Lieutenant Colonel, born 20th August 1832 in Tyrone, Ireland. Enlisted in 1851, Commanding Officer of the 66th Foot at the Battle of Maiwand and was Killed in Action on the 27th July 1880.

Extract from "THE AFGHAN CAMPAIGN OF 1878-1880" by Sydney H. Shadbolt first published 1882.

LIEUT.-COLONEL JAMES GALBRAITH,
66TH (BERKSHIRE) REGIMENT.

THE subject of this memoir was the fifth son of Samuel Galbraith, Esq., of Clanabogan, in the County of Tyrone, Ireland, and of Susannah Jane, his wife, daughter of the Rev. Robert Handcock, D.D., of Dublin and of Lacken, Co. Roscommon, and granddaughter of William Handcock, Esq., for many years M.P. for Athlone. In Burkes' “Landed Gentry" the Galbraiths of Clanabogan are stated to have been of Scotch descent, and to have settled in Ulster in the reign of Charles I.

Educated at home, James Galbraith passed his examination at Sandhurst for a commission in the Army, and was gazetted in December, 1851, to an Ensigncy, by purchase, in the 66th Regiment, with which gallant corps to the last his life was identified. He proceeded, on appointment, to the Depot, then stationed in Guernsey; and after serving there for some eighteen months embarked for Canada to join the Head-quarters. While in that country he was promoted (June, 1854) to a Lieutenancy. The Regiment was ordered home in the autumn of the same year, and a few months after its arrival in England was sent to Gibraltar. In the spring of 1855 Galbraith was sent home to the Depot (which had been transferred to Leeds), to act as Paymaster and Quartermaster. In February, 1856, he obtained his company, by purchase.

Captain Galbraith sailed for the East Indies in the year 1857, with two companies of the Regiment, under command of Major Benson, in H.M.S. “Gloriana," and joined the Head-quarters at Cannanor, where the 66th was stationed for over four years. For some part of this period he commanded a detachment at Calicut. Returning to England with the Regiment for its term of home service, he did duty with it at Devonport, Aldershot, Guernsey, Jersey, the Curragh, and Dublin, and obtained while stationed in Ireland (August, 1869) his Majority.

On the Regiment being ordered a second time to India, in 1870, Major Galbraith commanded a wing, during the voyage out, in one of Her Majesty's troopships ; and three companies while stationed at Haidarabad, Sind. He subsequently commanded the Regiment at Belgaum during parts of the years 1874 and 1875, and again at Haidarabad from the spring of 1879 till he succeeded to the permanent command at Karachi, in November, 1879. In the interval (October, 1877) he obtained his Brevet Lieutenant-Colonelcy.

In February, 1880, the 66th was ordered to Kandahar, and arrived there under his command on the 25th March, 1880, four days before the departure of the Bengal troops for Kabul under command of Sir Donald Stewart. Colonel Galbraith commanded the Regiment on the 4th July, when the mutineers of the Wali's army were defeated near Girishk and his guns retaken. It was on the 27th July, 1880, on the fatal field of Maiwand, that he fell, fighting manfully against the overwhelming numbers of Ayub Khan's followers. “He was last seen," writes General Primrose in his despatch, “on the nullah bank, kneeling on one knee, with a colour in his hand, officers and men rallying round him." When the battle-field was revisited by the force under command of Brigadier-General Daubeny, in September, his body, and that of his old friend Captain Mc Math, were found together, with those of many of their gallant comrades.

Colonel Galbraith was a gallant soldier and a true friend. His even temper and calm judgment peculiarly fitted him for command; and those who served under him will ever respect and honour his memory.

Major, born 9th March 1836 in Ashby de la Zouch. Enlisted in 1854, Survived the Battle of Maiwand and the siege of Kandahar. Died of Smallpox on the 10th October 1880.

Extract from "THE AFGHAN CAMPAIGN OF 1878-1880" by Sydney H. Shadbolt first published 1882.

MAJOR C. V. OLIVER,
66TH (BERKSHIRE) REGIMENT.

CHARLES VALENTINE OLIVER was the second son of John Dudley Oliver, Esquire, of Cherrymount, County Wicklow, Ireland, who was the head of a younger branch of the Olivers, of Castle Oliver, County Limerick, a family well known in Ireland for many generations.

