Lieutenant Colonel Francis Skelly Tidy.
(1775-1835)
by Colin Jones FINS.
‘The Sword wears out the Scabbard’
In June 1840 a series of articles appeared in the United Service Journal
entitled ‘Recollections of anOld Soldier’ (1). A heart felt rendition of anecdotes by a daughter
illustrating the traits and character of
an anonymous veteran of 43 years service. The writer introduced her
father under the fictitious name of
‘Colonel Fred Franklin’, and expected all who had fought under him would
instantly recognise this fine
old soldier from the Peninsular and Waterloo battlefields. There was
indeed a cry from friends and
comrades in arms alike, many deducing that the authoress of the work to
be a Mrs Harriet Ward, whose
father was actually a certain Lieutenant Colonel Francis Skelly Tidy, a
Waterloo veteran who had
recently passed away. Additional stories and tales of this highly
respected man were sent and the
encouraging response prompted her to compile a more regular memoir of
her late father. Harriet could
not oblige the inquisitive readers immediately, as her husband, Captain
John Ward had been posted to
the east coast of South Africa. She accompanied him and began writing
about the conflicts she
witnessed for the United Service Journal and in particular the 7th
Frontier war (1846-1847). In turn, she
authored many works concerning her five years residence in Kafirland and
some even accredit her with
being the first female war correspondent. Eventually, on her return,
Harriet finally put pen to paper and
‘Recollections of an old soldier’ was published in book form in 1849.
The small hardback was not
meant to be a scholarly work, more in the caption of ‘reminiscences
through affectionate memory of
‘Old Frank’, her beloved father’. Thus the stories and anecdotes within
leaves the historian wanting of
some further military detail. Harriet’s brief glimpses of Tidy’s father
and siblings give enough clues to
research a simple family tree of his close relatives.
An impressive list of service awaits one that wishes to delve into
Lieutenant Colonel Francis Skelly Tidy’s military career, but space
within the journal inhibits a full appraisal, and the writer finds it
necessary to concentrate on more recent research, if solely to prolong
his memory for Mrs Ward. At the tender age of 16, ‘young Frank’s’
first experience of military life was a sow one, enlisting in the 43rd
Foot infantry in 1792, he was sent to the West Indies, being present at
the Siege of Fort Bourbon,
the campaigns on Martinque and Guadeloupe, was captured at Barville and
imprisoned for 15 months
aboard a hulk under the notorious regime of Victor Hughes
(2). The POW’s
were chained in pairs and
deprived of water for 36 hours, with their shackled companions passing;
‘none were by to set the living
free from the dead. Many hours he [Tidy] sat beside a dead friend, on
board that horrible ship, and in
that fearful climate’.
(3)
Eventually, Tidy was sent to France and released on parole returning to
England in 1795. In a short
while he was back in the West Indies as an ADC to Sir George Beckwith,
at that time Governor of
Bermuda. Returning to England once more, he met the exiled Louis XIII in
Edinburgh and struck a
lasting relationship. Louis used to tell Tidy he should be glad to see
him at some future and more
prosperous time at the French court, Tidy replied that,
‘when he
should have the honour of
congratulating His Majesty on his restoration to the throne, he should
not be in court trim; for he
hoped to march into Paris at the head of a regiment, and would not wait
to brush the dust from his
jacket, before he paid his visit of congratulation at the Tuilleries.
And Louis used to laugh and gave
him full permission to redeem his pledge in his own way, hoping he might
do so for both their sakes’.
(4)
Little did either know, at the time, that the pledge would come to
fruition in 1815.
