The Life Of John Colborne, Field-Marshal Lord Seaton: Compiled From His Letters, Records Of His Conversations, And Other Sources [Illustrated Edition]

By G. C. Moore Smith

“The military career of the Duke of Wellingtons champion There have been few British soldiers during the Napoleonic era of comparatively junior rank who achieved fame in their own time rather than as a result of their subsequent careers. Many of the names we know today owe that to their authorship rather than their deeds. The subject of this book is different. John Colborne was a great soldier. He possessed the talents of his master—the Duke of Wellington—and but for his humble background could have become one of our foremost military men. Every superior he served under became an admirer and his advancement through a time of almost perpetual warfare—based upon an appreciation of his ability—was rapid. From Moore to Wellington, Colborne was more than a reliable and trusted lieutenant—he could unilaterally combine daring, vigour, aggression and sound judgement making him an invaluable asset. Students of the British Army during the Napoleonic Wars will all be very familiar with his name and many would have wished for an account of his military career. This riveting book, compiled from his correspondence and other writings and combined with many anecdotes by those who knew him well, is enhanced by an informed commentary by G. C Moore Smith. We join Colborne in battle on the bloody sands of Egypt, during the gruelling Peninsular War and finally on the apocalyptic fields of Waterloo where his inspired flank attack on the advance of the Imperial Guard delivered the final coup de grace of that momentous day. These are the exploits of John Colborne—the consummate warrior of whom Napier would say here was a man with ‘a singular talent for war’.”-Print ed.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wagram Press
• Release date: Nov 6, 2015
• ISBN: 9781786255099

G. C. Moore Smith

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Text originally published in 1903 under the same title.

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Although in most cases we have retained the Author’s original spelling and grammar to authentically reproduce the work of the Author and the original intent of such material, some additional notes and clarifications have been added for the modern reader’s benefit.

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THE LIFE OF JOHN COLBORNE, FIELD-MARSHAL LORD SEATON, G.C.B., G.C.H., G.C.M.G., K.T.S., K.ST.G., K.M.T., &c.,

COMPILED FROM HIS LETTERS, RECORDS OF HIS CONVERSATIONS, AND OTHER SOURCES

BY G. C. MOORE SMITH, M.A.,

EDITOR OF THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF SIR HARRY SMITH.

Few men are like him; Indeed, except the Duke of Wellington, I know no officer in the British Army his equal.—Sir George Napier (1828).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Contents

TABLE OF CONTENTS 3

PREFACE. 4

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 8

CHAPTER I. 11

BIRTH, 1778. CHRIST’S HOSPITAL AND WINCHESTER, 1785-1794. GAZETTED TO THE 20TH REGIMENT, 1794. EXPEDITION TO HOLLAND, 1799. 11

CHAPTER II. 24

MINORCA AND EGYPT, 1800-1801. 24

CHAPTER III. 31

MALTA, 1802-1805. 31

CHAPTER IV. 39

EXPEDITIONS TO NAPLES AND CALABRIA, 1805-6. BATTLE OF MAIDA. 39

CHAPTER V. 46

SICILY AND GIBRALTAR AND RETURN TO ENGLAND, 1806-I 807. 46

CHAPTER VI. 55

SWEDEN, 1808. 55

CHAPTER VII. 60

PORTUGAL. VIMIERO AND THE CONVENTION OF CINTRA, 1808. 60

CHAPTER VIII. 67

THE PENINSULA. SIR JOHN MOORE’S ADVANCE AND HIS RETREAT TO CORUNNA, 1808-1809. HIS DEATH. 67

CHAPTER IX. 79

LONDON. RETURN TO THE PENINSULA AND SERVICE WITH THE SPANISH ARMY, 1809. 79

CHAPTER X. 92

CAMPAIGN OF 1810. WITH THE 66TH REGIMENT IN HILL’S DIVISION. 92

CHAPTER XI. 101

CAMPAIGN OF 1811, CAMPO MAYOR AND ALBUHERA. 101

CHAPTER XII. 109

1811-1812. WITH THE 52ND IN THE LIGHT DIVISION. CIUDAD RODRIGO. TERRIBLE WOUND. RETURN TO ENGLAND, AND MARRIAGE (1813). 109

