BY WILLIAM BAIRD, F.S.A. SCOT. AUTHOR OF 'JOHN THOMSON OF DUDDINGSTON, PASTOR AND PAINTER' 'ANNALS OF DUDDINGSTON AND PORTOBELLO' 'SIXTY YEARS OF CHURCH LIFE IN AYRE' ETC. EDINBURGH AND LONDON OLIPHANT ANDERSON AND FERRIER 1900 TO THE OFFICERS AND MEN OF THE HIGHLAND BRIGADE WHO BRAVELY FOUGHT AT MAGERSFONTEIN THIS MEMOIR OF THEIR LEADER IS INSCRIBED CONTENTS INTRODUCTION CHAP. I. THE WAUCHOPES OF NIDDRIE MARISCHAL II. CHILDHOOD—EARLY TENDENCIES—THE 'HOUSEHOLD TROOP'—EDUCATION—NAVAL TRAINING—THE

On the 11th day of December 1899, amid the rattle of rifles, the fierce booming of cannon, and the sharp bang of exploding shells, a British force of Scottish Highlanders found themselves suddenly confronted in the darkness of an early African morning by an unseen enemy. All night they had been on the march, tramping the bare rocky veldt north of the Modder river, to attack, and if possible capture, the fortified and strongly entrenched position held by the Boer army of General Cronje among the

THE WAUCHOPES OF NIDDRIE MARISCHAL Andrew Gilbert Wauchope came of a long line of ancestry, who have distinguished themselves as soldiers, as churchmen, or in the more commonplace capacity of country gentlemen. The family history can be traced back for several centuries at least, as occupying in the immediate vicinity of Edinburgh the estate of Niddrie Marischal; and throughout the various troubles in which Scottish history has been involved, the Lairds of Niddrie had their fair share, forfeitur

CHILDHOOD—EARLY TENDENCIES—THE 'HOUSEHOLD TROOP'—EDUCATION—NAVAL TRAINING—THE 'BRITANNIA'—THE 'ST. GEORGE'—PRINCE ALFRED. General Wauchope's boyhood was spent mostly at Niddrie, with occasional short visits in summer to the other property of the family at Yetholm, among the pastoral Cheviot hills. A high-spirited, frolicsome boy, delighting in the open air and every kind of outdoor sport, 'Andy,' as he was familiarly called, found scope for his energies in the beautifully wooded park surrounding

ENTERS THE ARMY—THE BLACK WATCH—ASHANTI WAR—RETURN HOME—BANQUET AT PORTOBELLO. Young Wauchope had not long to wait for a commission. At that time positions in the army could only be got by purchase and strong influence, but he was fortunate in being enrolled as ensign, in November 1865, in the 42nd Highlanders, one of the most popular and distinguished of Scottish regiments, and familiarly known as the 'Black Watch.' He was only nineteen years of age at the time when he joined the regiment at St

DEATH OF WAUCHOPE'S FATHER—ORDERED TO MALTA—REMINISCENCES—RELIGIOUS CONVICTIONS—CYPRUS—APPOINTMENT AS CIVIL COMMISSIONER OF PAPHO—REMINISCENCES—SIR ROBERT BIDDULPH—THE SULTAN'S CLAIMS. In November 1874 Wauchope had the misfortune to lose his father, for whom, especially since the death of his much-loved mother in the summer of 1858, he had the closest affection, never permitting any opportunity to pass without visiting the paternal roof. Though Mr. Andrew Wauchope of Niddrie was only fifty-six w

WAR IN SOUTH AFRICA—ARABI PASHA'S REBELLION IN EGYPT—TEL-EL-KEBIR—MARRIAGE—LIFE IN CAIRO. Shortly after Captain Wauchope's return home from Cyprus another opportunity for foreign service presented itself in South Africa, and he lost no time in offering himself to the War Office. He was accepted for staff duty, and received a commission to go out at once. So limited was the time given him for preparation that he had not even an opportunity to go to Aldershot, where his baggage was lying, to make

THE EASTERN SOUDAN—BATTLE OF EL-TEB—ATTEMPT TO RELIEVE GENERAL GORDON—ASCENT OF THE NILE—THE WHALE-BOATS—BATTLE OF KIRBEKAN—RETURN TO CAIRO—MALTA—GIBRALTAR. Though peace had been restored to Egypt by our arms, and security of life and property was being established and upheld by the presence in the country of the army of occupation, new troubles were brewing in the upper waters of the Nile. General Gordon, as the representative of the Khedive in the far-away capital of the Soudan province of Upp

THE MIDLOTHIAN CAMPAIGN 'A Scot of the Scots,' General Wauchope was a man of many parts. Great in arms, he was equally great in the arts of peace; and in the political world, strangely enough, he carved out for himself a reputation quite unique. Though his countrymen were naturally proud of his distinguished services as a soldier, they knew him also, it has been well said, as the man who by pertinacious pluck and sweet conciliation brought down Mr. Gladstone's majority in the county of Midlothia

THE 73RD REGIMENT AT MARYHILL BARRACKS—INCIDENTS OF HOME LIFE—MILITARY LIFE AT YORK—APPOINTMENT TO SOUDAN CAMPAIGN. In the autumn of 1892 Colonel Wauchope's residence in Limerick came to a close on his appointment to the command of the 73rd Perthshire Regiment, or the 2nd Battalion of the Black Watch, then stationed at Maryhill Barracks, Glasgow. This well-earned promotion to a position he had long aspired to occupy enabled him to be more frequently at Niddrie than formerly. During the twenty-se

THE SOUDAN—BATTLES OF ATBARA AND OMDURMAN—ARRIVAL HOME—RECEPTION AT NIDDRIE——DEGREE OF LL.D.—PAROCHIAL DUTIES—PARLIAMENTARY CONTEST FOR SOUTH EDINBURGH. Once more Wauchope found himself on the way to the front for active service, this time back to the scene of his former exploits in the Soudan. Matters there, ever since the withdrawal of the British and Egyptian troops in 1885, when the then all-conquering Mahdi took Khartoum and slew the gallant General Gordon, had gone on from bad to worse. Ov

OUTBREAK OF HOSTILITIES IN SOUTH AFRICA—COMMAND OF THE HIGHLAND BRIGADE—DEPARTURE FOR SOUTH AFRICA—THE SITUATION—BATTLE OF MAGERSFONTEIN—DEATH—FUNERAL—AFTER THE BATTLE. Another and a more stirring field of action was in store for General Wauchope. In several of his election speeches reference, as we have shown, was made to the question then beginning to agitate the public mind, as to our relationship with the Transvaal Republic. It was not thought, however, that the difficulty was of such a natu

CHARACTERISTICS A devoted soldier That General Wauchope was a skilled officer goes without saying. He had made military tactics his life study. And he had the personal influence that enabled men to follow his leadership without hesitation. Several of his brother officers who had been with him for years, and had fought beside him in many a battle, have favoured us with their opinion of his skill as a commander; and, as to his responsibility for the blunder or misadventure of Magersfontein, one of