Lieutenant-Colonel Frederick English
Biography and letters of Lt Col Frederick English, Royal Engineers
Written from St Lucia
Mrs Steward was Mrs English’s sister Sarah, of whose death English has just heard; Mrs Meyer was her sister Edith, who had died some years previously.
And now my dear Kate a word with you – it will not answer to give all my efforts to that little brat Cara. At this moment I cannot surmise whether you are at Stoke Park or have returned to Wickham but doubtlessly this will ...
Written from St Lucia, not dated, probably 30 June 1834
Robert Wiltshire and Ambrose Steward are Mrs English’s brothers-in-law.
Think of my dismay and disappointment when the Packet arrived on the 23rd inst without one letter for me; indeed my dear Kate I was perfectly wretched. We had papers up to the 24 May and I believe I was the only solitary miserable without a scrawl to read over. I do not ...
It is reported my dear Kate that the Athol Troop Ship is to pass this Island tomorrow morning and that she will lay to. In the hope that this may be the case, I shall prepare a sort of a letter merely to say that I am in perfect health and going on in my usual steady habit, rarely being out of my bed at 9 oclock unless dining with Sir C F Smith when I think ½ past 10 is the hour. He continues exceedingly ...
This letter was despatched on the same day as the previous one; both were carried by the troop ship HMS Atholl. The animals English calls land turtles or land tortoises are what would today be called tortoises. It was common for sailors to hunt them and carry them home to earn some pocket money selling them for soup. Mr Victor was the brother of one of English’s fellow RE officers; he appears ...
If only the letters from Wickham had survived! We know nothing of Annie’s accident except that it endangered her eyesight and that her mother acted quickly to save it.
When General James Alexander Farquharson, the Lieutenant-Governor of St Lucia, died, Sir Charles Smith was sent there as acting governor pending the arrival of the new appointee, Sir Dudley St Leger Hill. By ‘Carl Smith’, ...
This letter lacks a cover
It will soon become clear that the word ‘humbug’, then used as a verb meaning ‘trick’ is a favourite of English’s.
My Dear Kate
Your last dispatches were perfectly charming. I read them with such delight that for the time the Atlantic was forgotten & I almost fancied myself within the sphere of home, but too soon the phantom vanished and the Mess dinner drum ...
Written from St Lucia
Major-General Robert Pilkington was the Colonel Commandant of the Royal Engineers. In letter 30, English mentions a note he had received from the General on his posting to the West Indies.
Lieutenant-Colonel Charles Grene Ellicombe was at this time Assistant Adjutant General of the Royal Engineers, a powerful role as the right hand man of the Colonel Commandant with jurisdiction ...
These were days when no one could make his way in the armed forces without friends at court. In order to secure a cadetship for his son, English had gone to the top and called on the Master-General of the Ordnance, Lieutenant-General Sir James Kempt, a veteran of the Peninsula and Waterloo.
You must, my dear Kate, fancy you see a middle aged man with his striped blue shirt, the collar open, neck ...
Here is the first reference to the use of steel pens. Although they were invented in the eighteenth century, they were not manufactured in quantity until the 1830s. The pen that exasperated English in letter 8 was probably a quill. However, in letter 86, he discards a steel pen in favour of a quill.
In consequence of continued calms, the Packet has not yet reached Head Quarters where my dear Kate ...
Written from Barbados, not dated at head, started on 4th November 34
There are numerous mentions of courts martial in the letters. Unlike this one, most were for desertion or crimes against property. The sentence would often be flogging. Convicted criminals were often given the option of serving in the Army instead of transportation, so there was an above average proportion of criminals in ...