CHAPTER XIII. 119

CAMPAIGN OF 1813. RETURN TO THE LIGHT DIVISION. THE HEIGHTS OF VERA AND NIVELLE. 119

CHAPTER XIV. 126

CAMPAIGN OF 1814. ORTHES AND TOULOUSE. END OF THE WAR. WITH THE PRINCE OF ORANGE AT BRUSSELS. 126

CHAPTER XV. 134

WATERLOO. 134

CHAPTER XVI. 146

MARCH TO PARIS. A LONG LEAVE. WITH THE 52ND IN ENGLAND. LIEUTENANT-GOVERNORSHIP OF GUERNSEY, 1821-1828. 146

CHAPTER XVII. 154

UPPER CANADA, 1828-1836. 154

CHAPTER XVIII. 163

COMMANDER OF THE FORCES IN UPPER AND LOWER CANADA, 1836. REBELLION OF 1837. 163

CHAPTER XIX. 178

CANADA, 1838-1839. REBELLION OF 1838. SIR JOHN COLBORNE GOVERNOR-GENERAL. 178

CHAPTER XX. 194

RETURN TO ENGLAND. PEERAGE, 1839. LORD HIGH COMMISSIONER OF THE IONIAN ISLANDS, 1843-1849. 194

CHAPTER XXI. 205

RETURN TO ENGLAND, 1849. CHOBHAM CAMP, 1853. VIEWS ON THE CRIMEAN WAR, 1854-5. 205

CHAPTER XXII. 219

COMMAND IN IRELAND, 1855-60. VISIT TO VIENNA, 1857. YEARS OF RETIREMENT AT BEECHWOOD. DEATH, 1863. MEMORIALS. 219

APPENDIX I. 229

A — LORD SEATON ON SIR JOHN MOORE’S CAMPAIGN IN SPAIN. 229

B — EXTRACTS FROM AN UNPUBLISHED ARTICLE (1827) ON SOUTHEY’S HISTORY OF THE PENINSULAR WAR. 236

I. SOUTHEY’S ACCOUNTS OF SIR JOHN MOORE AND MR. FRIAR. 236

2. SIR JOHN MOORS RIGHT IN NOT FIGHTING AN ACTION EARLIER. 236

3. STRAGGLING ON SIR JOHN MOORE’S CAMPAIGN. 237

C — LETTER TO LADY NAPIER ON SIR JOHN MOORE’S CHOICE OF CORUNNA AS HIS PORT OP EMBARKATION. 238

APPENDIX II. 239

LORD SEATON’S ACCOUNTS OF WATERLOO, WITH SOME REMARKS. 239

A — OBSERVATIONS ON COLONEL GAWLER’S CRISIS OF THE ACTION AT WATERLOO DICTATED TO COLONEL W. ROWAN, AT TORONTO, 1835). 239

B — LETTER, MEMORANDUM, AND SECOND LETTER TO CAPTAIN SIBORNE. 242

C — ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS PUT BY CAPTAIN W. C. YONGE, AND LETTER. 248

D — LETTERS AND MEMORANDUM TO COLONEL BENTHAM 251

E — MEMORANDUM BY JAMES, SECOND LORD SEATON. 254

F — REMARKS. 255

REQUEST FROM THE PUBLISHER 261

Peninsular War Maps 262

1808 263

1809 272

1810 295

1811 309

1812 335

1813 349

1814 369

PREFACE.

THE materials for the following Life of Field-Marshal Lord Seaton are drawn (1) from his own letters and those of his wife and his friends, (2) from reports taken down by his daughters (from about 1847 onwards) of his spoken references to events in which he took part, (3) from the recollections of persons now living, (4) from published works.

For the use of letters, I am indebted in the first place to the Hon. Lady Montgomery-Moore, whose anxiety to see some such monument raised to her revered father’s memory was my first encouragement towards undertaking this work; and secondly to the Lord Seaton, to Lieutenant-Colonel the Hon. F. L. Colborne, to Miss Mary Yonge of Yealmpton, to John Yonge, Esq., of Puslinch, to Miss H. E. Yonge of Eastleigh, Hants, to the Hon. W. N. Bruce, grandson of Sir William Napier, and to Lieutenant-Colonel A. F. Mockler-Ferryman, Oxfordshire Light Infantry, who, one and all, put the letters and memoranda which were in their possession at my disposal. I have also to thank Field-Marshal H.R.H. the Duke of Cambridge for permission to publish two of his letters addressed to Lord Seaton.

For the portraits and other illustrations given in this book, I am indebted to His Grace the Duke of Wellington, the Lord Seaton, General Sir Alexander and the Hon. Lady Montgomery-Moore, the Hon. and Rev. Graham Colborne, Colonel the Hon. F. L. Colborne, and John Yonge, Esq., of Puslinch.

