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CHILDHOOD—EARLY TENDENCIES—THE 'HOUSEHOLD TROOP'—EDUCATION—NAVAL TRAINING—THE 'BRITANNIA'—THE 'ST. GEORGE'—PRINCE ALFRED.

General Wauchope's boyhood was spent mostly at Niddrie, with occasional short visits in summer to the other property of the family at Yetholm, among the pastoral Cheviot hills.

A high-spirited, frolicsome boy, delighting in the open air and every kind of outdoor sport, 'Andy,' as he was familiarly called, found scope for his energies in the beautifully wooded park surrounding the house. Bird-nesting, rabbit-catching, and fishing in the burn which meanders through the estate, found him an ardent enthusiast, but often brought him into trouble with his father and mother. His bird-nesting feats, prosecuted with all the zest of a professional poacher, often resulted in the dislocation of his clothes, and shoes and stockings too often betrayed the fact that friendly visits to the burn were more frequent and prolonged than ought to be. Many a time Andy was thus in a sore plight. Drenched and torn, he would go to the kindly gardener's wife, to get the rents in his jacket sewed, his stockings changed, and his shoes dried, before venturing into the family presence. In his adventures over the property, the burn was never a barrier to his progress. It was the same with hedges, ditches, or stone walls. If he wanted to reach a certain point, he made a straight road to it over every obstacle.

Youthful tendencies

But the limits of the park did not always satisfy his roving desires. He soon made himself acquainted with the surroundings of his home. Craigmillar Castle was a favourite resort on the one side; the beach at Portobello gave him a taste for the sea and aquatic exercise; while the neighbouring little village of Niddrie was not long in making his acquaintance. Here he was known to every one, for Andy made himself at home in every cottage; and if the boys stood in some awe of him, and mothers blamed him for sending their sons home with their clothes torn, or their noses bleeding, still, for all that, he was always welcomed among them, sometimes with a 'jeelie' (jelly) piece or a new-baked scone!

Many a frolic he and the boys of the village were engaged in, if all tales were told, and sometimes Andy got credit for more than he deserved. Boys will be boys, but his boyhood early showed the spirit of the man, for to have a number of country boys together, and put them through military drill, was the height of his delight. He was a born leader, and he doubtless imbibed his love of soldiering from the frequent opportunities he had of seeing military manoeuvres in the Queen's Park, or more likely on Portobello sands, where at that time there was a great deal of drilling, both of the regulars and of the yeomanry cavalry. That the military instinct revealed itself early may be gathered from the following:—One day the village dominie, worthy old Mr. Savage, looking out of the school door across the road, saw the youthful form of Andy—then about seven or eight years old—on the top of the high boundary wall of his father's park, which at that place is nearly nine feet high. 'What are you doing up there?' shouted the dominie; 'get down at once, you young rascal, or you'll get killed!' But Andy only waved his hand as he shouted back, 'It's all right, Mr. Savage: I'm only viewing the enemy,' and off he scampered along the top of the wall!

Andy's 'household troop' was not a large one, but it sufficed. With Tom and Jim, the gardener's sons, and their sisters, Jess and Bella, assisted by a few male and female recruits from among the children of the other workers, with his sister Fanny and his cousins Elizabeth and Nina Elliot, now Lady Northesk and Mrs. J. Dacre Butler respectively—one of whom carried the banner, and another the drum—the youthful general managed to make a fair show. He drilled them well, and was naturally very proud of them. One day there happened to be company at the house. Andy, anxious to display his forces, marched them up to the front door, and there, seated on his little black pony 'Donald,' he put them through their facings, to the great entertainment of the visitors. He was not content with this, however. He must needs take the place by storm, and so, putting himself at the head of his troop, he gave the word of command, 'Forward, march!' and actually marched them into the hall, and through the dining-room to the terrace at the back of the house, bravely leading them on his pony!

The ice-house stood in the park not very far from the house. It was a vaulted chamber covered with turf, forming externally a mound which made a capital fort. Many a time was it the scene of mimic warfare, its defence or assault giving splendid scope for the youthful general's military genius,—brilliant attacks being as brilliantly defeated without any great loss of life!

Sometimes 'Andy's' attacks took a wider range, and nocturnal escapades of a frolicking nature are said to have been not infrequent. It is told of him that having gathered a few of the village boys together, they made a raid one night upon the workshop of the village joiner, and took away a number of odd cart-wheels lying about in the yard. These they fastened to the doors of some of the cottages, where they were found next morning, much to the surprise of the inmates, who had some difficulty in getting egress from their houses! Nobody, of course, could tell who was to blame; but, as our informant remarked, 'They a' kent wha did it: it was just some o' Maister Andra's mischief.'

One old woman in the village, whose temper was not very good, and who laboured under the conviction that her hen-house was from time to time robbed of its roosters, had made herself somewhat obnoxious, and it was determined to give her a real fright. So one evening, after all decent folks were supposed to be in bed, Andy and his company slipped quietly round to the hen-house, and presently there was a great commotion and cackling among the feathered occupants. The old lady in her bed heard it all, but was too frightened to come to the rescue. She was certain, however, that some of her favourite hens had been taken, and next day she went up to the laird at the big house to complain, and to ask compensation. Andy was with his father when the old woman was laying off her story, but betrayed no signs of his complicity in the transaction, wisely preferring to keep his own counsel in the matter. Of course the boys had taken none of her property. They only wanted to play a trick upon her.

