Having said all that, there was within most regiments a good esprit de corps, and the camaraderie induced by shared privation and danger helped to forge many lifelong friendships, which did much to sustain men so far from home.
The letters which follow in this chapter cover Robert Shebbeare’s first eleven years with his regiment, and from them one can trace his progress in a number of military cantonments where there was little military action and not too much mental stimulation. Some young officers had a network of connections when they arrived in India and, under the patronage of relations and family friends, got themselves rapidly into plum appointments. Robert had none of these advantages but he nevertheless plodded quietly along in the system, learning several Indian languages, becoming Adjutant and making lasting friendships amongst forward-looking and talented young officers. One gathers from his early letters that writing seems to be more of a duty than a particularly pleasurable activity and he is not given to many flights of literary fancy, but in many ways this is something of a virtue as he records his happenings honestly, solely to give his family some idea of what he was experiencing, as a son and as a brother, in a distant and strange land. The lack of action in battle seen by his regiment during these years must have seemed very irksome to him, for in 1853 he wrote wistfully: ‘It seems fated that we shall not see any service.’ Fate, however, had different plans for him, as the events of 1857 will show in due course.
Dinapore, 17th November, 1844
My dear Mother,
I did not write a letter by the last mail because I could not any how make one, having no materials at all, for everything has been going on the dawk. I am still doing duty with the 36th and am likely to be with it a month or so longer when I hope to be posted. There are now about twenty to be posted before me. I hope to be posted before they give each regiment the new Captain, which is to be in January, for if I am I shall get a step by it, whereas if the Captain is given first it will only be a post.
Tomorrow the 62nd Queens are going to have their colours presented to them. They have asked the other regiments to a ball and supper in the evening. We shall have to go to it as doing duty with the regiment, though I would much rather not as I do not know any ladies in Dinapore. I met McNiel here the other day who formerly belonged to the 36th but now is in the 5th. Is he any relation to the Rev H. McNiel? I was told he was; I suppose it could not have been Alexander McNiel. There is a great fair at a place called Hadjipore in a day or two; almost everybody is going. We have got leave to go but I do not think that I shall go except for a day. It lasts ten days or more. There are horse races and balls and dinners and all that sort of thing. It begins at the new moon when the natives come from great distances to bathe in the Ganges at that part. They believe that by bathing at the new moon exactly at that part they are also freed from their sins. It is said to be well worth seeing. It is also a large horse fair and a good place to pick up a good horse cheap.
I had a letter yesterday from Mr W. Bracken in Calcutta. I suppose by this time you are all settled at Balham Hill. I think I remember where it is, about opposite Chings the Ironmongers. I was very glad to hear that the respectable old lady had been turned out. How are the Mitcham tenants going on? Does Harry collect the rents? I have moved into quarters that are much cheaper and I now live with a griff of the name of Davidson who also came out in the Poichiers. I should have liked to be at Sandgate with you very much; it must have been very pleasant. It is the beginning of the cold weather here. Now I sleep always with a blanket and even in the middle of the day it is not too hot to go about. In the morning I am very glad to wear cloth trousers. I dare say it will be very hot at the ball this evening for the old hands, who are obliged to go in full dress, but till we have been in the country a year we have no right to wear it.
The 15th Regiment march from here tomorrow on their way to Calcutta from whence they are going to Chauk Phu in Ardean. The 62nd Queens also march in a short time to Umballah. There is a ball to be given for them before they go, so there are plenty of balls about this time.
I suppose my Father went to France. Did Harry go with him? I don’t think he was much of a French scholar. I tried to talk French the other day to a man who came about begging but I could do nothing but Hindustani and English with a few words of French here and there and as he could talk Hindustani I found I could make him understand that better than my French. I still keep the Moonshie and I flatter myself that I talk better every day, tho’ he told me that I was not talking very gentlemanly Hindustani the other day, but was talking like a villager, the large towns being the only places where good Hindustani is spoken. Am afraid I shall never be a good hand at writing a letter, at all events when I have no news, which is the case now, so with kind love and remembrances to yourself, my father and everybody,
believe me my dear mother,
your affectionate son,
Robert H. Shebbeare
(On same letter)
Dinapore, 18th November
My dear Peggy,
I am very much obliged and amused by your letters and should have written to you but I could not find anything amusing to tell you. However, I will write you something next time at all events. With love to Emma and Helen and also Jack, believe me your affectionate brother.
R.Shebbeare
Ferozepore, April 17th, 1849
My Dear Jack,
I received your letter this morning and proceed to answer it, as you desire. First I will answer your questions as well as I can. You will know what sort of a place I live in. I can only tell you that it is in a very hot country but I cannot tell you the exact spot for during the last six months I have had no house, but my tent or boat has been my home. I am now going to Wuzeerabad in the middle of the Sikh country. You are wrong in supposing the Sikhs are cowards for they have shown themselves brave men. The country is all quiet now. You will see Wuzeerabad marked on any large map of India, about seventy or eighty miles east of Lahore. I start directly I can get camels to carry my sepoys’ beds, pans and kettles.
