CHAPTER II

Eccentricities.

Looking back from the sober routine of the volunteering of to-day, to this strange period when every one was a recruit, it is only natural that eccentricities should be apparent on all sides. The enthusiasm that pervaded all ranks was, of course, immense, and the amount of drilling done, especially by the Officers and Non-Commissioned Officers was enormous. A golden age was this for the Army Drill-Instructors. Elderly recruits of a nervous temperament hesitated to exhibit themselves in the ranks until they had been privately coached in the initial mysteries of drill, in the seclusion of their own apartments. Uniform was worn on every possible occasion, at drill or on the range. It is said that after one occasion when Lord Bury had appeared at the range in plain clothes, he received a letter from an indignant private, expressing a hope that such a slight would not again be cast upon members of the regiment.

One Rule passed by the Council was that Honorary Members should be entitled to appear on parade in uniform, with a scarlet sash as a distinguishing ornament.

Another Rule strikes us as still more eccentric. Privates _when off parade_ should be allowed to wear a sword similar to that worn by officers, but in a black leather scabbard. What the privates were supposed to want to do with their sword when off parade it is difficult to imagine.

With the close of the drill season the Regiment does not cease to show signs of interesting activity. Whilst in winter quarters it enlivened its repose with various festive gatherings having for their main object the support of the regimental band, which was in want of funds.

Dramatic Performance.

Perhaps the most interesting of these gatherings is an Amateur Dramatic Performance, held at the Lyceum Theatre, wherein the corps exhibited an array of talent, of which it might justly feel proud. The performance was so successful that it was repeated. The following is a copy of the programme:

PRINCE OF WALES’ OWN

Civil Service Rifle Volunteers.

HONORARY COLONEL, H.R.H. THE PRINCE OF WALES, K.G. LIEUTENANT-COLONEL, VISCOUNT BURY, M.P.

ON WEDNESDAY, MAY 22, 1861, WILL BE PERFORMED, FOR THE SECOND TIME, AT THE THEATRE ROYAL LYCEUM, BY SPECIAL DESIRE, The original Comedy by CAPTAIN TOM TAYLOR, C.S.R.V., ENTITLED: “A LESSON FOR LIFE.”

LORD GREYSTOKE Lieutenant DEWAR THE HON. MARMADUKE Undergraduates Captain J. DU PLAT DACRE of St Barnabas TAYLOR REREDOSS College, Mr. MILLS. HORSLEY Cambridge Lieutenant T. ANGELL CROUCH Lieutenant W. S. GILBERT STRETCHER Serjeant BAUKE VIVIAN Captain HOOD COLEPEPPER (Senior Tutor of St. Barnabas) Captain MILLS OPPENHARDT (A German Jew) Captain TOM TAYLOR BASEWITZ (A Swindler) Ensign EDMUND YATES DR. VIVIAN (A Country Vicar) Private R. MORRISON MR. GRAY (A Country Attorney) Mr. W. H. LONG TOPHAM Lieutenant GARNETT MURCOTT Serjeant WALSHE LADY VALECRUCIS Mrs. STIRLING THE HON. MABEL VALECRUCIS Miss ELLEN TERRY MARY FORD Miss KATE TERRY (_By kind permission of A. Wigan, Esq., T.R. Saint James’_) NANNY KETTLEWELL Mrs. STEPHENS

TO BE PRECEDED BY AN ORIGINAL COMEDIETTA, IN ONE ACT, “IF THE CAP FITS,” WRITTEN BY CAPTAIN HARRINGTON, C.S.R.V., and ENSIGN EDMUND YATES, C.S.R.V.

THE PERFORMANCES TO CONCLUDE WITH “THE HAPPY MAN,” A FARCE, By Private SAMUEL LOVER, of the London Irish Rifle Volunteers. THE BAND OF THE REGIMENT WILL ATTEND.

Regimental Ball.

A Regimental Ball was also given at Willis’s Rooms, in aid of the same object. In the list of the Lady Patronesses are the names of:

The Duchess of Manchester. The Duchess of Wellington. The Countess Russell. Viscountess Palmerston. Viscountess Bury. Lady Elcho. Mrs. Gladstone.

Band.

