From the 1st November 1847 until the 15th of November 1850 (3 years, 15 days), 2nd Lieutenant Luard was posted in the Garrison Town of
Chatham. It was here that the Royal School of Military Engineering was based at Brompton barracks. These were heady days, as the Chartist
were gathering in Kennington Common and the Duke of Wellington, Commander of the British Army, had called up troops in case of Riots.
Garrison towns such as Chatham regularly paraded the troops as a show of force.
On the 16th November 1850, 2nd Lieutenant Luard was posted back to familiar grounds at Woolwich. Though it is not known what
responsibilities he had there, Woolwich was home to numerous Engineering training groups and the Royal Arsenal. It was during this time
that he received a promotion to Lieutenant on the 24th November 1851. Lt. Luard was to spend 2 years and 130 days at Woolwich.
On the 26th March 1853, as the threat of war with the Russians mounted, Lt. Luard received word of his first overseas posting. He soon
boarded a troopship and set sail for the British Colonies of the West Indies. Luard was to spend nearly 4 years on Station there (3 years, 362
days). While serving there, Lt. Luard was again promoted, this time to the rank of 2nd Captain, on the 14th of June 1856.
Returning to England on the 23rd day ofMarch 1857, 2nd Captain Luard asked for and received Leave for 131 days. Either due a poor right eye
or as a fashion accent, Luard begins to sport a monocle. Returning to duty, Luard was once more posted back to Chatham on the 1st of August
1857. It is most likely that Luard served as a Company Commander there.
He was stationed there for 1 year and 69 days when he volunteered for another Foreign Service posting -- the newly formed Colony of British
--that of Executive Officer of the Department of Lands and Works-- which Luard accepted.
On the 9th of October 1858, 2nd Captain Luard takes command of the bulk of the RE and their families, who sail for British Columbia on the
Thames City. Luard appears to have also assisted in making the voyage more interesting by providing the ability for the RE to create the
"Theatre Royal" on board.
Luard and two other officers performed the farce, "Box and Cox", Luard playing Mr. Box. It during this Voyage that Luard acquires the
nick-name, "Old Scrooge" by the Troops. As the ship reached the Equator, the age old sea custom of the arrival of Neptune occurred, in which
all those who had not crossed the equator,were to suffer through "Doctoring, shaving and ducking". The officers were not excluded.
In April of 1859, upon arriving in the Colony, Luard set to work preparing the Camp for occupation and creating the procedures for the Lands
and Works Department to operate within. As the Officer responsible directly for the state of the Men and the Camp, involved himself in much
of their day to day activities. Among the many duties of the Columbia Detachment was that of policing the Colony. Luard, as the Officer
whose responsibilities were primarily military in nature, was on a number of occasions called upon to maintain law and order in the Lower
Mainland -
Chatham. It was here that the Royal School of Military Engineering was based at Brompton barracks. These were heady days, as the Chartist
were gathering in Kennington Common and the Duke of Wellington, Commander of the British Army, had called up troops in case of Riots.
Garrison towns such as Chatham regularly paraded the troops as a show of force.
On the 16th November 1850, 2nd Lieutenant Luard was posted back to familiar grounds at Woolwich. Though it is not known what
responsibilities he had there, Woolwich was home to numerous Engineering training groups and the Royal Arsenal. It was during this time
that he received a promotion to Lieutenant on the 24th November 1851. Lt. Luard was to spend 2 years and 130 days at Woolwich.
On the 26th March 1853, as the threat of war with the Russians mounted, Lt. Luard received word of his first overseas posting. He soon
boarded a troopship and set sail for the British Colonies of the West Indies. Luard was to spend nearly 4 years on Station there (3 years, 362
days). While serving there, Lt. Luard was again promoted, this time to the rank of 2nd Captain, on the 14th of June 1856.
Returning to England on the 23rd day ofMarch 1857, 2nd Captain Luard asked for and received Leave for 131 days. Either due a poor right eye
or as a fashion accent, Luard begins to sport a monocle. Returning to duty, Luard was once more posted back to Chatham on the 1st of August
1857. It is most likely that Luard served as a Company Commander there.
He was stationed there for 1 year and 69 days when he volunteered for another Foreign Service posting -- the newly formed Colony of British
--that of Executive Officer of the Department of Lands and Works-- which Luard accepted.
