Page 101 - KRH Regimental Journal 2022

The Regimental Journal of The King’s Royal Hussars 99
The Daughter of the Regiment – Rose Summerell
While there are numerous accounts by Victorian soldiers of life on campaign, there is relatively little recorded of the wives and families that so often supported the troops on cam- paign and shared the hardships. However, recent digitisation and collections work in the museum has brought to light the story of Mrs Rose Summerell, whose childhood and early life was spent in the 14th Light Dragoons, later the 14th Hussars.
In May 1911, aged 76, Rose was interviewed by Lloyd’s Weekly News, one of the first Sunday newspapers, and shared several rec- ollections of her life in India. Her story is a small glimpse into life on campaign, of making lifelong friends and the strong bonds of the Regimental family.
Rosamond ‘Rose’ Murray was born in Bangalore, India on 14 October 1835, the daughter of Private Charles Philip Murray of the 13th Light Dragoons. When the 13th returned to England in 1840 Charles Murray volunteered to exchange into the 14th Light Dragoons who were just about to leave for India.
For the Victorian soldier while service in India could be tough, it offered certain benefits, and men could often voluntarily transfer to regiments going overseas. As Rose recalled:
‘When I was a child there were no proper quarters for the wives and children; sometimes they had to sleep at one end of the room and the men at the other; they just had to manage somehow. That was why my father exchanged when we came back from India into the 14th so as to go out again; we were much better off in India, for there, of course, we had a little home of our own’.
In May 1841, the 14th Hussars embarked for India aboard the Repulse, a ship of the East India Company. Although just 5 years old at the time, she could still remember the three-and-a-half- month voyage, but was helped by the diary of the Schoolmaster Serjeant:
Hanley’s Diary and Medal photograph
Hanley’s Diary Content
‘she prefers to call in evidence of the event a time-worn diary kept by the regimental schoolmaster, Mr. Frederick Hanley. Mrs Summerell keeps it as a cherished possession, and almost rever- ently she takes it from the drawer in which it reposes.’
Hanley’s diary offers a small glimpse of the scenes:
‘May 24, 1841 – Left Canterbury at half past. Some merry fel- lows amongst us who made much laughter. The band played occasionally: some wet handkerchiefs, for the sake of the girls we left behind us. Arrived at Herne Bay about a quarter to eight o’ clock. Breakfasted at the Head Inn. After some few arrange- ments embarked on board the steamboat for our new barracks, no more terra firma until we arrive [at] Bombay. The Band playing “The Girl I Left Behind Me.” “Rule Britannia,” and such appropriate tunes as would touch the tender breasts of any- one for at such times one cannot help being affected with the scenes before him.’
Rose was clearly a careful custodian of the diary as it survived its travels and is now in the collection at HorsePower, along with Schoolmaster Serjeant Frederick Hanley’s Punjab Medal. She has added her own little touches, inserting newspaper clippings relat- ing to her own life.
Rose vividly recalled life in India, speaking of long marches, fording rivers, and sharing the hardships of the men. During the Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848-1849) the families and baggage were left at a fort in Lahore, and here they spent many hours eager for any news after battles such as Ramnuggur. During the Indian Mutiny in 1857 she remembered sleeping with a bundle of clothing in case they had to escape to safety.
Rose Summerell from Brig Browne’s scrapbook