Robert Haydon Shebbeare VC
First published in Great Britain in 2007 by
Pen & Sword Military
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Pen & Sword Books Ltd
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Copyright © Arthur Littlewood, 2007
9781781594520
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Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
GLOSSARY
INTRODUCTION
Chapter One - LIFE AS A YOUNG REGIMENTAL OFFICER
Chapter Two - MUTINY
Chapter Three - THE SIEGE OF DELHI, JUNE—SEPTEMBER, 1857
Chapter Four - THE 15TH PUNJAB REGIMENT
Chapter Five - CHINA 1860
Appendix I - MISCELLANEOUS AND SERVICE RECORD
Appendix II - THE SHEBBEARE FAMILY
Line from Shebbeares at Bideford and Okehampton
BIBLIOGRAPHY
INDEX
For the Shebbeares, and for Victoria, with love.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Robert Shebbeare, great-nephew of Robert Shebbeare VC, for the pleasure of our collaboration and for his advice on many subjects.
Mary Lamb, née Shebbeare, great-niece, for kindly giving access to family papers.
The National Army Museum, Chelsea, for the excellent help given by the staff in the Reading Room; and for permission to use the extract from a letter from Colonel Kendal Coghill.
Professor N. Burgess, formerly of the Royal Defence Medical College, Millbank, London, for advice on medical matters.
The photographs of India and China were sent home to the family by Robert Shebbeare.
The British Library, for the help given by the library staff at the Oriental and India Record Office.
John Govett, great-great-nephew, kindly created the family tree and afforded me much help and information.
The Centre of South Asian Studies, Cambridge University, for kind permission to use extracts from the Coghill Papers and for their help in my research.
The authors listed in the bibliography, many of them long dead, who have given me some understanding of the period. Of particular mention is Saul David, whose recent and scholarly book, The Indian Mutiny, 1857, was of invaluable help in preparing the Introduction to Chapter Two.
David Cole of Digital Colour Services at Hedgerow Print, Crediton, for his technical help.
The engraving from the Illustrated London News 1860 is reproduced by permission of the Syndics of Cambridge University Library.
GLOSSARY
Badmash bandit
Batta an allowance for service outside India, or for service in war.
Cantonment permanent military station.
Chapatti, chupatti thin unleavened biscuit.
Dak, dawk transport system for post or carriage of people, by relays of men, horses and bullocks.
Deg lidded vessel for food, something like a billycan.
Gharry small, enclosed horse-drawn carriage.
Ghee clarified butter for cooking.
Havildar Indian non-commissioned officer, equivalent to sergeant, hence havildar major.
Jemadar junior Indian officer.
Lota, lotah brass drinking pot, used by high-caste Indians.
Moonshie, munshi interpreter, clerk.
Mufti civilian (non-uniform) clothing.
Naik Indian equivalent to corporal.
Palanquin covered litter carried on poles.
Pathan Muslim from borders of Afghanistan and present-day Pakistan.
Poorbea, purbia soldiers from north Indian region from which the majority of sepoys were recruited (Oudh, Benares and Bihar).
Posteen winter coat of sheepskin (or other animal skin) with fleece worn inside.
Pugrie, puggree muslin scarf around hat and sometimes falling behind the neck as protection against the sun.
Pukka, pucka proper.
Rupee silver coin, in 1850s valued at one tenth of a pound sterling.
Sepoy private soldier in the Indian Army.
Serai a building for travellers, with a courtyard and often fortified. Sometimes a palace or harem (hence ‘seraglio’). The serai in Kissengunge is noted as a ‘mosque’ by Robert Shebbeare.
Sowar cavalry trooper in Indian army.
Subedar, subadar senior Indian officer.
INTRODUCTION
In 2004, following the death of his brother, Major J.D. Shebbeare, my friend Robert Inge Shebbeare, for whom macular degeneration has made reading difficult, asked me to help him to go through his family papers with him. It became, and still is, a very absorbing occupation, for the many collections of letters over three centuries comprise a fascinating document of social life seen through the eyes of one family.
Quite early on, we came across a letter headed ‘Camp before Delhi’, and dated 11 July 1857. On reading it through it at once became apparent that this was a very exciting account of events during the Indian Mutiny. Robert then said that his great-uncle, Robert Haydon Shebbeare, who won his Victoria Cross at the assault on Delhi, had written letters home to various members of the family, and that he had a few more at home himself, as well as some other correspondence of that time.
In all, it turned out that there were some thirty-seven letters from Robert Shebbeare that had survived, spread over the course of his military life, plus others from well-known personalities involved in the siege of Delhi. His letters were obviously circulated amongst his family at the time, as they exist as originals, copies handwritten at the time, type-written transcripts and, in a few cases, as photocopies of letters whose whereabouts are not known.
