Читать книгу Marshal William Carr Beresford - Marcus de la Poer Beresford - Страница 10

1 THE EARLY YEARS

‘A before marriage boy of the old Lords’1

William Carr, born in 1768, was the younger of the two boys fathered by George de la Poer Beresford, Earl of Tyrone, prior to his marriage to Elizabeth Monck. John Poo had been born two years earlier than William Carr. Little is known about their early lives but given that Elizabeth was reportedly fond of them, they presumably spent those days at the family home, Curraghmore, County Waterford. There they clearly formed close bonds with their siblings, as is borne out by their later correspondence. The Marchioness gave birth to six children and all bar the first, Lord la Poer, were to have a continuing and lifelong relationship with William Carr.2 In the family, the boys were addressed in correspondence as ‘Poo’ and ‘Carr’ respectively, rather than John and William. They probably carried these as surnames in early years, for later in life both boys obtained licences to use the name ‘Beresford’.3 Obtaining these licences seems only to have regularised a pre-existing condition, for the naval and military records of the two boys refer to them as Beresford from the commencement of their service, and they signed documents as such from that time.4

Childhood at Curraghmore would have been comfortable by the standards of the day. Lying in a broad and beautiful valley in County Waterford, through which runs the river Clodagh, the architecture of the house incorporates the mediaeval tower along with additions including those of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. William was not to enjoy those surroundings for long. At the age of eight he was sent (along with John) to a school in Catterick Bridge in Yorkshire to be educated.5 Later, the two boys moved to a school in York, where they were looked after by two ladies whom they remembered with kindness later in life.6 As might be expected, his elder brother, John, very much led the way at this time.7 In his seventeenth year (1784), William entered the military academy in Strasbourg to train for the army.8 His stay there was relatively short, for in 1785 he was appointed an ensign in the 6th Regiment of Foot (1st Warwickshire Regiment). It is likely this position was purchased, perhaps by his father with whom he remained in close contact, albeit mostly by correspondence given William’s long absences abroad, for the rest of the Marquis’s life.9

The 6th regiment was posted to Nova Scotia in 1786. One of William’s fellow ensigns in the 6th regiment was Thomas Molyneux, who joined it in 1786 and also hailed from Ireland.10 William and Thomas were part of a hunting party one day when a covey of partridges rose up. As Thomas shot at the birds, a pellet from his gun struck William in the left eye, entirely depriving him of sight in that eye.11 While the loss is evident in some of the paintings of William in later life, in others it is as if airbrushed to produce a more sympathetic picture.

Promotion came rapidly, albeit by changing regiments. In 1789 he joined the 16th Regiment of Foot as a Lieutenant, a regiment of which in later life he became Colonel.12 In the following year he became a Captain in the 69th Regiment of Foot, and in that capacity he served with the marines under Admiral Lord Hood.13 He was present at the opening to a British force of the gates of Toulon by French royalists in August 1793. For some time prior to this event, Hood’s fleet had been blockading that French naval base, but royalist success was to be shortlived. On 2 December of the same year, the town fell to French revolutionary forces (the French artillery was commanded by a certain Napoleon Bonaparte). However, Hood was able to ensure that much of the French fleet was burnt rather than to let it fall into revolutionary hands.

Admiral Hood then moved to take Corsica, having been invited to do so by the de facto ruler and Corsican patriot, Pasquale Paoli. William distinguished himself at the capture of the Martello at San Fiorenzo, as a result of which he achieved his majority in March 1794. Additionally, serving under Sir John Moore, he was present at the capture of Bastia and Calvi. The island briefly became a British protectorate, but was lost to the French again in 1796. By that time Beresford had returned to England (1794) where he was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the Waterford Regiment (124th), a regiment raised by his father on his estates in Ireland.

In early 1795 the regiment was transferred to England, where it was based first at Romsey and then Netley barracks in Hampshire.14 The regiment was almost full and recruiting was continued in Ireland throughout the first half of the year. Even at this early date, Beresford’s ability to organise and train was recognised with the regiment’s Major, Richard Lee, reporting that it was wonderful what Carr had made of it. Initially the 124th was designated to serve under Lord Moira, who had recently returned from an unsuccessful expedition to the Netherlands led by the Duke of York.

