Coldstream Guards

“ We left the Guards Brigade at Aladyn, close to Varna, which they reached on July 1st. Here a halt was called, and the humdrum of camp life was resumed. In the morning, the men were drilled, they practised musketry, made fascines and gabions, or threw up earthworks; in the heat of the day they lay about and slept; in the evening, the more energetic endeavoured to obtain some addition to the ordinary scanty and insipid supper. The peasants were conciliated, and a bazaar was established, under the auspices of Colonel Gordon Drummond of the Coldstream, which was fairly successful. ”

“ What the best of battalions is, when, in some Royal Park at home, it manœuvres before a great princess, that the Coldstream was now on the banks of the Alma, when it came to show its graces to the enemy. ”

“ As the various detachments forming the Guards Camel regiment are shortly to return to their several Battalions, I have the honour to report on the general conduct of the Non-commissioned officers and men of the 1st and 2nd Battalions Coldstream Guards, during the period of service on the Nile expedition. The peculiar work which all ranks have been called upon to perform has been trying and arduous, and for the most part quite novel to the men. ”

“ Meanwhile the Guards seemed at their last gasp, every minute found them less able—not a jot less willing—to repel the enemy. Hardly a man tasted food that morning, hence individual strength began to flag; where companies contended now only subdivisions struggled, hence collective power was ebbing fast. Nor was this all, ammunition had become frightfully scarce; in many cases, indeed, the soldiers had none left, so they were reduced to rifling the pouches of their fallen messmates ”

“ I am sure you remember the occasion when the Coldstreams were driven from their trenches near Cuinchy, and two counter-attacks failed to recover them. At ten in the morning of 1st February a desperate effort to win them back was made by fifty men of the 2nd Coldstream Guards and thirty men of the Irish Guards, accompanied by sappers with wire and sand-bags. ”

“ But, in spite of the appearance of outward tranquillity, there was a spirit of disaffection abroad, the authorities were resisted, the jury system had broken down, and the population of one nationality were bitterly divided from that of another. The execution of the law was difficult, as a Battalion Order of the 11th of July may perhaps exemplify—publishing the good conduct of several privates of the Coldstream for assisting the Superintendent of Police in the execution of his duty ”

“ He then went to Genappe, and, on the 20th, his advanced troops were in French territory. Early on the 19th, the army commanded by Wellington left their bivouacs, the 2nd Battalion Coldstream Guards starting from the farm of Hougomont, which they had held—in conjunction with the 2nd Battalion of the Third Guards, and with the light companies of the First Guards (2nd and 3rd Battalions) —with such credit to themselves. They reached Nivelles that evening, where Major-General Sir John Byng wrote his despatch on the battle, and on the stubborn contest that centred round Hougomont. ”

“ Space does not allow a proper description of the gallant and desperate resistance, which was then made by the Turks against overwhelming odds; but the principal points connected therewith may be glanced at in this work, if only because the British Officer, Major Butler, to whom, with Major Nasmyth, great glory is due for the defence, was transferred to the Coldstream Guards, as a reward for his brilliant services, though he never belonged to the Regiment, for his death occurred before he was actually gazetted. ”

“ To the memory of Colonel Vesey Dawson, shot through the heart while in command of the Coldstream Guards, was conceded not a passing word of eulogy or of regret. It is melancholy to reflect that on this humble page should stand the only record of how as brave a soldier as ever drew a sword, as noble a gentleman as ever earned the respect of his fellow-men, fought and died.” [288]
We are told that this great victory caused no outward elation among our troops. A reaction succeeded the excitement of the struggle; the danger now past began to be realized for the first time ”

“ You may, under some conditions, beat a Coldstreamer, but you will never, never convince him that you have done so.
At Inkerman the Coldstream Guards, a few hundred strong, actually stood up to 4,000 Russians for a time, during which there was the bloodiest struggle ever witnessed. The fight was round the Sandbag Battery, where 700 British had held their own until reinforced by the Guards, and it was of such a nature that each guard must needs be a small battalion on his own account to do any good at all. Back to back the Coldstreamers fought till their ammunition was exhausted. ”