In the course of my work I have received most valuable assistance and criticism from many sources. I must particularly mention General Sir Alexander and Lady Montgomery-Moore, the Lord Seaton, whose hospitality enabled me to see with my own eyes many of the scenes described in this book, the Hon. and Reverend Graham Colborne, Colonel F. A. Whinyates, late RA., Captain M. F. M. Meiklejohn, V.C., Gordon Highlanders, the Reverend Canon Charles Evans of Parkstone, F. C. Carr-Gomm, Esq., The Chase, Farnham Royal, Captain B. Smyth, Lancashire Fusiliers, author of the History of the XX. Regiment, Lieutenant-Colonel A. F. Mockler-Ferryman, Oxfordshire Light Infantry, E. D. A. Morshead, Esq., Winchester College, the late C. W. Holgate, Esq., editor of the Winchester Long Rolls, Herbert Chitty, Esq., an enthusiastic Wykehamist, T. F. Kirby, Esq., Treasurer to Winchester College, the Reverend H. E. Moberley, Rector of St Michael’s, Winchester, R. L. Franks, Esq., Clerk to Christ’s Hospital, A. W. Lockhart, Esq., Treasurer to Christ’s Hospital, the Reverend E. H. Pearce, author of The Annals of Christ’s Hospital, W. J. C. Moens, Esq., Tweed, Lymington, Charles Oman, Esq., Fellow of All Souls, and G. J. Turner, Esq., Lincoln’s Inn. To these, and others not named, I return my most sincere thanks.

I should like also to express my thanks to a gentleman, who, at Mr. Murray’s request, read my manuscript and gave me some valuable suggestions.

It is needless to say that I owe much to previous publications. Among those on which I have drawn most largely are articles by the late Miss Charlotte M. Yonge, in the Christian Remembrancer, October, 1867, and the Wykehamist, June, 1896, the privately-printed account of Lord Seaton’s war services by Captain W. C. Yonge, the Reverend W. Leeke’s book Lord Seaton’s Regiment at Waterloo, Cannon’s Historical Record of the 20th Regiment, Sidney’s Life of Lord Hill, Moorsom’s Historical Record of the 52nd Regiment, Napier’s History of the Peninsular War, The Early Military Life of Sir G. T. Napier (for my use of which I have had the special permission of General William Napier, Sir George’s son), Sir H. E. Bunbury’s Passages in the History of the Great War, The Autobiography of Sir Harry Smith (whose account of his Brigadier first interested me in my subject), W. Henry’s Events of a Military Life, Major J. Richardson’s Eight Years in Canada, and more particular) the History of Canada, by the late Dr. Kingsford. Mr. R. E. Kingsford, LL.M., of Toronto, in kindly allowing me to make the use I have done of his father’s book, sent me much valuable information in regard to the history of Upper Canada College, which Sir John Colborne founded, and of which Mr. Kingsford is a loyal Old Boy. This information unfortunately arrived too late for me to make as much use of it as I should have liked to do. I can only say here that the school has played a distinguished part in Canadian history, and at present, after passing through great difficulties, due to no fault of its own, appears to be entering on a no less distinguished future.

Miss Christabel Coleridge’s memoir, Charlotte Mary Yonge, appeared only as this book was in the press. It deals greatly with persons who played a part in Lord Seaton’s life, and the portraits it gives will be interesting to all readers of the following pages.

The index has been, in the main, the work of my sister, Miss M. A. Smith.

It gives me special pleasure to say that this book has been read in proof by Miss Julia Moore, niece of Sir John Moore. The passionate admiration felt by Colborne for Sir John Moore will be evident throughout this Life, and it is to me a fact of deep historic interest that the story of Lord Seaton’s career should have been read after these many years by a venerable lady who, still enjoying her full intellectual powers, remembers that day of sorrow ninety-four years ago which brought to her father’s house the tragic news of Corunna.

Although this book appears so long after Lord Seaton’s death, I trust that an interest may still be awakened in the varied career of a great Englishman, whose military genius was at least equalled by the beauty and nobility of his character. What was thought of him by some of those who knew him best is briefly told in the extracts which follow: the justification of their words will be found writ large in the Life itself.

G. C. MOORE. SMITH.

31, Endcliffe Rise Road, Sheffield.

Colborne, a man of singular talents for war.—SIR W. C. F. NAPIER. History of the Peninsular War.

***

The Master in the art of outposts under whom I learned more in six months than in all the rest of my shooting put together.—SIR HARRY SMITH. Letter to Sir J. Colborne, Cape of Good Hope, 2nd March, 1832.

***

No man can point out to me any instance, either in ancient or modern history, of a single battalion so influencing the result of any great action as the result of the battle of Waterloo was influenced by the attack of the 52nd Regiment on the Imperial Guard.—GENERAL SIR J. SHAW KENNEDY. Letter to Captain Siborne, 15th May, 1864.

