Rifle Brigade
The standard weapon of the British Infantry until the 19th century was a smooth-bore musket and bayonet. During the 18th century, the rifle barrel was invented and began to be used in some armies. One regiment that showed early interest was the 5th Battalion of the 60th Rifles, later to become the Kings Royal Rifle Corps. By 1800 Colonel Coote-Manningham was authorised to raise a Corps of Riflemen and thus the Experimental Corps of Riflemen was formed.
The Experimental Rifle Corps was assembled at Horsham in March 1800. The Lieutenant Colonel was the Hon William Stewart who was responsible for the day-to-day command. Four months later a portion of the Corps was sent to Ferrol, under Stewart, where he did excellent service covering the advance of the small force which landed to attack the fortress on25 August. This date was used, being anti-dated, when the Regiment was gazetted some months later as the Rifle Corps and has ever since been regarded as the regimental birthday.
Lord Nelson was one who recognised the value of accurate fire from the fighting-tops and asked for the service of the Rifle Corps on board his ships. A company under Stewart’s command took part in the Battle of Copenhagen on 2 April 1801.
In 1803 the Corps was renamed the 95th or rifle Regiment.
The Peninsular War saw the Regiment, 1st and 2nd and 3rd Battalions, taking a leading part in almost every one of Wellington’s battles.
The list of battle-honours includes, among many others, Corunna, Salamanca, Toulouse and all three Battalions were engaged at Waterloo on 18 June 1815.
In 1816 the services of the 95th Rifles were recognised by the order which took the Regiment out of the numbered regiments of the line and styled it the Rifle Brigade.
In 1857 the 4th Battalion was` added to the Regiment, in which year the Indian Mutiny broke out. The 2nd and 3rd Battalions were sent to India to be heavily engaged and where four VC’s were awarded. After the Mutiny, the Regiment was engaged in various areas of the globe such as the Indian Frontier, Canada against the Fenians, Afghanistan, Burma and Khartoum.
The 1st Battalion sailed on the ship ‘German’ on 28th October 1899, arrived at the Cape on 20th November, and was sent on to Durban. Along with the 2nd Scottish Rifles, 3rd King’s Royal Rifles, and 1st Durham Light Infantry, they formed the 4th Brigade under Major General Honourable N G Lyttelton.
The losses of the 1st Rifle Brigade at Colenso were trifling and at Vaalkrantz on 5th and 6th February their casualties were 5 men killed and 5 officers and 76 men wounded. For that engagement 4 officers and 4 non-commissioned officers and men were mentioned in General Buller’s despatch of 8th February 1900.
The battalion took part in the heavy work between 13th and 27th February, and won the commendation of General Buller. On 18th February there fell to the Durham Light Infantry and 1st Rifle Brigade the task of attacking the nek between Greenhill and Monte Christo. They wasted no time, and were soon in the laager behind the nek. On the 23rd these two battalions crossed the river, and in the forenoon received orders to support Hart’s attack on Inniskilling Hill, but the attack was over before they arrived at the hill-foot. During the next four days, except on the 25th, the battalion was constantly fighting, being the leading battalion on the left of the line in the final assault on the 27th. In the fourteen days’ fighting the Rifle Brigade’s losses, including those of officers and men in the Composite Rifle Battalion, were approximately 14 men killed, 8 officers and 117 men wounded.
Five officers and 10 non-commissioned officers and men were mentioned in General Buller’s despatch of 30th March 1900, 3 of the latter being awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal, another man of the Mounted Infantry Company getting that medal at Alleman’s Nek. Captain W N Congreve brought a VC to the regiment, if not to the 1st Battalion, by his conspicuous gallantry in assisting to rescue the guns at Colenso on 15th December 1899.
The 2nd Battalion sailed from Crete on the ‘Jelunga’ on 2nd October 1899, and reached Durban on the 26th. At 3 am on the 30th the battalion got into Ladysmith by rail, and after a hasty meal set out to join the 1st Devon, 1st Manchester, and 2nd Gordons under Ian Hamilton at Limit Hill, north of the town, where Sir George’s centre was that day. The brigade did not have much to do beyond sending help to Colonel Grimwood’s brigade on the right or east. During the forenoon the battalion and the 2nd Gordons deployed and lined the crest of Limit Hill, from which they covered the retreat of Grimwood’s Brigade, they themselves eventually retiring about 3 pm.
