Indian Mutiny and Beyond

by Robert Shebbeare VC (retail) (epub)

  Benares, March 9th, 1861. We march for Jullundhur

  My dear Shebbeare,

  I regret exceedingly having lost a mail ere replying to yours that duly reached me at Calcutta, but I have been very ill ever since the taking of Pekin and was very nearly forced to re-visit England the other day. I am now better and am travelling up towards the Punjab where the Regiment is going to be cantoned; the exact station as yet I know not. Your letter I have unfortunately packed up and it is not by my side to refer to, but to the best of my ability I will answer you questions and give you all the information I possess relative to your lamented brother with regard to his personal estate.

  I think I can say that your brother lived fully up to his income and had never saved money. Indeed, so liberal and open-handed was he that the reverse may be expected. If it is so, his life was insured and that would cover his debts. His heavy baggage was sold at his own request when leaving China and fetched a good sum and I bought his horse for £85.0.0. Randall has the account but perhaps deductions will have to be made for mess expenses.

  Your brother owned a house also in Umballa, but what has become of it during the last three years I know not, and if still in repair. I fear no purchaser would be found in these days who would give an eighth of its value. I shall make enquiries and inspect the house as I pass through. I also have not been able to solve the question regarding the payment of his passage money to England. I know he procured a Draft from the commissariat for the amount, but I received a letter from the poor fellow dated Hong Kong, saying he had lost the draft and wanted me to procure a duplicate. This I was unable to do, and unless he subsequently found the draft I do not think he had sufficient to pay the large sum required for the passage. If paid, half of it at least should be refunded.

  The documents relating to the transfer of prize money hold good. They were bought by your brother from the several parties, Wolseley, Ward, Elton etc for ready cash, and in the distribution of prize, will have to be paid to the estate.

  I visited the ‘Emeu’ at Singapore and was shown the Log Book, and I conveyed you and my own thanks to the Captain for his kindness to your poor brother in giving up his cabin entirely to him, and personally seeing he wanted for nothing. Being on service at the time no committee of adjustment could be formed but now there is one. They have to collect all particulars with regard to his estate and sell all property, sending the money to government, who pay such claims as appear consistent, and then publish in the Gazette the amount of assets. This will take some months.

  I trust my previous letter to Mr Shebbeare was duly received. It was a heavy blow indeed to all, to you doubly so.

  He was greatly beloved by all who knew him, and the regiment adored him.

  The picture, or rather portraits, of Randall were your brother’s property.

  With very kind regards to you and Mrs Shebbeare. Believe me, sincerely yours, G. Aufrere Baker

  Lieutenant Baker’s records show that he was on leave at Simla when the 60th mutinied at Rohtuck. On return he was posted to Delhi where he did duty with Hodson’s Horse, becoming Adjutant in February 1858, and he saw action at Rohundshuker, Allygurt, Futtepore Seekre, Mynpoorie and the final capture of Lucknow. He took part in field operations in Oudh in 1858 and saw further actions at Nawabgung and Fyzabad. Medal and two clasps. Honourable mention in despatches.

  He volunteered for the China Expedition (at Robert Shebbeare’s request) and was at Pehtang, Sinho and the Taku Forts. Actions at Hoosewoo and Chunkiakan. Twice honourably mentioned in despatches and a medal with two clasps. On return to India he joined the 8th Hussars and then became Adjutant of the 6th Bengal Cavalry, in which regiment he was in 1864.

  Robert Shebbeare’s Service Record

  Joined 60th Bengal Native Infantry in 1844. Ensign, 29 February 1844. Lieutenant, 15 November 1849. Officiating Interpreter and Quartermaster of the Regiment, from 1852. Adjutant, 16 January 1854. Adjutant, Interpreter and Quartermaster, February 1855. Escaped with Colonel Seaton from 60th, which mutinied at Rohtuck. ADC to Brigadier Showers, Delhi, 1857 — saw several ‘sharp actions’ with him (3 days). Appointed to Guide Corps (Second in Command and acting Commandant). On duty at Hindoo Rao’s and other hotspots, June—September). Victoria Cross on 14 September 1857 at Kichengunge, Delhi. Offered Second in Command of Hodson’s Horse and Coke’s Rifles, but in October 1857 was asked by General Chamberlain to raise a new Regiment, 15th Punjab Infantry (later 23rd Sikh Pioneers). 3rd Battalion volunteered for wars in China, 1860. Brevet Major.

