General Gatacre

“ At the expiration of his term of office at Aldershot, in May 1880, Captain Gatacre took short leave home, and then rejoined the 77th at Dover. The regiment had been already warned for India in the next trooping season, but the news of our misfortune at Maiwand hastened their departure, and in August 1880 they were hurriedly embarked at only a fortnight's notice. To Gatacre the hope of seeing active service must have more than compensated for a disappointment he had expressed at not getting another staff billet. ”

“ In a memorandum to the Secretary of State for War, dated April 16, 1900, Lord Roberts set forth his reasons for the step he had taken in removing Lieut.-General Sir William Gatacre from the command of the 3rd Division. ”

“ Sir William had been detained in his office, and only reached the show-ground just before the luncheon assembly broke up; the speaker within the tent was at a loss to account for an untimely uproar. It was the crowd outside who had recognised "General Gatacre," and, as he entered, those inside the tent took up the strain.
However gratifying such popular outbursts may be in their spontaneity, it is the reasoned judgment of his peers that a man ultimately values. The following telegram was received by the senior officer in the station on the day after our return to Colchester. ”

“ In August of the same year, 1903, when preparations were being made for extensive manoeuvres to be held on Salisbury Plain, Gatacre was appointed as Umpire-in-Chief of the Blue Army. This was a good omen, for it seemed incredible that a post of such importance in the training of the troops engaged should be given to an officer who was likely soon to be struck off the active list, who was, so to speak, already cast. ”

“ The advance
In such a struggle with the forces of nature Gatacre was at his best. No difficulty dismayed him; his own passionate belief in the power of goodwill and hard work to overcome every obstacle inspired the whole force. The men learnt to work hard because he expected it of them and seemed always present to appreciate their efforts. They learnt to endure every hardship because he endured physical discomforts as great as theirs. Some few men were attacked with frost-bite, and the General was amongst the number ”

“ Now there are two versions of this telegram. The above is the version as it was received by General Gatacre at 9.40 a.m. on March 28. Between the words "Dewetsdorp" and "will" he mentally supplied the word "I" to fill in the sense. When, however, this important telegram was quoted by Lord Roberts in a despatch to the War Office (dated April 16, 1900) , the following verbal variations occur. We find "I should like" for "I should wish"; the words "it would" take the place of "will"; "and prevent enemy" stands for "preventing enemy's forces" ”

“ A Surgeon-Colonel H—— has been sent down from Chitral for plague duty here, and he dislikes the whole thing. He had congenial work up there, a lovely climate, snow and frost, a nice house with a lovely garden; and he has come down to work in the slums of Bombay at the hottest time of the year, with no friends in the place, and a most enervating climate. He says that if any one else but General Gatacre was at the head of affairs, he would resign to-morrow. {179} Major B—— is the same. His staff appointment will be up in October ”

“ Even at this time Gatacre's willingness to accept responsibility and to undertake troublesome and unexpected tasks was remarkable. Where some men might raise objections and fear obstructions when asked, or even ordered, to get something done that was new or out of the common, he would welcome the call on his resources, and do his utmost, by enlisting the goodwill and co-operation of those about him, to carry the business through. Later on, one of his colleagues in Poona looked upon his trick of saying, "No difficulty about that," as evidence of a very valuable quality ”

“ He taught the regiment to work with the disinterested spirit that animated himself; to work for the work's sake: he insisted on every duty being done correctly and conscientiously and strictly according to regulations. He never shrank from the disagreeable duty of rebuke, where the interests of the service were at stake; but at the same time he never unduly worried his subordinates, or interfered with their province, and in no way passed the frontier of his own department. If he wanted more work, he looked beyond and not below his own sphere of influence. ”

“ A camp of exercise on a very large scale was held near Bangalore, {53} at which 10,000 troops were assembled. Sir Charles Keyes commanded the First Division, in which the 77th were included, and General H. Prendergast had command of the Second Division, with Colonel W. F. Gatacre as Assistant-Quarter-Master-General.
In spite of the misfortune recorded in Gatacre's own letter given below, he more than satisfied his General, who writes on June 11, 1909:
"I found him a remarkably clever, zealous, and efficient officer. ”

“ On November 12 the Hazara Field Force began to disperse, having been under arms for six weeks. The casualties to the whole force amounted to twenty-seven men killed, fifty-nine wounded, and eight who had died of disease, showing that, from a military point of view, it was essentially a minor campaign. Moreover, politically, the results were inconclusive, but to Gatacre it was the field on which he had won his spurs: "the loyal support and valuable aid" that he had afforded his Chief were now for ever recorded; his initiative, energy, and physical powers had been proved in the field ”

“ The campaign was a marvel of organisation. It was marvellous how that railway was made across the desert. Great credit was due to the Sirdar, but I should like also to bring before you another name—that of the general of our division—General Gatacre, whose constant care and great power of leading men aided the successful issue of events. There is still another man I should like to mention. He is a Scotsman, General Macdonald, who led one of the {160} Egyptian brigades. ”

“ The reiteration of the recurring features of his life, cholera, rain, and work, is suggestive of the monotony of existence in the summer months. But his experiences and his surroundings differ in nothing from that of every other subaltern in the Plains. That he worked with assiduity at acquiring the language is shown by his having been placed first out of twenty-two in the Higher Standard, after only two years' study. When the 77th moved to Bareilly, Gatacre was made secretary to the Mutton and Poultry Club, and kept a quailery, which was a venture of his own. ”

