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20 Mar 59 Julius Camp Nichlowl Father Hyde Park Place (West) ______________________________________________________________________________________________
Camp Nichlowl
20 March. 59. –
My dear Father
I received your letter dated 8 Feb. this morning. You say at the end that I shall probably be surprised at getting such a long one from you. I assure you I think some of the pleasantest moments that one has in this country are at the receipt of Home letters, particularly when they are good, long ones & enter into all the familiar topics. Yours was very acceptable. It ought to have reached me some time back, but the Post Office people (it is a pity Lord Derby’s Reform Bill* cannot touch them) have, I suppose been trying experiments with it. I find that letters directed simply ‘Bengal’ or ‘Elsewhere’ come to our hands as quickly as any others.
We have been stationary here now for something like a week & am well tired of it. The enemy are moving westward & Col. Kelly has command of the whole frontier of ‘Tirhoot’ & ‘Gorackpore’. They have put him over the heads of several people his seniors & the only way it can be accounted for is that he is a great hand at letter writing & has regularly written himself with repute at Head Quarters. Lord Clyde is at the Hills.
You mention that he is to be recalled. It is not known out here & I should think it very unlikely, after the good service he has rendered.
I have not heard from Arthur since he told me he had effected an exchange & was to start out to join the 3rd M. Europeans. Some of them are still (I see by the Indian Papers) on the ‘qui vive’ for Tantia Topee. Col. Kelly is on the West of our Force. I hear some more fellows gave themselves up a few days ago. I shall be delighted to hear it substantiated.
I think I told you that it is reported with us that the Capts. want to sell out. They are all in England now. Capt. Best would like £800 over regulation which he will not get unless Peel is a much weaker minded fellow than he is generally taken to be, notwithstanding that he has lots of money. Capt. Shawe would like £500 in addition & Capt. Steuart I believe also wishes, or is likely to wish to sell.*
I think from £300 to £400 is sufficient to give for a Captaincy in India as you have to pay for an exchange to England. I do not know who are down for purchase before me, but the following give it out that they are. You could easily find out from Powell if my list is correct:
Peel; Wyse (?); Cochrane; Holroyd.
Now if these steps are going, it might be possible to do something. Cochrane will not give over regulation I believe. I have said what amount I thought was sufficient to pay, but of course if it was a case of going over many, it would be quite worth while paying a little more instead of waiting a year or two as a Sub. A Captain’s pay in India is good – about £50 a month.
I suspect we shall have a run of promotion amongst the Capts. as several will leave & there we shall stick in the same places for some years.
I have not heard from John or Peter for some time. I do not know when there is a chance of our getting into Quarters or where we shall go to. I suspect if we are not kept here to watch these Ns, either Fyzabad or Dinapore will be our resting places. The latter I hope. It is I believe a very nice Quarter.
I see John & Peter have been sending home all sorts of things to my Mother. If ever we get settled I must see if I cannot pick up a few curiosities peculiar to the Country. I am afraid the British Subaltern can hardly be expected to produce Cashmere Shawls, besides which, one is so liable to be taken in. A great number of the so called goods come direct from England.
We are getting up some races & games for the men to come off tomorrow. There is a Regt. of Half Casts here, the Lahore Light Horse & we shall be able to judge if the mixed blood is able to compete with good plain English. There are also some wild fellows called Pathans* here who are supposed to be very great on Horseback – able to take tent pegs out of the ground with their lances, at the gallop. I suspect the 34th is in for a good spell of India. 15 years at least unless something is done to shorten the time of service out here. Seven years would be quite long enough.
I think you are quite right about Marshalls* & No 1, H.P.P. unless, as you say, you want to live in either of them.
We have done up the shooting about here & now have taken once more to Dog hunting. We had one very grand run yesterday about 5 miles on end & pulled up with dog in a marsh.
The Regt. is very strong – upwards of 1,000 men (or rather should I say boys). I find myself quite an old soldier* in competition with most of the men of my Company.
I told you I thought, a long time ago, that I got the £25 detention money all right.
I am glad to hear all are well. I certainly do look forward to telling you of my doings & travels. Waiting is all very well, but you can give but a poor idea of a country & your opinions of it, unless indeed you have the genius of a Russell * (who, by the way is not much appreciated out here). Every one plays up to him.
I have written a longish letter though I fear not a very entertaining one. This life is well enough so long as one is well. Of course one would like to be in England but I think a few years out here will be profitably spent & if I could only write ‘Capt.’ after my name, I think for the present I might represent myself as a wonder in nature – ‘a contented man’.
With best love to my Mother & all.
I remain
yr. affect. Son.
J D Laurie
* Lord Derby’s Reform Bill – Historically, only landowning men were entitled to vote. The Reform Act of 1832 provided for representation from the fast growing boroughs such as Birmingham, Bradford, Leeds and Manchester. In 1859, The Earl of Derby, leader of the Conservative Party, proposed complicated reforms to the rules for further widening the parliamentary franchise to include more middle class voters. The Bill was defeated, as was a further Bill the following year
* wish to sell – The system of purchase and sale of commissions originated in the reign of Charles II, and survived until 1871. The financial transactions were handled by army agents. There were set prices for commissions, which in theory were meant to give some protection for the less well-off; but the normal practice was to demand considerably more than the official price. For example, in 1870, the Regulation Price for a Captaincy in a Regiment of Foot was £1,100, plus £600 Over-Regulation.
The system was widely criticised during the mid-Victorian period and it was finally abolished in 1871 by the Army Purchase Commission
* Pathans – A people from what is now north western Pakistan and Afghanistan, the majority of whom are Sunni Muslims. They are known for their physical strength and regarded as good soldiers
* Marshalls – The 1851 Census shows John Laurie (described as a Magistrate), his wife and three children (Mary, 18; Alfred, 4; and Francis, 2), living at Marshalls, North Street, Romford, with 9 servants. The missing children, John, Peter, Julius and Arthur (aged between 10 and 16 years) were then presumably at various residential educational establishments. Eight years later, the house is being considered for sale
* old soldier – He was then 19 years old
* Russell – Sir William Howard Russell, CVO (1820-1907) was an Irish reporter for The Times, and is considered to have been one of the first modern war correspondents. He spent 22 months covering the Crimean War, including the Siege of Sevastopol and the Charge of the Light Brigade.