From the commencement of the siege the battalion held King’s Post and Leicester Post on the north of the town, and, unlike some other battalions, they strained every nerve for weeks to make these posts absolutely unassailable. The rocky nature of the ground, the want of suitable tools, and the fact that many of the diggers had to be on duty in the trenches all night, made the task superlatively difficult Observation Post, about a mile in advance of King’s Post, was till 9th November held by a weak detachment of the 5th Lancers, who were attacked on that day, and the Rifle Brigade had to reinforce them. The attack was repulsed. The battalion’s losses were 1 officer and 1 man mortally wounded and 4 men wounded. They had now to garrison this post and to set about making it impregnable. One very remarkable piece of work done by the battalion was the keeping down by the Lee-Metford fire of ‘sharpshooters, many of whom were officers’, of the Boer artillery-fire at ranges between 2000 and 2800 yards. On the morning of 8th December it became known that General Hunter with 600 men of the Imperial Light Horse and Natal Carbineers had blown up two big guns on Lombard’s Kop and captured a maxim. This fired Colonel Metcalfe to do something similar, and he got Sir George’s sanction to endeavour to destroy the howitzer on Surprise Hill. On the night of the 9th he reconnoitred the route, and on the 10th at 10 pm started with five companies 2nd Rifle Brigade and a few Engineers under the ever-ready Lieutenant Digby-Jones. The hill-top was reached; after some delay the howitzer was found, not in its emplacement; the explosive was inserted; a fuse was lit, but no explosion happened; another had to be set. This time the gun was destroyed; but meanwhile the Boers had gathered in force on the hillside, and our men had to charge with fixed bayonets, never firing a shot. Many Boers were bayoneted. Colonel Metcalfe lost 1 officer and 11 men killed, 36 wounded and 10 prisoners or missing, but a bit of good work had been boldly and skilfully executed. Sir George White in his despatch of 23rd March 1900 remarks that “the companies were, on the way back, admirably handled by their captains … The affair reflects great credit on Lieutenant Colonel C T E Metcalfe and his battalion”.
At three on the morning of 6th January the battalion heard the furious rattle of musketry round the southern defences, and about 5.30 they were ordered to send six companies to Caesar’s Camp, four miles off, arriving there about seven. Five companies were pushed into the firing line, which was distant from the enemy only 80 yards. “For nearly the whole day the fight raged fiercely, first one side then the other gaining a slight advantage, but we could not succeed in dislodging the Boers” from the south-east of the hill. At 3.30 the enemy tried to rush forward, but were driven back and shortly afterwards retreated under a heavy fire, “some companies firing their last round”. The battalion this day lost 1 officer killed and 1 mortally wounded, and 20 men killed, 5 officers and 32 men wounded. That night officers and men lay on the stricken field soaked and physically wretched, but knowing that another big bit of work had been done. Five officers and 8 non-commissioned officers and men were mentioned in Sir George White’s despatch of 23rd March 1900.
On 7th January the battalion was ordered to take over Wagon Hill from the 1st King’s Royal Rifles. The Hon A Dawnay, adjutant of the 2nd battalion, in the account which he gives of the siege, already quoted from, says: “On arriving at Wagon Hill we were not best pleased at our change of quarters; we found none of those snug burrows or palatial residences that we had built with so much care in our old habitation, and the defensive works were few and far between. All the weary digging had to be started afresh, only under more trying conditions, as it all had to be done by night, it being quite impossible to attempt anything of the sort by day, since we were continually exposed to shrapnel at the convenient range of 3200 yards. Quite two miles of front had to be fortified, but in a very short time a complete set of works made their appearance, continuous sangars occupied a large portion of our front, wire entanglements were laid down all round the front of our position, and abates made in places”.
After the relief of Ladysmith, both Battalions were given a period to rest and recuperate, and never did men deserve that more. They were ready to go forward when General Buller moved north, moving through Laing’s Nek, Botha’s Pass and Alleman’s Nek to Pretoria.
On 9th October 1900 a disastrous incident occurred. The railway had been cut south of Heidelberg, and the same day Captain Paget and two other officers, a colour sergeant, and 14 riflemen went down the line on an engine to reconnoitre. 200 Boers were lying in wait, and had the little party completely at their mercy. Two officers and 1 man were killed, the others were wounded.
Throughout 1901 the battalion was generally in the neighbourhood of the Transvaal – Natal Railway. In January and February a lot of marching was done, sometimes with a column, sometimes taking convoys to Ermelo and other places for other columns. After February they were chiefly engaged in watching the railway, having latterly about forty miles in safe keeping.
Had to report sick as I had Dysentry, was given medicine and told to report at night. It poured with rain and having no shelter was drenched to the skin, felt like rolling up, too weak to stand so had to lay on the ground saturated, blankets and everything. About 2 o’clock I crawled down to the Medical Hut and laid there till the evening, temperature very high, till the ambulance came, when with several more l was carted off to No 24 Field Hospital where I remained for 3 weeks. Nov. 16th 1900 Private Charles Frederick Pegler 2nd Battalion Rifle Brigade
Retired soon after daybreak to town where we proceeded to dry our clothes as
soon as the sun came out, most of us talking about home. They gave us a stick of tobacco and a Xmas box. For dinner we had a plum duff which was not too bad considering it was mixed with tallow we used to grease our boots with. After the rain the river where we obtained our water was very thick and the tea we got this evening was like mud, but Tommy only said somebody had been putting milk in it and it was drank alright. Xmas day 1899 Pegler
This morning…..our only casualty on Kings Hill. A man… was putting up a blanket as a shelter…he unfortunately put his head above the wall and received a mauser bullet in the head. We bound him up and carried him to the hospital but the poor chap only lived about two hours…we proceeded with a stretcher to No. 11 Field Hospital where I took over the body……..we sat for about two mortal hours with the corpse in the road. At the cemetery we found an open grave and brought the body to it but we had got no tools or ropes for lowering it…after a lot of trouble we succeeded in laying it at the bottom. We then took our helmets off and said a short prayer and then started filling in with our hands and feet. 25 January 1900 Pegler.