In 1802 he joined the 1st Royals as a captain and was sent to Gibralter
to help the Duke of Kent’s forces
quell the internal disturbances. One story tells us of an angry mob
mistaking Tidy for the Duke himself,
and was shot at and nearly killed. Another, confirms a grateful
friendship when the Duke once told
Tidy’s wife that her husband had ‘Saved his life’. There can be
no doubt that these noble acquaintances
helped our hero rise through the ranks without purchase. Returning for a
third time to the West Indies,
as a Brigade- Major on Dominica, yet another notable event, which seldom
appears in history books; is
Tidy’s two week voyage with Admiral Lord Nelson on board HMS Victory
during the cat and mouse
search for the French fleet, around the Caribbean islands in May and
June of 1805. Nelson under the
assumption that the enemy fleet were bound for Trinidad and Tobago,
received on board his ships, a
reinforcement of 2000 men, Francis Tidy being one officer who went
aboard, unwittingly knowing the
vessel was to become, four months later, England’s most famous flag
ship. Having found that they had
been deceived by the enemy’s whereabouts who were again sailing across
the Atlantic, disembarked the
troops in Antigua, Lord Nelson shook hands with each officer as they
went over the side, Tidy looked
back and said:
‘My Lord, you have shaken hands with me as an officer
of the Royal regiment, once
more if you please, as Frank Tidy. Lord Nelson smiled, shook hands
again, and my father, sitting in the
boat, watched that pale and care-worn face to the last moment with
uplifted cap’. (5)
In September of 1807 he became Major of the 14th (Buckinghamshire)
regiment of Foot infantry and
served as Assistant Adjutant-General in the expedition to Spain under
Sir David Baird during the
harrowing retreat to Corunna. He served again on the staff during
Wellington’s passage of the Douro
and fought at the action at Grijo in May 1809. Returning to England it
was not long before he was
ordered away again. This time serving in the Walcheren expedition, ‘Old
Frank’ was lucky to come
away from that campaign unscathed; the prevalent malaria illness dubbed
the ‘Walcheren fever,’
claimed many thousands of lives for years following that dreadful
expedition to the Netherlands.
Receiving the Brevet of lieutenant-Colonel on the 4th June 1813, he
joined the 2nd battalion of the 14th in
Malta during the plague and in 1814 also served in Genoa. He was
recalled back to England to take
command of the newly raised 3rd battalion which was about to embark for
North America. However,
this war ended and another more pressing matter was on the horizon when
Napoleon escaped his exile
from the island of Elba and once again began hostilities. The 3/14th
were one of the few battalions near
to the south coast that could embark for Flanders at short notice.
Landing in Ostend in April 1815, the battalion by rights should never
have been present at Waterloo,
but for two fortunate turns of fate and Lt-Col Tidy’s stubborn
persistence. Being a battalion of young
raw recruits, they had been ordered to Antwerp for garrison duty, but
the enraged Tidy beckoned
permission from Lord Hill to join the main army for the oncoming
campaign. Whilst in Brussels, both
Lord Hill and the Duke of Wellington watched the battalion parade in the
square and the Duke
remarked;
'They are a very pretty little battalion – Tell them they
may join the grand division as they
wish'.
(6)
Their place in history still not assured, another turn of fate would
secure the 14th’s battle honour for all
time. Tidy’s battalion were attached to Colonel Mitchell’s 4th brigade,
in the 4th infantry division under
the command of Lt-General Hon. Sir Charles Colville, who had been
ordered to protect the extreme
right flank of the allied army situated around the town of Hal. In turn,
Colville’s two other brigades
were too far away to take any part in the forthcoming battle, but by the
retrograde movement of the
second Corps marching from Nivelles, Mitchell’s brigade was swept up by
Lord Hill, the Corps
commander, on his way through to the field of Mont Saint Jean, and by
the evening of the 17th June,
Tidy’s battalion found itself in a position to the north-west of the
Chateau de Goumont. It is for this
reason that the 4th brigade temporarily became attached to Sir Henry
Clinton’s 2nd Infantry Division. On
the day of the great battle, Mitchell’s brigade, consisting of the
1/23rd foot,1/51st light infantry and the
3/14th who were positioned across the Nivelles road behind the Chateau
on the far right of
Wellington’s battle line.
