William Henry Williams
1837, 06 Jan -- Ryde, Isle of Wight: born
1837, 06 Feb -- George St Congregational Chapel: baptized
1855, 14 Mar -- Gosport, Hants: enlisted in 2nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade
1855, 06 Aug -- Portsmouth, Hampshire: promoted Corporal
1856, 03 Jun -- Aldershot, Hampshire: promoted Sergeant
1857, 06 Aug -- Dublin, Ireland: embarked for India
1857 -- 1865 -- India: army service; promoted Color Sgt
1865, 03 Feb -- Meerut, India: embarked for England
1865, 19 Jun -- Winchester, Hampshire: discharged after 10 years' army service
1865, 05 Aug -- Cranbrook, Kent: appointed Staff-Sgt in Kent Rifle Volunteers
1866, 30 July -- St John's, Wittersham, Kent: married Jane Brann
1867, 04 Oct -- Old Manor House, Benenden: son Frederick born
1869, 06 Sep -- Old Manor House, Benenden: son Charles born
1872, 03 Jan -- Old Manor House, Benenden: daughter Fanny born
1875, 17 Feb -- Gibbons School, Benenden: resigned as Sergeant-Drill Instructor
1875, 18 Feb -- War Office, London: appointed a Queen's Messenger
1875, 24 Jun -- 10 St Germains Rd, Lewisham: daughter Cicely born
1881 -- 1992 -- 6 Branscombe St, Lewisham: living
1900, 28 Feb -- retired from War Office
1925, 28 Apr -- 28 Albermarle Rd, Willesborough: died, aged 88
Childhood
William Henry Williams was born on 6 January 1837 at Ryde on the Isle of Wight. His father was John Williams, a carpenter, and his mother was Harriet Norgate. His baptism, exactly a month later, was recorded in the Register for Dissenting Protestants of the George Street Congregationalist Chapel in Ryde, by the minister Thomas J Guyer.
At that time, Ryde had already started to become a seaside resort. The construction of its famous pier in 1814 enabled ships to dock no matter what the state of the tide, and after 1825 a regular steam packet service from the mainland was introduced. Before that Ryde had been little more than a collection of fishermen's cottages, with a population totaling less than 600 people. William's grandfather, George Williams, had been one of those fisherman.
Enlistment in the Rifle Brigade
William enlisted in the 2nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade on 14 March, 1855 at the Haslar Barracks, Gosport (on the mainland, across the Solent from Ryde, on the Isle of Wight).
He gave his age as 18 years old and was described as five foot four and a half inches tall, of dark complexion, with hazel eyes, and dark brown hair. He listed his trade as a carpenter, like his father; though he gave his mother as his next of kin, so his father may have been dead by this time.
William was assigned number 4680 and given a £9 recruitment bonus. He stayed at Fort Cumberland in Portsmouth throughout June, and was quickly promoted to a Corporal on 6 August.
Soldiers of the Rifle Brigade
The Rifle Brigade had been formed in 1800 to provide infantry specialized in skirmishing and reconnaissance. They were trained to cover both the advance and retreat of the army, and to act on their own initiative when circumstances demanded it, as a "fighting, thinking soldier". They fought in the Peninsular War and at Waterloo, where they were part of the charge that broke the French Imperial Guard. At the time William joined, active units were fighting in the Crimean War at Inkerman and Sebastopol.
The Brigade dressed in distinctive dark green uniforms, with black belts and equipment, to provide some camouflage in the exposed skirmishing positions in which they operated. As headgear, they wore forage caps with a green, horsehair tuft at the front. Each man was armed with a precision rifle - by the 1850s this was the short Enfield rifle - and a flat-bladed sword. They relied on their marksmanship with the rifle, being expected to kill a man with every shot, and rarely fitted bayonets because it lessened the accuracy of their firing. Each Rifleman carried a cartridge pouch and a cow-horn containing 50-60 powder charges.
An old Rifle Brigade song sums up their distinctive culture, as envisioned by their first colonel-in-chief:
Oh! Colonel Coote Manningham, he was the man,
For he invented a capital plan,
He raised a Corps of Rifleman
To fight for England's Glory!
He dressed them all in jackets of green
And placed them where they couldn't be seen
And sent them in front, an invisible screen,
To fight for England's Glory!
During 1856, Corporal Williams was stationed at Aldershot, where he was promoted to Sergeant on 3 June after "Sgt Blober died on parade". He was then at the depot in Winchester from July until 23 October, and thereafter back at Aldershot, where he remained throughout 1857, apart from a period on furlough in February.
Williams' Sergeant's stripes
In May of 1857, following a long period of unrest, Indian troops in the employ of the British East India Company rose up against their British officers, starting what became known as the Indian Mutiny (in Britain) or the First War of Independence (in India). With British troops across India under siege in Delhi, Kanpur, and Lucknow, reinforcements were ordered to be dispatched from England, and the Rifle Brigade was part of that force.
Before leaving England, the 2nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade paraded in Hyde Park, London on 26 June in front of Queen Victoria. She presented eight of the newly-instituted Victoria Cross medals to men of the Brigade for service during the Crimean War. From London, the men went by train to Liverpool, for passage to Dublin next day. On arrival in Dublin, they were stationed at the Linenhall Barracks.
A Passage to India
On 7 August, Sergeant Williams left Dublin, embarking at Kingstown (Dun Laoghaire) harbor onto the hired transport Sussex for passage to India, as part of the 2nd Battalion's HQ Division under Lt-Colonel Percy Hill. The division comprised four companies of 3 captains, 8 subalterns, 5 staff, 30 sergeants, 14 buglers, and 292 rank and file. Three months later, on 29 October, the Sussex docked in the old harbor of Point de Galle, Ceylon.
After three days, they departed for India on the 2000-ton troopship Adventure. This ship turned out to have poor engines which frequently stopped: "pass the word for Adwick!" became a frequent call for a Rifleman who had been an engineer and who became relied upon to get the engines going again. On November 17, the Adventure finally docked at Calcutta, ending Sgt Williams' total of voyage of "104 days onboard ship".
We can follow Sgt Williams through the next few years of the campaign in India from his own army Account Book, and from the Muster Books of the Rifle Brigade, which recorded his Battalion's camp location at the end of each month, along with any significant events affecting any of the men.
From Calcutta, the 2nd Battalion proceeded up country. The first 120 miles to Raniganj were by railway, which was as far as it went. After that, they were carried by bullock carts along the Great Trunk Road, through Benares and Allahabad to Fatehpur.
The bullock train was extremely slow, averaging no more than two and a half miles per hour when moving. Moreover, it halted to change oxen every 8-10 miles, according to the nature of the road. These halts caused considerable delay, and restricted the daily advance to about 25 miles.
Another sergeant recalls that their journey was made early in the day and in the cool of the night, with a rest between ten in the morning and four in the afternoon to avoid the midday heat. The bullock carts were "hideously uncomfortable without the faintest attempt to springs" and the drivers were "always going to sleep, falling off their perches and getting run over".
Bullock Carts on the Great Trunk Road
On 15 December, the HQ Division caught up with the rest of the 2nd Battalion at Kanpur, who turned out to cheer their arrival. Three days later the 2nd Battalion formed up with the 3rd Battalion under Brigadier-General Walpole. The force - 2000 men, with cavalry and artillery - marched off along the Calpee road. On reaching the river Pando Nuddee, they found the bridge broken. The engineers had to improvise by laying a plank across two boats, and the men crossed over in single file, having to unload the carts and carry the ammunition across, barrel by barrel. After this delay, they pressed on to Akbarpur and, after that, Derapur.