“ The first inspection tour arranged for the end of 1891 included a visit to the regiments quartered at Kamptee in the Central Provinces. Kamptee was the Headquarters of the Nagpur District, to the command of which Brigadier-General John Gatacre, C.B., had been recently gazetted. To those who have heard of "inspection fever" (and even the best officers {104} are not always immune) , it will be obvious that the station must have been in rather a commotion at the idea of a visit from the Commander-in-chief only four days after the arrival of a new General Officer Commanding. ”

“ In a small notebook of daily jottings, which at his leisure Gatacre worked up into a more formal journal, I find the following entry on January 11, 1906: "Camped in a swamp—horrible water." He reached Keg next day, and was pleased to find that Idlibi had disembarked all the stuff and divided it into suitable loads for the men to carry. A few days later, being impatient at the non-arrival of the coolies, Gatacre decided again to make his way to Gambela, but was attacked with fever on the road, and died at a place known as Iddeni. ”

“ The tenure of the estates was in great jeopardy {3} in the life of Thomas de Gatacre; for it is told how a certain Philip de Lutley, the King's Escheator, did "seize the estates of Gatacre, Sutton, and Great Lye into the King's hand, on the ground that Thomas de Gatacre had entered upon these estates without doing homage and fealty to the Crown, and without paying his relief, so that he had occupied the same unjustly for twenty-two years and more." [6] At this unfortunate moment Thomas died, leaving Alice, his widow, to fight for herself and their son Thomas. ”

“ The Camerons no sooner got the word to advance than, with a wild rush, the pipers meanwhile playing 'The March of the Cameron Men,' they made for the zareba some three hundred yards ahead. Forward and forward, midst a rain of bullets, they reached the hedge of camel-thorn. In a few moments it was torn to pieces and scattered like brushwood, Gatacre being among the first to lay hands on the obstruction, and the Highlanders were inside the stockade and in the trenches, where now sprang out of the earth dusty, black, half-naked shapes, running and turning to shoot, but running away. ”

“ They had been baffled in a determined attack. Their losses amounted to about 700, captured, wounded and killed. Those who had taken shelter behind the rocks and in the donga were all made prisoners. They remained there till the rest had retreated, and then hoisted the white flag. One English writer says that they were shamefully forgotten by General Gatacre, who was thus responsible for their loss. Indeed a questionable explanation! Among the wounded were a few officers and some privates, who were seriously injured by their own guns as they tried to seize the Boer positions. ”

“ On the following day Gatacre received instructions to resume command of the Eastern District.
A welcome home
British hearts, ever loyal to brave men in distress, did not stop to quibble over professional responsibilities; they remembered the years of devoted service, they knew of his personal gallantry, and they trusted time to prove their faith. Colchester struck the first {263} note: the townspeople turned out in their thousands to cheer one whom they knew and loved. ”

“ He does not run at me, as he knows me so well, but I never trust him much; they are very uncertain in India."
On leave
In November 1866 the 77th was sent to Peshawur, and in the following May young Gatacre took six months' leave to Kashmir. But he did not confine himself to shooting in the Happy Valley; he was filled with an adventurous curiosity to see the temples and wild scenery of the mountains beyond. He felt that his pleasure in the trip would lie in his freedom to go where he chose, and when he chose, and as fast as he chose. ”

“ White men did not enter the houses unless opposition was made; in the street a small body of troops was employed as a show of authority, but these were mostly drawn from the Native regiments. In no case was violence needed; the only pressure used was the personal presence of the General, the force of his will and character, the persuasion of his words uttered in their own tongue; the people grew to have faith in his promises, to {171} appreciate his devotion to their interests, and to respect his methods.
Drives the brake
The Fire Brigade brake was commandeered to carry the search-parties. ”

“ The Field-Marshal reached Capetown on January 10. Four weeks were necessary for the organisation of his new army, which amounted to 35,000 men when concentrated at Modder River on February 8. A week later General French at the head of a Cavalry Division rode into Kimberley, and on the same day the Sixth Division got in touch with General Cronje, and commenced the series of operations which led to his surrender with all his army. ”

“ The Eastern District at that time included the nine counties which lie between Norfolk and London, and between Nottingham and the sea. The General Officer Commanding was directly responsible to the War Office for the troops of all arms, regular, militia, and volunteers, within this area. During the training season the work was very heavy and necessitated a great deal of touring. His previous experience in Bombay {217} had given the General a special interest in coast defence, and it was therefore with pleasure that he again found himself in command of a long sea-board. ”

“ We are not concerned here with the fatigues of the march from Dewetsdorp, nor with the particular stress which led to capitulation. It is enough to know that although a messenger had succeeded in getting through the enemy's lines, and although the casualties numbered only ten killed and thirty-five wounded out of 591 men of the regular army, some one betrayed his comrades' honour, and the whole party was captured. [21] If this column had been able to hold on an hour or so longer, there would have been no Reddersburg incident. ”

“ Three officers of the 11th Hussars came in to Skardo the day after Gatacre's arrival, and fired him with the desire to see Shigar, a town a few miles higher up the Indus, where they had seen the original game of polo.
After five days' halt at Skardo, Gatacre started on his return journey, via Leh. Both Skardo and Leh are on the Indus: he did not, however, follow the course of this river, but chose to make his way up the valley of the Shyok. ”

“ The General's scheme was to attack the Boer laager on the Stormberg Nek; by a night march of nine miles from Molteno he hoped to reach a {230} position from which the enemy's camp could be assaulted at daybreak.
The concentration was made at Molteno, on the afternoon of December 9, the troops being brought from Putters Kraal by train, about sixteen miles, and some from Bushman's Hoet, which was half the distance. The force consisted of the two field batteries, with an escort of Mounted Infantry and two Infantry Battalions. ”