Victoria’s hammer

This general was the brains behind a handful of unconventional campaigns during Queen Victoria’s reign

How Garnet Wolesley masterminded the defence of Britain’s imperial conquests

Abearded sergeant lugged Captain Garnet Wolseley back from the front line to the surgeon’s tent. The 21-year-old captain looked more dead than alive, having been severely wounded when a Russian shell exploded in the British trenches at Sevastopol. Wolseley looked hideous: the skin on his left cheek hung down to his neck, his right eye bulged from its socket, and his face and legs had gashes and cuts from rock fragments that had struck him like projectiles. The surgeon managed to patch the officer up and sewed his left cheek back into place.

When he heard the news that the final British assault would be launched on Sevastopol, Wolseley hobbled out from his hospital bed to a horse. He hoped to ride to the front line and share in the glory. Partially blind and crippled, the young captain burst into tears in frustration when he couldn’t mount the beast due to his ailments. But the young army officer would have future opportunities to distinguish himself in the queen’s service.

Dr Joseph H. Lehmann, in his superb biography on Wolseley, labelled the general as the “supreme master of irregular warfare”. His campaigns against the Métis in Canada, the Ashanti in West Africa, Colonel ‘Urabi’s rebels in Egypt and the Mahdi’s Ansar in Sudan were models for how to conduct a military campaign far from a base of operations and overcome logistical hindrances. His campaigns were conducted with speed, efficiency and a clearly defined objective. Those around him coined the phrase ‘Everything’s all Sir Garnet’ to signify that everything was accounted for with great care and thoroughness during a Wolseley campaign. Apart from his final effort, all his missions ended with success.

Garnet Joseph Wolseley was born on 4 June 1833 in Dublin, Ireland, the son of an army major. His father died at an early age, leaving his mother with seven children and a meagre army pension. Wolseley wanted to enter the army like his father, but did not have the money to purchase an officer’s commission. He wrote two letters to the Duke of Wellington asking the hero of Waterloo to grant him a commission based on his father’s service record, but nothing came of it. His mother came to the rescue and pleaded in a letter to Wellington to grant him a commission. In 1852 Wolseley received an appointment as an ensign in the 12th (East Suffolk) Regiment of Foot at the age of 18.

For Wolseley, promotion would have to be earned. The best way to achieve this would be to get noticed through reckless deeds on the battlefield. He was obsessed with being part of every campaign and volunteered for the most dangerous assignments. But Wolseley was no fool. One officer later noted, “He was possessed of a courage equal to his brain power.” He transferred to the 80th (Staffordshire Volunteers) Regiment of Foot for a chance to see action during the Second Anglo-burmese War.

The war ended before he arrived, but he took part in General Sir John Cheape’s storming of the bandit chief Nya-myat-toon’s fortified stockade at Kyoukazeen in 1853. Cheape’s first attack failed. When volunteers were called to conduct a suicidal frontal assault and secure a foothold, Wolseley stepped forward. This was his chance. He yelled “Come on! Come on!” to his men as he rushed head-on at the enemy’s defences. He tripped into a Burmese mantrap and was nearly impaled. Ashamed, he climbed out of the hole and rushed back to the British line while under fire, dreading that he would be shot in the back like a coward.

General Cheape called for volunteers for a second time after the initial assault failed.