They halted for Christmas Day at Sikandra, where extra rations were issued to mark the festival. One officer recalled that they "had a grand dinner, peacocks and venison supplying the place of turkeys and roast beef". Marching on through Auraiya to Sarai Ajitmal, they were fired on and caught and killed three of those responsible. On 28 December they received a sudden order to march to Etawah. Starting at midnight, they reached the fort at Etawah at 8:30 that morning. The fort was a quadrangular work on a sand hill on the banks of the river Yamuna, and after blasting open the gate with cannon-fire, the Riflemen rushed the it and captured the fort.
They marched on to Karhal, then Mainpuri and Bewar. Crossing the Kali river at 3am on 4 January, they pressed on to Fatehgarh, which they reached at 5 in the evening, having covered 26 miles that day. There, they were disappointed on reaching the Indian bastion, to find everyone had already fled and "the affair was over before our arrival". However, the march from Etawah to Fatehgarh - a total of 76 miles - had been completed in 27 hours, over 4 days. That's an accomplishment that is still marked by the Rifle Brigade to this day.
Sergeant Williams' eight year journey across India
Preliminary Operations
At Fatehgarh, the Rifle Brigade joined General Colin Campbell (Commander-in-Chief, India) and camped in the gardens of the rajah's palace on the banks of the Ganges. Following his relief of Kanpur at the beginning of December, Campbell had advocated a campaign to subdue the province of Rohilcund. However the Governor-General, Lord Canning, who was his political master, wrote otherwise to Campbell at the start of 1858:
"Lucknow, and as much as Oudh as Lucknow carries with it, is of an importance to us in the present state of the country, far exceeding that which belongs to Rohilcund... Operations should be directed against Lucknow at no long interval."
So having been given this goal, Campbell waited at Fatehgarh for the siege train to be sent from Agra, and for the arrival of a friendly force led by the maharajah of Nepal, Jung Bahadoor. Meanwhile, he ordered various operations to subdue rebellious districts in the region.
On 13 January 1858, the 2nd and 3rd Battalions, still under Walpole, crossed the Ganges on a bridge of boats which the Indian forces had left behind, and marched through deep sand by the river to Aligarh. Here they were fired upon and dug trenches in the sand to ward off the attack.
General Colin Campbell
Campbell now abandoned this foray into Rohilcund, and so on 1 February the Battalion re-crossed the Kali via an iron suspension bridge at Urhow, on route to Jalalabad. They reached Purwa, after a painful march of 10 miles, having got mixed up with the baggage on the road, which raised dust so thick that the men could only see yards in front of them.
On 13 February while at Kanpur, they were ordered to intercept Nana Sahib, who was supposed to be trying to escape from Oude. The Nana was the adopted son of the last Peshwar of Bithur, whose substantial pension had been denied to him by the British. Lord Roberts describes how the Nana's whereabouts was discovered:
Nana Sahib
"Rumours had been flying about that the Nana was somewhere in the neighbourhood, but 'Wolf!' had been cried so often with regard to him, that but little notice was taken of reports, until my faithful spy, Unjur Tiwari, brought me intelligence that the miscreant really was hiding in a small fort about twenty-five miles from our camp."
The Battalion set off after the Nana, retracing their steps up the Grand Truck Road for 16 miles; one man dying of sunstroke on the road. An officer wrote: "I do not think we have the slightest chance of catching him as the country is so covered with clumps of trees and high crops that a mounted man can disappear in a few minutes". They halted after it was found that the Nana had indeed crossed the river Ganges and escaped. They returned via Purwa, reaching Kanpur on 23 February.
Campbell now determined to begin the siege of Lucknow, so the Battalion set off via Unnao to Nawabganj. For the assault on Lucknow, Campbell had nearly 19,000 men at hand, which further reinforcements and the still-impending arrival of Jung Bahadoor's force would increase to 31,000 men and 164 guns. Lucknow, a city of some 300,000 people had been swelled by the presence of perhaps another 100,000 Indian soldiers.
The Relief of Lucknow
On 3 March the 2nd Battalion bivouacked near the Alumbagh Palace, south of Lucknow, before moving near to the Dilkusha Palace (although this camp was exposed to some rebel fire from the Martiniere, 700 yards off). On 6 March, they struck tents at 1.30am and marched as part of General James Outram's force, crossing the river Gomati by a bridge of boats just below the Dilkusha. They encountered only weak resistance; their opponents being speedily driven back towards the city.
The path of General Outram's force including the Rifle Brigade, in the relief of Lucknow
On 9 March, Campbell ordered Outram to drive the Indians from the Yellow Bungalow (Chucker Kothi) - a key position. So the Battalion advanced in skirmishing order, fording the knee-deep Kukrail river, before rushing the Bungalow. The Indians moved off in confusion along the bank of the river. The Riflemen camped in the open on the Faizabad road, 200 yards from the river Gomati.
On 11 March, they advanced towards the Iron Bridge, opposite the Residency - the center of resistance - through dense suburbs, with many casualties. Outram wrote that: "the spirit and dash of the men during this critical operation was most remarkable and merits the highest commendation."
However, it was tremendously hot: "the number of flies terrific, amount of mosquitoes at night unbearable, and whole affair generally unpleasant". That British soldier continued: "the stench from the dead bodies is also terrible, there are some hundreds of them buried about the village every day, but the stench of a dead Sepoy would baffle the most strenuous sanitary measures".
On 14th - the day Campbell stormed the Kaiser Bagh palace - the 2nd Battalion marched towards the Iron Bridge to prevent any rebels from crossing, but none appeared, so the men returned to camp. The Battalion moved camp to the Badshah Bagh on the 18th, and next day moved up to hold the Iron Bridge at 7:30am, returning to camp at 5:30pm, exhausted by great heat but not having been engaged.
Outram had not pressed fight because he had been ordered by Campbell to hold back if "he thought he might lose a single man". This unfortunate decision allowed thousands of Indian soldiers to escape the city. In Lord Roberts opinion, "the campaign, which should have then come to an end, was protracted for nearly a year by the fugitives spreading themselves over Oude and occupying forts and other strong positions, from which they were able to offer resistance to our troops until towards the end of May 1859". The task of chasing the rebels who had dispersed across Oude was to occupy Sgt Williams and his Battalion for the whole of the following year.
Campbell's force entering Lucknow
Three days later Lucknow was quiet, except for an orgy of looting by the troops and their camp followers. Army prize agents eventually contained the plundering and collected, on the troops behalf, booty said to be worth well over a million and a half pounds sterling. But the private soldier was not to see more than one pound, fifteen shillings of this, paid out in installments over the following year. The question "what became of it all?" resonated with many. Meanwhile, Campbell wrote to his boss, Lord Canning at Allahbad:
"As we advance into the city, the enemy gradually give way and disappear before us. I think that the contest, as far as Lucknow is concerned may be said to be at an end. The sepoys have been going off in very large numbers, mostly towards the NW; but our information is defective, and to what point they have directed their course we have not yet ascertained."
On 22 March, the 2nd Battalion was part of a force ordered to march at night to the Old Cantonment. There, they halted, lying ankle-deep in sand through a very cold night. Breakfasting at 5am next day, they marched 16 miles on the Faizabad road to Koorsee, but most of the rebels, under rajah Jai Lall Singh, had evacuated it. There were some skirmishes, in which 200 rebels were killed, mainly by charges of the Punjab cavalry. Campbell again wrote to Lord Canning:
The relief of Lucknow: Campbell and his generals
"I have observed that wherever our columns have marched they have literally walked over the insurgent bodies; but that directly they had passed, the rebels again formed in their rear, cut off their communications, and intercepted their supplies. In point of fact, until the country shall have been thoroughly reduced, we may almost say that the enemy is as formidable after he has been beaten as he was before.