  Captain Knollys, in The Victoria Cross in India says of Robert Shebbeare’s exploits:

  On the 14th September, 1857, the day of the assault of Delhi, Captain R.H. Shebbeare commanded the detachment of the Guides forming part of Reid’s column. Through want of guns, the weakness of the force and the absence of steadiness on the part of the Cashmere contingent, as well as the strong position of the enemy, who much outnumbered their opponents, the operations were a failure. The Goorkhas, the Guides and the men of the 60th Rifles, however, fought well. An endeavour was made to storm a large loopholed courtyard. Twice Captain Shebbeare charged up to the wall; twice were the stormers driven back. He retired to organize a third attack but one third of the Europeans and many of our native soldiers having failed, he was obliged to abandon the attempt. He then collected some men and covered the retreat of the column. He came out of action with a bullet through his cheek and a bad scalp wound from another bullet. He received the Victoria Cross for his gallantry. Captain Shebbeare repeatedly distinguished himself throughout the mutiny. We regret to add that his name is no longer to be found in the Army List.

  Robert’s parents lived in Surbiton and a stained-glass window in his memory was installed in St Mark’s Church, but was unfortunately destroyed by a bomb during the Second World War.

  Appendix II

  THE SHEBBEARE FAMILY

  This short history has been included, as an ‘optional extra’, chiefly to give the reader some idea of the background of the family in which Robert Shebbeare was brought up; but it is also intended that by following some threads through to almost recent times, his descendants may find enthusiasm to delve into the large amount of material that is yet to be explored in the Devon Record Office. As many of the previous family genealogists seemed to have concentrated on the males and the male lines, there is perhaps a lot of scope to research the many admirable women who feature in the family, and also to bring the family history up to date with details of the current generations.

  Shebbeare is a family that originated in Devon, and over the generations it has produced many distinguished soldiers, sailors, lawyers and churchmen. Early Shebbeares lived at Shebbeare Town in the parish of Abbotsham in North Devon during the sixteenth century, and on the flyleaf of the seventeenth-century family Bible of Richard Shebbeare is recorded: ‘My great-grandfather new-built the parlour at Shebbeare Town about 1580.’ In the seventeenth century a branch moved to Okehampton where members took a prominent part in the life of the town, two of them being mayors of the borough. During his term of office, one of these kept an account book in which he also recorded events in the town, and this, ‘Richard Shebbeare’s Booke, 1669’ is now in the Devon Record Office.

  The best-known early member of the family was Dr John Shebbeare. Born at Shebbeare Town in 1710 he was educated at the Grammar School in Exeter under Zachariah Mudge and showed signs of early literary promise. He was apprenticed to a surgeon in Exeter at the age of sixteen but having lampooned his master and members of the Corporation he moved to Bristol and set up in partnership with a chemist. In 1740 he published a book called A New Analysis of the Bristol Water together with the Cause of Diabetes and Hectic and their Cure as it results from these Waters. It seems just possible that he and his partner were in business selling the water at the time!

  In 1752 he moved to Paris where he took a medical degree, became a member of the Academy of Science and was apparently awarded a doctorate in medicine. He returned to England v
ia Jersey, where he wrote a history of the island, and settled in London in 1754 as a political writer. He wrote a novel, The Marriage Act, opposing Lord Hardwicke’s marriage reforms. His thirty-four published works include plays, novels, satirical, political, historical and medical works but his best-known work is Letters to the People of England, which was designed to show that the grandeur of France and the misfortunes of England were entirely due to the House of Hanover being on the throne of England. As a consequence, the Attorney-General filed an information against him and he was found guilty of libel, for which he was sentenced to pay a fine of £5, stand one hour in the pillory at Charing Cross and suffer three years’ imprisonment. He was driven in a coach provided by Under-Sheriff Beardmore to Charing Cross, where the latter’s kindly chairman held an umbrella over his head to shelter him from the elements, the first time that this novelty was used in public in England. He went to prison for some time, but was later awarded a pension by the King, in order to keep him quiet, it is thought.

