B-P's Brother: Major Baden Baden-Powell

B-P's Brother Baden

Background of the Eqyptian Campaigns, 1882-1889.
From: Major L. L. Gordon, British Battles and Medals, 5th Edition, London, 1979.

Baden Fletcher Smyth BADEN-POWELL served in the Nile Expedition in and was a member of the Guards Camel Corps, 1884-1885. He received the Egyptian Service Medal and Clasp and the Khedive of Egypt’s Star.

THE EGYPTIAN CAMPAIGNS, 1882-9.
From: Major L. L. Gordon, British Battles and Medals, 5th Edition, London, 1979.

EGYPT, 1882

After the opening of the Suez Canal on 16th November, 1869, the affairs of Egypt took on an international aspect, because whoever controlled the country controlled the canal, the use of which was to be free to all nations. At the same time the canal was vital to our trade routes to the East.

After the restoration of peace which followed the action off the Syrian coast for which the last bar to the Naval General Service Medal, 1793-1840, was awarded, Mehemit Ali was proclaimed hereditary Viceroy of Egypt. In 1867 he took the title of Sovereign, and then in 1869 that of Khedive. In 1879 he was deposed and succeeded by his son Tewfik.

Egyptian history is outside the scope of this book, but it would be difficult to nominate a country which at any time had ever been more misgoverned than Egypt between about 1801, when it was handed back to the Turks after we had driven out Napoleon, and 1882. One must realize that, what with the Sultan of Turkey being the real power behind the throne and various Great Powers having considerably more than archaeological interest in the country, it. would have been surprising if anything but chaos had resulted.

In 1869 the Sultan of Turkey forbade the Khedive to impose taxes or contract loans, and then in 1872 he followed this up with a firman granting the Khedive a sort of independence except for the right to coin money. In 1875 the Khedive sold his shares in the Suez Canal to the British Government and set up an International Court of Justice. A period of financial chaos followed during which the Khedive gradually lost all authority. In 1881 the Egyptian army mutinied for more pay, but serious trouble was, however, prevented by the joint efforts of the British and French Ministers. In July of the same year Sheik Mahomed Ahmed of Dongola proclaimed himself Mahdi, the Guided by God or Directed One, and in September the Egyptian army, headed by Ahmed Arabi Pasha, again revolted for more pay. The Khedive now favoured the Sultan at the expense of the British and French, who demanded more control of state affairs, which were deteriorating from bad to worse, until eventually rioting and rebellion broke out in Alexandria, where the Arabs attacked all Europeans.

In May, 1882, a British and French squadron arrived off the city to back up the demands for the resignation of Arabi Pasha, who had become Minister for War. He. refused to resign, with the result that both the British and French sent ultimatums demanding the restoration of the Khedive's authority, On 11th June, 1882, rebellion and massacre broke out which neither the Egyptian Government nor the suzerain power, the Porte, could or would control. The forts guarding the harbour were fortified in spite of protests by Admiral Sir Beauchamp Seymour and the French Admiral Contad. On the 9th Admiral Seymour threatened to bombard the city if work on the, forts was not stopped. On the 10th he demanded the surrender of the batteries on Ras-el-Tin. The French fleet left the harbour on the same day, and thus France surrendered her share of the dual control of

Egypt on which she had previously set such store. At 7 a.m. on 11th July the bombardment started and continued all day until 5.30, when the fleet withdrew out of range and anchored. During the night the town had been set on fire by the Egyptians, who prior to leaving the place had liberated the prisoners from the gaols and given them a free hand to murder and plunder all they could find.

The next morning, the white flag having been hoisted, a force of Marines was landed. Arabi Pasha, together with the Egyptian army, now no longer loyal to the Khedive, had withdrawn, so a very subdued and probably equally frightened Tewfik emerged from Ramleh and took up residence under the protection of British guns. The period 13th-17th was occupied in landing marines and occupying the important places in the city. On the 17th Major-General Sir Archibald Alison arrived with military reinforcements.