As a most recent instance of this, I would quote the advance of the Rajah Jai Lall Singh to Koorsee, within sixteen miles of Lucknow, two days after the city had fallen. When Sir J Grant advanced on him yesterday, more than half the enemy had decamped."
Campbell's observation was to presage many of the fruitless chases that the Rifle Brigade would engage in over the next year. Koorsee was considered the final action connected with the siege of Lucknow. Sgt Williams received the Indian Mutiny Medal with a Lucknow bar for being "engaged in operations against Lucknow from 2 Mar 1857" and "present at the siege and taking of Lucknow".
Operations In Oudh and Rohilcund
Campbell now gave command of the forces that would stay in Lucknow and operate throughout Oudh to Major-General James Hope Grant. Grant's first task was to locate and disperse rebels under the Moulvi of Faizabad, Ahmed Ahmadullah Shah, reputedly one of the original instigators of the rebellion. Grant's journal for 11 April records the force under his command for this mission:
I marched from the cantonments at Lucknow with Middleton's battery, Mackinnon's troop of horse-artillery, two 18-pounders, two 8-inch howitzers, two 8-inch mortars, and two 5 1/2-inch Cohorn mortars, the 7th Hussars, one squadron of the 2nd Dragoon Guards, Wales' Punjab Horse, a squadron of Hodson's Horse, the 2nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, the 38th Regiment, the Bengal Fusiliers, 500 men of Major Vaughan's 5ht Punjab corps, and some Engineer officers, with 100 sappers and miners - in all, about 3000 men.
The 2nd Battalion started out at 4:30 that morning, headed for Breisha Talow. The road was bad and the heavy guns slowed them down. Next day, they continued marching to Utterah, over a sandy track and through thick jungle, in temperatures of 110ºF. The following day they encountered soldiers armed with matchlocks near Baree, and rushed them, after which their opponents broke and fled.
Next they set off in search of a force under the command of the Begum of Lucknow, on a march that took them through Burassie, Maundabad, and Bilhir. Finding no-one, they then marched from Ramnagar, via Nawabganj and Chanat, to cover the return of the Gurkhas to Nepal. The Gurkha force, under Jang Bahadar, ruler of Nepal, which had been helping the British, had many sick and wounded men. The Battalion then returned to the Dilkusha Palace at Lucknow, having swept through the north of Oudh province.
Around this time - and not before time - the Riflemen gave up their traditional green jackets and adopted campaign uniforms of dust-colored linen or khaki, to use the Hindi word by which it would become known. Sgt Williams received a new jacket, trousers, and boots, as he was entitled to every year. One wonders what state a pair of his boots would have been in after a year of the kind of marching that they had been doing ...
On 4 May, Hope Grant was ordered to search for a force under Beni Madhoo, which was threatening the Kanpur road. The Battalion marched south, out of Lucknow to Purwa. The next few days of marching through Maurawan and Parthan were slow, and several men died of heatstroke on the way. On 10 May, while camped at Bhag Wantnagar in the shade of mango trees, Hope Grant ordered a night march of 20 miles in search of the Madhoo. But after starting at 7.30 that evening, they got lost in the dark and found themselves back near Bhag Wantnagar. Next day, in 118° heat, they eventually located their targets, who fled after a volley from the Riflemen and a cavalry charge by the 7th Hussars.
General James Hope Grant
On 15 May, Hope Grant received intelligence of a large force north of Lucknow, and so ordered his men to return. There was a brief encounter at camp with rebels, who had driven in the feeding camels, but who then fled. Grant's force then marched, via Bani, back to the Alumbagh at Lucknow, moving on to the Dilkusha Palace, and pitching their tents on the banks of the Gomati.
After this series of marches, 53 men were sent to the hospital, including Sgt Williams, who was listed as sick from 23 May to 11 June 1858.
In appreciating the rigor of these marches, it should be noted that - aside from the extreme heat - as a reconnaissance unit, the Rifle Brigade marched at a fast pace of 140 paces per minute.
Of the great heat, one officer wrote: "the heat and sun is killing these regiments off at a tremendous rate, we bring about a dozen every night; it is useless to march in this weather - the sun kills a great many more than the enemy." Lord Roberts records that in the month of May 1858 alone, not less than 1000 British soldiers died of sunstroke, fatigue, and disease. That was ten times the number who were killed in action with the enemy.
On 12 June, Hope Grant set out to disperse the force at Nawabganj, starting with a fatiguing nine-mile march at eleven that night. The road was cut-up, the Battalion ran out of water and, no wells being found, many men fainted and were left by the side of the road to be picked up later. Grant records:
"The troops mustered at 11pm on a fearfully dark night, and it was no easy matter to find our way in the open plains - the later six miles being entirely across country. We had the misfortune to lose several men from apoplexy. We reached the bridge about half an hour before daybreak, and my poor fellows were thus enabled to rest a little and get their breakfast.
At Chanhat, they faced a large force of rebels gathered under a green standard. There was much hand-to hand combat."
The Riflemen were pinned down for over three hours until the arrival of two squadrons of the 7th Hussars, under Sir William Russell. The Hussars charged twice, killing over 600 of the opposing side. On the British side, 67 men were killed, 33 died of heatstroke, and 250 were sent to hospital. "It was impossible to distinguish when a man fell, whether sunstroke or a wound brought him to the ground". Heatstroke sufferers generally died during the night, falling asleep in their tents and never awakening; apoplexy resulting from exposure to the sun being the immediate cause of death.
After this encounter, the Battalion stayed at Nawabganj, building raised huts as the monsoon had arrived. Sgt Williams was listed as sick for all of July, presumably suffering from heatstroke along with the rest of his comrades.
At the end of July the Battalion left for Faizabad, to assist Maun Singh, a rajah of great wealth, who was now supporting the British but was besieged by s force of 20,000 in a large mud fort. On receiving a letter from Maun Singh, saying he only had four days provisions left, Hope Grant pushed forward 13 miles to Daryabad, instead of the 8 miles planned. A number of men were taken ill in the 105º heat. But on reaching Faizabad, they found the besiegers had retreated across the river Ghaghara. Hope Grant found Maun Singh to be an "intelligent, short man, about 38, rather pleasing looking than otherwise". The Battalion halted for two weeks as the heavy monsoon rains came on.
On 16 August, at the request of Campbell, Hope Grant set off to Sultanpur on another expedition. Starting at 3am, they got lost in the dark, and then marched 12 miles in water up to the knees. The guns sank in water, and elephants were used to get them out - one pushing with its head and trunk, while another dragged at the traces. Riflemen frequently fell into holes that had been made for planting trees - "a source of merriment to his comrades but of misery to the unfortunate diver himself".
Upon reaching Sultanpur, they came on 10,000 rebels on the opposite bank of the river Gomati. The Madras Fusiliers crossed the river, but were reported hard-pressed by the rebels. So two companies of the 2nd Battalion crossed the swollen river, on rafts made from rum barrels. (No boats were to be had, since the rebels commanded the river 15 miles in both directions). At sunset the next day, the rebels appeared two miles distant, but did not attack. However, rebel guns did reach the camp, killing an old woman and knocking over an elephant but not hurting it. On 29th, the Riflemen started on a 3am march towards the rebels, who turned out to have fled during the night, leaving only a number of straw huts.