“ Lieut.-Colonel Dudley Carleton, who represented the Coldstream, reported that the admission of men into hospital, as well as the patients' death or discharge, were imperfectly registered:
“their kits were either stored or condemned without regular authority, or were left in the hold of transports, carried up and down during many voyages, and not unfrequently plundered. When a man died, no regular record was kept or transmitted to his regiment, although professedly done. No returns whatever had been sent to the Battalion of men dead, invalided home, or otherwise employed.” ”

“ The army authorities have ever been alive to the necessity of professional instruction. Examples are to be found in the handbooks issued by Lieut.-General Lord Frederick FitzClarence (late Coldstream Guards, who helped to arrest the Cato Street conspirators in 1820) and by “A Field Officer” (Colonel Torrens, afterwards Major-General Sir Arthur Torrens, late Grenadier Guards) , issued in 1850 and 1851, and if the reader can procure these publications, he will perceive they are as up to date, of their time, as our best text-books of the present day. ”

“ Notes.—The Regiment of Coldstream Guards is the direct and only descendant of the Parliamentary Infantry, all other corps having been disbanded at the Restoration. It derives its name from Monck's march from Coldstream to restore Charles II.
Bibliography.—The Origin and Services of the Coldstream Guards. By Colonel Sir Daniel MacKinnon. 2 vols. [London: Bentley. 1833.]
A History of the Coldstream Guards from 1815 to 1895. By Lieut.-Col. Ross of Bladensburg, C.B. [London: 1896.]
[74]
The Scots Guards. 3 Batts.
Royal Arms of Scotland. The Thistle. The Sphinx. TITLES.
1660-1713. ”

“ The advantage, however, does not go on, for on becoming “Second in command,” an Officer performs the duty of Major, but has no extra rank given to him.
The introduction of Warrant-officers into the army was brought about at this time also; and the Sergeant-Major and Bandmaster (and later the Regimental Clerk) were so promoted.
These things were effected in July, 1881; and then the following changes were made in the establishment of the Coldstream: The companies were reduced from 20 to 16 (8 per Battalion, instead of 10, as had been provided during the Crimean war) . ”

“ These siege operations lasted without intermission until early in September. On the night of June 18th, the Brigade found 30 Officers 258and 1000 men for the trenches, of which the Coldstream, furnished 8 Officers and 263 men; and so on, from day to day, in varying numbers, according to the requirements of the moment. It was ordered on the 21st, that “in future the proportion of Officers and men in the trenches will be one Captain and one Subaltern to every 100 men;” ”

“ The Second Division camp was laid flat, the tents uprooted and scattered, canvas saturated with blood carpeted the ground. Our own camp swarmed with the wounded and the dying, and the sight sent a chill of depression through the few survivors as they returned to their bivouacs. Everywhere on the narrow space of the battleground the victims lay thick, some killed, others groaning in agony, and nowhere thicker than in and around the Sandbag battery, where the contest raged the fiercest. Here the dead were literally piled up on one another as they fell. ”

“ Many landlords, and indeed others, were in danger of their lives from the outrage-mongers that infested the land. In order to afford adequate protection to these persons, soldiers were told off to reside in their houses, to accompany them in all their movements, and to be responsible for their safety. The Coldstream and Scots Guards furnished a number of men to perform this duty, and an Officer from each Regiment was appointed to inspect them frequently, and to satisfy himself that this novel service was efficiently discharged. ”

“ During the first few days of the operations against Sevastopol there were several casualties among the Officers of the Grenadier Guards. On the 16th, Captain Rowley was killed, and, two days later, the same fate overtook Colonel Hood, the gallant Commanding Officer who had greatly distinguished himself by his coolness and intrepidity at the Alma. The losses of the Coldstream at this moment were happily less. It was not till the 20th, that the first man was wounded in the trenches; but next day, Lord Dunkellin was unfortunately captured. ”

