Buglers Medals

by Marcher

New Zealand 1845

Two wars were fought in New Zealand, both of them concerning disputes with the natives over the sale and possession of land. In 1844 Hone Heke, a powerful chief, gathered his warriors and, after dancing the war dance, plundered and took possession of the town of Kororareka (now Russell) for several days. The main purpose of the attack was to cut down and burn the flag-staff at which flew the British flag. Heke and his followers believed that the flying of this flag was keeping away vessels that normally called for trade and that this, combined with the customs duties, was raising the cost of tobacco, blankets and other commodities. British troops landed, re-erected the flag-staff and built a blockhouse complete with an artillery piece to guard it. During 1845 Heke again attacked and after a three-hour fight, during which the British magazine exploded, the British force withdrew to Auckland leaving Heke to once again plunder and burn the town and chop down the flag-pole. Reinforcements from Australia were landed, re-erected the flag-staff once more and proclaimed martial law. Heke had withdrawn eighteen miles inland and his tribe had erected a formidable fortification. HM Ships Hazard and North Star landed about four hundred infantry and seamen and, with a further four hundred native allies, set out to attack Heke. During the four day journey it rained very heavily with the result that, on arrival, two-thirds of the ammunition and all of the biscuits were unfit for use. After an assault that was doomed to failure without artillery support the British returned to their ships. Another expedition was despatched against Heke who had moved further inland to yet another sophisticated and defensible fortification. This force numbered almost nine hundred and they brought four artillery pieces with them. These guns did little damage to the stockade but a 32 pounder from HMS Hazard was brought up and this breached the outer wooden walls in two places. The subsequent assault was beaten off but, during the night, Heke and his tribe abandoned the position, which was then destroyed by the British. The new Governor gave Heke and another Maori chief, Kawiti, a deadline to agree to peace or war and, no answer being received by the due date, hostilities were subsequently renewed.

Kawiti's tribe had built an immensely strong fortification at Ruapekapeka deep in densely wooded hills. This was known as the Bats Nest. The force sent against him was split in two with a division of five hundred men with three guns blocking Heke's approach to Kawiti's fort should Heke decide to assist. The remaining force of about eleven hundred men, three 32 pounders, one 18 pounder, two 12 pounder, one 6 pounder and mortars and rocket tubes was sent against Kawiti. Great difficulty was experienced in transporting the heavy guns. They had to be hauled eighteen miles through dense bush and in native canoes with strong iron bands fitted around them "to the sound of fife and drum". Whether the infantry regiments, the 58th and a detachment of the 99th, had fifes and drums with them is not known but, it is known that Drummer John Partridge was with the Royal Marine Light Infantry Detachment on HMS North Star and that Fifer John Edwards, also RMLI, was with the detachment from HMS Racehorse. It frequently required fifty or sixty men in addition to eight bullocks to get each gun up the hills and through the jungle. Once an attack by such a force was made the result was inevitable and Kawiti and Heke sued for peace.

Royal Marine Detachments from HMS Castor (two Officers plus seven men); HMS North Star (one Officer and seven men including Drummer Partridge who had recently been involved in the 1842 China war); HMS Osprey (one Corporal and three men) and HMS Racehorse (one Colour Sergeant with eight men including Fifer Edwards) took part in the operation and all received the New Zealand Medal 1845-1866, the one belonging to Fifer Edwards being in the Royal Marines Museum.

Suakin and Tofrek (The Soudan War 1885)

Following the news of the death of General Gordon at Khartoum, British public opinion changed the Government's policy from one of withdrawal from the Soudan to one of its recovery. Suakin was the major port on the Red Sea and it became an assembly and build-up area for British and Empire troops. About 13,000 men including a Brigade of Guards, an Indian contingent and a Naval Brigade of Seaman and Royal Marines plus a battalion of five hundred Royal Marine Light Infantry and about a hundred Royal Marine Artillery were assembled. Second in command of the RMA was Lt H Slessor who would become the first Commandant of the Royal Naval School of Music in 1903. The small Naval Brigade, of which the RMA with its Gardner guns was a part, was drawn from HMS Carysfort (corvette); Dolphin (sloop); Sphinx (paddle-vessel); Condor (gun-boat) and Coquette (gun-boat).