On 11 October, the Battalion struck tents and re-crossed the Gomati, headed north-east, in the direction of Tanda, to break up several Indian parties trying to break out to the south. They reached Dostpur on the 18th, Akbarpur on the 21st, Jaisinghpur on the 23rd, and Sultanpur on 26th October.
At Jagdispur, they marched in pursuit of a force of 4,000 who had fled into the jungle and were said to be hiding in a fort at Kataree. Finding it deserted, they blew it up and returned to camp. Progress was slow due to problems transporting the siege guns.
The Rifle Brigade in action
On 10 November, they laid siege to the jungle fort of Loll Madhoo, the rebel rajah of Amethi. The fort at Amethi covered some 250 acres. It had an outer rampart some 4 miles in circumference, and surrounded by a flooded ditch 30 feet wide, which expanded into a lake on its north-eastern side. The fort's southern side was hidden within an impenetrable jungle. Within the ditch were trenches for musketry and behind them, earthen ramparts for heavy guns.
As Hope Grant approached the gate he was fired upon, but the next day Loll Madhoo rode into camp and surrendered, without the knowledge of his men.
The next night, Loll Madhoo's men were found to have dispersed and fled into the jungle. Grant set off in pursuit, crossing the river Sai near Salon. Next day, the Riflemen marched 14 miles on bad roads, through clouds of dust, to Shunkerpur, the stronghold of Beni Madhoo, but he had evacuated his 15,000 men, leaving only one gun and an elephant. Grant set off in pursuit from Rae Bareli, marching 16 miles through thick jungle to Mohanganj, and on to Jagdispur, Inhanuna, and Haidergarh, before marching back to the Dilkusha Palace at Lucknow.
Into the Foothills of the Himalayas
The Battalion's respite did not last long. On 5 December, now back under the command of General Campbell and accompanied by the famous war correspondent of The Times, William Howard Russell, the Battalion left Lucknow. Spies had informed Campbell that Beni Madhoo was camped nearby on the banks of the river Ghaghara.
The first day saw a 20-mile march to Newanganj. Next day, they struck tents at 5am and marched 22 miles to Byram Ghat, with nothing to eat until 5pm. On following three days, they marched 20 miles to Daryabad, then 17 miles and 19 miles to reach Faizabad. There, the Battalion made a crossing of the river Ghaghara on a bridge of boats 600 yards wide. They then moved on to Nawabganj, Jamkapoorah, Dheras, Secrora, and Kurrunpur.
As the British passed through the countryside, William Howard Russell recorded in his diary that:
"Villagers came out with confidence to look at the column; many never having seen a white face, since this district had been rarely, if ever, visited by European officials.
The country is not so well cultivated as that south of the Gogra, but the natural richness of the soil is evinced by the magnificent trees: peepul, mango, bale and others. The sugarcane fields are high and dense; so are those of dall; and vast plains are green with young wheat.
The hamlets are very small, consisting of only five or six houses. The houses are very low; thatched roofs covered with creepers and a broad-leaved climber with foliage like a melon. The Rifle Brigade, who are with us, are as hard as nails; faces tanned brown and muscles hardened into whipcord; and to see them step over the ground with their officers marching beside them is a very fine sight for those who have an eye for real first-rate soldiers."
William Howard Russell, The Times correspondent
Campbell now set off in pursuit of men who were hiding in the foothills of the Himalayas. On 17 December the Battalion reached Bahraich, and halted for five days. It was their first stop in two weeks. Heavy and constant rain left the tents ankle-deep in water. On 24 December at Jeta, they were ordered to march on, but the rains came down. Campbell was anxious to push on, but - on being reminded it was Christmas Day - gave way and ordered a thankful halt. Russell wrote:
"I was almost glad this morning when, an hour before daybreak, it began to rain so heavily that the noise of the drops pattering on the tent awoke me, for I knew that we should have a few days rest. It is quite impossible to move the tents when they are saturated, as their weight is thereby nearly doubled."
The men celebrated Christmas in some style, with barons of beef, turkeys "big enough to draw a gig", mutton, game, fish, truffled fowl, rissoles, plum puddings, mince pies, and "other luxuries not often found in camps". There was also pale ale from Trent, Glasgow, or Dublin, London porter, champagne, moselle, and sherry. There was even port, which Russell noted had been "rather bothered by traveling twenty miles a day on the backs of camels".
Each regiment hosted its own celebration, the Artillery sang Christmas carols, and the Rifle Brigade's band played. The rejoicing continued amongst a wide expanse of tents until well after 10 o'clock that night.
With the festivities done, on 27 December, Campbell ordered his force to push on to attack a fort at Mejidia. Though smaller than most Indian forts, Mejidia was considered to be the strongest fort in all of the province of Oudh. It was completely surrounded by a ditch 25 feet wide and over 20 feet deep. And its defences comprised of steeply-scarped earthen ramparts well over 15 feet high. On all of its western side, the fort merged into impenetrably thick jungle.
Guns were brought up, and the Rifle Brigade was sent forward in skirmishing order. The Riflemen extended themselves as far as their numbers would admit, from the opening to the front right round into the jungle, and got close up to the parapets. They poured a constant flight of bullets through the embrasures, which cleared the parapet of marksmen. Soon after 4pm, Major Dillon was able to report to Campbell's chief-of-staff that the Riflemen had taken the fort.
On being entered, Mejidia was found to have been evacuated. So the men set about seizing stores of rice and grain that they found left behind in it. Next day the engineers set about destroying the fort which, according to the chief engineer, was "one of the strongest as respects artificial defences that he had seen in India". Sgt Williams' army account book records his presence throughout the taking of the fort of Mejidia.
On 30 December, on hearing that Nana Sahib was just 23 miles away near Bankee on the river Rapti, Campbell determined to surprise him with a night march. Consequently, the force left Nanpara at eight-thirty that night with a force of 150 elephants. Half the men were mounted, five on each elephant; the other half marching, till the halt took place, when they relieved their comrades from the trouble of journeying aloft. The motion of the elephants was strange to the men, making some sick and others tumble off, until they settled down. When they started out "not a light was to be seen save the glow of the watch-fires". Soon a lantern was fastened to a houdah on the back of an elephant walking at the head of the column, providing a steady flame "like a light in some wintry sea".
However the night march was in vain; they found their targets had retreated up the valley of the Rapti into Nepal. Campbell had no authority to cross the frontier and, now considering the campaign mostly completed, returned to Lucknow. He left a force under Brigadier Horsford to watch the pass into the Himalayan kingdom. On 6 January 1859, Horsford's troops, including the 2nd Battalion of the Rifle Brigade, marched up to the banks of the Rapti and set camp at Sidhonia Ghat. Russell wrote in his diary:
"Our forces are within sight of Nepal. The Snowy Range rises above us, and on the pent-like slopes of the mountains are forests of untold depths, in which man has never set his foot. In ravines formed by the course of innumerable torrents are paths known to a few who are unknown to us, which lead into the dreary solitudes of the mountains between Nepal and the Terai. Here and there are some forts, perched amid beetling precipices, screened by densest forests. Between us and the spurs of the great range, which rises like some giant wall to shut Hindustan from the outer world, are the plains of the Terai. Those plains are to us terrae incognitae."
Frontier or not, on 9 February, they did cross the river on elephants and pursued rebels through the jungle. On 21 February, the Battalion turned out to bid farewell to the 7th Hussars, who had accompanied the Rifle Brigade for over a year. During March, the Rifles returned to Bahraich. In April they undertook a final expedition on the Ghaghara river. On 13 June they were finally ordered to return to Lucknow, marking the end of the hunt for any remaining scattered fugitives in the jungle. The return march was plagued by heavy rains and intense heat - "like marching in a vapor bath". The baggage went astray, so no tents, rations, or grog were to be had, and the men had to sleep in the open. Eventually passing Byram Ghat and Nawabganj, they reached the Yellow Bungalow at Lucknow on 27 June 1859.
