I have just received yours of the 19th September and although I do not feel much in a vein for writing, having been suffering from a dreadful cold for the last few days which makes me quite stupid, I will nevertheless give you a few lines by this mail.
The relief is out and we have orders to proceed to Cawnpore! and much to our disgust to start on the 1st February. It is fifty-six marches, I believe, so we shall not get there until after the hot winds have set in. Cawnpore is in my opinion the most disgusting station in India out and out. Very hot, very dusty and upward of five miles long, so station duty there is no joke. ‘Au reste’ stores are cheap enough, and house rent ought to be very low, as the number of troops quartered there has been greatly decreased, and we shall have some society at all events, all of which I have not enjoyed for some time. It is rumoured that we are to escort Shere Sing and Chutter Sing down country; I hope not as it will add so much to our duty. [Chatar Singh and his son Shere Singh had been thorns in the side of the British during the Sikh war. They were comprehensively defeated at the Battle of Gujarat in February 1849 and held captive thereafter.]
We shall again be quite out of the way in the event of war breaking out. It seems fated that we shall not see any service. I went up on the 15th and passed the interpreter’s examination. I am now, as you say, at the end of my examinations, and qualified to hold any appointment. I mean to have a shy at Punjabee though, as soon as I get the grammars and dictionaries. I have subscribed to some which are advertised for publication immediately, and as there is a Punjabee regiment now at Cawnpore I hope to be able to find someone able to teach me.
I am in great hopes of selling my house. It was originally a speculation of my own but two of our officers have joined with me in improving it, by pulling down the thatch of their house and putting it on to mine in the shape of a verandah. When this is finished the house will have thatched verandah on three sides and a flat roofed one on the fourth and will be worth a great deal more, as no house sells well without verandahs. They will take a quarter share of the house and we live in it until it is sold.
You enquire about my brother officers. They are mostly a very good lot, though of course we have some black sheep amongst us. There are only about twelve of us with the corps at present; however, most of them are of the best sort so we manage to amuse ourselves, notwithstanding the dullness of this station. Our present commanding officer is a most disgusting character, a sneaking, low-minded quarrelsome fellow who has been despised by the whole regiment ever since he has been in it. Luckily, being only a brevet major, he has no chance of keeping the corps long, but he has taken the opportunity of his temporary command to alter all the old regimental rules and customs for ridiculous ways of his which will last no longer than during his own reign, and give immense trouble to men and officers.2 Add to all this that he has been some twenty-five years in the service and cannot drill a company much less the regiment, and that he seldom speaks a word of truth unless he knows that it will injure someone, and you have a correct picture of our commandant. Don’t think that I am prejudiced against the man for I have no personal quarrel, but this is his character in the Army.3
I don’t think I have much chance of a meeting with your friend in the 15th Hussars as I don’t suppose they will come to our part of India. I shall be a lieutenant by the time I write to you again, as we have just bought out our major. For this step I pay Rs.980. I shall have to borrow it and pay off by giving up the difference. [Further pages missing]
Umballah, April, 1855
My dear Mother,
I am afraid I have behaved very badly in regard to letter writing of late but I really have some little excuse, for since arrival here in the beginning of January, until the camp of exercise was broken up, I scarcely had a minute that I could call my own — and since that we have been inspected by the Brigadier which has given me a great deal of work also. The camp was an imitation of the English Chobham and a very large force was assembled. We had constant field days and parades, and towards the end the Commander-in-Chief came to Umballah and inspected us several times. The regiment I am glad to say behaved very creditably within the camp, and was reported by the Brigadier as in excellent order. All this is very pleasant as the adjutant gets credit for the appearance and the behaviour of the regiment as well as the commanding officer, although the general rule is said to be that the commanding officer takes the credit for anything creditable and gives the blame to the adjutant for everything which is the contrary!
I like our station pretty well now that I have a little time to make acquaintances. It is comparatively a new cantonment and has not very good roads. These however are improving and the houses are very good. I have been forced to buy a house, borrowing the money of course, but as I got the estate cheap I shall not be likely to lose by it even after calculating the interest on the money. I say ‘forced’ to buy. The fact is that the rent would have been very high and I managed to arrange to pay in instalments towards the liquidation of the loan, not much higher than my monthly rent would have been. In two years, if all goes well, the house will become my property without encumbrance. You ask regarding my speculation in carts and bullocks. It answered very well as I have been able to sell the whole stock for as much as it cost me.
Our march was not quite so pleasant to me as our former marches have been as I have had an attack of fever, rather severe, about three weeks before we left Banda, and although quite well when we started I had constant relapses all the way and was obliged to starve a good deal and give up all attempts at shooting till towards the end of the journey. I was consequently rather thin and weak on my arrival at Umballah but am thankful to be able to say that I picked up my strength again quickly and was able to go through all the work of parades etc without a day’s sickness. Poor George Birch! His wife was taken ill at the commencement of the march and grew gradually weaker, till he was obliged to leave her at Delhi with some friends. He returned almost immediately after the regiment arrived here but only to find her so ill that she seldom recognised him and she died on the second day and his own death followed hers almost immediately. I have lost a great many friends lately and have indeed few left in this country; many acquaintances I of course have, but in one’s absence from home and from all relations one feels a want of friends who can feel with me and take an interest in the same things, which is not the case with more everyday acquaintances.