The Khedive had now dismissed Arabi Pasha and placed the matter of restoration of law and order in Egypt in our hands. The French declined to assist in any way.

It was obvious that an expeditionary force would be necessary, so troops were dispatched from England and India. The supreme command was given to Sir Garnet Wolseley, who landed at Alexandria on 15th August.

The first task was to seize the Suez Canal and Port Said, as well as to counteract the hostile attitude of M. de Lesseps and the French canal pilots. Captain Fairfax, of H.M.S. Monarch, occupied Port Said, while Commander Edwards, of H.M.S. Ready, seized all the canal barges and dredgers and occupied the telegraph station at Kantara. In the meanwhile Admiral Hewett had gained command of the canal. With the ports and means of landing a force under our control, the next consideration was to ensure the safety of the water supply, which depended on the fresh water canal between Ismailia and Cairo. It was reported that the rebels were damming this at Magfar (or Mukfar), so they were attacked and driven off on 24th August. They withdrew towards Tel-el-Mahuta and Kassassin, which latter was attacked and captured on the 26th and held against repeated counter-attacks. On 27th August Mustapha Fehmy, Arabi's second-in-command, was captured whilst he was reconnoitring prior, presumably, to the heavy attack launched by the rebels on 9th September at Kassassin. While this fighting and the gradual building up of the British forces was proceeding, Arabi Pasha was strengthening his position at Tel-el-Kebir, which Wolseley reconnoitred in person on the 12th and attacked with two divisions in the early hours of the 13th. The brunt of the fighting was borne by the Highland Brigade under Sir Archibald Alison. The Egyptians were driven out of their positions and pursued so promptly that Cairo was entered on 14th September. Arabi and his army surrendered unconditionally. After his trial he was banished to Ceylon in December, 1882, and pardoned in 1901.

Soon after the entry into Cairo the Khedive dissolved his army and appointed Sir Evelyn Wood,V.C., the commander of a new one. In 1883 (authorized by His Imperial Majesty the Sultan of Turkey) the Khedive signified his desire to express his appreciation of the services rendered by the British Army and Navy by awarding a bronze star.

This is the third award given to British troops for replacing, or maintaining, useless monarchs!

SUDAN, 1884

We must now go south into the Sudan, where, as we have seen, a professed Mahdi had arisen. He quickly obtained thousands of followers who were known as dervishes. The dictionary describes these as mendicant monks of either the howling, whirling or wandering order. These fellows, to save time, combined all three qualifications and added that of fighting. After several clashes between

them and the Egyptian troops in 1882 and 1883 they annihilated the Egyptian forces under Hicks Pasha at Kashgil, near El-Obeid, Kordofan, on 3rd-5th November, 1883. On 1st February, 1884, led by Osman Digna, they did the same to another Egyptian army under Valentine Baker Pasha near Tokar.

After this success Osman Digna placed the port of Suakin, on the Red Sea, in a state of siege; but the prompt action of Admiral Sir William Hewett, who landed a Naval Brigade from H.M. ships Decoy, Euryalus, Ranger and Sphinx, saved it from capture. Reinforcements were sent from Aden and Egypt, which disembarked at Trinkitat on 23rd February, 1884, and defeated Osman Digna at El Teb on 29th February, and again at Tamaai on 13th March. During these two actions a Naval Brigade under Commander E. N. Rolfe, R.N., was present and did splendid work, especially at El Teb.

Following his two defeats, Osman Digna was located at Tamanieb and attacked on 27th March. After this he left the district. The army re-embarked and returned to Egypt, leaving a garrison of Marines at Suakin, which was continually attacked though guarded by a ring of landmines.

After all this bloodshed, trouble and expense the British Government decided to abandon the Sudan, so that the garrison and ships were withdrawn, leaving Osman Digna, the Mahdi and dervishes uncaptured, unrepentant and very much unsubdued.