The Battalion then moved into barracks for the first time after over twenty months in the field. They had covered 1745 miles in 161 marches. Out of a total of 44 officers and 1234 men, only 6 officers and 17 men had been killed. 101 were wounded or invalided, but 132 had died of disease. The campaign in Oudh as a whole had defeated 150,000 rebels, captured 150 large guns and 350,000 other arms, and destroyed more than 300 forts.
With The Camel Corps
On 16 July 1859 while at Lucknow, William was promoted to Color-Sergeant. In other regiments, the Color Sergeant carried the regimental colors into battle to act as a rallying point in time of crisis. However the Rifle Brigade carried no colors since they operated in dispersed, concealed groups. There was a proud Brigade saying that the their uniform - the black and the green - were "the finest colors ever seen". So, despite his title, Color-Sergeant Williams' main responsibility was to act as Pay-Sergeant to his Company.
He was then assigned to the famous Camel Corps, possibly to take up the place in the Corps of a sergeant named Thomas Hathaway, who had drowned earlier that spring.
A unit of the Camel Corps
The Camel Corps had been formed the previous year, to provide a specialist mobile force to specifically track down the Indian leader, Tanti Topi. The Corps comprised two companies, each of 4 officers and 100 men, drawn from the 2nd and 3rd Battalions of the Rifle Brigade. Together with 200 Sikhs, the unit was under the overall command of Major John Ross.
In a letter to Major Ross, General Campbell described the unit as a "corps-d'elite", and enjoined him to pick men very carefully, as they would be called upon to undertake a great deal of independent action. Indeed, the Camel Corps often operated in small detachments, under the command of a single officer. Each Rifleman was mounted on a camel, with a native guide assigned to drive the animal. These guides were initially a most ruffianly and undisciplined group, until they were drilled in discipline by NCOs who were sent out especially from Lahore. Even though the camels were used only for transport and not as fighting platform, the new mount initially proved a challenge. Cope records that:
"The camel is a rather difficult animal to sit on, and the effects of their first lesson were rather ludicrous; the men clinging on in every possible position and appearing most uncomfortable. However, after two hours more of this drill, the men began to sit much steadier, especially after this practice was repeated on the next day."
Despite this progress, the men continued to struggle with sitting on the camels and with slinging their rifles while fully loaded-down by their packs. The camel was able to carry rations for five or six days, and the thick rugs that formed the camel's saddle were often called upton to serve as bedding and overnight cover during long pursuits.
Sergeant Williams' army bible
On 15 September, after four months in quarters, the Camel Corps left Agra. They were headed for Dhaulpur, en route for Sagar to the south. They managed to ford the Chambal river, after much difficulty getting the camels - who intensely disliked water - into the boats. Each boat could take no more than three camels, so it was two days before the 600 camels, men, and baggage were all ferried across. A lot of time was lost with the rapid current carrying boats downstream; the river was wide, and running fast, and the banks had become water courses following recent rains.
On reaching Gwalior, they crossed the Sinde river, and passed through Datia and Jhansi. After crossing the Betwa river, they reached Sagar on 9 October. They pursued Firuz Shah - who headed Indian forces in the jungles from Sagar up to the Bewta - and other fugitive groups for the next few months. They eventually returned to Agra on 30 April 1860.
During this time, the Camel Corps had performed thankless duties. They marched at short notice in every direction, wherever they had intelligence - almost always without the satisfaction of finding or engaging their enemy. Often, detachments of 40 to 50 men were ordered to mount at a moment's notice and ride 30 to 40 miles as fast as they could, only to the find their targets had scattered into the jungle, where it was hopeless to pursue them.
Return to England
At the beginning of June the Camel Corps was disbanded, and the Riflemen returned to their respective battalions. The 2nd Battalion proceeded by bullock-cart to Sabathu, up in the foothills of the Himalayas. Apart from periods during October to April 1861, when they were dispatched to Ambala for musketry training, the Battalion remained at Sabathu. In March 1862, Col-Sgt Williams spent a brief time in hospital. After January 1863, he was stationed in Delhi, and from March 1864 at Meerut.
It was at Meerut, in October of 1864, that Col-Sgt Williams applied for discharge from the army. He had completed his Limited Service enlistment (of 10 years). Consequently, in November and December, he was listed as "proceeding down country".
Commanding officers expressed their regret at his leaving the army in letters of commendation:
"I have much pleasure in giving this testimonial to Color Sergeant Williams of the 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade, who is about to take his discharge. During my period of command of the Battalion, I have invariably found him to be an excellent and trustworthy non-commissioned officer."
Percy Hill, Brig-General & Lt-Colonel, Rifle Brigade, Meerut, 5 October 1864
"Color Sergeant William Henry Williams, 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade, who is about to take his discharge, was Pay Sergeant of my Company, and it affords me great pleasure in testifying to his general soldier-like behavior and good tact with the men. He is a sturdy, consistent, and trustworthy non-commissioned officer, and I much regret his leaving my
Company."
Andrew Green, Brevet Major, 2nd Battalion, Rifle Brigade, Meerut, 22 November 1864
Major Green's Letter of Commendation
(While viewing Major Green's letter, it is worth noting that both his left arm and right thumb had been amputated following a heroic fight against six Sepoys, three of whom he shot, before they left him for dead, the victim of 14 sabre cuts and a gunshot wound; miraculously he survived.)
On 3 February 1865, Col-Sgt Williams embarked on Ship 117, which reached England four months later on 30 May. He traveled to the Rifle Brigade Barracks at Winchester. There, on 19 June, he was discharged from the army after a total of 10 years and 97 days of continuous service. The Discharge Book recorded his character as "very good, equal to 2 men", and noted that he had been in possession of several good conduct badges. He was now 29 years old, and had been in India for eight years.
He received a final letter of commendation from Lt-Col Martin Dillon (later General Dillon, Commandant of the 2nd Bt, Rifle Brigade from 1905-13):
Color Sergeant William Henry Williams served in the Second Battalion, Rifle Brigade, nearly 11 years, eight years of which in the rank of Sergeant - the last five as a Pay/Color Sergeant. He was Pay Sergeant of the Mounted Company of the 2nd Battalion which comprised a part of the Camel Corps under the command of Lt Colonel Ross, Rifle Brigade, and for upwards of ten years actively employed in the field with his Battalion and in the Camel Corps during the Indian Mutiny. His character has been excellent. Color Sergeant Williams has not received a certificate from Hythe but he is a first class non-commissioned officer.
The above is nearly a copy of the certificate which Captain Cunningham will forward to the officer commanding the Rifle Volunteer Regiment to which I hope you will be appointed. If I could add a note to this certificate of stronger commendation of good character; I regret your leaving the Battalion very much but appreciate your motives. Wishing you prosperity.
M Dillon, Lt-Col, Camp, 2nd Bt, Rifle Brigade, Winchester, Jun 65
Rifle Brigade Barracks, Winchester
The Rifle Brigade would remain in India for two more years. William's discharge allowance was 5 shillings, and his rail-fare to London of one shilling and ten pence was also paid. He gave his intended destination as Walthamstow, Essex, where his mother Harriet Williams was living.