***

"Never did any man suffer more patiently than he did [after his wound at Ciudad Rodrigo]. But it was Colborne, and that is sufficient, there being no suffering in human life which he would not ‘endure, if necessary, either for his country or his friends. Few men are like him; indeed, except the Duke of Wellington, I know no officer in the British army his equal. His expansive mind is capable of grasping anything, however difficult or abstruse; his genius in war is so powerful that it overcomes all obstacles; and his splendid talents and long experience have gained him the confidence and admiration of the whole army, which looks up to Sir John Colborne, should a war take place, as the man who will rise conspicuous above all others. The Duke of Wellington, from the time Colborne was a lieutenant-colonel, always placed the most entire confidence in him, and, although only a lieutenant-colonel, employed him constantly in every enterprise of difficulty and danger, and never did he fail once. He has, with the most intrepid bravery, a coolness of head in the very heat of action, which never fails him, and thus he penetrates with eagle eye into the enemy’s intentions, and is sure to baffle his designs, when least expected. Nothing can take him by surprise or flurry him; and I am confident if Colborne was suddenly awoke out of his sleep and told he was surrounded by an army treble his numbers, it would only have the effect of making him, if possible, still more calm and collected, and that, if it was possible for mortal man to get out of the scrape, he would. His talents for civil government are also very great, as he has proved in Guernsey; and the Duke of Wellington and Sir George Murray have, in consequence of their high opinion of his abilities, sent him as Governor to Upper Canada, where he is doing everything that marks the steady, upright, fearless and able servant of his king and country, and where if any dispute should unfortunately arise between England and America, his military skill will be of most essential service."—SIR GEORGE NAPIER (1828). Early Military Life, p. 220.

***

I had a good letter the other day from Lord Seaton. These men and their fellows...I hold to be the foundation stones of England. In them is incarnate the sense of duty and obedience as a fixed habit, not a sentiment or conviction, as the people say, but a true witness of the Omnipotent who wills it thus. —MAJOR-GENERAL CHARLES BECKWITH, 27th Jan. 1855. Autobiography of Sir Harry Smith, II., p. 303.

***

Lord Seaton was certainly the noblest type of a soldier that I have known:…Mildest, kindest, gentlest of human beings: clear-headed, calm, vigorous in mind u he was strong in body, he was always my idea of a soldier.—SIR WILLIAM FRASER. Words on Wellington, 1889.

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

COLONEL SIR JOHN COLBORNE, K.C.B., 52nd Regiment—From the portrait by J. W. Pieneman, painted about 1819, in the possession of His Grace the Duke of Wellington, at Apsley House. The portrait, which was bought by the Great Duke in 1825, seems to have been painted by Pieneman as a study for his famous picture of the Battle of Waterloo, now in the Rijks Museum, Amsterdam.

JOHN COLBORNE AS A CHILD—From a picture in the possession of the Hon. and Rev. Graham Colborne, Dittisham Rectory.

SCHOOL, WINCHESTER COLLEGE

MAP OF NORTH HOLLAND

MAP OF THE DISTRICT ROUND ALEXANDRIA.

MAP TO ILLUSTRATE THE BATTLE OF MAIDA

MAP OF SPAIN AND PORTUGAL

PUSLINCH, YEALMPTON

MRS. COLBORNE (LADY SEATON) (Photogravure)—From a miniature painted in 1813 in the possession of the Hon. Lady Montgomery Moore. Colonel Colborne had this miniature with him in the last year of the Peninsular War, and in his later life it stood constantly on his table.

COLONEL COLBORNE (Photogravure)—From a miniature painted in 1813 in the possession of the Hon. Lady Montgomery Moore.

MAP OF LOWER CANADA

GENERAL LORD SEATON AT CHOBHAM CAMP—From a sketch, by an officer, in the possession of the Hon. Lady Montgomery Moore.

GENERAL LORD SEATON (Photogravure)—From a drawing made by George Richmond, R.A., about 1852, in the possession of the Lord Seaton at Beechwood.

BEECHWOOD, PLYMPTON

—And one, our bravest—in the years’ dim cloud

A half-forgotten name—

Yet him our memory holds, in grey-haired fame.

He climbed this height, our mimic wars he knew,

Till years brought toil more proud,

And o’er his head war’s louder breezes blew.

Him first the swaying tides of battle bore

From fight to fight; he on Corunna’s shore

Strove by the side, bowed by the grave, of Moore ;

And after, through the midnight murk of war,

Followed, unflinching, England’s rising star,

Till o’er the Pyrenean crags rang out

The bugle and the shout—

And when, one moment, seemed the star to pale,

And heroes’ hands almost to fail,

He clove the ranks at Orthez, plucked the bay

From out the doubtful fray.