The subject of this memoir was born on the 9th March, 1836, and was one of five brothers who entered the Army within a short time of each other. He was gazetted to the 66th Regiment, as Ensign, in 1854, and passed his whole service in that distinguished corps in various parts of the world, including India, Gibraltar, the Channel Islands, Great Britain, and Ireland. Although never purchased over, his promotion was slow, and he only obtained his Regimental majority a short time before his death.

Major Oliver was one of the officers sent out to Jamaica in 1866 to serve on the court-martial which tried two officers accused of acts of cruelty in putting down the negro rebellion in that island, and which honourably acquitted them. After his return to England, he served with the Regiment at Aldershot, Jersey, Guernsey, the Curragh, and Dublin; and in 1870 proceeded with the head-quarters a second time to India. When the Regiment was stationed at Karachi, he was for a considerable time in charge of the Sanitarium of Ghizri.

Major Oliver marched with the Regiment to Kandahar in February, 1880, and was present at the action on the Halmand, near Girishk, on the 14th July. At the battle of Maiwand, on the 27th, he was one of the three officers present with the colours who came out unhurt. It is said that he and General Burrows were they two last to leave the field, and they were so hard pressed that he was obliged, in self-defence, to shoot with a rifle two or three of the Afghan cavalry who attacked them on the open plain. It will perhaps not be out of place here to remark on the pain and distress he was subjected to through his name being confused with that of another officer, and being quoted in several of the English journals in a list published by them of the survivors of the battle who were the first to reach Kandahar, thus making it appear that he had ridden on ahead of his men. The officer alluded to was another of the same name belonging to a different service. The fact is, that telegraphic communication had been severed some hours before Major Oliver with the scanty remnant of his Regiment reached the city walls. He arrived in a state of great exhaustion from which he never quite recovered.

Although Major Oliver suffered much from weakness during the siege, he nevertheless commanded all that was left of the 66th at the battle of Kandahar on the 1st September. After the defeat of Ayub Khan's army, he continued in a low state of health, and he subsequently fell an easy victim to the disease—small-pox which eventually carried him off on the 10th October, 1880. His death was thus alluded to in the "Kandahar News:"—" All our readers will receive with feelings of deep sorrow and regret the sad news of the death of Major C. V. Oliver, 66th Regiment, which occurred yesterday morning in the citadel, from small-pox. After bringing back the remnants of his Regiment from the fatal and terrible field of Maiwand, and the still more terrible retreat on Kandahar, and passing safely through the perils of the siege, he was on the eve of marching to India, en route to England with his Regiment, when the fell disease struck him down, and in little more than a week our Queen and country had to deplore the loss of a faithful servant, and the 66th Regiment, the Kandahar Field Force, and the whole Army, a fine soldier, brave officer, good companion, and staunch friend. Requiescat in pace."

Captain, born 7th September 1844 Corry in Ireland. Joined the Regiment on the 10th July 1870, Commanded B company at the Battle of Maiwand and was Killed in Action on the 27th July 1880.

Extract from "THE AFGHAN CAMPAIGN OF 1878-1880" by Sydney H. Shadbolt first published 1882.

CAPTAIN F. J. CULLEN,
66TH (BERKSHIRE) REGIMENT.

FRANCIS JAMES CULLEN, who was killed in action at Maiwand on the 27th July, 1880, was the fourth son of the late Francis Nesbitt Cullen, Esq., J.P., of Corry, County Leitrim, and grandson of the late Colonel James Cullen, of Shreeny House, in the same county.

Born at Corry on the 7th September, 1844, he was educated in Dublin at Dunbar's Academy, from whence he passed direct into the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, in 'September, 1863. Passing out in February, 1865, he obtained a free commission for the ability he displayed at the previous examination, and was gazetted in the same month to an Ensigncy in the 1st West India Regiment. He shortly afterwards joined that corps at Kingston, Jamaica, where he served under the late Governor Eyre in the rebellion which broke out immediately after his arrival.

In 1867 he accompanied his Regiment to Africa, where he served for two years in Senegambia. In the autumn of 1869 he obtained his Lieutenancy without purchase, and was posted to the 66th Foot. He joined that gallant corps some months afterwards in Bombay, and continued to serve with it, with one interval of furlough, till the day of his death. In October, 1879, he obtained his company.