I am glad to hear that you get on so well with your Latin. I am learning a new language, Persian, but have not had much time for studying for the last six months. You are quite right to learn music for I recollect that you have a very good ear. I would like to be able to play the piano better than any instrument except the violin which requires so much practice as to make its study a labour. I have not played the flute for a long time but in any case I never learnt enough of music to become even a tolerable player. We have a very good band in the regiment so I hear a good deal of music when with it, but I have now been away for three months and the only music (if you can call it so) which I have heard is a screaming noise made by some of the servants, to the pleasant accompaniment of a small drum.
I had a pleasant trip up the river Sully as there were several other officers with me and I had a very nice boat. There are lots of alligators in the river and we used to see them every day basking in the sun on sandbanks. The jungles on the banks of the river contain wild boar and some few tigers, and in the river and on sandbanks in it there are large flocks of wild geese and ducks, of which we shot a good many; also pelicans, cranes and storks of various kinds, large and small.
I brought a curious dog from Bahawulpore. He is a Persian greyhound, in shape like an English greyhound covered all over the legs with long white silky hair. His ears are like a spaniel’s. He was brought down by an Afghan from the Hhorasan and given me by a friend whom I met at Bahawaulpore. I think I have now told you all I can about myself. I hope you will write again.
Believe me your ever affectionate brother,
Robert H. Shebbeare
I received Mamma’s letter of the 17th February in which yours was enclosed this morning. The letter of December which I answered a few days ago had been lying in the Post Office for some time.
Wuzeerabad, June 7th, 1849
My dear Charles,
Do not be afraid of sending me stale news. Any letter from home is
interesting and I seldom find any repetition in those I receive. At the time you wrote you describe yourself as sitting by the fire; at that time I was endeavouring to keep myself cool in a tent at Ferozopore, but without succeeding.
I marched from Ferozopore about the 20th April and arrived here 3rd May. I found all our fellows hard at work building in order to get under cover before the hot winds set in. I was too late to think of that so I set to work to build at leisure (for as I told you before there was not a hut of any sort before our army arrived), and to live in a tent all the hot weather would be very unsafe. I am building a hut of unburnt brick, twenty-four feet long by twelve feet in breadth, flat at the top and raised about two feet from the ground as they say that water lies on the ground in the rains. I began at first to build on the most economical principles, but before it had progressed far a house built in the same style fell in, so I have been obliged to build on a more expensive scale and fear I shall not finish it under 250 Rs, a heavy pull on me in my present circumstances. However, I spend nothing on other things — my grub costs me very little and my beverage is water. Beer is a rupee a bottle here so I can’t indulge in it and water I never cared about. I found it very hard to give up beer this hot weather, one requires something better than water. I have in fact given up every luxury and some things which are considered necessaries. I have no horse nor have had for some time. I have not given up tobacco nor is there any occasion to, as I can get beautiful Cavendish at one shilling a lb — so I can indulge myself with a pipe and keep a clear conscience. I cannot describe the station to you well for I have seen little of it. It is very flat and dusty, within one mile of the Chenaub. [second page missing]
A note in Riddell’s ‘Record of the 60th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry‘1 records that ‘Lt-Col Smith died from fatigue and exposure after the regiment were obliged to build hutments for themselves at Wuzeerabad.’
Banda, February 25th, 1852
My dear mother,
I missed last mail, being unaware of its going out until too late, and was very nearly missing this for the same reason. In fact I have never time to scribble a line for the sake of writing. I have had a great deal of work lately, being quartermaster, secretary of band and book club committee, and having acted as adjutant in the absence of the pucka adjutant for nearly a month. This was my chief reason for allowing the post to slip away without a letter. Now that I do write I can only tell you that I am quite well and happy and will send you a long letter next mail. The hot weather is now fast approaching and I suppose we shall be obliged to remain indoors all day shortly.
With love to all, believe me, dear mother, your affectionate son, Robert H. Shebbeare
Nowgong, May 7th, 1852
My dear Emma,
I received your letter in the middle of the jungles a few days ago and as you express a wish to receive a letter addressed to yourself particularly I will endeavour to gratify you, although Charles tells me that my letters go round the family in general, for which reason I have always addressed them to my mother.
Doyne and I started from Banda on the 17th of April with a man called Passanah from Orai, with the intention, or rather the hope, of shooting tigers, in which as yet we have been signally unsuccessful. However, we make a fresh start from this station in company with a Colonel Smyth of the 3rd Cavalry who has elephants prepared and has heard of the whereabouts of several tigers, so we have yet a chance of realising a skin or two. We have had most delightful weather, quite extraordinary for this time of year — even in the tents we have not felt the heat severe at all. Nowgong is a very pretty little station, garrisoned by the 3rd Cavalry and a wing of the 55th. We have been here five days and have been very hospitably treated.
