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1816-1817. General Garrison Orders

1816-1817. General Garrison Orders to The 60th, 72nd and 73rd Regiments at the Cape of Good Hope. manuscript, 375pp, original boards. 17 by 22cm., 6.5 by 8.5in. It records the daily orders and working parties (including "Black Pioneers", i.e. slaves) courts martial, medical duties, promotions and appointments, and all manner of minor instructions, such as the issue of a pint of wine to each soldier on the second anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. Together with a 7pp. manuscript Return of the Men of the 83rd Regiment sent home from the Cape (with remarks on their character), signed by Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Brunt. A wealth of military detail is contained in this volume, building a full picture of the organisation of the Garrison. News from England, such as the death of Princess Charlotte in childbirth, is announced to troops. In July 1817 a soldier of the 60th Regiment is sentenced to twelve months solitary confinement on bread and water, convicted of more than "one horrid and unnatural crime" on the persons of fellow soldiers on the voyage to the Cape. Another private soldier of the 60th is arraigned "for unsoldierlike infamous, unmanly and bestial conduct in having attempted to commit an unnatural crime on the body of a goat". He is sentenced to "one thousand lashes with a cat o'nine tails on the bare back and breech in such a manner as His Excellency the Commander of the forces may think proper to direct" Among the places mentioned are Robins Island, Grahams Town, St. Helena, Simonstown, Tristan da Cunha. Many Irish names included: Private Connachton charged with murder; Pte. J. McCormick sentenced to 200 lashes; Pte. Toal sentenced to 12 months solitary confinement on bread and water; Pte. Massey..18 months. A fascinating original official account of life in the Army during Napoleonic times.

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