On March 20th the Marines paraded at 5.15am and marched to West Redoubt where two Brigades were forming. The Marines were to lead and at 6.30am they marched out, with both Brigades in column of four, over very difficult ground. They later deployed into line. Cavalry scouts searched the area ahead of them and then halted whilst the Berkshires and half of the Marine battalion advanced into a valley in the Hasheen Hills and up a hill beyond which the Soudanese tribesmen were hidden. The two regiments raced for the crest of some small hills close to the ridge occupied by the enemy. The Marines arrived first and covered the advance of the Berkshires as they both pushed the enemy off the ridge. The Guards had formed square at the entrance to the valley and lost men heavily due to the static position. The second half-battalion of Marines advanced up the valley with other infantry units and the cavalry. The latter suffered heavy losses as the enemy who had been driven from the hills rose from their hiding places and, after ham-stringing the horses, attacked their riders. The fire from the Berkshires and the Marines on the hills and the Marines in the valley forced the enemy to withdraw. The entire position was occupied and fortified including the Hasheen Wells. Two RMA Buglers were involved in the action at Hasheen for which they were awarded the Suakin Bar to the Egypt Medal. They were Buglers John Crone and J Patterson. The battalion, together with smaller units, of RMLI had eighteen Buglers who received the same award. They were Buglers Ash, Bell, Bradshaw, Broster, Brown, Budd, Collins, Elston, Fuller, Kelly, Loader, Martin AH, Martin WJ, Murphy, Norgrove, Podd, Roper and Henry Still. Nine of the eighteen were Chatham Division, four each from Portsmouth and Plymouth. The eighteenth Bugler's Division is not known.

This situation presented an opportunity to attack Tamai, which was one of the headquarters of Osman Digma (the tribesmen's leader) but, before this could happen, an intermediate supply depot had to be established in the desert. At 0400 on the 22nd the RMLI and the Berkshires marched out in square with the Indians marching in a second square. Thick scrub made marching slow and maintaining formation difficult. On arriving at the selected location, Tofrek, they commenced the building of the protective zariba ( a hedged or palisaded enclosure - see photograph of Fort Hasheen). This was to take the form of three squares arranged in echelon. The upper and lower squares had been built but the larger, central, square was still incomplete when the cavalry came galloping in pursued by large numbers of Arabs. As the men had been working, their arms were piled and jackets and accoutrements had been taken off. The RMLI were in one of the completed squares whilst the Berkshires were in the other. The camels, hundreds of them, were in the central, unfinished, area. About a hundred Arabs were quick enough to get into the Berkshire's square but the Berks rallied and killed them all. Arabs stampeded the camels through the RMLI square, hamstringing many of them, and began to penetrate the square. The RMLI closed up, killed those in the square, and drove the rest back. The Berkshires formed an additional square that was able to support the RMLI. Although the Arab attack was well planned and very well executed they did not understand the mutual support afforded by the three squares - they had anticipated a single, large square. The stand at Tofrek had two effects. Firstly, it weakened the enemy and secondly, as planned, it provided a springboard to an attack on Tamai. Whilst no RMA Buglers were involved, eleven of the eighteen RMLI Buglers who were at Hasheen also saw action at, and were awarded the bar for, Tofrek. They were Bradshaw, Broster, Brown, Budd, Collins, Fuller, Kelly the two Martins, Murphy and Henry Still whose medal is in the Royal Marines Museum.
Suakin, once an important port that depended upon the slave trade for its prosperity, is now a deserted ghost town.

Graspan (The South Africa War of 1900)

The annual Graspan Parade in London is a familiar event for the Band Service. But where is Graspan and what happened there?