Captain Cullen accompanied the Regiment on its being ordered up to Kandahar in February, 1880, and shared with it the duties which fell to its lot after arriving at its destination. In the first week in July he took part in the advance of Burrows' Brigade to the Halmand, and commanded the company of his Regiment, which, acting as the General's rear-guard, crossed the river in the neighbourhood of Girishk on the 14th of the month to observe the movements of the Wali's mutinied troops. A fortnight afterwards, in the disastrous encounter with the enemy at Maiwand, he fell fighting gallantly at the head of his company, in the field in front of the Nullah, close to the spot where Colonel Galbraith and his brother officers, McMath, Garratt, and Barr, rendered up their lives. “Your son," wrote the late Major C. V. Oliver, (a gallant officer of the 66th, who survived that fatal day, and subsequently commanded the scanty remnant of the Regiment at General Roberts' defeat of Ayub Khan's army on the 1st September) to Captain Cullen's bereaved mother, "was seen to fall doing his duty as a gentleman and a soldier. I was standing by his company for some time only a little while before he fell, and nothing could have been cooler or better than his behaviour. Amongst the many friends I lost on that day there are few I regret so much."

The brief record of the manner in which Captain Cullen faced his death reads as an echo of the anticipations formed after the first tidings of the disaster reached them by the many friends to whom, during his life, he had endeared himself.

Captain, born 28th September 1845 in Hampstead. Enlisted in 1865, Commanded F company at the Battle of Maiwand and was Killed in Action on the 27th July 1880.

Extract from "THE AFGHAN CAMPAIGN OF 1878-1880" by Sydney H. Shadbolt first published 1882.

CAPTAIN E. S. GARRATT,
66TH (BERKSHIRE) REGIMENT.

ERNEST STEPHEN GARRATT was the eldest son of the Reverend Samuel Garratt, Honorary Canon of Norwich, and Vicar of St. Margaret's, Ipswich, and Loetitia Sarah Bathsua, his wife, daughter of the Reverend Bowater James Vernon, who was Senior Chaplain to the Forces in St. Helena at the time of the death of the Emperor Napoleon I., when the 66th Regiment happened to be stationed in the island.
The subject of this memoir was born on the 28th September, 1845, and was educated at Marlborough, and under private tutors at Geneva and elsewhere. In 1865, when nineteen years old, he obtained a direct commission as Ensign in the 66th Regiment, then lately returned from India. In July, 1867, he became Lieutenant; and during the five years the Regiment was on home service, was quartered at Aldershot, the Channel Islands, Plymouth, and the Curragh. He embarked with the Regiment in the spring of 1870, on its again being ordered to India, and obtained his company while on the voyage out.

General Barclay, formerly Lieutenant-Colonel of the 66th, giving the opinion he formed of him during the period of his Indian service, writes: "I first made his acquaintance at Belgaum in 1875; he was then in command of a detachment at the fort, and I was much struck, on inspecting his company, with the thoughtful manner in which all arrangements for the comfort of his men were carried out. No care or even expense was spared. His company, from his Colour-Sergeant to the youngest soldier, would have done anything for him." And a brother officer, who lived on terms of great intimacy with him, writes: "One thing which always struck me about him was his great kindness of heart. I never remember to have heard him speak a harsh or unkind word of anybody, and if a disparaging word was said of anyone in his presence, he would always put in a kind word for the subject of the remarks." It is perhaps worthy of mention, too, that during this period of his service he nursed his brother officer, Captain McMath, through a long and dangerous illness—the result of an encounter with a wounded panther—and was instrumental, as his patient was wont to affirm, in saving his life.

After serving for some years at various stations in Bombay, he returned on leave to England, married, and rejoined the Regiment at Ahmadnagar; and after another voyage home, where he held for eighteen months an appointment at the Depot, at Reading, was once more ordered to India in the autumn of 1879, three months before the departure of the 66th from Karachi to Kandahar.

While at Kandahar he was very much occupied with experiments in telegraphy. “He was a first-rate electrician," writes Lieutenant Hamilton, of the 2nd Queen's, Aide-de-Camp to General Primrose, to whose quarters Garratt was in the habit of resorting to test his telephones; and the General himself says: " I have always heard him spoken of in high terms by those who knew him; and I was particularly struck with the amount of intelligence he always displayed. He was considered a very good officer, and scientific in his pursuits, which made itself prominent by his knowledge and practice of telegraphy and the telephone."