Last, in the last throw of the iron game

For stake of Death and Fame,

He, high of heart as keen of eye,

Set on for victory,

And fiercely breasted, stemmed, and overthrew

The last dark wave that swelled and broke at Waterloo.

E. D. A. MORSHEAD,

Evening on Hills (Winchester).

CHAPTER I.

BIRTH, 1778. CHRIST’S HOSPITAL AND WINCHESTER, 1785-1794. GAZETTED TO THE 20TH REGIMENT, 1794. EXPEDITION TO HOLLAND, 1799.

JOHN COLBORNE, the subject of this biography, was the son of Samuel Colborne, of Lymington, Hants, and Cordelia Anne, daughter of John Garstin, of Leragh Castle and Ballykerrin, County Westmeath, and his wife Alethea Farrell. Samuel Colborne had inherited property through his father from his great-uncle, Charles Colborne, of the Knollmans, Lyndhurst, and Barnes, Surrey, a Director of the East India Company, who died in 1747 at the age of 57. This gentleman, whose bust by Rysbraeck, with a laudatory Latin epitaph, still adorns the chancel of Lymington Church, was in his time a local celebrity. He was a burgess of Lymington as early as 1720, and in 1745 we find his name among those of the Tories of the town, Sir Harry Burrard being the leading Whig. Mr. King, in his Old Times Revisited (p. 118), records the following traditional account of Charles Colborne:

"He was a tall, portly gentleman, with a long flowing wig, who drove a handsome gingerbread-coloured carriage with four black Flanders mares. He was a great favourite with the populace, whose liking for ‘panem et circenses’ he gratified by plenty of ale and frequent bull-baitings. When his carriage drove through the town, the rabble used to press round his coach with shouts for King Colborne."

Samuel Colborne and Cordelia Anne Garstin were married at Effingham, Hants, where Miss Garstin had been staying, on 20th October, 1774. Their eldest child, Cordelia Anne, was born in 1775; a son, Samuel, who died as an infant, in 1776; John, their youngest child, on 16th February, 1778, and baptized on 31st March following. Mr. Colborne, after suffering reverses of fortune, died in April, 1785. His son was then seven, and in after years retained little or no memory of his father. On Mr. Colborne’s death his widow procured the admission of her son John to Christ’s Hospital (15th June, 1785) on the presentation of Deputy Robert Harding.

To John Colborne, therefore, may be applied the words in which Samuel Taylor Coleridge, his elder contemporary at Christ’s Hospital, speaks of his own schooldays:

"I was reared

In the great city, pent ‘mid cloisters dim

And saw nought lovely but the sky and stars,"{1}

and it is interesting to think that Colborne, like Charles Lamb, may have seen their gifted schoolfellow in the day-spring of his fancies, with hope like a fiery column before him, the dark pillar not yet turned. In fact, if we would have a picture of some years of John Colborne’s boyhood, we have only to turn to Lamb’s essay on Christ’s Hospital five and thirty years ago.

On 6th February, 1787, Mrs. Colborne was married at Lymington to the Rev. Thomas Bargus,{2} who became a second father to his stepchildren, and received from them in return a lifelong affection. Mr. Bargus had been educated at Winchester and at Pembroke College, Oxford (B.A., 1773), of which he became a Fellow. From 1783 till April, 1784, he had been curate of Lymington, but he was now residing at Winchester, in St. Michael’s parish, and receiving into his house (probably that now called Witham Close, in Kingsgate Street) commoners of the school who lived at a distance —street commoners, as such boarders in the town were called, in contrast to the commoners who boarded with the head master. Among them had been Lord Warwick’s eldest son, Lord Brooke, who had died of scarlet fever while under Mr. Bargus’ care in 1786, but was succeeded by another brother a year or two later.{3}

Mrs. Bargus brought her second husband a daughter, Alethea Henrietta (born 7th June, 1789), but died on the 15th March, 1791, and was buried at Fareham, Mr. Bargus’ birthplace.

Her only son, John Colborne, was then 13, and a scholar of Winchester. He always remembered his mother with the most tender love. He described her as the most beautiful woman he ever saw, and in his extreme old age spoke with tears of the misery which her death caused to his elder sister and himself; while Mr. Bargus, in recording her death, spoke of her as my ever-to-be-remembered dearest, dear, dear wife.