“ After the battle of Isandlwhana, January 22, 1879, in which the Zulus succeeded in overwhelming several companies of the 24th Regiment, some Officers and Non-commissioned officers of the Brigade of Guards, under Colonel Davies, Grenadier Guards, were sent to take charge of drafts proceeding to South Africa to join that Regiment. The Coldstream furnished one Officer (Captain Hon. G. Bertie) and two sergeants (one of them, the present Superintending Clerk, Sergeant-Major W. Johnson) . ”

“ The streets were lined by troops from Buckingham Palace to the Abbey, the infantry in single rank on either side of the road; the Brigade 105occupied the distance from Westminster to Marlborough House, and the five Battalions were present. The 1st Coldstream, having been brought up from Windsor, were in Pall Mall, the Scots Fusiliers thence to the Horse Guards, and the Grenadiers took up the remaining ground. On the other side of the Coldstream, in St. James’s Street, Piccadilly, and Constitution Hill, there were Marines, Rifles, and the 20th Regiment (then at the Tower) . ”

“ We had invaded an enemy’s country without means of transporting the sick and wounded, beyond a few stretchers in the hands of bandsmen and drum-boys! The sick and wounded of 27,000 British soldiers were to be carried bodily over burning steppes, where water was not, by drummers and fifers! These lads being physically unequal to the duty expected of them, we endeavoured to supply their places with files of the heavy-weighted soldiery: but of course this hard expedient broke down too; the work could not be done by human muscle, in fact ”

“ In the summer of 1836 it was ordered that the Battalions of the Foot Guards, and not the light companies only, should be practised in light infantry movements in extended order (Brigade Order , July 11, 1836) .
We have seen that the Brigade Depôt was transferred from London to Warley early in 1832. It appears, that the recruits of the Coldstream and of the Scots Fusiliers were ordered to Croydon in June, 1833, and the rest followed to the same place next year. A Subaltern Officer was placed in command of the station ”

“ Musketry had received considerable attention from the authorities, and it was held imperative that the men should not only be able individually to shoot with accuracy, but that they should also be trained to fire together, under conditions that prevail in the field, and against objects similar to those which present themselves to the aim of troops in war time. A Siege Operations Committee having been appointed to conduct experiments at Dungeness early in 1880, a detachment of the 1st Coldstream, then at Shorncliffe, was told off to assist them in their labours. ”

“ They had to advance over the open for a considerable distance, against a strong work, covered in front by obstacles, whose rear was unenclosed, and whose fire was unsubdued. It had been impossible to construct places d’armes in our trenches, owing to the rocky nature of the soil, and hence the reserves could not be concentrated in suitable positions whence to push forward at the proper moment and feed the attack. Nevertheless, the leading British troops advanced with the utmost gallantry and spirit, notwithstanding the furious fire to which they were exposed ”

“ To effect the necessary reductions in the land services, some 50,000 of the regular Army, the Militia 80,000 strong, and of course the foreign corps, nearly 21,000 men, were disbanded. [129] Some of these changes did not take place until 1817, but they affected the Coldstream as early as the 24th of December, 1815, when the Regiment lost 400 men; on the 24th of March, 1817, simultaneously with the reduction effected in the army of occupation in France, another diminution of 200 men was made in the establishment ”

“ We were attached to the reserve brigade commanded by Major-General Gordon, and consisting of the 12th and 21st regiments of infantry, 1st battalion of Coldstream Guards, a regiment of dragoons, a battery of artillery, together with transport and medical departments. Two days after our arrival we had a field day. We marched to the Long Valley, where we were drilled for several hours, and when we returned to camp it was difficult to tell who was who. It was an extremely hot day, and the dust stuck to our faces and made us look like negroes. ”

“ The occupation of French territory lasted three years, until November, 1818, and during the whole of this time, the British troops were kept actively employed on their military duties. It was a period in which the efficiency of the army was maintained at a high standard. The Coldstream were continually exercised in route marching, in drill, in musketry, [91] and, the Officers and selected Non-commissioned officers and men, in sword exercise. ”