"We are all like brothers," is one of his own expressions in a letter written at this period to his wife respecting the officers in the Regiment, between whom and himself there evidently existed a very strong feeling of friendship—the more pleasant to think of, since "in their deaths they were not divided." Before this letter closed, the action with the Wali's troops, near Girishk, had taken place. After describing the pursuit and capture of the guns, he continues: “Then, as the enemy still held the valley to which they had retreated, we were ordered to clear it; and in this three of our men were wounded badly. One or two shots came so close to me that my horse shied "—he was senior Captain on active service, and doing Field Officer's duty—" and nearly threw me, as I was acting galloper between the General and the Regiment."

A fortnight afterwards, on the 27th July, 1880, the battle of Maiwand was fought. “When they were surrounded at the end," writes one of the officers of the 66th, in a private letter, "he turned the rear-rank of his company about to fire to the rear as well as to the front." His death took place when the Regiment was retiring to the garden where the last stand was made. One of the men of his company gives the following particulars:—" I saw Captain Garratt fall. I stopped to see if I could render him any assistance. I then noticed that he had a bullet wound between the temple and the jaw bone, and that his eyes were closed. I raised his arm and found that he was dead." And General Primrose, making reference to him and his brother officer, Captain Cullen, in his letter to the Adjutant-General, published in the "Gazette" of the 31st December, 1880, tells how they " were both killed on the field in front of the nullah, up to the last moment commanding their companies and giving their orders with as much coolness as if on ordinary Regimental parade."

A large pile of stones marks the place where the Afghans themselves buried those whom they found dead on the field. There his body lies with the rest of those with whom he fell. The burial-place of the 66th was left undisturbed by either friend or foe.

Captain, born 4th February 1845 in Thornford, Ireland. Enlisted in 1865, Commanded D company at the Battle of Maiwand and was Killed in Action on the 27th July 1880.

Extract from "THE AFGHAN CAMPAIGN OF 1878-1880" by Sydney H. Shadbolt first published 1882.

CAPTAIN W. H. McMATH,
66TH (BERKSHIRE) REGIMENT.

WILLIAM HAMILTON McMATH was the second son of Hamilton McMath, Esq., of Thornford, Co. Monaghan, Ireland, and of Mary his wife, eldest daughter of James Parker, Esq., of Mount Kearney, Co. Down. He was born on the 4th February, 1845. After some early training in the Grammar School, Dundalk,—where he was elected Captain by his companions, and won twice running the silver medal, the highest prize awarded,—he was removed to King William's College, Isle of Man, where, in 1861, he studied under the Rev. Gilmour Harvey and Dr. Dixon, the then Head Masters. He subsequently underwent a short special preparation for Sandhurst under Mr. De Burgh, of Dublin; and after passing through the usual course at the College was gazetted, in August, 1865, to an Ensigncy in the 66th Foot.

Joining the Regiment at Davenport, he proceeded with it in January, 1867, to Aldershot, and subsequently to Jersey and Guernsey. In August, 1868, he purchased his Lieutenancy, and in October of the same year obtained a first-class certificate, extra, at the School of Musketry at Hythe.

After serving for twelve months at the Curragh and Dublin, he embarked with the 66th, in 1870, for India. While in Bengal he was temporarily attached to the 25th Native Light Infantry. On his leaving that corps to rejoin the 66th, a Regimental Order was issued by the Commandant, making warm allusion to the satisfactory manner in which he had performed his duties, and expressing regret for the loss of so promising an officer.

While stationed at Haidarabad in the Spring of 1871, and subsequently while at Belgaum in the years 1874 and 1875, McMath, with whom sport was little less than a passion, found many opportunities for enjoying his favourite pastime. On one occasion, while pursuing the larger game of the country in the district last named, severe injuries were inflicted on him by a wounded panther. He fortunately succeeded in killing the beast after it closed with him, and, holding his lacerated flesh together, managed, with the aid of his native attendants, who kept pouring water on his head, to walk a distance of six miles to his quarters. There he was tenderly nursed by his brother-officer and bosom friend, Captain Ernest Garratt, to whose care, as he was wont to assert, he owed his life. His constitution was excellent, and so thoroughly did he recover his strength that he was able to take part, in January, 1876, in the long march of the 66th, to Poona, a distance of 220 miles.