About August, 1792, Mr. Bargus found consolation in a second marriage with Miss Mary Kingsman, daughter of the Rector of Botley, Hants, and by her had a daughter, Frances Mary (Fanny), born 13th January, 1795, whom John Colborne always called sister. Miss Fanny Bargus became the mother of the popular writer, Miss Charlotte M. Yonge.{4}

John Colborne’s removal from Christ’s Hospital is recorded in the register of the Hospital under the date 1789, January 29.

In the same year he entered Winchester School as a commoner, there not being sufficient vacancies for him to enter as a scholar, though his name had been placed on the roll for that purpose. When he entered the school, as he wrote in 1845, Dr. Warton was Head-master, Woodhouse Senior Tutor, and Dr. Goddard Under-master. Lord Boyle and a person by the name of Gleed were the Senior Prefects. I occupied a room in the Hall Gallery (in the Head-master’s house, then called ‘Commoners’), and afterwards, with the nomination of the Warden, succeeded to a vacancy in College.

He was placed in the senior part of Fourth Book (i.e., the lowest form but one in the school) and his position was tooth out of the 109 boys then in the school. In 1790 he was admitted a scholar, and put in the 7th Chamber in College. In October this year he was 87th, in 1791, 85th, out of 111 boys. In 1792 he was 55th out of 115, in 1793 11th out of 109, the sudden rise being accounted for by the expulsions which followed the famous rebellion of 1793, when the boys imprisoned the Warden, the Usher and one of the Fellows, and barricaded the school. Colborne would tell in after years of the part he played in the rebellion, how he held a position against the masters, and hurled down stones from the battlements—the beginning of his military career and love of battles, as his wife would say jokingly. More fortunate than many of his schoolfellows, he escaped expulsion, and remained at Winchester till July, 1794, when he was already a Prefect. He was now in 1st Chamber.

Miss Yonge writes of Colborne’s school-days: He was considered to be dull and backward, though a lady who used to play chess with him always maintained that he showed the promise of something remarkable. However, his spirit and ability are said to have been chiefly shown in building and. defending snow forts.{5}

A writer in the Christian Remembrances, October, 1867,{6} while telling us that Colborne retained through life a warm affection for Winchester, remarks on the lack of discipline, and especially of religion, that prevailed in the school in his day. Boys then prepared their lessons or read newspapers in chapel unreproved, and the general lawlessness broke out in the first of the two great rebellions still remembered in the traditions of the school. This renders more remarkable the deep sense of religion and the purity of mind, manners, and language which characterized John Colborne from his earliest to his latest years, and which became stamped on the memory of all who came in contact with him.

John Colborne was only 16 when, on 10th July, 1794, he received a commission as Ensign in the 20th Regiment, by the interest of the Earl of Warwick.{7} He left school immediately afterwards. He became Lieutenant on Loth September, 1795. The 20th did not return from the West Indies till the summer of 1796. Colborne, who had been assiduously devoting his time since he left school to the improvement of his education, joined his regiment in October, at Exeter, and served with it at Lichfield, Liverpool and Preston from 1796 to 1799. More than six feet high, and singularly handsome, he must have looked every inch a soldier.

Colborne has told us nothing of his earliest days in the service, but the following story:—I remember when I first joined, my Colonel, when speaking to me, pointed to an officer and said: ‘There, sir, that officer was shot through the body, and was all the better for it; there’s encouragement for you’.

In the summer of 1799 the 20th Regiment received orders to join the expedition to Holland, which was to be commanded by H.R.H. the Duke of York. It marched from Preston to Canterbury, where it was joined by 1,800 excellent soldiers, volunteers from the militia regiments of many counties. Before leaving Preston, Colborne wrote the following letter to his stepfather, who had left Winchester in 1798, on being presented by Mr. Peachey, afterwards Lord Selsey, to the living of Barkway, Herts, a village situated on the chalk hills a few miles south-east of Royston:—

"Preston, July 21st, 1799.

"Dear Sir,—I am this moment ordered to Windsor to receive the 1st Staffordshire Militia, who have volunteered into our regiment. The 20th Regiment marches to-morrow, and is destined for the second embarkation. Part of the 2nd Stafford and 3rd Lancashire have also volunteered for our regiment. We shall soon be a thousand strong. Owing to the expense I shall be at in going to Windsor, and being ordered away at so short a notice, has induced me to do a thing not altogether proper. I have drawn on you for five-and-twenty pounds three days after sight, payable to Captain Thos. Hipkins. I could not do without it, I assure you, for although my expences will finally be paid by Government, yet it will be some time before I shall receive the money. I shall be very much obliged to you if you will accept the bill, and beg you will deduct the amount from Mr. Lind’s legacy....I am, yours affectionately,

"J. COLBORNE.

