London at the End of the Century:A Book of Gossip
a Beckett, Arthur William
1900
THE LATE LORD TENNYSON AS A VOLUNTEER ARTILLERYMAN.
I fancy that if we distinguish amongst the Volunteers we shall find that the gunners are more earnest than their less gifted comrades. I possibly have a slight bias in favour of the gunners, as many years ago I had the honour to command a regiment of Volunteer artillery. It was in the early days of the movement, when batteries, battalions and brigades were small but not particularly compact. My corps consisted of a couple of batteries, with a permission from the War Office to raise a third battery. The regiment had been founded by a gentleman who was connected with literature, and when I took over the command I had amongst my men no less a person than the late Lord . The Poet Laureate never appeared on parade, but he showed his good will to the corps by writing some stirring lines, that were set to music, in praise of the guns. These | |
193 | verses were never publicly acknowledged, and were signed but, for all that, they were known to have emanated from the pen that had given to the world I was sorry that I was never able to receive the salute of Gunner , for I am sure he would have looked remarkably well in our uniform. Leaving the H.A.C. out of the question, we were the only regiment of Horse Artillery. As a matter of fact, I do not think we ever appeared in full rig. Although harness was served out to us by the War Office, and we had the right to wear plumes or in our busbies, we never horsed our guns. When I had the honour of taking over the command we were acting as infantry, or perhaps I may say garrison artillery. One of my batteries rejoiced in the possession of a and that was the extent of our ordnance. However, for all that and all that, was on the strength of the regiment, and although he was not exactly we were very proud of him. |