The Band, on behalf of which so much energy was expended, was composed of 25 members, the greater number of whom were amateurs. It appears to have been in an excellent state of efficiency, as it gained prizes at various band contests, which it was then the fashion to hold. It was under the charge of an energetic and capable bandmaster, Mr. J. Moirato Davis; but very valuable assistance was rendered to its efficiency by Mr. W. P. Jones, of the Audit Office. Its annual cost to the regiment appears to have been about £300.

Subscription Fund.

As there was no Government grant in those days to assist in defraying the expenses of the corps these had to be met entirely by voluntary contributions, and the subscriptions of members.

The Council issued a circular asking for assistance from the whole of the Civil Service. Subscriptions flowed in liberally. In the Inland Revenue and Whitehall Divisions alone the subscriptions in the first year exceeded £1,000.

1861. First Easter Monday Review.

The opening of the year 1861 was marked by the first Easter Monday Review. This was held at Brighton. Some difference of opinion was displayed by the various Volunteer Commanding Officers as to the advisability of holding this review. Lord Bury opposed the idea. He expressed his opinions on the point in a Regimental Order to the following effect:--

“I do not think the proposed expedition judicious in a political point of view. I think it inconsistent with the purely defensive character of the Volunteer movement to make demonstrations on the coast.”

Of course, under these conditions the Civil Service Regiment refrained from demonstrating; or, at all events, they joined with a few other like-minded corps, and so effectually concealed their demonstrations among the bushes of Wimbledon Common, that they evidently felt satisfied that not the slightest exasperation could have been felt on their account by the most bellicose of Frenchmen.

1862.

Little else of importance occurred to mark the year 1861, so we will pass at once to the second Easter Monday Review, which ushered in the drill season of 1862.

By this time it would appear that Lord Bury’s views had changed, for the regiment not only attended the Review, but in a Regimental Order, in which he praises the steadiness of the battalion on that occasion, Lord Bury states--“It is an honour to have taken part in such a day.”

Another event of this year was a review by the Duke of Cambridge at Wimbledon, when we are told that His Royal Highness expressed his praise on witnessing the advance of the battalion extended as skirmishers.

To show the satisfactory state of affairs at this period, I cannot do better than again to quote from Regimental Orders as follows:

“The Lieutenant-Colonel cannot but congratulate the Regiment on the fact that at the close of their third drill season, they occupy a most satisfactory position among the Volunteer Corps of the country: the organisation is complete; the numbers are increasing; the Officers have passed the ordeal of a searching examination; the Drill is improved; the Musketry Instruction, which was from the first the strongest point in the organisation of the Regiment, has even improved in efficiency; and the number both of effectives and of marksmen is fully equal, in proportion to numbers, to any other Volunteer Corps. The Lieutenant-Colonel need not point out how much the efficiency of a Regiment depends on its Non-commissioned Officers. We are fortunate in having a body of Non-commissioned Officers who thoroughly know their duty. The Skirmishing Drill of the Regiment is better done, and much more clearly understood than in former years. _In conclusion, the Lieutenant-Colonel confidently believes that the utmost unanimity and good feeling exists throughout the Regiment._”

The last statement appears, in the present day, a rather strange and superfluous one to put into Regimental Orders; but it is evident that its meaning was fully understood at the time. Enthusiastic volunteer as Lord Bury was, and evidently taking a delight in his duties as Commanding Officer, he must have frequently felt that to rule a body of gentlemen volunteers, in a very elementary stage of military knowledge and discipline, was a somewhat formidable and even thankless task. Every member of the corps--officer, non-commissioned officer, and private--had an opinion to express on every point, and he expressed it freely. Plenty of evidence exists of burning questions which agitated, and sometimes even threatened the unity of the corps; but the great tact displayed by Lord Bury, his forbearance and kindly courtesy, which disarmed all opposition, led the corps safely through all.

One incident which occurred about this period, and the explanations with regard to which occupy the greater part of three Regimental Orders, was, that a part of the Regiment had expressed unwillingness to join in a march out with the “Artists’” Corps, owing to what Lord Bury describes as “an absurd wish attributed to him to bring about an amalgamation between the Civil Service Regiment and the Artists’.”

But it is not necessary here to go into the details of these almost forgotten grievances, which, although interesting as showing what may be called the _morale_ of the Corps at that period, are perhaps best buried in oblivion.