THE NILE EXPEDITION, 1884-5

This expedition was necessitated by the half-heartedness of the Government, which grossly underestimated the power of the Mahdi and failed to appreciate the complete absence of any authority on the part of the Khedive. With incomprehensible stupidity it was supposed that General Gordon could withdraw the garrison from Khartoum by his will-power or sleight of hand. It should have been obvious that British prestige was inseparably connected with his fate. We had halted in the north and evacuated in the east, so that with nothing to fear the Mahdi, now joined by the greater part of the mutinous Egyptian troops, invested Khartoum. Gordon made repeated and successful sallies, but could never hope to raise the siege without external help.

In August, 1884 (five months after the investment started) preparations were made for his relief. Two expeditions, under the joint command of Sir Garnet Wolseley, were to advance towards Khartoum. One, accompanied by Sir Garnet, advanced up the Nile; the second operated from Suakin. When the Nile column reached Korti on 26th December, 1884, Major-General Sir Herbert Stewart was ordered to take the Camel Corps and a naval brigade under Captain Lord Charles Beresford and cut across the desert to Metemmeh to join up with the Nile steamers sent by Gordon from Khartoum. On the way wells at Gakdul and Abu Klea would have to be captured. The first were found to be unoccupied, so that the force was watered and then continued the advance on 16th January, 1885. Later in the day the scouts of the 19th Hussars reported that the wells at Abu Klea were being held. The action which bears their name was fought on the 17th, after which the enemy withdrew towards the Nile, closely followed by all except the Naval Brigade, who, together with some artillery and engineers, were left behind to guard the wounded. The Nile was reached and a garrison left, while a strong force returned to Abu Klea to assist in the burial of the dead and bring forward the wounded. Subsequently the whole force re-formed and camped at Gubat, from which the four small steamers (Bordein, Tull-Howeija, Safia and Tefikea) dispatched by Gordon were observed above Metemmeh. An advance towards Metemmeh was made, during which General Stewart was severely wounded and succeeded by General Sir Charles Wilson, who on 21st

January made a useless reconnaissance of Metemmeh which wasted much valuable time. It was found that Gordon's steamers required a certain amount of repairs. These were carried out, and the ships were reported to General Wilson on 22nd January to be ready to make the dash for Khartoum. Instead of sending them off at once, a further useless waste of time was made by ordering Captain Beresford to bombard Shendy. It was not until the morning of the 24th that General Wilson seemed to have remembered the object of the whole expedition. He left for Khartoum with the Bordein and Tull-Howeija, together with about twenty men of the Sussex Regiment and a few Sudanese from the ships-in all, about 280 men.

The next that was heard of this party was on 1st February, when Lieutenant Stuart-Wortley returned to Gubat with the news that Gordon had been murdered on 26th January, and that the two steamers were wrecked about half a mile or so below Khartoum. Sir Charles Wilson and his men were reported to be on an island about thirty miles upstream and in danger of attack by several thousand Sudanese who were holding an earthwork almost opposite them.

Lord Beresford selected a crew for the Safia from his Naval Brigade and a few picked shots from the mounted infantry, together with crews for two Gardner guns, and left on 2nd February. He reached the earthwork the next morning, but when trying to get past it his ship received a shot in the boiler which necessitated running her ashore on the opposite bank. The chief engineer, Mr. Benbow, by a magnificent effort made a plate to cover the hole and got the engine working again in about ten hours. In the meanwhile Sir Charles Wilson had placed his wounded in a nugger to drift down the stream, whilst he and the remainder of his party retired down the right bank of the river.

The expedition had failed in its purpose, and once again the sickening order to retire-with no useful purpose having been served-was issued. Lord Wolseley sent General Redvers Buller, V.C., to Gubat to superintend the withdrawal of the force back to Korti across the same two hundred miles of desert, during which the only bright events must have been to watch the men of Lord Beresford's brigade plugging oakum into any holes shot in the sides of the camels.

Few military forces have deserved more credit than that which left Korti on 26th December, 1884, and returned on 7th March, 1885, after having traversed four hundred miles of desert. No praise could be too high for the members of the Naval Brigade, who acted as gunners, infantry, sailors and vets with conspicuous valour and success.