Following the outbreak of the second Boer War in 1899 a Naval Brigade, formed from HM Ships Doris, Powerful and Monarch, was landed at Simonstown, South Africa. This brigade included the RMLI and RMA Detachments from these ships, a total of 190 Officers and men, under the command of Major John Plumbe RMLI and organised as one RMA and two RMLI companies. The Brigade itself was under the command of Captain Prothero RN and it was sent, with its four naval guns, to join the force under Lord Methuen who had been given the task of breaking through the Boer lines to effect the relief of Kimberley.

The first action took place at Belmont where both the RMLI and particularly the RMA were used in a support role. After its capture, Lord Methuen realised that most of the enemy had withdrawn as his forces had attacked and were now in strength along a line of hills, the Graspan Kopjes or Heights, that straddled his line of advance. Not wanting a repeat of this situation, Methuen sent his cavalry around the heights to cut off the Boer's escape route. The Royal Artillery was given the navy's mules and the four naval guns were put on board a train. Two were later detrained, not enough men being available to operate any more, and supported the attack on Graspan. The infantry, supported by artillery, advanced on a very wide front across two miles of flat, featureless grassland that offered neither cover nor concealment. They had already been marching for more than three hours and breakfast had not been taken. At a distance of half a mile from the heights, with the Naval Brigade as the right flank with a company of Kings Own Yorkshire Light Infantry in support and a half battalion from the Royal North Lancasters in reserve, they came under vigorous fire. Scouts had estimated the Boer force at 400 but this was a gross underestimation. Methuen's attack was made just before midday with the sun at its hottest. As the infantry advanced, Methuen turned the direction of march of the Naval Brigade so that they were moving towards the most dominating feature of the Boer's defences. Realising that the infantry's general advance was merely a cover for the main attack by the Naval Brigade the Boer commander concentrated his forces to both directly oppose, and provide cross-fire against, the advancing naval force.

Although the barrage from the British artillery continuously fell on the crest of the hills the Boers were still able to pour a withering fire upon the advancing and exposed troops. The brigade commander, Captain Prothero, was wounded and his deputy killed whilst Major Plumbe RMLI and Captain Guy Senior, RMA also fell. Captain Alfred Marchant RMLI, as the most senior officer, assumed command of the Naval Brigade - the first time that a Royal Marine had held such a command for many years.

The final advance up the slopes consisted of a series of short rushes under independent fire - an automatic reaction in a situation where few Officers and NCOs survived but the men's training and discipline took effect. As the marines and sailors reached the crest the Boer line broke and they retreated down the reverse slopes. Despite the position of the British cavalry, the Boers escaped with their supply wagons once again. The cavalry commander was sacked on the spot.

Captain Marchant RMLI was promoted Major. Of the 190 Royal Marines who took part 86, or 45%, became casualties. This was probably the only time that a Naval Brigade had been employed in such a classic infantry role and, although unfamiliar, they committed themselves, according to Lord Methuen, with 'resolute behaviour under trying circumstances'. Methuen has subsequently been criticised for ordering the Naval Brigade to march diagonally across the enemy front in broad daylight, for ordering a frontal assault across open country without adequate artillery support or covering fire and without proper reconnaissance or briefing.

The bar 'Belmont' on the South Africa medal was awarded to those who fought at Belmont, Graspan or both. Four RMLI Buglers were amongst the force that fought its way onto the Graspan Heights. Plymouth Bugler W J O'Brian of HMS Doris was wounded during the assault but recovered in time to take part in the battle of Paardeberg where he had the misfortune to be wounded again. Three Portsmouth Division Buglers, A Duffield of HMS Monarch, and WJ Lader and L G Ranner of HMS Powerful were, with O'Brian, amongst the men referred to as 'The Bravest of the Brave'. Bugler Ranner's medal with bars for Belmont, Modder River, Paardeburg and Driefontein, is part of the Royal Marines Museum collection.

The action fought by the Royal Marines in taking the Graspan Heights was one of the actions that inspired the commissioning of the Memorial that stands on the Mall, close to Admiralty Arch.