Several of the captains announced their intention of accepting half-pay for the duration of the posting, of staying in England on furlough in effect. Most of the junior men could not afford to do so, having no other income to make up the fall in pay. Major Carter became very thoughtful, eventually sat in Septimus’ office with him and announced that his marriage had been brought forward and the happy couple would accompany the regiment to Londonderry.
“It might just be a blessing in disguise, in fact, sir. Not to make too much of it, but Reeve is a managing sort of fellow, sir and is inclined to order our future lives just a little more than I like. Two years at a distance from him in Ireland might serve to establish our independence.”
“Your presence will be very welcome, Mr Carter. Additionally, my wife will accompany me and will be very glad of the existence of another lady in the cantonment. I am given to understand that the barracks has its quarters for married officers attached and behind a wall, much as in India. For the same reason, of course – to keep the natives out!”
“What of Perceval, sir?”
“Still making his mind up. I am given to believe that he is in contact with his father regarding the possibility of his marrying an ‘outsider’ such as Miss Mitchell. The father is much opposed to her lineage, much taken by her inheritance – an estate worth damned near fifty thousand and Consols at four times as much, would you believe! Added to that, there are business interests that the old man is now divesting and that will come home at as much again in all probability. Say what you like about new money, half a million is not to be sneezed at!”
“Ten gives you one, sir, the next we shall hear will be that Mr Mitchell has been made Lord Mitchell of Lower Canada and that his daughter, the Honourable Miss Mitchell, is to wed Major Perceval of the Hampshires. The Percevals have a sufficiency of influence to pull that one, sir. The Major to half-pay for the near future – one can hardly be married out of Londonderry, after all!”
“I will not take your bet, Major Carter – for I think you are on a sure thing!”
The two marriages took place in the same week, Major Carter at the old church in Owlesbury, Major Perceval in the Cathedral in Winchester, attended by the whole of the Perceval family, all suddenly very proud of the enterprising young man.
The battalion the meanwhile readied itself for the translation to the damps of Ireland. There was much discussion of the best route to take – the journey from the South Coast to Northern Ireland was no simple matter.
There were four possibilities.
They quickly dismissed the option of taking ship from Southampton, despite Londonderry itself being a port city. It could take longer to reach the North of Ireland by ship than to get to New York; the wind was normally from the north-west, absolutely foul for their purpose. Going southabout they might have to reach as far as the Azores before they could make good their course. The alternative was to go north around the Pentland Firth – the passage around Scotland that was the stormiest water in the whole of Britain, that had destroyed the Spanish Armada in its day and that still took an annual toll of cargo carriers forced into the area.
They could march to Bristol and take ship there, still to force their way against the westerly wind. Alternatively they could go for the shortest sea crossings.
“Holyhead in Anglesey is the best for time, sir. I am told that it is possible to cross to the port for Dublin in less than twenty-four hours. There is then, of course, to march from Dublin to Londonderry. Alternatively, from Liverpool one can take ship direct to our destination, sir – two or perhaps three days at sea. The Irish Sea can on occasion be nasty, sir, but we shall be making our way in mid-summer.”
“Anglesey is not the easiest of places to reach in Britain, I believe, Mr Green.”
The adjutant agreed that it was not. The most direct route took the battalion over some of the more rugged terrain in Wales; the roundabout way involved another one hundred and more miles on the march.
“Liverpool and ship from there, sir.”
Horse Guards agreed with the itinerary they suggested and gave a date for the middle of August. Before the regiment left Winchester Heythorne, the General Officer Commanding the Southern Region made a formal inspection and then took Septimus aside.
“This posting smells, as you will have guessed, Colonel Pearce. Very political! However, I have pulled my own set of strings, sir, and we shall put it to good use. You are to make each of your companies up to one hundred men, sir, and will add a band and a headquarters party as well. Yours will be one of the largest battalions outside of the Brigade of Guards, Colonel Pearce, and it will therefore be a prime candidate for inclusion on any expedition that may take place. You will be visible, sir! I have reason to believe that you are under the scrutiny of the Duke of York, sir, and he is not unfavourable to you. Two successful years in Ireland, sir, the peace well and truly kept, and you will be in the way of doing yourself a lot of good!”
Brother George was nearly fifty years of age now, was starting to show his years, carrying a small belly and displaying an amount of pink scalp where there had used to be hair.
“Getting on, Septimus! Jonathan, now, is very nearly eighteen years of age and Amelia is a woman grown and thinking about her come-out!”
“They do grow up, brother! Will Jonathan come into the business or is he to be otherwise engaged?”
“He is to go up to University, Septimus. Edinburgh, not Oxford or Cambridge – I want him to have the chance at an education! The two English universities are no more than clubs for the idlers of the upper classes – he would face prejudice and abuse there and have small opportunity of success. In Edinburgh he will learn and not just Latin and Greek but political economy and the mathematics, or the Natural Sciences if he should prefer. He does not yet know how he will lean, and I shall not push him for a year or two.”
“Managers for the firm or sell up and invest in these Consols of yours?”