Rev. T. Bargus, Barkway.

From Canterbury the 20th proceeded to the camp at Barham Downs, where it was divided into two battalions, Lieut. Colborne being appointed to the 1st, which was commanded by Lt.-Col. George Smyth. The main part of the intended force, amounting to about 15,000 men, left Barham Downs on August 8th, embarked on the 13th, and, landing at the Helder on the 27th, fought a successful action on the same day. On the following day a reinforcement of 5,000 men under Maj.-Gen. Don arrived. This included the 17th, 20th and 40th Regiments (two battalions each) and the 63rd Regiment, the two battalions of the 20th and the 63rd forming a brigade. The whole army, until the arrival of the Duke of York, was commanded by Sir Ralph Abercromby.

Colborne said in later years: "We landed without our baggage on a cold, rainy night, and were on the bare sands with no food and no wood. General Don had a nice little cart with his things in, in which he was to sleep, and I recollect envying him when he said: ‘Now, gentlemen, we halt here; make yourselves comfortable!’ An officer I recollect shot a wildfowl and roasted it himself, and gave us all some."

Immediately on landing, the regiment formed in position on the sand hills a few miles south of Helder Town. It was afterwards moved to Zijp Dyke, and posted near the village of Crabbendam.

The following narrative gives Colborne’s reminiscences of his first campaigning days:—"Eight days after our landing Colonel Smyth was given a separate employment by General Abercromby—to take a dyke, I think. This was the first time I saw Sir John Moore, who rode up to us with General Abercromby. Colonel Smyth was exceedingly delighted, and I recollect his instruction was, ‘March straight in, and if you see anything, don’t fire, but push at them with the bayonet.’ We pushed in accordingly, but saw no one. We took the dyke and a large farmhouse, in which I established myself very comfortably, and thought I was going to have a good night’s rest, when I was suddenly ordered out on a picquet to inspect the road. I had not been there long when I heard a bugle sound. I was wondering what it could mean, when a sergeant said, ‘Oh, sir, it must be for a truce!’ However, a very smart French Dragoon officer came galloping down with two led horses. He said he had brought General Don’s horses, that General Don was detained by the French general, but the latter had sent back his horses, and the dragoon wanted a receipt for them. So I gave the receipt the first time I ever had occasion to write French. The fact was that General Don had gone with some despatches to the French camp. We were then trying to entice Holland back to allegiance to the Stadtholder, and we all wore Orange ribbon. General Don had several yards of Orange ribbon in his pocket, as well as some proclamations, and, being an absent-minded man, in taking out the despatches he pulled out the Orange ribbon too. They then searched him and found the proclamations. So the French general said, ‘I think this is a very suspicious thing. You come here with despatches; and you have these things to corrupt the soldiers with. I shan’t let you go until it is enquired into,’ and he detained him for three or four days.

"I sent round to my commanding officer, that he might receive the story from the Frenchman himself. The colonel talked to him a long time and extracted some valuable information from him, among other things that the road on which I was stationed with my picquet was the high road to Alkmaar. On discovering this the colonel said, ‘This is of the utmost importance. There must be an intrenchment placed here.’

"I was to remain with the picquets all night. At the grey of the morning the post was attacked, two men on my picquet were killed and some wounded. This was the first time I had been under fire, for at the disembarkation the 20th were in reserve.

"As I expected an attack I had the men on the watch. There were some militia on the picquet who had only been embodied ten days. As they were throwing up a trench I heard one of them say to another, ‘Well, I’ll stand as long as the officer stands!’ and all did behave remarkably well. The French soon went back when they found that we were prepared for them. Colonel Smyth next morning gave me great commendation for having first caused a trench to be thrown up in a very good position, and for having then repulsed the enemy very gallantly and defeated the design of the French officer.

"Later that day Sir Ralph Abercromby came down himself to see all about it, and ask how far the enemy came, &c., and I was nervous and embarrassed, thinking it a very formidable thing to speak to the Commander-in-Chief: when an old Dutch General, Sontag, who had come with him (he was known in the camp as ‘General Ney,’ on account of his long nose), came blustering out, ‘Now, Sir, speak out, and tell the General all you have seen!’ I was so angry with him I felt as if I could have knocked him down, but his words made me conquer my modesty and speak out directly.

"On my returning to camp I was surrounded by all the officers of the 20th, and congratulated on having opened the ball.