  He obviously raised strong and different emotions in people. Chambers Book of Days says: ‘He died at a good old age in 1788, greatly lamented by his friends, for this Ishmael of politics and public life is represented a very amiable and worthy man in all his private relations, as husband, son, father, brother and friend.’ The 22-year-old Fanny Burney, on the other hand, in her diary (1774), spent an evening in his company and noted:

  He absolutely ruined our evening; for he is the most morose, rude, gross and ill-mannered man I was ever in company with. He aims perpetually at wit, though he constantly stops short at rudeness . . . What most incited his spleen was Woman, to whom he professes a fixed aversion; and next to this his greatest disgust is against the Scotch; and these two subjects he wore threadbare ... The only novelty which they owed to him was his extraordinary coarseness of language he made use of.

  Her companion thought that the old doctor had his reputation for misanthropy to keep up, and was doubtless trying to shock her. Fanny mentions later that ‘Miss Reid was, I suppose, somewhat scandalised at the man’s conversation, as it happened in her house, and therefore, before we took leave, she said, “Now I must tell you that Dr Shebbeare has only been jesting; he thinks as we do all the time.”’

  Opinion as to his literary talents seems to have been divided too. Macaulay called him ‘a wretched scribbler’, while Dr Johnson said, ‘He had knowledge and abilities much above the class of ordinary writers and deserves to be remembered as a respectable name in literature were it only for his admirable “Letters on the English Nation”.’

  Like him or loathe him, he obviously made his mark on society at the time. Dr John had one son, the Rev. John Shebbeare, Rector of East Hornden in Essex, who was a bachelor and a noted musician. His younger brother Joseph had a son, Charles, who became a doctor, and he in turn produced Charles John, Robert Haydon’s father. There is a family portrait of Charles John Shebbeare which was done in pastel by William Russell, son of John Russell RA, the well-known artist, who was himself very talented and might have outshone his father had he not gone into the Church. He was a neighbour of the Shebbeares near Guildford.

  Charles John Shebbeare became a solicitor and then at the age of forty or so, sent himself up to Queen’s College, Cambridge as a Fellow Commoner. He was later called to the Bar and set up in chambers at 5, New Square, Lincoln’s Inn. He married Louisa Matilda Wolfe, aged sixteen, daughter of the Rev. Robert Barbor Wolfe. After the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, the Reverend Robert had decided to take his family for a holiday to the Continent and was in France when in 1803, Napoleon, against all international agreements at the time, ordered that every English person be detained and held prisoner. His book, The English Prisoners in France, published in 1830, was an account of his experiences as chaplain to the English community at Givet and Verdun from 1803 to 1812. Louisa herself wrote ‘A Childhood in France’ for her family, and in it she describes seeing Napoleon sitting on a table, swinging his legs to and fro and throwing bon-bons into the air, which he caught in his mouth. Louisa’s brother, Henry, became a Captain in the Honourable East India Company’s service and compiled a scrapbook of drawings of his voyages in the 1820s—1840s, an edited version of which is to be published in due course.

  Charles and Louisa had ten children, two of whom died in infancy:

  Charles Hooper (1824—1887), Rector of Wykeham in Yorkshire; Robert Haydon (1827—1860) VC; Henry Francis, ‘Harry’ (1828— 1897), barrister; Margaretta Louisa, ‘Peggy’ (1831—1873), married Charles Govett; Emma Jane, ‘Joan’ (1832—1908); Helen Charlotte, ‘Nelly’ (1834—1922), married William Bennett; Reginald John, ‘Jack’ (1839—1916); and Alice Mary (1844-1922), unmarried, became a sister at Holy Cross Convent.

  The Shebbeare archive includes a large number of family photographs dating from the late 1850s onwards and the illustrations of Robert Haydon’s parents and siblings are all from that source.

  The Rev. Charles Hooper Shebbeare and his wife Lucy Marian (née Inge) brought up a large family of nine children and, in order to educate them from his small stipend, they had to forgo many luxuries. Charles Hooper is said to have taken two holidays in thirty-four years, and on the second he caught a chill from which he died — an object lesson on the dangers of excess perhaps!