The Kent Rifle Volunteers
If William did indeed go to Walthamstow, it must have been a brief visit. For six weeks after leaving the army, on 5 August 1865, he received the appointment to a Rifle Volunteer Regiment that Lt-Colonel Dillon's letter implies he had sought. He became a Sergeant in the 5th Battalion of the Kent Rifle Volunteers at Cranbrook in Kent. This was not a volunteer posting, but a full-time staff position that supported the part-time Volunteers.
The Rifle Volunteers Corps had been formed in 1859, in response to fears of an invasion from France under Napoleon III. The numerous volunteer regiments that sprang up modeled themselves closely on the Rifle Brigade. Often they adopted green or gray uniforms and rifle pouch-belts in imitation of the professional Riflemen's uniform. While the standard weapon was the P1853 rifled musket, many volunteers brought their own, more sophisticated, weapons to drill. Such was the enthusiasm behind the movement that, by 1870, over 130,000 men had joined Rifle Volunteer Regiments. Seventeen of these were officially affiliated to the Rifle Brigade. The majority of Volunteers were middle class men who had no previous military service - if for no other reason than that volunteers were responsible for buying all their own equipment.
Alfred Tennyson, the poet laureate, even wrote a patriotic recruiting poem, Riflemen Form! that was published in The Times:
There is a sound of thunder afar,
Storm in the south that darkens the day,
Storm of battle and thunder of war,
Well, if it do not roll our way.
Form! form! Riflemen form!
Ready, be ready to meet the storm!
Riflemen, riflemen, riflemen form!
Be not deaf to the sound that warns!
Be not gull'd by a despots' plea!
Are figs of thistles or grapes of thorns?
How should a despot set men free?
Form! form! Riflemen form!
Ready, be ready to meet the storm!
Riflemen, riflemen, riflemen form!
A Battalion of the Rifle Volunteers
The 5th Battalion of the Kent Rifle Volunteers had been formed in May 1861. It was a reorganization of the six companies of the 37th Kent Rifle Volunteer Corps, which had been formed just a year earlier in June 1860. The 5th [Admin] Battalion was headquartered at Stone Street in Cranbrook. Under it, were organized all the local Corps in the Weald of Kent: the 37th Corps based at Cranbrook, 38th based at Hawkhurst, 40th at Staplehurst, 41st at Goudhurst, 42nd at Brenchley, 43rd at Rolvenden, and 44th Corps at Lamberhurst.
From the number of officers listed for the 5th Battalion, it would appear that association with the Volunteers was sought after among the local gentry, especially doctors and rectors. In addition to an honorary Lieutenant-Colonel, Major, and Captain, the Battalion also had a surgeon and four acting surgeons, an acting chaplain and four honorary chaplains, a Captain-Commandant and - last but by no means least - a Sgt Drill-Instructor.
It was the Drill Instructor's job to train a group of a dozen or so Volunteers to understand the parts of a rifle, cleaning the barrel, dismounting, cleaning and remounting the lock, theoretical principles of ballistics, aiming drill and adjusting sights, position drill, snapping caps and blank firing, judging distance, target practice, volley firing, and skirmishing. The Volunteer's drill manual reduced the rifleman's skills to nine simple lessons that could be learned by part-time soldiers and, in the words of General Charles Napier, exhorted recruits not to "let any one persuade you to learn more".
The Kent Rifle Volunteers' presentation to WH Williams
The role of an Admin Battalion, with respect to its constituent Corps, was to: "secure uniformity of drill among them, and to afford them the advantage of the instruction and assistance of an adjutant; but it is not intended to interfere with financial arrangements of the separate corps, or with the operation of the respective rules, or to compel them to meet together for battalion drill in ordinary times except with their own consent."
The task of the permanent staff of the Admin Battalion must have been quite a challenge, especially given the no doubt well-guarded independence of each of the Volunteer corps.
However, Staff-Sgt Williams must have performed the job with some success, because at Christmas-time in 1872, he was presented with a Mappin & Webb silver coffee service "as a token of esteem by the officers, non-commissioned officers, and privates of the 43rd Kent Rifle Volunteers". This was the Corps based in Rolvenden.
The presentation was to be made by the Lt.-Colonel of the Battalion, John Stewart Hardy, MP for Rye (and later 2nd Earl of Cranbrook). Hardy was unable leave his house at Camden Hill, Staplehurst, to attend the presentation in person due to a heavy cold. However, he did write a letter of commendation that was read out to those present at the ceremony on 1 January 1873:
I should much have liked to have personally presented to Sgt Williams, the testimonial, which I feel he has much deserved of us all. I can say for myself and I believe the whole company that he has neglected nothing that could conduce to the welfare of the corps and that his conduct in all respects since I have been acquainted with him has been such as to earn the esteem of all bought in contact with him.
Please read this letter to him, and all present when the service is given away that they may hear how much I regret that indisposition that prevents my being present. I give "honor where honor is due".
Gibbons School, Benenden
From 1872 until he left Benenden, William also served as a Sergeant Drill-Instructor at the Gibbons School in Benenden. At the end of each year he received £2 and 10 shillings from the school funds as payment "for Drill'.
This school had been endowed by Edmund Gibbon of Rolvenden in 1609 with 60 acres of local farmland to provide for the maintenance of a schoolmaster. This endowment was subsequently added to, and by the 1860s produced an annual income of over £100. The school provided a free education to boys of the parish over the age of 7, who were taught reading, writing, arithmetic, geography, and English history. Boys supplied their own copybooks, slates, and pencils. The schoolmaster at the time that William was Drill-Instructor was Richard Streeter.
When William left the school, on 17 February 1875, the boys presented him with two books, one of which was The Poetical Works of Lord Byron, inscribed with their best wishes. Later that week, a local newspaper noted the presentation to Sergeant-Instructor Williams:
"On Wednesday, the boys of Gibbon's School presented their late drill-instructor with two elegant volumes of poetry (selected by Miss R Weston), as a small token of their respect for him and their regret at his removal from the parish. Mr Williams, who leaves to take the post of a Queen's Messenger, has, by his upright, manly, and straightforward course of conduct, gained the goodwill of all classes of his fellow parishioners and, indeed, of
all who have come in contact with him, and we wish him every success in his new
sphere of duty."
Family Life
We don't know why William came to Kent when he left the army rather than return to the Isle of Wight. It is possible that his father was dead by this time, since his mother had moved some years earlier to Walthamstow, and so William may have had no family to go back to on the island. Another possibility is that he knew another Color-Sgt who had served in the Rifle Brigade in India, by the name of James Brann, who may have come from this part of Kent and recommended it to him. Perhaps it was simply that the type of position in the Volunteer Forces that William sought was only available in Kent at the time he resigned his commission from the army.
Jane Brann and William Williams, c1866
Anyway, having secured a position with the Kent Rifle Volunteers, he started living in Benenden, a village that was within easy walking distance of all the Weald towns served by his Battalion.
Neither did he waste time starting his family, because less than a year after arriving in the area, he married Jane Brann of Wittersham, a village just over 11 miles from Benenden. According to family tradition, while he was were courting Jane, William would regularly walk to Wittersham and back to visit her; nothing for a man hardened on marching 20 miles a day under the Indian sun!
Jane was a daughter of George Brann, a farm bailiff at Owley Farm in Wittersham. She was nearly 18 and William had just turned 30. The ceremony took place on 30 July 1866 at Jane's parish church of St John the Baptist, Wittersham. The marriage was witnessed by Jane's elder sister, Ellen Brann, and by Edwin Packham, a local farmer.
They set up home in Benenden at the Old Manor House. This ancient timber-framed house at the edge of the village is thought to have been built around 1400. It stands on the site of a moated settlement dating back to the Domesday Book, and part of the moat remains to this day in the form of an ox-bow shaped pond. The house incorporates some notable woodwork - massive oak spandrels and a central king post - as well as a two-storey chimney breast that dates from the site's earliest Norman house.