"On another occasion I was visiting a distant picquet near a dyke when I heard a sound in the water which I thought at first was a dog, but on going with a sergeant to reconnoitre, we discovered a Dutch officer in uniform measuring the depth of the dyke with a stick, and we captured him. The dyke was about three feet deep in water and three in mud. It was thought he was measuring with a view to an attack, and the surmise proved to be correct, for we were attacked two days afterwards. I was much complimented by my commanding officer for what I had done.

"Before we went to Holland several soldiers from our regiment, as was then allowed, volunteered into the regiments ordered for service. However, a few months later we followed. I recollect two soldiers coming back to find their old regiment. I was lying half asleep on a sand bank, and I heard them coming along, and then one said to the other, ‘Here, Tom, here’s the old drum, I’ll be hanged if it isn’t,’ recognising the drum of their old regiment, and very sorry they had ever left it.

The first man I ever saw shot was in Holland. There was a breach in the wall and the French were opposite. Several officers, and I among them, were standing round, when suddenly a shot came and carried off the leg of a poor artilleryman sitting on a cannon. The poor fellow screamed so, and seemed in such agony, that I hoped then I should never have my leg carried off.

On the 10th September the French and Dutch made a determined attack on the positions occupied by the British troops at the head of the Zijp Dyke. They gained some advantage on their right, but were met with determined resistance on their centre and left, especially from the 20th Regiment, who gallantly repelled the attack of their centre column on the entrenchments raised upon the dyke at Crabbendam. They were eventually driven back with a loss of nearly 1,000 men.

This affair (Schagen Brug) was John Colborne’s first battle. He himself was among the wounded, as were, in his own battalion, Lieutenant-Colonel Smyth, Major Ross (afterwards Ross of Bladensburg), Captain Powlett, and Lieutenants DesVœux and Hamilton.

The following letters were sent home by Colborne after the battle:

"Vley [? Vlie],

"Zephyr.

"Dear Sir, —I have only time to say we were yesterday. attacked by a very large force. Our regiment suffered particularly. I am wounded in the head, but not severely. Three thousand of the enemy were killed and wounded —

I am, yours affectionately,

"J. COLBORNE.

Rev. T. Bargus, Barkway.

***

"Heelder, 13th September.

"My dear Delia,—Of course you have heard of the action before this. I should have written to you immediately after it, but was so situated then, I could get but one sheet of paper before the packet sailed, which I sent to Mr. Bargus. I was wounded in the head, and feel no inconvenience, except from the violence of the blow and the sudden compression, which occasioned violent pains in the head. I have been bled twice, and find myself greatly relieved.

"The 1st Battalion have had the advanced post ever since we have been [here]. On the 10th the Dutch and French made an attack on the whole line. They attacked the right and left first, but only as a diversion, and then advanced with nearly their whole force against the 1st Battalion of the 20th. They came down in three large columns with their riflemen in front, who soon spread themselves around us. The grenadiers of our regiment defended an outpost three hours, till all our ammunition was expended. We were then obliged to retire, as a company of the battalion had given way, placed on our right at a bridge. Neither the artillery nor our own men had any ammunition remaining. The enemy crossed the bridge. We then charged them with the 2nd Battalion, who came to our assistance, and drove them over the bridge. We charged twice in a village which they had taken. They then retired, leaving heaps of dead and wounded behind. Our regiment behaved uncommonly well. The first [battalion] had but six hundred men, as we left part of the regiment at the Texel Island Our army is very much scattered. No regiment but the and Battalion came to our assistance till the action was over. It lasted from four till eleven [a.m.]. I hope to join the regiment in two or three days again.—I am, yours affectionately,

"J. COLBORNE.

Miss Colborne.

***

"Heelder,

"13th September.

"Dear Sir,—Since we have been here the 1st Battalion of the 20th have had the honour of occupying the advanced post of the whole army, consequently we have been but a few yards from the enemy for this last fortnight Our picquets have had frequent skirmishes; but on the 10th September the enemy made an attack on the whole line, advancing on the right and left as a diversion, but making their real attack on our battalion. Three large columns advanced on us in very good order with riflemen in front, who spread themselves on all sides in a few minutes, and came within eight or nine yards, picking out the officers to fire at. The grenadiers were advanced about a quarter of a mile in front of the battalion and defended the post until all their ammunition was expended, firing more than a hundred rounds. At this time a company in our rear, defending a bridge, was obliged to retire, the officer of the. artillery being wounded and having no ammunition remaining; we then retreated with difficulty. The enemy passed the bridge and pressed on us. Part of the 1st and 2nd Battalions charged and drove them back; we then charged them twice in a village which they had taken; they retreated immediately, leaving heaps of dead and wounded on the field. Our army being so much scattered no regiment could come to our assistance till the enemy had retired. The action began between four and five, and ended about