I have got a box of pebble bracelets and little ornaments of that sort which I collected during the stay at Banda and had left at Delhi. I shall send them down to my agents in Calcutta for shipment to England and I hope they will reach home all safe and that the girls will like the box and contents, although I fear they may not be as much approved of in England as they seem to be in this country. I had intended to send the pebbles home a long time ago but could never get them set to my satisfaction.
I have just been rather alarmed by a cry from the bungalow opposite to ours in which an officer of the regiment is living. We all ran out and found one of the servants’ houses (close to the bungalow) in a blaze. The sepoys, on the alarm, turned out and pulled the thatch off in a minute and the water carriers being in readiness they and the men soon put a stop to it. The sepoys always behave well on these occasions, climbing on the roof without fear to pour water which others hand them from below in large earthen pots which are always at hand in case of fire. Had the fire reached the bungalow I fancy ours would have had a poor chance (with several others), as it is very near and a strong wind was blowing in the direction of it.
I have commenced the study of Punjabee again and am getting on pretty fairly. I shall try and pass the examinations while we are here although I have no interest with the Punjab administration (nor indeed with any other of the great Powers in India). I have already found the advantage of being ready for everything, in that way. As an instance I may tell you that I am at present acting interpreter for which I get some seventy rupees monthly, merely because I am the only passed officer with the corps. Punjabee is very e
asy and I hope to be able to master it before very long. My appointment as interpreter and quartermaster (for they always go together) gives me a good deal of work when combined with the adjutancy, but I suppose I shall not hold it long.
It is getting hot and we shall soon be shut up in our houses during the hot weather, I suppose. The Umballah people, such at least as can get leave, are daily leaving the plains for Simla, the nearest hill station. Most of the trades people are gone up there for the hot weather; in fact only those who are obliged to remain here do so as they have a delightful climate within sixty or seventy miles. I shall hope to run up for a month during the heat. I begin to think that six months in a cold climate would do me a great deal of good and set me up with a fresh stock of health and strength but I am afraid I cannot afford to lose my allowances for so long. I must try what a month will do I suppose. Do not think that I have anything to complain of in the way of health, although the fact is that after a continued residence in a hot climate everybody is the better for a few months of the cold and bracing air of the hills.
I have come to the end of my papers and, as I have not left time to read my letter through, I must even let it go as it is although doubtless full of mistakes and repetitions, as it had been written at various times and generally in a hurry. Hoping that this will find you all well and happy.
Believe me dear mother with kind love to all, ever your affectionate son, Robert H. Shebbeare
Ensign T.N. Walker, in memoirs written much later, gives an account of this march from Banda to Umballah, a distance of 436 miles.4
A long march in India in the cold season is most enjoyable. Dinner is soon after sunset, in order that the large mess-tent may be struck and started off with all the mess property before tattoo for the next camping-ground, where, on arrival next morning, it is found pitched and the table laid for breakfast.
This arrangement necessitates early to bed, which is just as well, for we have to turn out very early, the first bugle sounding from three to four o‘clock in the morning, according to the length of the march before us. These marches vary from ten to fourteen miles . . . Having ‘fallen in’, the regiment receives the order, ‘Quick march’, the band strikes up, and one feels in better humour. On the order to ‘march at ease’, pipes and cigars are lighted, and talking commences. Daylight appears; then the coffee-shop, which had been sent on with the mess property the night before, and left at a place as near half way to the new camping-ground as good and abundant drinking water was to be found.
There on the ground, as for a picnic, the Chottha haziri, or ‘little breakfast’, is laid out on a tablecloth, to which repast we all do ample justice. Half-an-hour is generally allowed for the halt, and on the corps marches again to the enlivening strains of the band ... Presently exclamations of ‘There’s the dueg buegy’ are heard. This is a native kettle-drum which a camp-follower, sitting by the side of the road, beats at a distance of some six hundred yards from the new ground . . . It gives notice to the villagers around that a regiment is coming, and thus an opportunity is afforded them of selling milk vegetables, fowls etc, etc, while the regiment learns that it is near the march’s end ... Officers and men are generally white with dust. This, however, is soon got rid of, and, within half an hour the mess-tent is full of men tubbed, comfortably dressed, and pitching into a good breakfast.
Umballah, October 12th, 1855
My dear Joan,
I received your letter of the 30th August yesterday and I write at once in answer it; for my letter can just get home by the same steamer with the lady to whom I made over my little parcel. It has just occurred to me that I left blank the probable date of Mrs Sanctuary’s arrival in England. I was not sure of it at the time I wrote and forgot (I think) to fill it in afterwards. If she does not send it shortly after you receive this tell Harry to go and find her out. I gave him the name and address. At any rate I hope he will call on her and know she will be glad to see him; and she may perhaps be able to tell him something more of our manner of life at Umballah than I have ever communicated in any of my letters. I only made her acquaintance since we came here but have been rather intimate with her since. I directed the parcel to Harry as I thought there might be some trouble about it and did not like to put my Father to the inconvenience which the looking after it might possibly occasion. I once thought of separating the articles and particularizing these intended for each of you, but I thought that I would leave it to my mother to do this for me, and I hope that trifling as the presents are you will all accept them with my most sincere love and will believe that I constantly think of you all and long to be with you, although I believe I am not much given to expressing this feeling in my letters.