“I have a man working well for me at the moment, and I shall give him a percentage of the firm for his own – so that it is to his advantage to build it. Your income is safe, Septimus!”
“I am glad, brother. I am managing to put a little aside every year for my own children, as I must. I am told that the way of life in Ireland can be expensive, for having to buy almost all in England and have it shipped across the Irish Sea.”
“It is only for two years, after all. You will survive that and be back here in the Year Seven, seeking a campaign, I have no doubt!”
The march across England was tedious in the middle of summer – but compared with India the temperatures were hardly significant. The men kept the pace well, as a result of their training, but the young ensigns faltered; even on horseback they found the hours difficult.
Septimus was neither pleased nor surprised – these were boys who had come direct from their school benches and had spent too little time in the open air, playing, running and riding. The concept of sport in schools was almost unknown and they had little in the way of muscle as a result.
“It’s the parade ground for these horrible objects as soon as we reach our barracks, Major Carter. They will do better than this or send their papers in and run back home to mama!”
Carter grinned, unable to disagree and quite happy to see the back of two at least of the boys in his companies.
“What is the word from Londonderry, sir? Will we be called out immediately, do you expect?”
“The threat of a French landing seems to be higher than usual, Major Carter, and there is a degree of anger still among both sides dating from their rising in when was it? Ninety-eight, was it not?”
Carter thought it was.
“The Protestants lost many of their people killed and their womenfolk very badly handled; houses burned and animals driven off or slaughtered in the field as well. They are bitter and, I am told, cannot see why every Papist who might have risen should not have hanged. The Catholics were put down hard, in their opinion – and from all I
heard at the time, they had grounds for complaint. The end of it is that the two sides have little other than hatred for each other, irrespective of the original causes and the rights and wrongs of Irish history. By all I hear from Horse Guards, which ain’t enough, as always, Whitehall don’t care a damn for either side, but will not allow the French or Spanish a foothold which they could turn into a naval harbour positioned across English trade routes into the Atlantic. So whatever the Irish want, whichever side they are, don’t matter a lot to us. We must keep the French out, and the easiest way, so I am told, is to back the Protestants against all comers.”
It was a simple policy to comprehend, and the soldier was not to involve himself in politics, or not until he became a general at least. They were not sent to judge policy; they were to obey orders, unless those orders became intolerable, in which case they must go to half-pay in England.
They reached Liverpool in just over three weeks, not displeased with their achievement, and Major Carter was reunited with his bride who had taken two days in post-chaise and four.
Four large merchantmen awaited them in the docks, ships that generally sailed empty to ports on the West coast of Ireland and returned bearing cargoes of live cattle to be slaughtered in Liverpool. They smelt, but there was plenty of straw to lay down on the decks.
The port was full of vessels on the Atlantic run; quite literally hundreds of ships were waiting to join a convoy to New York and then in many cases to run up to Halifax in Canada or south to the tobacco and cotton of the slave states.
“Was the French to have a port in Northern Ireland then not one of these ships would sail, Major Carter.”
Septimus had imbibed more of the merchant’s way of thought than he had realised – he could appreciate that an end to the Atlantic trade would break the whole country.
The Quartermaster reported that there were no cooking facilities at all aboard the ships and left Septimus to argue with the owners. They said they had been contracted to transport the battalion – there was no obligation on them to provide food as well. Septimus ordered the battalion to set up camp on the docks – they were to go no further, it seemed.
The authorities became involved and sought to mediate, calling in the Sheriff’s officer who had played a part in assigning the contract and who had pocketed a hefty commission in process. Septimus simply stated that he would address an Express to Horse Guards and to the Duke of York as Commander-in-Chief; until he received a response he was not to move his battalion and they would commandeer a pair of warehouses for their convenience.
What was said and done behind the scenes he did not know but three emigrant ships were discovered to be available for a short charter. In the nature of things, they were designed for the transport of people and had large galleys. The Quartermaster inspected them and was satisfied and they boarded them the following morning, the horses and baggage loaded onto a smaller brig to tag on behind.
Three days of a reasonably favourable wind saw them in port, disembarking and marching through empty streets to the barracks.
Septimus rode at the head of the column, eyes wary. There was no indication of trouble; no crowds; no catcalls; no faces at the windows even. It was a wasteland of houses, tiny tumbledown terraces in red brick and cracked tile, apparently empty of occupants. Perhaps the people here had reason to fear the military; a pity, but it would make life easier, and it was not his soldiers who had created the terror, it was not his fault. The wisest move was to see nothing, and think less.
Between one road and the next all changed. The terraces grew a fraction larger and far better kept; there were children out cheering at the sides of the street; there was a pub or shop at every corner, and showing profitable with goods to sell and bars open for early drinkers.
There were two communities, one on top, one very much underneath.
The barracks was large and contained two other battalions of the line and a regiment of heavy cavalry. There was a Brigadier in command, who was not displeased to bring another battalion into his fold, but could see no particular use for them.