Almost all the people seem to be Irish and come from the same part as Doyne. Their brogue is something terrific. Last night we were dining with Mrs. Haig, a sister of Mrs. Riddell of our corps, and she and I were the only English people at the table, the rest (some eight or ten) were either very Irish or equally Scotch — in fact at Nowgong an Englishman appears to be a curiosity!
We have only ten days leave remaining and we are now starting in the opposite direction from Banda so we shall have to return to Banda in one day. The distance is about eighty miles so I shall ride half way and pay a palkie dak for the other forty as the weather is too hot to ride the whole way. I have written palkie dak but you will probably not understand; palkie means palanqueen and dak is travelling. My relays of bearers or horses are in fact relays of any conveyance. Palanqueen travelling is very tedious and very slow, four miles an hour the average, and the bearers wake one up every stage for ‘buckshish’, without which they will not travel an inch, notwithstanding that they receive regular pay.
I really must stop writing now as there are three or four idle fellows talking nonsense in the room and I fear I am writing equal ‘twaddle’. I will write you again next mail and do better if I can.
With best love to all at home, believe me dear Joan, your ever affectionate brother, Robert H. Shebbeare
Banda, October 18th, 1853
My dear Harry,
Since I wrote last we have received our orders to remain at Banda another year, ie the headquarters of the regiment remain and I, of course, being on the staff remain with the colours, but a wing has already marched for Nowgong, about seventy miles S.W. from Banda, to relieve the 55th and take the duties of that station until another regiment arrives from Mooltan. They will be absent altogether for about six months. I suppose that our wretched little station will be more empty than ever during the cold weather. Moreover the small numbers of officers will prevent my getting a month’s leave as I had intended, which is a bore. However, as some sort of compensation the Post Office becomes vacant and I am now in addition of my other emoluments enjoying a salary of seventy rupees and the important post of Post Master at Banda. This gives me some little trouble but not enough to make it a disagreeable situation. The addition to my pay will assist materially in enabling me to polish off my debts, which work I am happy to say is going on very favourably and promises to be completed within a reasonable period. Should I be fortunate enough to obtain one of the regimental staff appointments permanently you may expect, if all goes well, to see me in England in about two years time.
I am very glad that the India Bill was passed as it did not seem desirable to introduce any very violent reforms at once and now the system is left open to reform and gradual improvements as it becomes necessary. It is very ridiculous to talk about the people of India wishing for any grand reform — the fact is that very few of them, in fact only the well educated residents in large cities who are in constant communication with Europeans, have even heard of any change taking place or have any idea of the expiration of the Charter, or what the Charter is, or indeed to go further, what ‘The Company’ is beyond the fact that it is a power governing them much more justly and satisfactorily than they were ever ruled by the best native princes. I have been lately reading the Indian blue book and it is astonishing what very extraordinary statements some of the officials examined are betrayed into making by cross examination. As to the information of a great part of the members who spoke on the subject in the House, it may be put down at a very small figure. Some of the misrepresentations are perfectly absurd. I could give many instances but have not the time. The fact is, it is ridiculous for a man to speak about the Government of India who has not seen it working and has not also seen native governments working alongside it. One man in Parliament (if not more) said that our Government was so oppressive that the people left our own states for those under native rule. The opposite is the fact. I could mention a thousand instances of people leaving Oude for our provinces, and many more would do so if not deterred by the dislike of leaving land which has been in their family for a long time, and they manage to carry on somehow or other, by bribing the native officers employed by the King of Oude, and by occasionally turning out under arms to resist any very serious oppression such as an attempt on the
part of the local governor to collect the Revenue twice over, which frequently happens. In fact, in Oude men plough with a sword and shield at their side and a sepoy who lives in a disturbed part of that country told me that no man sits down to eat without laying his sword and shield across the threshold, to be ready in case of any disturbance. This is of course a little exaggerated but shows nevertheless the native idea of a part of the country which it was stated men fly to from our own provinces. It is very lucky that the detail of the system of government is left to be carried out in India, as it is utterly unreasonable to suppose that it could be settled by people who know nothing of the character and peculiarities of the people.
I suppose that we shall obtain what we wished in the way of new furlough regulations but I cannot say at present exactly what they will be. It seems probable that new European regiments will be raised which will give us a lift in the way of promotion, possibly two steps in this regiment. I am writing under several disadvantages. Firstly the flies have fixed on me as a victim, apparently because they see that I am very bust! Secondly, there are about fifty tailors making sepoys’ coats in the verandah and they come in constantly to show me a ‘fit’ — besides all this I am in a great hurry as the Post leaves at twelve o’clock and it is ‘latest safe day’, a fact I was not aware of when I sat down to write. I must shut up now or I shall be late.
With kindest love to my mother and all at home, believe me your affectionate brother, Robert H. Shebbeare
Wuzeerabad, November 18th, 1853
My dear Harry,
Indian Mutiny and Beyond Page 2