As soon as ever I can see a chance of promotion within a year or two I shall give up my adjutancy and come home; but without this it would be folly to attempt it I think. I am now living very quietly and moderating my expenses with this hope before my eyes.
I, this day, received a letter from my friend Doyne from Calcutta telling me of his arrival and asking how he should send your parcel. I don’t know when he may be here but suppose it will not be long first. I wish he had seen you and shall take him to task for not doing so but I believe he would have come if he could.
There will not be much change in Umballah this cold season as only one regiment marches. It is not very lively and I go out very little except to play cricket in the evening, or for a game at billiards occasionally. I am reading away at the Punjabee and I have gone once through both of the examination books. I shall try and go up for examination in January. I fear only the talking, as the test in this one is that one has to maintain a conversation with a man of the shopkeeper class, with one of the farming class and with a soldier, which will be difficult considering very few people speak the language at Umballah and I have therefore very little practice. The examinations take place at Lahore and I shall require about ten days leave to go there. I fear I shall get little good at passing but I can get no harm. I am at present holding only the adjutancy5 but in a few days shall be interpreter and possibly quartermaster as I am the only passed officer present and I think they will scarcely let an unpassed man hold the appointment.
I am writing my letter and reading at intervals the Quarterly Review of the ‘Memoirs of Sydney Smith’. I should like much to see the book although I think, by reading this review and another which appeared a short time back (I forget where), I have probably got the best part of it already. 28th. I must finish off in a hurry to save the mail. I don’t recollect a bit what I have told you but I have at any rate written something and will write again soon.
Your ever affectionate brother, Robert H. Shebbeare
Notes
1 Extract from J.P. Riddell’s ‘Record of the 60th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry: With a Sequel on the 3rd Europeans’, Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research (War Office), 1964.
2 This was Brevet Major (acting Lieutenant Colonel) Richard Drought. Robert Shebbeare does not mince his words about his opinion of him, and mentions his acting CO in similarly derogatory tones in a later letter (7 June 1857). Drought joined the Regiment at Agra in 1825, was present at the siege and capture of Bhurtpore in 1825—6, and saw active service with the 60th on several occasions. He served in Major General Pollock’s force that recaptured Kabul in 1842. Later he was wounded at Delhi (see comments from RHS in later letter about this!). He retired in 1861 as an Honorary Major General. As his adjutant, Robert Shebbeare must have had a lot to do with Drought, so one must assume that this opinion was not lightly formed, especially as he is very complimentary about Colonel Seaton, who replaced Drought. At the time of the Mutiny, Drought would have been aged fifty-five.
3 Hodson, a friend of Robert Shebbeare, and not noted for reticence on any subject, said:
At the age at which officers become colonels and majors, not one in fifty is able to stand the wear and tear of Indian service. They become still more worn in mind than in body. All elasticity is gone; all e
nergy and enterprise worn out; they become, after a fortnight’s campaign, a burden to themselves, an annoyance to those under them, and a terror to everyone but the enemy!
The officer who commanded the cavalry brigade which so disgraced the service at Chillianwalla, was not able to mount a horse without the assistance of two men. A brigadier of infantry, under whom I served during the three most critical days of the late war, could not see his regiment when I led his horse by the bridle until its nose touched the bayonets; and even then he said faintly, ‘Pray which way are the men facing, Mr. Hodson?’
In the emergency, a large number of them were replaced by younger men and very often lieutenants were asked to raise regiments, as was Robert Shebbeare in 1858. One aspect of the rigid system that seems to have been more flexible is that officers were moved between regiments quite frequently.
4 Walker, Colonel T.N., Through the Mutiny: Reminiscences of Thirty Years Active Service and Sport in India, 1854—66, Gibbings and Co., London, 1907.
5 From 1 October 1855 to September 1856, as Adjutant of the 60th NI, he kept a memo book in which he recorded details of promotion and pay of officers and sepoys, together with the general business in which the regiment was involved. A page from December 1855 gives some typical entries:
Ramchurn Gowall, Sepoy, No. 7 company, absent without leave from 6th December. Struck off R.O., [regimental orders] 26th December, 1855.
Naick [corporal] Bhowanycheek Duobee put in arrest on the 23rd December.
Captain Coare, Lt Innes and Ensign Walker and companies 2, 3 and 4, completed to full strength, to be held in readiness to proceed to Kalka for protection at Hd. Qtrs. Camp. Brigade Orders 24th December, 1855.
Naick Bhola Sing died at Delhi. Struck off R.O., 26th December 1855.
Indian Mutiny and Beyond Page 3