This decision delighted the Marquis of Waterford who, no doubt aware of the short life expectancy of soldiers in the West Indies, expressed the view that he was happy ‘Carr’ would not be going there.15 His joy was to be short lived, for even though the Duke of York inspected the regiment at Southampton that summer and was most complimentary, a decision, which Waterford had apprehended, was made in the autumn to disband the 124th, transferring officers and men to the 88th regiment (the Connaught Rangers).16 There was a silver lining to this particular cloud, as Beresford was appointed Lieutenant Colonel of the Connaught Rangers in September 1795. This appointment came at a time when the regiment was ravaged by sickness, both typhus and typhoid having broken out in the retreat from Bergen op Zoom to Ems during the previous winter. As a result, on its return to England the 88th was seriously deficient in numbers, the regimental return for June 1795 showing a mere 222 men fit for duty with 543 declared sick, which may explain the reversing of the Waterford regiment into that of the Connaught Rangers.

Beresford set his hand to the task of rebuilding a regiment, and his methods excited the admiration of the regimental surgeon, James McGrigor; himself later to achieve fame in the Peninsula.17 This early dedication to and demonstration of a professional approach to the welfare and training of the regiment was to be repeated frequently in his later life resulting in the appreciation and high regard held for his organisational skills by other officers.

William’s father’s fears of a carribean sojourn were nearly realised in the autumn of 1795. The 88th was part of a force destined for service in the West Indies later that year under Sir Ralph Abercromby, but the fleet, and indeed the regiment, became widely dispersed as a result of severe storms and as a consequence most of it returned home. Beresford was granted three months leave of absence in 1796.18 Between 1797 and 1798, the 88th and Beresford were stationed in Jersey for the defence of that island.19 It was a not unimportant posting as the French were once again rumoured to be threatening the Channel Isles, which they had invaded as recently as 1779 and 1781. In later life Beresford was Governor of the island, from 1821 to 1854, a thirty-year period that is still commemorated by a street named after him in the capital, St Helier.

In 1797, Richard Wellesley (then Earl of Mornington) was appointed Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William in India, an appointment which he was to hold until 1805.20 His younger brother, Arthur Wellesley, later to become the Duke of Wellington, took a leading military role in the ensuing Indian wars which effectively extinguished resurgent French ambitions in the subcontinent and laid the ground for the development of British power there.21 Beresford was sent to India with the 88th regiment to join a force under Sir David Baird, but he arrived at Bombay in June 1800 after the fall of Seringapatam (May 1799) had ended the resistance of Tipu Sultan, who was killed at that time.

Beresford’s career was to be linked with that of Baird rather than Arthur Wellesley for the next seven years, notwithstanding his request to the Governor-General of India to serve under Arthur following his arrival in India, a wish that Richard Wellesley was happy to accede to in circumstances which imply a good relationship between the two families.22 In late 1800, a British expedition from India under Arthur Wellesley was planned with two potentially rather different objectives; Batavia and/or Mauritius. However, following instructions received from England the destination was changed, and Marquess Wellesley, as Richard had now become, appointed Baird to command an expeditionary force to go to Egypt, much to his brother Arthur’s chagrin.

It was intended this expedition should assist and join with the army under Sir Ralph Abercromby, at that time engaged in an attempt to dislodge Napoleon’s army from Egypt. The Governor-General of India appointed his brother Arthur as second in command under Baird, but Arthur was taken ill with fever in Bombay and never joined Baird’s expeditionary force.23 Thus Beresford was denied the opportunity at this date to serve under Arthur Wellesley. In December 1800, Beresford, who had been appointed to command the first brigade, was ordered to prepare to sail with secret orders from Bombay. He arrived in Bombay ahead of Baird and by the time the latter reached Bombay, Beresford had himself sailed (before 3 April 1801) for Egypt with six transports containing troops and provisions. Wellesley, whose illness seems to have involved a recurrence of a previously debilitating fever, arrived in Bombay on 23 March and seems to have been actively involved in the preparations for the expedition.