Andy was, however, not a boy who would perpetrate any wilful mischief, or do anything that would cause pain. He hated cruelty, and once when he was accused of having killed the cat of an old servant of the family, who lived as a pensioner in the village, he heard the accusation with the greatest indignation. Going at once to Mary's house he strongly asserted his innocence, telling her with all earnestness, 'I'd rather shoot myself, as shoot your cat, Mary.'

Very early in life he evinced a strong desire to share in the sport of the hunting-field. His father would not, however, hear of it, and refused to allow him to get a proper rig-out. But Master Andrew was not to be balked in his ambition, for one morning, getting into a pair of his father's top-boots, many sizes too large for him, and securing the biggest horse in the stables, he boldly set off for the hunt. The appearance of such a mite with boots that would scarcely keep on his feet, on the back of a big hunter, created great laughter among the county gentry at the meet.

Early education

During these early years of Wauchope's life, so free from restraint, his education was being carried on at home under a tutor. At the age of eleven he was sent to a school at Worksop, in Nottinghamshire, but he did not remain there very long. He had a hankering for active life, and specially for the sea. It was accordingly resolved to prepare him for entering the navy as a midshipman, and he was sent to Foster's School, Stubbington House, Gosport. His experience here was also a short one, and was marked by an incident characteristic of his spirit of adventure and faithfulness to obligations; though in this case we must say the latter virtue was rather misapplied, and it might well be said 'his faith unfaithful kept him falsely true.' The boys at Foster's, evidently wanting to vary the monotony of school life—perhaps none of the brightest—thought it would be a good lark if one would run away from the school, and they resolved to draw lots who it should be. The lot fell upon young Andy Wauchope, and, like the loyal lad he was, he resolutely stuck to the agreement and ran off from the school, but of course he was promptly brought back by his people, and no doubt received the just reward of his frolic!

He used to say long afterwards that he had only been at two schools when he was a boy. 'At one of them he was said to be the best boy in the school, but at the other he was the very worst!'

With what would now be considered a very inadequate training, young Wauchope was on the 10th September 1859 entered as a naval cadet on board Her Majesty's ship Britannia, there to pick up in the rough school of a sailor's life that knowledge of the world, and particularly of his naval duties, which books and schooling had denied him. At the same time, though deprived of the advantages of Eton or Harrow, or any of the Scottish Universities, he had a much better gift than education—an immense natural shrewdness, and a persevering application, which afterwards made him a good French and German scholar. Among his shipmates on the Britannia he was a general favourite. He was only thirteen years of age, but appears to have been a plucky little fellow, full of life and fun, and quite capable of standing up for himself, or for a friend if need be; and in the thirteen months of his service in the ship he made several lifelong friendships. Admiral Lord Charles Beresford, writing to us of that period, mentions that he and Wauchope joined the navy about the same time. 'I remember,' he says, 'our chests were close together in the Britannia. We separated when we went to sea, but we never lost the friendship we formed in the Britannia. We met often in different parts of the world, and I always found him the same sterling, honest, strong, and chivalrous friend, whose splendid characteristics had so impressed me as a boy. I have always regarded his friendship for me with sentiments of pride. He was very proud of being a Scotsman, and being an Irishman myself, we had many arguments—as boys will have—as to which nation possessed the most interesting personalities. We agreed cordially on every other point, but never once on this. The nation has lost one of its best in poor Andy Wauchope.' There are doubtless others of his Britannia shipmates surviving who could give similar testimony.

Enters the Navy

On the 5th October 1860, Wauchope received his discharge from the Britannia, and was entered as a midshipman on board H.M.S. St. George, and he mentions himself with what pride and satisfaction he found himself on that autumn day walking down the main street of Portsmouth in his new uniform to join the St. George. 'It was one of the happiest days of my life,' he says; 'a day in which I felt myself identified as an officer in Her Majesty's service, more particularly as on the way down to the harbour I was met and saluted by one of the marines.'

The St. George was manned by eight hundred men, and in 1860 was considered a well-equipped vessel, and as compared with the days of Nelson and Collingwood showed a great advance in naval strength and efficiency. At Trafalgar the biggest gun in the whole British fleet was only a fifty-six pounder, but the St. George had in addition to a number of that calibre several sixty-eight pounders, while her speed of ten knots an hour was considered highly satisfactory. Though these equipments would not bear comparison with present-day standards, the young midshipman was proud of his ship and proud of the service, and in after years could with no little exultation honestly say that, 'though armaments had changed, the hearts of oak remained as of yore; while the old red rag, which had withstood the battle and the breeze for a thousand years, was still able to claim the allegiance of its people.'

