MILITARY
(Contd.)
It was noted the other day (19-8-33) that boundary stones marked "B. O." were discovered at the Murray Battery site, and the suggestion is that these initials stand for Board of Ordnance. It is interesting to note that the street lamps outside Seven and Sixpenny Hill are also military property, like the Government "V.R." of those days (now "G.R."). In the Forties we find chronicled, among the military establishments an "Office of Ordnance", in the charge of a Storekeeper, with a number of assistants.
Probably not many local residents know that the 2nd Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment, now stationed in Hong Kong, has a historic association with the Colony going back to the early days, and the Regiment is the only unit of the British Army entitled to bear the name "Canton" on its Colours.
It is interesting to note that the Battalion, formerly the 59th (2nd Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot was here from the middle of 1849 to the close of 1858, and in the course of its service at Hong Kong of nearly ten years was engaged in the capture of Canton in 1857, the subsequent expedition to the White Cloud Mountains, and the capture of Nantow in 1858.
Its return to the scene of past glories in 1933 is therefore an event deserving of a special record.
Before proceeding to a discussion of the Battalion's connexion with this Colony, I might draw attention to a monument erected in the Protestant cemetery in Happy Valley, first put up in 1854, and which had its inscription completed when the 59th Regiment departed in 1858. This monument is a tall one, taking the form of a round column standing on a square base, and topped by a Roman vase. The structure is thirty feet high, and is composed of eight pieces of solid granite. It stands a little to the right of the entrance of the cemetery, about ten yards from the gate. The inscriptions on the four sides of the base read as follows:
North side. "Erected by the officers, N.C. Officers and men of the LIX Regiment."
South side. "Sacred to the Memory of all those of the LIX Regiment who died between the 11th June 1849, and the 18th November, 1858."
East side. "Brevet Lieut.-Col. G. F. Boughey, Captain H. B. S. Stanhope, Lieut. T. F. Bowen, Surgeon G. W. Powell, Surgeon A. Campbell, Assistant Surgeon Orr, Assistant Surgeon Dauney, Quarter-Master W. Macdonald,"
West side.
"Sergeants 21, Corporals 14, Drummers 4, Privates 466, Women 36, Children 107".
This mortality seems appalling, especially when we consider that the casualties in action during the Canton campaign were very light, and amounted to a handful killed and not many wounded. It shows how the climate of Hong Kong decimated the regiment during its nine and a half years here (they left Cork on June 11, 1849, to come out to China on service, and must have arrived here in the late summer that year.)
It is particularly pathetic to read the figures of women and children who perished. Hardly more is required to prove that the ill-repute of this Colony for fever and other sickness in its early years was well justified.
By the kindness of the Commanding Officer of the Battalion now in the Colony, I have been permitted to borrow one of the regimental record books
Thank
a scrap book in the possession of the
Page 655
MILITARY
(Contd.)
It was noted the other day (19-8-33) that boundary stones marked "B. 0." were discovered at the Murray Battery site, and the suggestion is that these initials stand for Board of Ordnance. It is interesting to note that the street lamps outside Seven and Sixpenny Hill are also military property, like the Government "V.R." of those days (now "G.R."). In the Forties we find chronicled, among the military establishments an "Office of Ordnance", in the charge of a Storekeeper, with a number of assistants.
Probably not many local residents know that the 2nd. Battalion of the East Lancashire Regiment, now stationed in Hong Kong, has a historic association with the Colony going back to the early days, and the Regiment is the only unit of the British Army entitled to bear the name "Canton" on its Colours.
It is interesting to note that the Battalion, formerly the 59ph. (2nd Nottinghamshire) Regiment of Foot was here from the middle of 1849 to the close of 1858, and in the course of its service at Hong Kong of nearly ten years was engaged in the capture of Canton in 1857, the subsequent expedition to the White Cloud Mountains, and the capture of Nantow in 1858.
Its return to the scene of past glories in 1933 is there- fore an event deserving of a special record.
Before proceeding to a discussion of the Battalion's connexion with this Colony, I might draw attention to a monument erected in the Protestant cemetery in Happy Valley, first put up in 1854, and which had its inscription completed when the 59th. Regiment departed in 1858. This monument is a tall one, taking the form of a round column standing on a square base, and topped by a Roman vase. The structure is thirty feet high, and is composed of eight pieces of solid granite. It stands a little to the right of the entrance of the cemetery, about ten yards from the gate. The inscriptions on the four sides of the base read as follows:
North side. "Erected by the officers, N.C. Officers and men of the LIX Regiment."
South side. "Sacred to the Memory of all those of the LIX Regiment who died between the 11th. June 1849, and the 18th. November, 1858."
East side. "Brevet Lieut.-Col. G. F. Boughey, Captain H. B. S. Stanhope, Lieut. T. F. Bowen, Surgeon G. W. Powell, Surgeon A. Campbell, Assistant Surgeon Orr., Assistant Surgeon Dauney, Quarter-Master W. Macdonald,"
West side.
"Sergeants 21, Corporals 14, Drimers 4, Frivates 466, Women 36, Children 107".
This mortality seems appalling, especially when we consider that the casualties in action during the Canton campaign were very light, and amounted to a handful killed and not many wounded. It shows how the climate of Hong Kong decimated the regiment during its nine and a half years here (they left Cork on June 11, 1849, to come out to China on service, and must have arrived here in the late summer that year.)
It is particularly pathetic to read the figures of women and children who perished. Hardly more is required to prove that the ill-repute of this Colony for fever and other sickness in its early years was well justified.
*
*
*
*
*
By the kindness of the Commanding Officer of the Battalion now in the Colony, I have been permitted to borrow one of the regimental record books
Thank
a scrap book in the possission of the
655
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