Beresford’s force put in to Mocha (the Yemen) on 21 April and sailed again the following day, without disclosing his destination to the Resident, Mr Pringle. Clearly he was not going to breach his secret orders. Colonel John Murray, who was Quartermaster General on Baird’s staff, had also gone ahead of Baird with a separate detachment. Baird became concerned that Beresford and Murray would join up and attack Kosseir (Al Qusair) on the Red Sea coast of Egypt before they had adequate numbers to ensure success. A messenger was sent after Beresford to tell him to meet Baird at Jeddah on the Arabian coast, but the messenger did not find either Beresford or Murray. Baird’s concern rose because in May 1799 the French under Belliard had captured and subsequently garrisoned Kosseir, and in the following year driven off a British force which had inflicted considerable damage on the fort. In fact the French subsequently abandoned the fort, but not before attempting to poison the wells.

Richard Wellesley’s instructions to Baird were to conciliate the Arab chiefs (including the Sheriff of Mecca, the Imam of Sana and the Sultan of Aden) to ensure, if possible, their support for the British, or at the least to obtain their neutrality. This was no foregone conclusion, given the desire of at least some to see weakened Britain’s ally, the Ottoman Empire. Baird eventually reached Jeddah, having himself called at Mocha, on 18 May where he learnt that the British force under Sir Ralph Abercromby had won a signal victory against the French in Lower Egypt on 21 March, though Abercromby himself had lost his life in the engagement. He was told also that Murray and Beresford had headed up the Gulf of Suez. In fact they had already landed at Kosseir on 16 May and were making preparations to cross the desert with a view to reaching Cairo. While Baird was engaged in diplomacy with Arab leaders, Sir Home Popham arrived in Kosseir from the Cape of Good Hope with further reinforcements. Baird, Popham and Beresford were to be involved again in interesting circumstances some five years later.

Baird caught up with Beresford and Murray at Kosseir on 8 June. At that stage Murray and Romney had apparently already made one abortive attempt to cross the desert from Kosseir to Ghennah (also Ghenné, Kenné, or Qena) on the Nile. Kosseir and its immediate environs were pretty inhospitable, as described by the Count de Noé, an officer serving with the 10th Regiment of Foot: ‘I shall never forget the deep impression of melancholy made upon my mind by the first sight of this desolate coast. Such barrenness, such solitude, such a total and wretched absence of every thing like verdure or foliage, except indeed in the shape of a few blighted date trees. The heart shuddered at the idea of even a temporary residence upon its arid shores.’

The challenge of how to transport an army of in excess of 6,000 across 120 miles of desert in blistering heat was a considerable one.24 It involved the purchase of camels, horses and bullocks, but most importantly the securing of supplies of water.25 Baird sent out advance parties to dig new wells along the route and provided for each detachment to carry with it a large quantity of water sacks (mussacks), though these ultimately proved problematic as a number leaked.

The first corps ordered to begin the ‘perilous march’, being the 88th Regiment and the Bombay sepoys, was that commanded by Beresford, which set off to Moilah where there was water and provisions. However, the wells built at various points proved insufficient and Baird was forced to delay sending the second body of men while the camels carried further water supplies to Beresford and his men.26 Ultimately the entire force, less three who had died on the way, reached Ghennah (via Legeta), which Baird reported on 24 June was to be the intermediate destination of the 88th Regiment (Connaught Rangers), but not before Baird had been forced by the conditions to send his cannon back to Kosseir.27 The troops suffered from dysentery, and Baird was perhaps fortunate to lose only three men on a journey which had been described some twenty-five years earlier, by the explorer James Bruce, in the following terms:

