Page 26 - Who Was Sapper Brown

The Admiral and his mules rode into Nicosia on the afternoon of Friday, 12 July 1878:

‘His mules, gaily attired, rode on in front of him, groaning under their weight of silver coin. To right and left
the news ran out among the crowds, that this great English lord ... was going to pay off all arrears of debt

... Such news was strange enough to take men’s breath. A governor to bring in money to their town! Never
before had a Nicosian seen a pasha bring in money... Even a ‘fanatic’ with his salary in arrear six months,

saw in a moment that this English pasha was the man for him.

Meantime Kelly and his column had arrived at Famagosta gate by three o’clock, after a march of twenty-six
miles... Out ran the Ottoman troops with cups of coffee and jars of water for the men... In eighty minutes,

both the red-coats and blue-jackets mustered on parade. Rawson ... got the garrison to retire from Famagosta

gate, and left some thirty blue-jackets to hold that post, which, sailor-like, they at once inscribed with the
legend, ‘Channel Squadron Gate’.

At five the Ottoman flag was lowered with military honours. Kelly’s marines presented arms, and in the

Admiral’s presence, Rawson ran up the British flag... No voice was raised except to cheer... the work of taking
over Cyprus from the Sultan to the Queen was done.’ 11

Wolseley landed at Larnaca 10 days later, on a sweltering hot Monday, 22 July 1878. He promptly took

the oath of allegiance to the Queen and swore himself in as High Commissioner and Commander-in-
Chief of Cyprus, perhaps a bit peeved at having his thunder stolen by the Royal Navy, before moving on

to Nicosia to take over from Admiral Hay.

The Royal Engineers in Cyprus

The 31st Fortress Company Royal Engineers, based in Chatham, Kent, left England as part of Wolseley’s
Expeditionary Force on board the troopship HMS Simoon on 13 July 1878 and arrived in Larnaca Bay,

Cyprus on 28 July 1878.12-13 They were not the first Engineers in Cyprus. The Indian Engineers from
Madras (the Queen’s Own Sappers and Miners) and Bombay (the Bombay Sappers) had arrived from

Malta on the troopship HMS Canara on 16 July and had constructed the disembarkation piers as well
as the camp at Chiflik Pasha before the arrival of the main body of the Expeditionary Force.14 Soon after

arrival, the 31st moved up to Nicosia.

Though it had been an unopposed landing, and the soldiers and sailors had been made very welcome by
the Cypriots and Turks, there were hidden dangers lying in wait for the British and Indian troops that came

ashore in July 1878 in Larnaca:

’In the year of Grace 1878 there were wars, and rumours of wars. An Indian contingent arrived at Malta

which occasioned [a] parade of all troops in Garrison. Shortly after, this plucky little force sailed for and
captured Cyprus, the abode of Venus – the enemy resented the invasion and placed many hors de combat,

the attacks of fever and ague are irresistible’.15

11 Hepworth Dixon, W (1879), British Cyprus (London: Chapman and Hall), pp. 61 – 68.
12 Savile, Captain A R (1878), Cyprus – compiled in the Intelligence Branch, the Quarter-Master-General’s Department, Horse
Guards (London: HMSO), p. 31.

13 De Santis, Edward ‘Narrative on the life and military service of 14060 Superintending Clerk Rudolph Frankenberg Royal
Engineers’ www.reubique.com/14060.htm
14 Vibart, Major H M (1883), The Military history of the Madras Engineers and Pioneers, from 1743 up to the present time

(London: W H Allen and Co), pp. 488 – 491.
15 Hand-written caption accompanying photographs of Indian troops on parade at Floriana, Malta, and 16 troopships in
Larnaca Bay, 1878, by George Charles Newton Bryan, who was gazetted to the 101st Royal Bengal Fusiliers, part of the Expedi-

tionary Force, in photograph album at The Templer Study Centre, National Army Museum, London

16