After holding for a time the Adjutancy of the Regiment, he obtained, in April, 1877, his company. Early in 1878 he availed himself of leave of absence, and visited England. He returned to India the same year, and rejoined the Headquarters of the Regiment at Kolaba. In March, 1879, he was appointed Officiating Adjutant in the camp of Deolali, through which all troops proceeding from and to England had to pass; and in November of the same year he was again at Poona, temporarily doing duty as Brigade Major.

On the 31st January, 1880, he received, to his great satisfaction, orders to rejoin the Regiment for service in Afghanistan. He reached the Head-quarters at Nari Bank, and was there detached, with Lieutenant Lynch and his company, for the purpose of taking up to Kandahar a present of a battery of artillery from the Government to the Wali, Shere Ali Khan. In a letter describing this performance, he writes: “We had hard work taking the guns up the Bolan, also through the Gazaband and Khojak Passes. The latter operation took me two days, having had to encamp the first night on the top of the Khoja Amran Mountains, and taking the battery down the mountain was tough work. I, however, did not lose a single man, camel, bullock, or thing, and handed the battery over complete to the Afghans." This was at Chaman. The day the guns were handed over he received a telegram from Sir Donald Stewart, thanking him for bringing the battery forward with so little delay.

After reaching Kandahar he received the appointment of Commandant of the body guard of the General (his former chief, General Primrose), and had quarters in his garden. In the first days of July he took part in the advance of Burrows' Brigade to the Halmand, and acted as Brigade Major to the Field Force during the action on the 14th with the Wali's mutinied troops at Girishk. In a letter describing the operations of that day, he writes: "I was fourteen hours in the saddle on the 14th without having had a meal, and on the night of the 15th the whole of our force fell back upon this place, a march across a desert of twenty-five miles without a drop of water. Left the Halmand at 6 p.m., and did not arrive till 8 a.m., another fourteen hours in the saddle."

At the battle of Maiwand, on the 27th, McMath was seen steadying his company, to the command of which he had reverted, and was heard quietly to remark: "That's right, men; go on giving them volleys like that!" The company was the third from the right of the fighting line. Shortly after it was forced to retire, Captain McMath was struck by a round shot, which frightfully shattered his shoulder. His faithful servant, Haider Beg—a soldier who eventually escaped into Kandahar—ministered to his wants with water until ordered by him to quit the field and save his own life. The end was not far distant. Within a few minutes from the time of his receiving his first wound a bullet pierced his heart, immediately putting an end to his sufferings. Thus fell one of the best of men and most genial of comrades: “one who”—to quote from General Primrose's letter to the Adjutant-General, published in the " London Gazette" of the 31st December, 1880—" had his life been spared, would have risen to distinction in Her Majesty's Service."

It is moving to record that Captain McMath's little dog "Nellie"—a pet of the Regiment—which had followed her master into action, was subsequently found by the burying party lying dead at his side.

Captain, born Hydrabad, India on the 9th March 1846. Joined the Regiment on the 30th November 1871, Commanded C company and Survived the Battle of Maiwand but died of wounds at Kandahar.

Extract from "THE AFGHAN CAMPAIGN OF 1878-1880" by Sydney H. Shadbolt first published 1882.

CAPTAIN WALTER ROBERTS,
66TH (BERKSHIRE) REGIMENT.

THE subject of this notice, was the third son of Major-General Howland Roberts, Honourable East India Company's Service. He was born at Haidarabad in the Deccan on the 9th March, 1846; was educated at Cheltenham College; and passed through the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. In February, 1865, ' he was gazetted to an Ensigncy without purchase in the 3rd West India Regiment, and obtained his Lieutenancy by purchase in December of the same year. He served on the West Coast of Africa till June, 1866, and in the West Indies till his Regiment was disbanded in April, 1870. In September, 1871, he exchanged from half-pay into the 66th Regiment, then stationed at Karachi, Sind; and joining that corps two months afterwards, served with it for a period of three years. In September, 1874, he was appointed Staff Officer at Mount Abu Sanitarium, where he remained for his term of two years. On rejoining Head-quarters in November, 1876, he was appointed to act as Adjutant of the Regiment—an appointment which he held until he obtained his company on the 14th November, 1879, and continued to hold subsequently during the march of the 66th to Kandahar in the spring of 1880.

