governor of Natal. The first Boer war had practically ended at Majuba; but Wood was engaged in negotiations, and most of the military work was left to Buller. ”

“ He was made a colonel commandant of the king's royal rifle corps on 13 July 1895, and he became honorary colonel of the 1st volunteer battalion of the Devonshire regiment on 4 May 1892.
On 9 Oct. 1898 Buller succeeded the Duke of Connaught in the command of the troops at Aldershot, but remained there only a year. On 14 Oct. 1899 he embarked for South Africa to enforce the British demands on the Transvaal republic, at the head of 70,000 men, the largest army which England had ever sent abroad. ”

“ Butler went to Egypt in September, and during the next three months he worked superhumanly to get boats and troops up the cataracts. This having been accomplished, he joined headquarters at Korti, and was sent on with the river column under General Earle. The victory at Kirbekan on 10 Feb. 1885 was largely due to him; for he had examined the ground on which the Mahdists were posted, and persuaded Earle to turn their position instead of attacking it in front. When the expedition returned down the Nile, Butler was put in command of the small force left behind at Meroe. ”

“ It was commanded by Colonel Robert Hawley, to whom, Buller afterwards said, he owed all that he knew of soldiering. Hawley persuaded him to act as adjutant in 1868. The battalion returned to England in 1869; but on promotion to captain on 28 May 1870, Buller was posted to the first battalion, and went back to Canada, in time to take part with it in the Red River expedition. The troops had to make their way in boats from Lake Superior to Fort Garry, 600 miles, with dangerous navigation and frequent portages. Buller soon attracted the notice of Colonel Wolseley, the commander of the expedition. ”

“ A man of many interests, genial and sociable, he went to South Africa and Canada in search of sport, and exhibited at the Scottish Academy as an amateur artist. He was captain of the Wimbledon Golf Club in 1894. In later life he was a director of two banks, acquired wealth, and bought the estate of Bandirran in Perthshire. He claimed to be head of his family as the heir male of William Moncrieff, who died in 1570 ”

“ After her death he lived a retired life at 79 Claverton Street till his death on 28 Nov. 1904. He was buried at Kensal Green. He had three sons who predeceased him. He was a good linguist, speaking French, Spanish, and Turkish fluently, a ready writer, and a man of 'downright commonsense.' Dickson had an intimate knowledge of the traditions of his regiment, and an ardent affection for it. He left a portrait of himself to it, and presented to the Royal Artillery Institution the Dickson MSS. written or collected by his father. ”