  His eldest son, the Rev. Charles John Shebbeare DD was a priest and theologian of high repute, with many books to his credit, including The Greek Theory of the State, The Problem of the Future Life, Religion in an Age of Doubt and The Challenge of the Universe: all topics which continue to occupy us today. He was Rector at Swerford in Oxfordshire before moving to a sixteen-bedroom rectory at Stanhope in County Durham. Robert Inge Shebbeare tells me that there was a central-heating system which was lit with much ceremony when they arrived, but after a week, in which a ton of coke was consumed and a gardener called Briggs constantly employed to stoke the monster, it was never used again! He held theological lectureships at both Oxford and Cambridge, and in 1921 he was appointed a Chaplain to the King, travelling down once a year to preach at the Chapel Royal. In 1930 he prepared a sermon in defence of foxhunting but on the day he decided that this would be an inappropriate subject as the R.101 disaster had just occurred, so he published it instead, and received many letters of criticism. About the same time also he accepted the mastership of the local hunt which drew more correspondence, not least from the Bishop of Durham, Herbert Hensley Henson, who wrote, apropos of going to heaven: ‘Will the Master of the Wear Valley Beagles have the endless felicity of meeting again not only his well-loved hounds but also the hares which they, and he, delighted to hunt? I am content to remain an agnostic.’ Charles John’s wife Evelyne (née Joyce) continued the family habit of keeping all her correspondence and through her three sons’ letters to her we can trace their interesting lives as they unfold. Robert Inge Shebbeare’s first literary offering, for instance, gets straight to the point and reads, ‘Dear Santa. Eeyore or stilts.’

  Their eldest son, William Godolphin Conway (‘Bill’) Shebbeare, deserves some special mention. After Winchester, he went up to Christ Church, Oxford, where he became a committed Socialist and in 1936 was elected President of the Oxford Union, ahead of Max Beloff. He became a leader writer for the Daily Herald and at the age of twenty-four was elected to the predominantly Conservative Council in Holborn. His political career was cut short by the war when he enlisted in the Army. He wrote a book called A Soldier looks Ahead under the pen name of ‘Captain X’, which contained many interesting ideas for the future of the Army. While he was leading his squadron into action at the battle for Caen in Normandy his tank was hit and, because there had been a report that he had been seen in a dazed state afterwards, he was posted as missing. His parents spent a long and distressing time interviewing survivors from his regiment, the 23rd Hussars, in the hope of finding that he had perhaps been taken prisoner, but after a whole year it was confirmed that he had been killed in action. Many years later a member of the family met Prime Minister Harold Wilson,
who, on learning that he was a relation of Bill Shebbeare, said, ‘If he’d been alive today, he’d have had my job.’

  Robert Austin Shebbeare fought in the First World War and was awarded the DSO and the Croix de Guerre. His eldest son Charles Charlewood has descendants, Owain and Rupert, who live in Melbourne, Australia.

  His younger son, also Robert Austin, joined the Guides Cavalry in 1930 and noted in his memoirs that in the Mess at the Guides Headquarters at Mardan there was one leaf of a mahogany table taken from Hindoo Rao’s House after the Siege of Delhi and leaves had been added on to form a table to seat forty. The other two leaves were taken by the 60th Rifles and the Sirmoor Battalion of Gurkhas, who also fought alongside the Guides on the ridge; each leaf had crests and mottoes carved on them, ‘Rough and Ready’ in the case of the Guides. Later, as ADC to the Governor of Sind, Sir Lancelot Graham, he travelled with him around the province on tours of inspection. One morning, the train made an early stop for breakfast and Sir Lancelot, still clad in curious night apparel consisting of a sort of smock, shorts like a Chinaman, together with a cummerbund, decided to take a short walk up the line, leaving unseen on the non-platform side. He returned to see the train receding into the disance without him and said to the stationmaster, ‘I am the Governor of Sind and that is my train,’ to which came the quick retort, ‘Yes, and I am the Queen of Sheba.’ Sir Lancelot was eventually reunited with his transport and Robert Austin later married his daughter, Frances. Robert Austin was commanding the 3rd Indian Grenadiers at the time of partition in 1947. While extricating his regiment by train from Pakistan it was attacked by a large number of hostile tribesmen and he was wounded. His young daughter, Jenny, who was about five at the time, shouted out, ‘Don’t let these nasty men steal our lunch!’ He was awarded the Shaurya Chakra, an Indian decoration for gallantry which is given ‘for valour, courageous action or self-sacrifice away from the battlefield’.