1 Introduction

The earliest surviving letter from the three brothers was written by the youngest, Julius, about to embark from Liverpool, initially destined for Malta.  He was a 15 year old Ensign and very excited at the prospect of action in the Crimea where he also hoped to join his two elder brothers John, 19, a Lieutenant in 4th Regiment of Foot and Peter, 17, a civilian on board a merchant vessel.

Julius duly arrived in the Crimea but within a month was severely wounded in the thigh on what turned out to be the last day of serious fighting.  Despite infection, he recovered sufficiently to be shipped home via the hospital in Scutari, Turkey, made famous by Florence Nightingale.

After a period at home, all three brothers set off again in 1857.  John embarked with his regiment from Dublin to Mauritius; Peter from Dartmouth, again on a merchant vessel, this time bound for Calcutta, Shanghai and Hong Kong.  Julius sailed from Southampton in hot pursuit of his regiment, 34th Regiment of Foot, which had earlier been rushed to India in response to reports of mutiny and atrocity, and re-joined them near Cawnpore, immediately before the final relief and evacuation of Lucknow.

While Julius (the soldier) reported the progress of actions against bands of rebels (including one particularly close encounter) in a matter of fact style, Peter (the civilian) wrote home with more florid descriptions of his experiences of Shanghai and Hong Kong, delighting in descriptions of violence and death without apparent regard for his parents’ feelings.

Peter secured employment as an agent for Jardine Matheson & Co, based in Hong Kong, at an early stage in the colony’s development.  Pirates, cholera and untrustworthy servants were just some of the hazards he faced.

As Peter settled himself into the life of a China merchant, Julius mopped up rebel forces in northern India and Nepal.  In April 1859 he was with his regiment near Cawnpore when he and Private Richardson were confronted by six rebels.  Private Richardson was shot and wounded, but between them they killed five of the rebels and the sixth fled.   Private Richardson was awarded the Victoria Cross.

As order was gradually restored in India, Julius had more leisure time to spend on his favourite pastime, pig-sticking, and he impatiently waited for promotion to Captain.  This was finally achieved by purchase with his father’s help, in 1861.

John’s letters from the Crimea and (all but one from) India are missing.  He served with distinction in the Crimea and was later posted to Mauritius with his regiment, from where it was despatched in haste to India to help put down the Sepoy rebellion.  Unlike Julius, he was back in England after about three years.  Very fortunately, a transcription of his personal diary, written during the critical period in 1861 and 1862 has survived.  This reveals that after India, he was offered a position in Nova Scotia, Canada, to command the militia in that Province.  He left home in England, apparently depressed by a rejection from a young lady.  However, having settled into life in Nova Scotia and encountered Frances Collins, the youngest daughter of a respected local family, he delightfully chronicles his wooing and winning.  He received his parents’ blessing to marry her, but Frances’ elderly father was harder to convince.  However, with her sisters’ support he was finally won over.  Sadly, John’s own father was too old, and the transatlantic journey too arduous, for him and John’s mother to be present at the wedding.  His father died the following year without ever having met his first daughter-in-law.  John served in South Africa in the First Boer War and was appointed Lieutenant General in 1881.  He was involved in putting down the North West Rebellion of 1885.  The couple bought a substantial property, ‘Oakfield’, on the shores of Grand Lake, Nova Scotia.  He became an MP for Shelburne in the Canadian House of Commons (1887-1891) and for Pembroke and Haverfordwest in the British House of Commons (1895-1905).  He and Frances produced eight children, of whom four married and had children of their own.

In these letters, the three correspondents reveal their individual characters.

John’s fourteen surviving letters from this period show him to be serious minded and reliable, whereas Peter was more flamboyant and artistic.  His letters are full of literary references and underlining for emphasis and he clearly enjoyed writing for the sake of it.  Indeed, he privately published ten books between 1859 and 1901.  It is not clear quite why he was on board the Tynemouth in the Crimea, other than she was owned by Mr William Lindsay MP, who was probably a friend of his father, and in whose London office Peter had briefly worked.  He does not appear to have had any responsibilities on board, or much idea of the duration of the voyage, and consequently suffered the winter weather without appropriate clothing.  His second voyage, to the Far East, was evidently aimed at finding work in which, despite early setbacks, he was finally successful.  He remained in China, working for Jardines, for thirteen years during which time he married Emily Smale, with whom he had five children.  He came home to England in 1871, returning East the next year to represent Jardines in Foochow, where he was Chairman of the Chamber of Commerce.  He finally retired to Essex in 1876 at the age of 38.

Julius was steady and ambitious.  In his free time, he much enjoyed field sports – rough shooting and pig sticking in India; fox hunting and fishing at home.  He retired from the Army as a full Colonel.  His time line in the Appendix shows that his first wife, Beatrice Northall-Laurie, died in India leaving him with an eight year old daughter.  Much later, aged 66, towards the end of a full and successful life, he married The Hon. Gwen Molesworth and, no doubt to his surprise as well as delight, they produced a son – the Editor’s father.

Just three letters from Arthur seem to have survived.  His brothers’ first mentions of him suggest that he lacked focus.  It later becomes clear that he was spendthrift and unreliable.  They helped pay his debts and gave him brotherly advice.  Very sadly, he came to a shocking end in India, leaving a widow and two young children.  Although, during his lifetime, he inherited from his father the same as his siblings, Arthur’s widow, Matilda, and children, Robert and Eliza, were not mentioned in his mother’s will.