A study of the course of the Nile between Korti and Metemmeh shows it to be in the shape of an inverted "U" with Khartoum on a continuation of the right-hand arm. The desert column had gone across the opening at the bottom, whilst the other followed the river. The river column was commanded by Major General W. Earle, who had with him the major part of the relief forces. When the news of Gordon's death was received the column halted for a few days. When the advance continued the Sudanese were found to be holding a position in front of Kirbekan, from which they were driven on 10th February. General Earle was killed, otherwise the casualties were slight. On the 25th orders were received to withdraw to Korti, where on or about 28th March fever broke out before the return of the whole force to Cairo.

We must now turn to the other force at Suakin under the command of Major General Sir Gerald Graham, V.C.

The plan was that this force should build a railway from Suakin to Berber on the Nile, a distance of about 280 miles, and then methodically reconquer the Sudan. Troops were sent from England, India and Australia. After a reconnaissance it was decided that the main camp should be at Hasheen, some fourteen miles inland. It was known that Osman Digna was in the neighbourhood with considerable forces, so the advance inland was to be made in the usual square

formation, leaving Suakin on 20th March. Early on the 22nd General McNeill left Suakin with troops whose intention was to make zarebas, or fortified camps, but he was surprised and attacked at Tofrek whilst the men were having breakfast-not the best time to disturb Englishmen! For a short while all was confusion, but thanks to the steadiness of the Royal Marines and the Berkshire Regiment the fanatics were driven off.

On 2nd April General Graham advanced to Tamaai, but found no one, at home, so he burnt the place and then returned to Suakin, and on 17th May the British and Colonial troops left the Sudan, so again another futile expedition was completed.

The Mahdi died of smallpox in June, 1885, and was succeeded by Khalifa Abdullah el Taashi. From 1885 to December, 1888, there was considerable fighting in Egypt and the Sudan for which no bars were awarded, so we can skip that period and return to Suakin in December, 1888, where General Sir Francis Grenfell had arrived with a combined British and Egyptian force, which was as usual surrounded by dervishes. On 20th December he made a sortie and defeated them at Gemaizah, after which the troops at Suakin were again withdrawn except for a small garrison.

The Khalifa, having no opposition in the Sudan, proceeded up the Nile into Egypt, where his forces once again encountered Sir Francis Grenfell, now Sirdar of the Egyptian army, at Toski on 3rd August, 1889, and suffered a heavy defeat.

		Major Baden F. S. Baden-Powell was one of B-P's brothers. He was a serving officer in the Scots Guards, a pioneer of military aviation and a Fellow of both the Royal Aeronautical Society and Royal Geographical Society. He was author of In Savage Isles and Settled Lands published in 1892.
		Baden Baden-Powell is featured in an episode of National Public Radio's series, "Engines of Our Ingenuity" with Professor John Lienhard. Each program tells a story of how our culture is formed by human creativity.
		Major Baden-Powell's appointment as Aide-de-Camp and Military Secretary to the Governor of Queensland, Australia gave him the opportunity to travel around the world on a "journey of some 50,000 miles ... extending over three years." He relates this journey in In Savage Isles and Settled Lands published in 1892.
		As a member, and later as the President of the Royal Aeronautical Society, Baden Baden-Powell was an advocate of flight and its use in support of the military. In an article in the Illustrated Scientific News in 1903, he described "Progress with Airships" and the state of aerial navigation by balloon before the advent of man's first flights in heavier than air craft.
		Baden-Powell Family History. A series of links based on the research of Robin Baden Clay, a grandson of Baden-Powell. They are focused on the genealogy of the Powell family. The author is extremely grateful to Mr. Clay for sharing the results of his labors with the Scouting community. Links are provided to pages for three of B-P's brothers: Baden, Warington and Sir George Baden-Powell as well as to the genealogy of the Smyth and Warington families.
		Baden-Powell Home Page

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