Indian Mutiny and Beyond

Robert Shebbeare VC

Arthur Littlewood

• Publisher: Pen & Sword Military
• Year: 2007
• ISBN:
  9781781594520
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: 19th Century History
• Index: History

"Robert Shebbeare went out as a cadet to India at the age of seventeen and after a spell of ordinary regimental duties, he was caught up in the extraordinary and bloody events of the Indian Mutiny.With fellow officers he managed to escape to Delhi, where he was attached to the Guides, and he took part in most of the action during the long hot summer of 1857. He was wounded six times and was awarded the Victoria Cross for his gallantry during the storming of the city on September 14th. He raised a new regiment, the 15th Punjab, which volunteered for service in China and took part in the advance on Peking in 1860.Tragically, he died en route for England, his family, who had not seen him since he had left 16 years earlier, were all at the quayside to welcome him, unaware that he had been buried at sea.His story is told in his own words from the recently discovered letters which he sent home to his family between 1844–1860. The Editor has provided a commentary that puts the letters into context for the general reader and military historians. "

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.

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 th...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• 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