In the nineteenth century the Old Manor House was divided into several cottages, and in 1871 there were five other families apart from the Williams' living at the address. It was part of the estate of the Earl of Cranbrook - as was practically everything else in the village and surrounding area. (Later the property was converted back into a single residence, and in 2006 was put on the market for £2.25M!)
Over the next five years, the couple's first three children were born in that house: Frederick in 1867, Charles in 1869 and Fanny in 1872. They were all baptised at St George's parish church in Benenden. They would later be joined by a fourth child, Cicely, who was born in 1875.
On 20 April 1870, William and Jane witnessed the marriage of her sister Ellen to Edwin Packham at Wittersham church; just as the Packhams had witnessed the Williams' marriage four years earlier. The two couples were to remain close throughout the rest of their lives.
Five years later, William moved the family to London. Jane would have been five months' pregnant with their daughter Cicely at the time. They moved into a new house in St Germain's Road, Lewisham. The house was still surrounded by fields, although the whole area was undergoing a building boom that would soon turn it into a desirable commuter suburb of south London. One undoubted benefit of the house's location was that it was less than a mile from Forest Hill railway station. From there, the London, Brighton & South Coast Railway provided a regular train service into London Bridge station.
The Old Manor House, Benenden
The Queen's Messenger
On 10 February 1875, William was sworn in as a Messenger in Ordinary to Her Majesty, at the
War Office in Pall Mall, London. The oath was taken in the presence of, and also signed by, the Secretary of State for War, Gathorne Hardy, MP.
Gathorne Hardy was the Member of Parliament for Oxford University, and had taken office at the War Department in the previous year, upon the formation of prime minister Benjamin Disraeli's second Conservative administration. (It is worth noting that in the general election of 1874 William himself did not have a vote.) Hardy would stay as Secretary for War (army minister) until 1878; by which time his colleague as First Lord of the Admiralty (navy minister) would be William Henry Smith, the newsagent, satirized by Gilbert & Sullivan as the character of Sir Joseph Porter in HMS Pinafore.
After retiring from government Hardy would become the first Earl of Cranbrook, but his association with the Cranbrook area had already begun back in 1861, when he built his country house at Hemsted Park (now Benenden Girls School).
As owner of Hemsted, Hardy was the principal local landowner in Benenden and was very active in the local community. For example, he was a governor of the Gibbons Free School, which he examined every December and for which he took pride in personally selecting the prize books.
So Hardy may have had personal knowledge of William's reputation as the Drill-Instructor at Gibbons School. Alternatively, William could have been recommended to Hardy by his son, John Stewart Hardy, the Colonel of the Rifle Volunteers who had written the commendation letter to William in 1872. A further connection was that Hardy was William's landlord, since the Old Manor House at Benenden was situated at the edge of the Hemsted estate.
Whatever the operative connection, William was appointed by a politician noted for being thoroughly upright and for distributing "such patronage as his clerks left to him" in an even-handed manner.
The title of Queen's Messenger has been claimed exclusively by the Corps of Foreign Service Messengers. To this day, they carry diplomatic bags to British embassies around the world, hold a diplomatic passport, and wear an ancient badge depicting a silver greyhound. It is such world-travelers with briefcases chained to their wrists that people most usually associate with the title.
Rt. Hon. Gathorne Hardy, MP
However, Queen's Messengers also worked extensively for the Home Service, working as messengers for the Home Office, War Office, and Admiralty. They carried confidential government dispatches between government offices in London, and across the country to army and naval bases throughout the British Isles.
While the Foreign Service messengers were usually ex-officers, the Home Service messengers were typically retired non-commissioned officers like William. That difference in background was no doubt a source for fuelling disputes over entitlement to the Queen's Messenger title. But the incontrovertible proof of the use of the title by the War Office comes from William's official bag clasp, which clearly describes the carrier as a "Queen's Messenger, War Office, London".
All Queen's Messengers, of whatever service, took the same ancient oath of allegiance to their sovereign, dating from the formal establishment of the messenger service in reign of Charles II, some three hundred years earlier:
You do solemnly and sincerely declare that you will be a true Servant unto our Sovereign, the Lady Victoria, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, and so forth; that you will not know of anything that shall in anyways be hurtful or prejudicial to the Queen's Majesty's Royal Person, State, Crown, or Dignity; but will, foreasmuch as may lie in your power, hinder it, or else, with all possible speed, reveal the same to the Queen's Majesty, or to some of Her Most Honourable Privy Council;
That you will serve the Queen most truly and faithfully in the place to which you are called as Messenger in Ordinary to Her Majesty, in attendance at the Secretary of State's Office for the Department of War; and that you will be obedient to the Lords of Her Majesty's Most Honourable Privy Council, Her Majesty's Principal Secretaries of State, and their Secretaries.
William H Williams, c1880
William's annual salary was £150 (for comparison, Gathorne Hardy was salaried at £5000).
Five messengers were employed by the War Office at any one time, and a Minute of 1872 records their expense rules and regulations for traveling in the line of duty:
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Personal allowances when absent from London on duty will be 5 shillings per night.
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Actual traveling expenses only will be allowed; 1st class fare when the distance is over 150 miles going and returning, and 2nd class under that distance. Return tickets must be taken whenever possible.
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Whenever omnibuses or railways are available, cabs are not to be used, unless more than one large box or parcel has to be conveyed.
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Mileage allowances and radius circles round London will cease.
Queen's Messenger Bag Clasp
Retirement
By 1896, William had reached the normal retirement age of sixty. So in order to continue working, his "retention for a year was approved" in each of the years following: 1897, 1898, and 1899. He finally did retire on 28 February 1900, after twenty-five years as a Queen's Messenger. He had just turned 64, and could look forward to a civil service pension of £62 and 10 shillings per annum.
By this time, all their children had grown up and left home. Frederick had qualified as a teacher at St Mark's College, Chelsea, and was teaching at the Brockley Road Elementary School in Forest Hill; he had married, and had three of four eventual children. Charles had married and was working as a Bookseller's Assistant in East Ham; later he would move back to the Lewisham area. Cicely was still single and living with Charles and his wife. Fanny had married Bryant, an accountant, had three surviving children, and was living in the other Ashford (Middlesex).
William and Jane at Willesborough, c1920
Shortly after retiring, William and Jane left the house that had been their home for the last twenty years - in Branscombe Street, Lewisham. They moved to Willesborough, a growing suburb of Ashford, Kent, which was only twenty miles from Jane's home village of WIttersham. They moved into Shield Villa, at 28 Albermarle Road, in a street of recently-built houses, just off the main Ashford-Hythe road. The house had a hand-pump for water just outside the back door. They kept a chicken-run in the large back garden and, if one of the hens had stopped laying, Jane would put a china egg under the hen to encourage it to lay a real egg.
On 23 December 1907, William was among 700 surviving veterans who attended an Indian Mutiny Jubilee Commemoration at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The veterans were inspected by Lord Roberts, the Commander-in-Chief, on the terrace of the Albert Memorial at 1pm. Afterwards they were treated to dinner inside the Hall, with music provided by the band of the Royal Artillery. Lord Roberts read a message from the King, which was followed by a speech by Lord Curzon, until recently Viceroy of India, after which the Commander-in-Chief spoke to the men himself.