At the engagement with the mutinous troops of the Wali Shere Ali Khan near Ghirish on the 14th July, 1880, Captain Roberts commanded his company on the right flank of the line. At the battle of Maiwand, on the 27th of the same month, he was mortally wounded while making a desperate stand with his men against overwhelming numbers. He was led out of the garden in which he had been hit, and taken to the rear, but shortly afterwards died from the effects of his wound and exhaustion from long exposure, without sustenance or relief, to the rays of a burning sun. His body was brought into Kandahar and buried on the night of the 28th in the palace garden.

Captain Roberts' memory will ever be held dear by those with whom he served. He was a thorough soldier, and a man beloved by all who knew him.

The deceased married, in July 1867, Julia Mary, daughter of the late Captain P. H. Delamere, of the 21st Fusiliers and 3rd West India Regiment.

Lieutenant, born Tralee, Ireland. Joined the Regiment on the 13th October 1877, Killed in Action at the Battle of Maiwand 27th July 1880.

Extract from "THE AFGHAN CAMPAIGN OF 1878-1880" by Sydney H. Shadbolt first published 1882.

LIEUTENANT R. T. CHUTE,
66TH (BERKSHIRE) REGIMENT.

RICHARD TREVOR CHUTE, who was killed in action at Maiwand on the 27th July, 1880, was the youngest son of the late Richard Chute, Esq., D.L., of Chute Hall, Co. Kerry, and the Honourable Mrs. Chute, daughter of the late Lord Ventry; and was a nephew of General Sir Trevor Chute, K.C.B. He was born in Kerry on the 17th September, 1856, was educated at Wimbledon School, and in 1875 joined the Cavan Militia, from which, in October, 1877, he received his commission as 2nd Lieutenant in the 66th Regiment. He embarked, shortly afterwards, for India to join the Headquarters, and after serving for a period at Kolaba, Haidarabad, and Karachi, he received, in June 1879, his lieutenancy. He was subsequently appointed Acting Quartermaster to the Regiment, in which capacity he served till the day of his death.

On the 66th being ordered to the front, in February, 1880, Chute proceeded with it in its march through the Bolan, and shared with it at Kandahar the duties which fell to its lot. He took part, in the first week of July, in the advance of Burrows' Brigade to the Halmand, and during the action in the neighbourhood of Girishk on the 14th of the month his company was one of those detailed to guard the camp on the left bank of the river. In the disastrous battle of Maiwand on the 27th, he fell fighting gallantly against the overwhelming numbers of the enemy, being one of the little band who sold their lives so dearly in the garden where the last desperate stand was made.

Lieutenant, born in 1860 in Ashford in Kent. Joined the Regiment on the 9th February 1880, Carried the Regimental Colour at the Battle of Maiwand and was Killed in Action on the 27th July 1880.

Extract from "THE AFGHAN CAMPAIGN OF 1878-1880" by Sydney H. Shadbolt first published 1882.

2ND LIEUTENANT ARTHUR HONYWOOD,
66TH (BERKSHIRE) REGIMENT.

THE subject of this notice, who was killed in his twentieth year at the battle of Maiwand on the 27th July, 1880, while defending the Queen's colour of his Regiment, was the fourth son of the late Sir Courtenay Honywood, and Anne Maria, his wife, second daughter of the late W. Paynter, Esq., of Richmond, and of Belgrave Square, London.

Arthur Honywood was born in the year 1860 at Evington Place, Ashford, and received his education in Hertfordshire. Proceeding to Sandhurst, he passed out of the college after the usual course, and was gazetted, in August, 1879, to a second Lieutenancy in the 66th Regiment. He embarked shortly afterwards for India, and joined the Head-quarters at Karachi, in time—to his infinite satisfaction—to take part with the Regiment in its march to Kandahar. His term of service was destined, alas! to be of short duration. In the first days of July, 1880, he accompanied the 66th in its advance in Burrows' Brigade to the Halmand, and was present, on the 14th of the month, at the dispersing of the Wali Shere Ali Khan's mutinied troops in the neighbourhood of Girishk. At the battle of Maiwand, on the 27th, he was struck with a bullet early in the engagement."