“Anderson, Colonel Pearce, Brigadier, Northumberlands. One could not get a lot further distant from your people and still be in England, sir! Not that we are here, of course, thinking on the matter. Some sort of nonsense about the Frogs, they tell me, Colonel Pearce, another landing, so they say. Wrong place for it! Fleet out of Brest and sailing the length of the Irish coast to find a beach in the North? Giving the Navy another three or four days to attack the troopships at sea? The politicians might think that was a good idea, but Bonaparte’s soldiers won’t be pleased with it! No, there will be no French soldiers seen in these parts, Colonel Pearce!”
“I am not displeased to hear that, sir. I had far rather fight them in another man’s country than in my own!”
Brigadier Anderson laughed mightily, agreed wholeheartedly.
It seemed to Septimus that the gentleman took some pains to be loud and large and impressive – perhaps it drew the attention of Horse Guards.
He was subordinate to the man, and had to work with him. Politeness above all!
“My wife will join me here in a week or two, sir, as soon as there is accommodation to hand. I gather that it is the habit here to live in a cantonment, somewhat similar to the Indian practice?”
“Very much so, Colonel Pearce! Much the wiser course! There are quarters available for the married officers – in profusion, one might say, the camp here capable of housing a division! There are places earmarked for you and your senior people, sir – we had warning, after all, and it gave my staff something useful to do. Ready to walk into, sir!”
“That is very good of you, Brigadier! My Major Carter has his wife in company, in fact, had expected to find rooms in a hotel for a few days.”
“He will do no such thing, Colonel Pearce! My lady wife will be very pleased if they will stay with us for a while until the house is exactly to the Major’s satisfaction! Come, sir, I must make the acquaintance of your people!”
They walked out of the red-brick offices and across to the Hampshire’s Mess, found the bulk of the officers in the anteroom, politely assembled. Only the Quartermaster was missing, and he would not care to be absent while his stores were unpacked and tucked safely away.
“Hired the Mess servants for you, Colonel Pearce – on liking, of course. Most of them served with the Colours – older men, in the nature of things, picked up a wound or a fever that they were slow to recover from so that they were discharged. Got the names of a few more who will be pleased to staff the houses, with their wives and daughters, where they’ve got them, to be maids and cooks and such-like. Better that way; safer.”
It was an occupied country, it seemed – the population to be assumed hostile except they were known to be of the right sort.
“I must send a letter immediately to Mrs Pearce, sir. She will wish to travel just as soon as is possible.”
“She will be very welcome, of course, Colonel Pearce. Another lady to provide company for the few here will be much cosseted. Children as well, I doubt not, to add a few more little friends.”
It was quite as much a colonial enclave as Bombay had been – the army leading a separate, hermetic existence, talking almost solely to its own and with shoulders closed against the intrusion of outsiders.
“Is there an active local society in the city, sir?”
“Not to any great extent, Colonel Pearce – we tend to meet the local landowners at official affairs, once or twice a year, but one hardly wishes to drive out of an evening.”
There was fear, an expectation that trouble might be not too far under the surface; Septimus accepted that the men who had been here longer than him knew what was what. He would make no attempt to change the way things were.
“I am under orders to recruit, Brigadier. Should I seek men locally, or is it wiser to trawl through the agricultural areas further to the south?”
The Brigadier leant back in his chair, sought the opinion of th
e three officers of his staff also present in the office.
“I have the word from Horse Guards, Colonel Pearce. It is their intention to make the Hampshires one of the larger regiments of the Line. Your new Second Battalion is forming in Winchester, at the depot, and the First is to build itself to as many as one thousand strong rather than the more normal seven to eight hundred. Sensible, in its way, sir; we all know that the fevers of the field will reduce any battalion by at least one quarter in the first three months of a campaign, and that is so even in Europe or North America. In the Tropics, one is fortunate to muster half of the men after six months. You have seen India, and know that to be so.”
“Sugar Islands as well, sir. We returned from that posting in one ship, sir. The New Foresters, that was.”
“Ah, you was with them originally, Colonel Pearce? I remember they did well, one of the few to come out with their reputations enhanced! They fought two campaigns, I remember.”
“We did, sir. I was present in both, which did my prospects no end of good – in as a lieutenant, out as a brevet major. Then it was India with the Hampshires, sir, and a campaign and a sickly season, as they say, and I am here, brevet while we endeavour to discover what happened to poor Colonel Vaughan.”
One of the staff officers had heard that story, brought the others up to date.
“If we have heard nothing yet then it’s odds-on the poor fellow is dead, Colonel Pearce.”
“Probably, sir, but I shall not seek to climb into his shoes until all is confirmed. Not my way of doing things, I think.”
“Nor mine, Colonel Pearce!”
The Brigadier was very certain on that matter – he knew just what was, and was not, correct.
“Now then, Colonel Pearce, recruiting… easy enough to do in Ireland, but it is wise to take a little care… as, obviously, you realise. North or South, the choice, except that the West is also an alternative, and easier for us. The problem is that the men to be found there too often have no English, speaking only their own tongue.”
Fire and Folly (Man of Conflict Series Book 3) Page 7