Our road was all the way on an open plain, bounded by hillocks of sand and fine gravel, perfectly hard, and not perceptible above the level of the plain country of Egypt. About twelve miles distant there is a ridge of mountains, of no considerable height, perhaps the most barren in the world – between them our road lay, through plains near three miles broad, but without trees, shrubs, or herbs; there are not even the traces of any living creatures, neither serpent nor lizard, antelope nor ostrich, the usual inhabitants of the most dreary deserts; there is no sort of water on the surface, brackish or sweet; even the birds seem to avoid the place as pestilential, not having seen one of any kind so much as flying over. The sun was burning hot, and upon rubbing two sticks together, in half a minute they flamed.28

Once at Ghennah, Baird prepared to move his force by boat down the Nile with Cairo as his objective. Unbeknownst to Baird, Cairo had surrendered to the British on 27 June, as Baird’s army was crossing the desert. Baird’s army embarked on 31 July, leaving Colonel Murray and a detachment to garrison Ghennah. Baird travelled via Gizeh (which he left Colonel Ramsey to garrison). He reached the island of Rhouda just outside Cairo on 27 August and by 30 August had arrived at Rosetta. Baird’s force arrived at Alexandria just as a truce had been arranged and this was followed by the surrender of the French on 2 September 1801, which meant Beresford played no part in the siege of that city. He was, however, subsequently appointed Commandant of Alexandria and he remained in Egypt until the British forces were withdrawn in 1803.29

The march by Baird’s force from Kosseir on the Red Sea across 130 miles of desert in nine days and then down the Nile to Cairo caught the public imagination at home. Beresford shared in the fame generated by these events. Perhaps even more importantly he had witnessed the vital necessity of good organisation and planning for military operations, as demonstrated by Baird’s thorough preparations prior to crossing the desert.

On his return home from Alexandria in 1803, Beresford spent time in Ireland, one of the few occasions during the French wars that he was able to do so. Ireland had just witnessed the suppression of a further rebellion following that of 1798; for in 1803 Robert Emmet had sought to raise the flag of republicanism again; with the difference that now the Act of Union joining Ireland with England had been adopted (1801), the target was no longer the Irish parliament in Dublin but the British administration ruling in the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

The rebellion commenced in Dublin and County Wicklow on 23 July but was short lived. A number of those involved managed to avoid the government forces for some time. While back in Ireland in late 1803, Beresford was engaged in the search for some of Emmet’s supporters hiding out in the Wicklow mountains. Beresford’s appearance in Wicklow at this time probably resulted from the burning of the Beresford family property at Hollywood in County Wicklow in the 1798 rebellion. Michael Dwyer and Martin Burke were two prominent participants of the 1803 rising being sought by the militia. When Martin Burke was captured on 13 December, Beresford expressed the view that he merited mercy, as he had never been a murderer, and indeed he said he did not think Burke had been responsible for any particular crime since 23 July. However, he was prepared to use Burke to capture Dwyer. Dwyer in fact surrendered the next day, followed afterwards by a number of others who had been supporters of Emmet.30 These leaders of the Wicklow-based insurrection were detained in Kilmainham Jail in Dublin before being sent to New South Wales in late 1805 as free men.

This short interlude in Wicklow also demonstrated a side of Beresford’s character with which all were to become familiar in the Peninsula. A yeoman was caught plundering property during a search, whereupon Beresford sought instructions as to whether he could court martial him using the form of trial used for soldiers or whether he was required to use some other form? While the response from his superiors has not been located, the request is evidence of Beresford, the strict disciplinarian.31

The year 1804 remains a blank sheet in the life of William Carr Beresford. There is a family tradition that at some stage he sought the hand of his cousin Louisa, daughter of the Archbishop of Tuam; but that this union was prevented by the family.32 No documentary evidence has been located to support this story, but the two were supposedly close. In 1806, Louisa, who was a renowned beauty and friend of the Irish authoress Maria Edgeworth, married Thomas Hope, the interior designer, author and collector. With him she had a family, but following his death in 1831 she was to marry William in 1832 and they then spent the next twenty years together.33 They were both mature persons at that time, with William having secured fame, titles and financial security. Nobody would then have been in a position to prevent their marriage at that stage in their lives. If there is substance to family tradition, then the period of 1804 and early 1805 is the only time when Beresford would have had the opportunity to get to know Louisa as an adult prior to her marriage.34