At the conclusion of Roberts' speech, the Last Post was sounded by army buglers. In closing, the actor Lewis Waller read a commemorative poem entitled "The Veterans", especially written for the occasion by Rudyard Kipling (who earlier that year had received the Nobel Prize for Literature):
Today, across our father's graves,
The astonished years reveal
The remnants of that desperate host
Which cleansed out East with steel.
Hail and farewell! We greet you here,
With tears that none will scorn--
O keepers of the House of old,
Or ever we were born!
One service more we dare to ask--
Pray for us, heroes, pray,
That when Fate lays on us our task
We do not shame the day.
William died at Willesborough on 28 April 1925, aged 88, from heart-failure. On 9 May 1925, his wife Jane placed a note in the personal column of the Kentish Express & Ashford News: "Mrs Williams, Albermarle Road, thanks all friends for kindness and sympathy in her bereavement; also flowers". In his Will, written back April 1914, William left all his estate to his wife, who he also made his executrix.
Jane died at Albermarle Road ten years later, on 4 October 1937, at the similar age of 89. The estate was divided equally between her children and, with a note of pride, her Will specified that her late husband's presentation silver-plated tea service be left to her eldest son Frederick.
Primary Sources:
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Muster Books of the Rifle Brigade [Public Record Office, London]
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Regimental Account book of Color Sergeant W Williams, No. 4680 [family document]
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Certificate of Character and Conduct, WO form 64 [family document]
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Testimonial from Brig-General Percy Hill, Rifle Brigade, Meerut, 5 Oct 1864 [family document]
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Testimonial from Major Andrew Green, 2nd Batt, Rifle Brigade, Meerut, 22 Nov 1864 [family document]
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Testimonial from Lt-Colonel Martin Dillon, 2nd Batt, Rifle Brigade, Winchester, Jun 65 [family document]
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Letter from John Stewart Hardy, Camden Hill, Staplehurst, 1 Jan 1873 [family document]
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Gibbons School, Benenden: Minute Book, 1802-1877 [Center for Kentish Studies]
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Oath of Allegiance as a Messenger in Ordinary to Her Majesty, Whitehall, 10 Feb 1875 [family document]
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Will of William H Williams, witnessed 9 Apr 1914, probate granted 12 Jun 1925 [High Court, Probate Division, London]
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Will of Jane Williams, witnessed 21 Sep 1926, probate granted 8 Nov 1937 [High Court, Probate Division, London]
Secondary Sources:
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My Diary In India, William Howard Russell, London, 1860
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Incidents in the Sepoy War, 1857-58, James Hope Grant with Captain Henry Knollys, Edinburgh, 1876
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The History of the Rifle Brigade, William H Cope, London, 1877
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The Life of Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde, Lawrence Shadwell, Edinburgh, 1881
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Reminiscences of the Great Mutiny 1857-59, Sgt William Forbes-Mitchell, London, 1893
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Forty-One Years in India, Frederick Roberts (Field-Marshall Earl Roberts of Kandahar), London, 1897
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1857: In Commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Indian Mutiny, Perceval Landon, London, 1907
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Jackets of Green: a study of the history, philosophy, and character of the Rifle Brigade, Arthur Bryant, London, 1972
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Crisis of the Raj: the revolt of 1857 through British lieutenants' eyes, Wayne G Broehl, Hanover, NH, 1986
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Customs and Traditions of the Rifle Brigade, Maj. Alan D Fairbairn, 1992
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The British Troops in the Indian Mutiny 1857-9, Michael Barthorp & Douglas Anderson, London, 1994
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The Rifle Brigade in the Indian Mutiny, George Caldwell, Medal News, Dec 2001/Jan 2002
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Drill and Rifle Instruction for the Corps of Rifle Volunteers, War Office, London 1860 [reprint Excalibur, Latham NY, 1995]
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The Rifle Volunteers: the history of the Rifle Volunteers 1859-1908, Ray Westlake, Chippenham, 1982
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Kelly's Directory of Kent: 1873 & 1882 Family History Library, Salt Lake City, UT
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History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent, Edward Hasted, London, 1799 (Local History Reprints, London)
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Gathorne Hardy, First Earl of Cranbrook, Alfred Erkine Gathorne-Hardy, London, 1910
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Mid-Kent Poll Book, 1874 Public Record Office
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Elites in Edwardian Kent: Cranbrook, P F J Betts, 1995, Cranbrook Museum
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Statesmen: No. 110, Right Hon. Gathorne Hardy, MP, DCL, author unknown, Vanity Fair, 20 April 1872
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The History of the King's Messengers, Vincent Wheeler-Holohan, New York, 1934
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The Times, 9 May 1859 & 24 Dec 1907
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Kentish Express & Ashford News, 9 May 1925
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The Daily Telegraph, Telegraph Property, 7 Jan 2006
Acknowledgements:
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John Turner, cousin, co-descendant of WH's son Frederick, for trusting me with letters and heirlooms from WH's career.
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Hazel Gott, 2nd cousin, descendant of WH's daughter Fanny, for sharing photos and enthusiasm in researching WH's life.
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Delia John, 4th cousin and descendant of Jane Brann's sister Ellen, for the early photographs of WH and Jane.
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Staff of the Centre for Kentish Studies, Maidstone, for their help on numerous occasions.
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Staff of the Cranbrook Museum, Kent, for information relating to Benenden.
Illustrations:
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W H Williams (family photograph)
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Soldiers of the Rifle Brigade (c1856, from Cope's History of the Rifle Brigade)
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Williams' Sergeant's Insignia (family heirloom)
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Bullock Carts on the Great Trunk Road (from The Campaign in India 1857-8, by G F Atkinson, London, 1859)
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General Colin Campbell (from Landon's 1857)
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Nana Sahib (from Landon's 1857)
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Map of operations around the City of Lucknow (from Cope's History of the Rifle Brigade)
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Campbell's forces entering Lucknow (tradecard issued by Price's Patent Candle Co. Ltd, c1900)
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The Relief of Lucknow (painting by Thomas Jones Barker, now in National Portrait Gallery, London (from Landon's 1857)
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Indian Mutiny Medal (family heirloom)
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General James Hope Grant (from A History of the Indian Mutiny, by G W Forrest, London, 1912)
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Mutinous Sepoys Dividing Spoil (from The Indian Empire, by R Montgomery Martin, London, 1860)
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Riflemen Attacking a Rebel Fort (painting by Orlando Norrie, Rifle Brigade Museum, Winchester)
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William Howard Russell, the Times correspondent (from The Indian Empire, by R Montgomery Martin, London, 1860)
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Bareilly, June 1858: "Tisn't the heat..." (cartoon from Punch, 25 Sep 1858)
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Fugitive Sepoys Taking Refuge in the Mountains (from The Indian Empire, by R Montgomery Martin, London, 1860)
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A unit of the Camel Corps (Illustrated London News, 9 Apr 1859)
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Sgt Williams' Army Bible (family heirloom)
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Major Green's letter of commendation (family document)
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Rifle Brigade Barracks, Winchester (postcard: Valentine's Series, c1900)
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A battalion of the Rifle Volunteers (Illustrated London News, 3 Oct 1863)
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Jane Brann and William Williams (family photo: Delia John)
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The Old Manor House, Benenden (photo: Hazel Gott)
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Silver Coffee Service (family heirloom)
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Gibbon's School, Beneden (own photo)
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Rt. Hon. Gathorne Hardy, MP (Spy cartoon from Vanity Fair, 20 April 1872)
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William H Williams, c1880 (family photo: Delia John)
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Queen's Messenger Bag Clasp (family heirloom)
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William and Jane at Willesborough, c1920 (family photograph)
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Indian Mutiny Golden Jubilee rosette (family heirloom)