Robert Shebbeare’s life was moulded by the traditions, values and constraints of a particular era and his letters home during a long exile from England reflect attitudes of that time, a few of which may seem rather alien in today’s non-colonial culture. He was by all accounts an intelligent and likeable young man with a good sense of humour, so it is easy to identify with the everyday happenings and problems he encountered during his life as a soldier. He became, in the opinion of his contemporaries, a gifted leader and his shrewd observations on the military events and the personalities of the day bring to life many well-known incidents during the Indian Mutiny. Pride in his regiment, quiet patriotism and a love of his family at home all sustained him in his long stay abroad, and managed to keep him with his ideals intact in the face of the intense heat, acute boredom, bureaucratic annoyances and increasing homesickness that often tended to sap the energies of Europeans in the tropics.
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In 1844, he left England at the age of seventeen and served for sixteen years as a regimental officer, in India and China, during which time he never again saw his family, nor was he able to take home leave.
He died at sea, aged thirty-three, while returning to England on extended sick leave. His whole family was waiting in welcome at the quayside when his ship docked at Tilbury, only to be told that his body had been buried at sea off the coast of China.
At one level this is a sad and tragic story, and one which no doubt haunted the members of a close family for the rest of their lives. In reading his letters, however, one becomes aware that the life he led as a soldier was for him a very fulfilling one. Despite the hardships and discomforts, not to mention the extreme danger on many occasions, Robert Shebbeare was happy and content in the friendships and camaraderie of his regimental life — perhaps he would not have wished for a retirement with its vista of declining years, had he managed to attain it.
The Indian Mutiny of 1857 has always held a fascination to those many people interested in both social and military history and there is already a copious body of literature which deals with the complex reasons which led to it, as well as recording the exciting and often tragic events which took place during that turbulent period. There are many first-hand accounts written by soldiers and politicians of the time and each, although it may be coloured by a particular and subjective viewpoint, adds something to this enormous topic. Memoirs written long afterwards have a tendency to cast the writer in flattering terms which are not necessarily shared by contemporaries, while certain aspects of a situation are sometimes distorted or filtered out in order to enhance the writer’s viewpoint. In doing the research for this, it has been remarkable to find how many different, and sometimes even contradictory, descriptions there are of any single event, and how much influence the interaction of personalities can have on the course of history.
The letters are published without omissions for two reasons. Firstly, the manner of writing often gives clues as to Robert Shebbeare’s state of mind at the time, and secondly, in doing the research for this, I have found that small snippets of useful information are constantly cropping up in other letters and articles — what may apparently be a piece of coal to one reader may seem a nugget of gold to another.
Each chapter begins with a short piece of very general background information to put events in context, which may be helpful to those unfamiliar with this period, at the risk of versimplifying the many complexities of an enormous topic. There are many admirable books which cover the whole subject of the British in India and a plethora which deal with the mutiny itself, so it is not the intention of this book to do anything but provide some little vignettes to add to the considerable body of knowledge about this most interesting period.
References and occasional explanatory notes may be found at the end of each chapter. No attempt has been made to standardize the spelling of Indian place-names that are mentioned: thus Ambala may appear as Umballah, Oudh as Oude, and so on.
The intention is that the letters can be read as an interesting story in themselves, and can also be used as a source of information for research into a particular topic.
Shebbeare is a family that originated in Devon and over the generations it has produced many distinguished soldiers, sailors, lawyers and churchmen. A short family history can be found at the end of this book.
Robert Haydon Shebbeare was the son of Charles John Shebbeare, a London barrister, and his wife Louisa Matilda (née Wolfe). He had four brothers and four sisters who survived infancy, one of whom, Alice, he never saw as she was born after he left for India. His letters have passed through the family and are now with the last surviving member of a trio of Shebbeares who saw military service: William (Bill) Shebbeare, 23rd Hussars, killed leading his squadron at the Battle of Caen; John Shebbeare, Poona Horse; and Robert Inge Shebbeare, who served with the 10th Hussars.
Robert Inge Shebbeare has kindly given many of the family papers in his possession, some dating back to 1580, to the Devon Record Office, where they should make a very interesting source of material for future historians.
The photographs of India and China in this book are by Felice Beato (1825—1903). He was a naturalized Englishman who, from 1850, worked with his brother-in-law, James Robertson and, in 1855, as pioneer war photographers, they documented the Crimean War.