“I met him,” writes one of his brother officers in reference to the last sad act of the drama of that day, “in one of the gardens, wounded through the leg.” It is known that he reached the garden where the last desperate stand was made—that spot which, has become sacred to the memory of the little band of heroes who, in their determination to sell their lives dearly, watered it so copiously with their blood. The sequel—in so far as the subject of this notice is concerned—is supplied in General Primrose's despatch: “Lieutenant Honywood was shot down whilst holding a colour high above his head, shouting, ‘Men, what shall we do to save this? '”

Lieutenant, born 18th March 1860 in Sydney, Australia. Enlisted in 1879, Carried the Queens Colour at the Battle of Maiwand and was Killed in Action on the 27th July 1880.

Extract from "THE AFGHAN CAMPAIGN OF 1878-1880" by Sydney H. Shadbolt first published 1882.

2ND LIEUTENANT W. R. OLIVEY,
66TH (BERKSHIRE) REGIMENT.

THE subject of this notice, who was killed at Maiwand on the 27th July, 1880, while carrying the Queen's colour of his Regiment, was the second son of Lieut.-Colonel W. R. Olivey, Chief Paymaster, Army Pay Department (for nearly twenty years Paymaster of the 1st Battalion, 12th Regiment) and Elizabeth, his wife, only daughter of the late R. Goodfellow, Esq., of Falmouth, Cornwall.

Walter Rice Olivey was born at Sydney, New South Wales, on the 19th March, 186o. After receiving a preliminary education, he was prepared for Sandhurst at the Grammar School at Bury, in Lancashire, by the Rev. E. H. Gulliver, the then head-master, and went direct from that establishment to the College. Passing out in December, 1879, fifteenth in the honour list, and taking the prize for Military Topography, he was gazetted, a month afterwards, to the 66th Regiment, and on the 11th March, 1880, left Portsmouth for India, to join headquarters.

Olivey reached Kandahar in time to take part with the Regiment in the advance of Burrows' Brigade to the Halmand in the first days of July, and was present on the 14th of that month at the dispersing of the mutinied troops of the Wali Shere Ali Khan in the neighbourhood of Girishk. At the battle of Maiwand, on the 27th, he forfeited his young life with the 300 officers and men of the Regiment who fell. Early on that day he was severely wounded, but would not relinquish the colour he was carrying, though urged to do so. "I was speaking to him after he was wounded," writes one of his brother officers. "His helmet was off and a handkerchief was tied round his head." He was last seen in the garden where the final desperate stand was made, encouraging the men around him, and holding his colour aloft as a rallying point.

Lieutenant, born 7th January 1861 in Brighton. Enlisted in 1880, Killed in Action at the Battle of Maiwand 27th July 1880.

Extract from "THE AFGHAN CAMPAIGN OF 1878-1880" by Sydney H. Shadbolt first published 1882.

2ND LIEUT. H. J. O. BARR.
66TH (BERKSHIRE) REGIMENT.

HARRY JAMES OUTRAM BARR, who, "At Maiwand about 4 p.m. on the 27th July, 1880, fell dead across the colour he was then carrying "—according to evidence adduced at the subsequently holden court-martial—was not the first of his family who forfeited his life in the Queen's service in Afghanistan—his maternal grandfather having been Colonel Keith, Deputy Adjutant-General of the Bombay Army, who died in that country whilst serving as Adjutant-General with the forces under Lord Keane in 1839.

The youngest son of Lieutenant-General Barr of the Bombay Staff Corps, he was born in Brighton on the 7th January, 1861. His education was begun under Dr. H. Barker, LL.D., at the Gymnasium School at Old Aberdeen, where he remained for a period of nearly seven years. From thence he was transferred to Weston-super-Mare, to read with Mr. Hoppel, M.A., for the Indian Civil Service; but showing a decided preference for the army, he was sent for one term to Captain Massie's to be prepared for the Sandhurst examination. In February, 1879, at the age of seventeen years, he was presented by Lord Cranbrook with an honorary East Indian cadetship, and entered Sandhurst; and in November of the same year he passed out eighteenth in order of merit, with honours, having obtained certificates in Fortification and Drill.