On the 9th of October 1858, 2nd Captain Luard takes command of the bulk of the RE and their families, who sail for British Columbia on the
Thames City. Luard appears to have also assisted in making the voyage more interesting by providing the ability for the RE to create the
"Theatre Royal" on board.
Luard and two other officers performed the farce, "Box and Cox", Luard playing Mr. Box. It during this Voyage that Luard acquires the
nick-name, "Old Scrooge" by the Troops. As the ship reached the Equator, the age old sea custom of the arrival of Neptune occurred, in which
all those who had not crossed the equator,were to suffer through "Doctoring, shaving and ducking". The officers were not excluded.
In April of 1859, upon arriving in the Colony, Luard set to work preparing the Camp for occupation and creating the procedures for the Lands
and Works Department to operate within. As the Officer responsible directly for the state of the Men and the Camp, involved himself in much
of their day to day activities. Among the many duties of the Columbia Detachment was that of policing the Colony. Luard, as the Officer
whose responsibilities were primarily military in nature, was on a number of occasions called upon to maintain law and order in the Lower
Mainland -
" – 3 white men were found murdered some miles below New Westminster – Spalding, the magistrate, came up and requested that an
armed party might be sent in search of the murderers supported by the Indians living some miles above the Camp. I and Luard each
went in command of a boat with armed men and started up the River. There was also a party of Yankees all armed, one man had no
less than 3 revolvers on his waist belt. When we arrived at the Indian ranch we took 3 Indians whom we had some suspicion of. The
Yankees wanted to hang one of them right off the bat and requested Captain Luard, the magistrate and myself to go away a short
distance saying “That it would be all over by the time we got back and that no one would be any wiser” – however Captain Luard
told them, that that was not the way we did business, and they then said they would put it to vote, endeavoring to get our men to join
them. We immediately made our men fall in, put the prisoners in my boat and returned to our Camp"
27 October 1859, Lt. Lempriere RE
armed party might be sent in search of the murderers supported by the Indians living some miles above the Camp. I and Luard each
went in command of a boat with armed men and started up the River. There was also a party of Yankees all armed, one man had no
less than 3 revolvers on his waist belt. When we arrived at the Indian ranch we took 3 Indians whom we had some suspicion of. The
Yankees wanted to hang one of them right off the bat and requested Captain Luard, the magistrate and myself to go away a short
distance saying “That it would be all over by the time we got back and that no one would be any wiser” – however Captain Luard
told them, that that was not the way we did business, and they then said they would put it to vote, endeavoring to get our men to join
them. We immediately made our men fall in, put the prisoners in my boat and returned to our Camp"
27 October 1859, Lt. Lempriere RE
The events did not end there. Two days later Luard found himself back in a Whaler with an armed detachment of RE.
| "I and Luard left about 5am in charge of the Whaler and cutter with an armed force and went down the river. When near the mouth we saw a canoe with 3 Indians, all of whom we made prisoners. I was ordered to land on an island in search of another Indian shooting the other side, while Luard went round in his boat. He [?] him and called out to him to stop but as he would not he fired at him, and sounded for us to do the same. I got my men back into the Whaler as soon as possible and gave the rascal chase, but he managed in his small canoe to give us the slip and ran up a very narrow creek, quite impossible for our boat to get up. So I took the canoe we had captured and went up in pursuit. We found the other canoe with several bullet holes through it. We could not find the Indians who were in it. We then went on the bank of the river where we examined the Indian’s ranch. On quitting there to go round the other ranch, it came on very thick fog and unfortunately Luard got aground with his boat for about an hour. I managed to keep mine afloat and when he got off. The fog was so thick that we were pulling about for a couple of hours at sea, not knowing which way the land lay. At last fortunately it cleared up and we pulled for the river and after visiting the Indian ranch we were in search of, started home again with our prisoners. We did not get back till about 9 pm." 29 October 1859, Lt. Lempriere RE |
It all culminated the following February.
New Westminster Times
25th February, 1860
On Friday last a special court was held by His Honor Judge Begbie, to try some Indians who had been committed as accessories in
murdering 3 Italians, which created so much stir at the time. His Honor briefly addressed the Grand Jury in appropriate words,
when they retired and found a true bill against one Indian known by the name of "John Chinaman", who has as yet escaped justice,
and orders, against whom there was scarcely any evidence, were liberated. It may perhaps, be hardly credited, but the cost of keeping
these Indians at Langley is computed to be over 200 Pounds. Justice is evidently an expensive article here.