H.R.H. Prince Alfred

Wauchope's commanding officer on board the St. George was Captain the Hon. Francis Egerton—whose son, Commander Egerton, was killed at Ladysmith in November 1899—and among his brother officers were H.R.H. Prince Alfred, afterwards the Duke of Edinburgh, and latterly known as the Duke of Saxe-Coburg Gotha, and Admiral Sir Robert Harris, now Commander-in-Chief of the Cape of Good Hope station.

The St. George was commissioned at Portsmouth, and was transferred to Devonport early in 1861. She was then one of the noblest and most imposing-looking ships of the service, having the year before been thoroughly overhauled and converted from a one hundred and twenty gun ship to one of ninety guns. As a three-decker sailing ship she was considered one of the finest fighting vessels afloat, and her conversion to a steamship of the line had been attended with the most successful results. She was selected by Prince Albert for his son, the youthful Prince Alfred, who joined her as a midshipman a few months after Wauchope—on the 16th January 1861—as she lay in Plymouth Sound, under orders for a cruise to the British North American Stations and the West India Islands.

The greater part of the year seems to have been spent in and about Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia, which became a centre for cruises in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and the Canadian ports. We have it on the authority of several of those who were midshipmen with the Prince, that they were a jovial, happy company, all on the most friendly terms with one another. The Prince, who was very fond of 'Andy,' as he was always called, showed him particular friendship, and the affection which as boys and shipmates they formed then continued more or less in later years.

The Prince came back to England in the month of August to spend a short holiday with his parents at Balmoral, but rejoined his ship, which was lying at Halifax, in October. His return was welcomed by his mates and by the citizens of that town; and the Governor, the Earl of Mulgrave, entertained His Royal Highness and the officers of the St. George at a state dinner on the eve of their departure for a cruise to Bermuda. Among the sunny islands of the South the ship and her crew were everywhere received with the utmost enthusiasm, the black and white population alike vying with each other in their demonstrations of loyalty; but the sudden death of the Prince Consort at the end of December compelled the return home for a time of Prince Alfred, who left his ship at Halifax on receipt of the sad news, with every expression of sympathy from his brother officers. In the spring of 1862 Wauchope's ship paid another visit to the West India Islands, taking up her station for some weeks with other six ships of the line at Bermuda, where the young 'middies' were entertained to a continued round of amusements and excursions.

A seafaring life, if often one of risks and toil, has its seasons of enforced idleness. Midshipmen's amusements and practical jokes are proverbial, and the quarter-deck of the St. George was not always free of them. Many pranks were played upon one another in idle hours by these sprightly young officers, leading sometimes to reprimands by their superiors; and young Andy Wauchope did not always escape the suspicion that he was an active leader in such ploys. It has even been hinted that he had on one occasion the pluck—or, shall we say, audacity?—to have a stand-up fight with the Queen's son. We do not vouch for the story; but of this we are certain, that, if he had a just cause of quarrel, he was not the boy to let even the prestige of royalty stand between him and the punishment due to the aggressor, whoever he might be.

Some years afterwards, in the winter of 1863-64, when Prince Alfred resided at Holyrood Palace, and was a student of Edinburgh University, he paid a friendly visit to his old shipmate at Niddrie, spending the day in pigeon-shooting. He and a number of his friends arrived in the forenoon on horseback, and the identity of the party not having been made known to the keeper of the Niddrie toll, through which they had to pass to reach the house, he peremptorily insisted upon payment. But being told that it was the Queen's son going to see the laird, his loyalty so much got the better of him that he would not take a copper.

After luncheon the party adjourned to the park to have some shooting. Mr. Wauchope, 'Andy's' father, was with them, and was persuaded to try a shot, but unfortunately the piece went off in his hand before he could take aim, and one of the footmen in attendance was hit in the arm by the charge. Mr. Wauchope was so distressed over the accident that he vowed he would never again take a gun in his hand.

ANDREW WAUCHOPE, Midshipman, Age 14.

But it was not in the navy that young Wauchope was destined to distinguish himself. It has been said that the severity and even harshness of the naval discipline gave him a distaste of the service, and drove him from it. Possibly some remarks he made on one occasion as to his having been unjustly punished for some petty offence may have given some colour to this supposition. We rather incline to accept the explanation of a brother officer, who asked him afterwards why he left the navy. His reply was, 'for no reason except that his father wished him, and that his father desired that he should have a naval training before he entered the army.'

The St. George

The experience gained at sea was certainly not lost, for his father's wisdom furnished him with a dual equipment which in after years was not infrequently of value. The injustice of the punishment he received when in the St. George, whatever it may have been, certainly impressed itself upon him to this extent, that later in life he made it a rule never to punish a soldier until thoroughly satisfied of his guilt, and he always was inclined to give a man the benefit of a doubt.

The St. George returned home in the beginning of July 1862 from her long cruise in American waters, and with her return young Wauchope closed his naval career. The official Admiralty record simply states that 'on the 3rd of July 1862 Midshipman Wauchope was discharged from the service at his own request, in order that he might qualify for the army.' His whole naval experience, therefore, covered a period of scarcely three years, but it gave him a knowledge of men and things, and a knowledge of the world, better, perhaps, than any study of books could afford.