Gazetted to the 66th Regiment in January, 1880, he left England for India two months afterwards; and reaching Karachi by way of Bombay, immediately received orders to join the head-quarters of the Regiment, then at Kandahar. He proceeded thither with a detachment under Major Vandaleur of the 7th Fusiliers, arriving at his destination at the latter end of May.

To a mere lad, " fresh and blooming from England," as he described himself in a letter to his father, thrown suddenly into the whirl and excitement of actual campaigning at the very outset of his career, the life he had embarked upon presented many novel features. The physical features of the country, the customs of an alien race, even the necessity for taking precautions against danger on emerging from camp, were matter for perpetual wonder and reflection; whilst the ever-recurring rumours and counter rumours of the prospect of fighting kindled, his hopes and fired his imagination. That he became popular with his brother-officers from the hour of his arrival amongst them, the numerous letters written by them to members of his family after his death amply testify.

On the 4th July, 1880, Barr accompanied the Regiment in the brigade which, under General Burrows, left Kandahar for Girishk with the object of encountering Ayub Khan. The march—which, in consequence of the excessive heat, had to be conducted at night—was a severe one: "stumbling, fumbling, slipping along; digging the Colour-shaft deep into the earth "—thus young Barr describes his own part in the performance.

Girishk was reached on the 11th; and three days afterwards—on the morning of the 14th—Barr received his baptism of fire in the successful encounter which took place with the Wali's mutinied troops. On this occasion he availed himself of an opportunity which presented itself for rendering valuable service. To the left of the second position taken up by the enemy was a garden, from behind the walls of which a harassing fire was being kept up upon his company. Captain Quarry, of the 66th, was ordered to advance with twenty men to take the garden; but on the way he was delayed by having to ford a stream with muddy bottom, in which his men floundered up to their armpits. Barr was now ordered to advance to his assistance, and succeeded, with Lieutenant Faunce, in reaching the further bank. Getting about twenty-five men together, they were enabled to take the wall with a rush, shooting down in their advance every individual of the band which held it.

After the action the Brigade returned to Khushk-i-Nakhud, en route for Kandahar. In the disastrous encounter with the enemy which ensued on the 27th, Barr lost his life, in the manner already recorded, with the three hundred officers and men of his Regiment who fell, having been seen by the late Major C. V. Oliver, a few minutes before his death, "marching along as calmly and steadily as if on parade."

Lieutenant, born 16th September 1857 in Liverpool. Joined the Regiment on the 12th April 1875, he was the Adjutant at the Battle of Maiwand and was Killed in Action on the 27th July 1880.

Extract from "THE AFGHAN CAMPAIGN OF 1878-1880" by Sydney H. Shadbolt first published 1882.

LIEUTENANT M. E. RAYNER,
66TH (BERKSHIRE) REGIMENT.

MAURICE EDWARD RAYNER, who was killed at Maiwand on the 27th July, 1880, was the second son of the late Lloyd Rayner, a Liverpool merchant. He was born at Liverpool on the 16th September, 1857, and was consequently in his twenty-third year at the time of his death. Educated at the Rev. O. C. Waterfield's school at East Sheen, Surrey, and subsequently at Harrow School, he left the latter at Christmas, 1874, to compete in the December open examination of that year for first Army appointments. He passed 65th in order of merit out of 329 candidates, of whom the first 152 were alone successful, and in 1875 received the offer of a direct commission in the 66th Regiment, then stationed at Belgaum, Bombay. Gazetted to a Sub-Lieutenancy on the 3rd February, 1875, he sailed from Southampton to join the Head-quarters of the 66th in the following March. In May, 1877, he obtained his Lieutenancy; and in the course of his Indian service he held for a time the post of Interpreter to the Regiment, and subsequently that of Adjutant till the day of his death.

Lieutenant Rayner accompanied the Regiment to Kandahar in February, 1880, and took part with it, in July, in the advance to the Halmand. At the battle of Maiwand, on the 27th of the month, he was last seen alive, but badly wounded, hard by the garden enclosure where the last desperate stand round the colours of the 66th was made. There his body was subsequently found, and was buried with those of his gallant comrades.

Lieutenant Rayner was a keen sportsman, and had shown considerable prowess in the cricket-field. A promising young officer, devoted to his profession, his example may serve to show that a military career may be auspiciously commenced without interest and without purchase.