25th February, 1860
On Friday last a special court was held by His Honor Judge Begbie, to try some Indians who had been committed as accessories in
murdering 3 Italians, which created so much stir at the time. His Honor briefly addressed the Grand Jury in appropriate words,
when they retired and found a true bill against one Indian known by the name of "John Chinaman", who has as yet escaped justice,
and orders, against whom there was scarcely any evidence, were liberated. It may perhaps, be hardly credited, but the cost of keeping
these Indians at Langley is computed to be over 200 Pounds. Justice is evidently an expensive article here.
One of the arrangements that had been made while the RE were still in England was that the Colonial Government of British Columbia would
pay "Colonial Pay" to all of the Officer's and Men of the Columbia Detachment. This arrangement was not honored by the Colonial
Government as the Treasury was bankrupt. Luard was to have received 202 Pounds per annum as Regimental Pay as well as Colonial Pay of 350
Pounds per annum.
During the time in British Columbia, Luard followed the established practice in the British Army of the era and took one of the Sappers under
his command as his orderly. This man, Sapper James Tribute appears to have served as Luard's Orderly from at least 1860 and may have
served Luard prior to this time. It was common for an orderly to serve alongside his Officer for years.
In March of 1861, Lady Franklin, wife of the famous Arctic explorer, came to the Camp. In addition the Royal Navy made the camp a regular
port of call.
The Winter of 1861-62 in the Lower mainland was so extreme that the Fraser River froze solid, right up to the Mouth. The Royal Engineers
were placed on half rations as all supplies ceased to arrive from Victoria. During this winter, as Officer's such as young Lt. Palmer drove about
on a red horse-drawn sleigh, others found themselves in dire straights.
Sometime in that cold winter of 1861/62, Luard meets a Miss Caroline Mary Leggatt of Victoria. Caroline Leggatt was the eldest daughter of
Fanny and George Leggatt. George died prior to the Leggatt family arriving in Victoria and his wife re-married a Thomas Lett Wood, who was
a practicing barrister and eventually Attorney General of the Colony of Vancouver's Island.
On the 1st of April 1862, Luard is promoted to Captain.
Eventually Luard and Miss Leggatt are engaged and one of Luard's fellow officers, Dr. J. Vernon Seddall was also engaged to Miss Leggatt's
sister.
In 1863 the Disbandment of the Columbia Detachment is been announced and the men who have come to the end of their enlistments begin to
leave the Camp to make their fortunes in the Colony.
Governor Douglas writes a confidential report to London regarding the Detachment and its officers. Douglas his report Douglas recommends
Luard be given the post of Commissioner of Lands and Works for the colony. Oddly, Governor Douglas does not inform Colonel Moody or
Captain Luard of this recomendation. This seeming breach in the normal chain of command gave rise to the so-called “Luard Contreversay”. In
the end, Colonel Moody denies Luard permission to remain behind in the Colony.
On the 8th of October 1863 marries Caroline at her church, Christ's Church, Victoria. The witnesses are Colonel Moody, Robert Burnaby, and
Thomas Lett Wood. Latter that month they depart for England.
On the 30th of December 1863, Luard and his bride arrive in England after a Duty in British Columbia of 5 years and 82 days. Captain Luard
then asks for and receives Leave for 61 days.
On the 1st of March 1864, Captain Luard is posted to the British Fortress Garrison at Portsmouth. It is during this time that the Luard's take
over a small English cottage, "Rose Villa" across the river's mouth at Gosport, Southampton. It is here that Caroline gave birth to their son,
Henry Arthur in December of 1865.
The Luard's stay in Portsmouth until the 15th of November 1866 (2 years, 260 days) when, Captain Luard is transferred to a posting at the
British Garrison at Athlone, Roscommon, Ireland.
Luard and his young family take Leave for the move on the 16th of November 1866 and arrive at Athlone on the 2nd of January 1867. The
Luard's take up residence in the Town and a girl is born into the family, Eleanor Mary.
On the 26th Of February 1870, after service in Ireland of 3 years and 56 days, Henry Reynolds Luard died.
pay "Colonial Pay" to all of the Officer's and Men of the Columbia Detachment. This arrangement was not honored by the Colonial
Government as the Treasury was bankrupt. Luard was to have received 202 Pounds per annum as Regimental Pay as well as Colonial Pay of 350
Pounds per annum.
