Читать книгу The Fatal Cup: Thomas Griffiths Wainewright and the strange deaths of his relations - John Price Williams - Страница 26

when Wainewright arrived there was only a vestige of his regiment left.

The monthly Regimental Return, dated May 25th 1814, four days before the regiment landed in Quebec, shows that the garrison in Fermoy was down to six officers and 60 men.

In command was Captain John Galloway, under him Lieutenants W.G. Hasleham, John O’Brien, Darby Mahoney and another ensign, John O’Donnell, who joined three weeks after Wainewright. They were all Irish, and the first three all regulars. The young dilettante must soon have tired of their provincialism, and of Fermoy itself, whose streets, according to a local account of the time, were “partially-paved”.

Dreams of action were evaporating in the empty barracks in the wet south of Ireland. As the rest of the 16th was garrisoning Quebec and Montreal and setting up post at Chambly and Coteau du Lac, Ensign Wainewright was writing orderly and guard reports.

He was to accustom himself “to give his words of command not only with energy and precision but with that firm, confident manly voice…” according to the Regimental Companion, somewhat of a challenge for one who lisped and lacked the discipline to be either energetic or precise. He should also have been having a “frequent intercourse, not only with geographical charts and books upon mathematics, but likewise the application of their different principles to practical experiments.” An arid prospect for one of Wainewright’s artistic disposition.

Apart from entering into practical experiments with a notable lack of enthusiasm there was

THE FATAL CUP

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