Beato went to India in 1858 and took photographs of the damage done during the mutiny. Robert Shebbeare sent home an album of his ‘Views of Delhi’ together with other photographs.
In 1860 he followed the British Army out to China where he took photographs of people and places during the campaign, including some for his ‘Indian Celebrities’ series, in which Robert Shebbeare features, and of the 15th Punjab Regiment.
Sketch map of India
To show of the places mentioned in this book
Chapter One
LIFE AS A YOUNG REGIMENTAL OFFICER
In 1600, the Honourable East India Company (HEIC), known also as the John Company, was granted a charter to have a monopoly of trade in Asia; by the beginning of the eighteenth century it had expanded to become one of the most important commercial enterprises in the world, with Indian cotton as the main source of its growing prosperity, together with opium, indigo and sugar. At first, the Company relied on the goodwill of local Indian rulers to gain concessions, but once the main settlements of Bombay, Madras and Calcutta were established, British influence became more significant and the HEIC saw the need to recruit soldiers to guard its many interests. Regiments of native soldiers, or sepoys, were formed, with a small number of British officers in command. In the mid-part of the century a weakening Moghul empire broke down and many of the new states which resulted from this formed alliances with the British and French in return for trading concessions. The French were beaten at the Battle of Plassey in 1763; at about the same time, the British displaced the ruler in Bengal and governed it themselves. From that time onwards the British continued to annexe states to suit their commercial purposes, with the Company providing the administration on behalf of the British government. By the time that Robert Shebbeare arrived in India in 1844 the HEIC was a vast organization, with a large body of troops divided into the separate armies of Bombay, Madras and Bengal, the latter being by far the biggest of these.
At this time, an officer in the British Army had to purchase a commission, was expected to have private means sufficient to maintain a suitable lifestyle and was thus of necessity drawn from the better-off sections of society. Honourable East India Company officers, however, were recruited from a much wider social base, and as a consequence the education and calibre of the cadets was more mixed; many, though by no means all, were motivated more by the prospect of earning enough to enable them to attain financial security and social status than to make careers as soldiers.
The greater proportion of boys who were nominated as being suitable to become officers in the Company’s armies entered via a direct cadetship, whereby they were sent out to India to join a regiment and to learn soldiering by a kind of military symbiosis, whose success was very dependent on the quality of those with whom they came in contact.
From 1840 to 1842, Robert Shebbeare had been at King’s College School, which was at that time in the Strand in London, only moving at the turn of the century to Wimbledon. A younger fellow pupil at the school was Philip Salkeld, who won a posthumous Victoria Cross at the Kashmir Gate on the same day that Robert Shebbeare was awarded his.
From 1809 to 1861 a smaller number of the better-educated cadets were trained at the HEIC military college at Addiscombe near Croydon, which took teenage boys of fourteen to eighteen years of age who had been recommended by persons of standing known to the Company, and it was here that fifteen-year-old Robert went next.
From all accounts, the education was very mixed in quality and the regime was tough. The cadets were drilled and took part in other military exercises; they studied drawing, surveying
and fortification, as well as learning French, Latin and Hindustani.
After this rudimentary initial training the young ensigns were sent out in one of the Company’s sailing ships to India where, after a period attached to a regiment, they were given a permanent posting to a particular regiment. New arrivals from England were called ‘griffins’, or ‘griffs’, who largely learnt how things happened from their seniors.
Once the initial excitement had worn off the young officers settled into a routine that was often tedious and irksome for long periods, as most of the regiments in central India were engaged in policing, rather than military duties. Much of the time was spent in cantonments where there was little cultural or social life and for the most part recreation was taken in the company of a small group of fellow bachelors, many of whose interests were of a robust, outdoor kind, while those of an intellectual bent were usually in a minority. During the hot season in May and June, the suffocating heat confined the British within doors during the day; this was followed by the equally disagreeable rains of the monsoon. Senior officers joined administrators in escaping to the hill stations in the north at this time, while those less fortunate remained to keep things ticking over.
There were, of course, compensations and the cool season transformed the countryside into a place of immense beauty; local leave often consisted of game-hunting expeditions in spectacular scenery.
Promotion was by length of service, rather than merit, which was one of the reasons why, at the beginning of the Mutiny, so many of the senior regimental officers were found to be ill-equipped to deal with the difficulties they faced. More able officers were often seconded to civil administrative duties with better pay; and regimental duty, in the absence of campaigns which might bring prize money, had come to be seen as something to be endured rather than enjoyed. Ambitious young men were frustrated at being unable to exercise their talents and petty jealousies often led to friction between members of such an enclosed society.
Indian Mutiny and Beyond Page 1