During the time in British Columbia, Luard followed the established practice in the British Army of the era and took one of the Sappers under
his command as his orderly. This man, Sapper James Tribute appears to have served as Luard's Orderly from at least 1860 and may have
served Luard prior to this time. It was common for an orderly to serve alongside his Officer for years.
In March of 1861, Lady Franklin, wife of the famous Arctic explorer, came to the Camp. In addition the Royal Navy made the camp a regular
port of call.
The Winter of 1861-62 in the Lower mainland was so extreme that the Fraser River froze solid, right up to the Mouth. The Royal Engineers
were placed on half rations as all supplies ceased to arrive from Victoria. During this winter, as Officer's such as young Lt. Palmer drove about
on a red horse-drawn sleigh, others found themselves in dire straights.
Sometime in that cold winter of 1861/62, Luard meets a Miss Caroline Mary Leggatt of Victoria. Caroline Leggatt was the eldest daughter of
Fanny and George Leggatt. George died prior to the Leggatt family arriving in Victoria and his wife re-married a Thomas Lett Wood, who was
a practicing barrister and eventually Attorney General of the Colony of Vancouver's Island.
On the 1st of April 1862, Luard is promoted to Captain.
Eventually Luard and Miss Leggatt are engaged and one of Luard's fellow officers, Dr. J. Vernon Seddall was also engaged to Miss Leggatt's
sister.
In 1863 the Disbandment of the Columbia Detachment is been announced and the men who have come to the end of their enlistments begin to
leave the Camp to make their fortunes in the Colony.
Governor Douglas writes a confidential report to London regarding the Detachment and its officers. Douglas his report Douglas recommends
Luard be given the post of Commissioner of Lands and Works for the colony. Oddly, Governor Douglas does not inform Colonel Moody or
Captain Luard of this recomendation. This seeming breach in the normal chain of command gave rise to the so-called “Luard Contreversay”. In
the end, Colonel Moody denies Luard permission to remain behind in the Colony.
On the 8th of October 1863 marries Caroline at her church, Christ's Church, Victoria. The witnesses are Colonel Moody, Robert Burnaby, and
Thomas Lett Wood. Latter that month they depart for England.
On the 30th of December 1863, Luard and his bride arrive in England after a Duty in British Columbia of 5 years and 82 days. Captain Luard
then asks for and receives Leave for 61 days.
On the 1st of March 1864, Captain Luard is posted to the British Fortress Garrison at Portsmouth. It is during this time that the Luard's take
over a small English cottage, "Rose Villa" across the river's mouth at Gosport, Southampton. It is here that Caroline gave birth to their son,
Henry Arthur in December of 1865.
The Luard's stay in Portsmouth until the 15th of November 1866 (2 years, 260 days) when, Captain Luard is transferred to a posting at the
British Garrison at Athlone, Roscommon, Ireland.
Luard and his young family take Leave for the move on the 16th of November 1866 and arrive at Athlone on the 2nd of January 1867. The
Luard's take up residence in the Town and a girl is born into the family, Eleanor Mary.
On the 26th Of February 1870, after service in Ireland of 3 years and 56 days, Henry Reynolds Luard died.
"On the 26th Feb., at Athlone, after a few hours' illness. HENRY REYNOLDS LUARD, Captain Royal
Engineers, third son of the late Peter F. Luard, M.D., aged 41."
3 March 1870, The Times.
Engineers, third son of the late Peter F. Luard, M.D., aged 41."
3 March 1870, The Times.
Captain Henry Reynolds Luard was the cousin of Colonel - later Lieutenant General Richard George Amherst Luard, CB who in 1880 became the General Officer Commanding theForces of Canada. Capt. Henry Arthur Luard, 2nd Battalion. East Yorkshire Regt., died of enteric [fever] at Winburg, Orange River Colony, Feb. 5th, 1901, while serving on the Staff there. He was the only son of the late Capt. H. R. Luard, Royal Engineers, was born Dec., 1865, and educated at Wellington College, where he was in the Blucher, 1877-84. He entered the Northamptonshire Regiment from the Royal Military College in 1886, being promoted captain in the 2nd Battalion East Yorkshire Regiment in Feb., 1898. Capt. Luard went to South Africa, Aug., 1900, and served in the Cape and Orange River Colonies up to the time of his death. |