‘Old Frank’ already inadvertently had a tenuous connection to the battle
through his great grandfather’s
lineage, Alexander the 4th Duke of Gordon. The Duke’s eldest child, by
his first wife, was Lady
Charlotte who eventually married Charles Lennox the 4th Duke of
Richmond, and she was of course the
hostess to the most famous ball in history on the evening of the 15th
June 1815.
Although Tidy’s battalion played little part in the principal actions of
the day, being on the reverse side
of the plateau, they still suffered quite significantly from cannon
fire.
'The whole day we were exposed
to the fire of several batteries of artillery, and particularly two
pieces brought to bear upon us. I can
well remember the interest I took in those pieces-an interest heightened
by the consciousness that I
formed part of that living target against which their practice was
pointed'. (7)
The commander ordered ‘His Boys’ to lie down, and being in a
Square formation, the recumbent
position had the men Packed together like herrings in a barrel.
It was during this moment when Skelly
Tidy lost his favourite mare. Ensign Keppell continues the story;
'Not finding a vacant spot, I seated
myself on a drum. Behind me was the Colonel’s charger, which, with his
head pressed against mine,
was mumbling my epaulette; while I patted his cheek. Suddenly my drum
capsized and I was thrown
prostrate, with the feeling of a blow on the right cheek. I put my hand
to my head, thinking half my face
was shot away, but the skin was not even abraded. A piece of shell had
struck the horse on the nose
exactly between my hand and my head, and killed him instantly. The blow
I received was from the
embossed crown on the horse’s bit'. (8)
Mrs Ward’s account of her father’s loss differs in one small detail to
that of Ensign Keppell, she
remarks;
‘The animal plunging into her agony, threw the square into
great confusion, and her misery
was speedily put an end to by the soldiers bayonets’. (9)
Francis Skelly Tidy’s mare ‘Dusky Maid’, killed at Waterloo. The
horseshoe was made into
an inkwell and was purchased by the author upon the sale of Derek
Saunders Waterloo
Museum, Broadstairs, Kent, by Wallis & Wallis in 1999. The engraved
letters are of mid-19th
century, suggesting the hoof was converted latter by a family member,
perhaps even by
Harriet herself.
The persistance of the barrage is again confirmed in a letter written on
the 23rd by Lieutenant Henry
Boldero, 14th Foot, to his mother;
'What a glorious battle! And what a
lucky woman you are to have had
two sons in it and neither of them touched.
(10)
Lonsdale
had three horses shot under him in two days
and yet escaped – and I lay under the heaviest cannonade that ever was
brought to bear in a Battle for
seven hours – and yet had the same good fortune – you may depend upon it
we are reserved for some
more ignoble exit'. (11)
The steadfastness of the battalion was again put to the test around 4
o’clock in the afternoon when the
French Marshal Ney launched his magnificent, 4000 strong cavalry charge,
along the main Allied
ridge. As Wellington’s entire line hurried into square formations to
receive the onslaught, a menacing
black mass of Heavy Cuirassiers emerged from the crest, stalling for a
moment to settle on which
battalion they would devote their attention. The alarm on the new
recruits faces were widely apparent,
Tidy had to steady his ‘Boys’ on more than one occasion. History
tells us that fourteen officers and
three hundred men of the 14th were under the age of twenty one. The
commander would have to draw
from his vast experience of nearly 24 years service to contain the
apprehensions of his “Raw
Johnny’s”.
Harriet Ward quotes her father’s words;
'Now, my young tinkers, stand
firm! While you
remain in your present position, old Harry himself can’t touch you; but
if one of you give way, he will
have every mother’s son of you, as sure as you are born'.
(12)
According to Cannon’s history of the 14th the Cuirassiers were
intimidated by the steady and
determined bearing of the battalion and instead chose to attack a
Brunswick square to the left.
Harriet continues;
‘after several attempts to break the square, they
sounded the retreat, and retired in
the utmost confusion. The attacked regiment waited only until the enemy
was entirely clear of the 14th
when they opened upon them with a most murderous fire, while at the same
moment several guns on
the side of my father’s corps, played upon them. For a minute or two,
the smoke was so dense, that it
was impossible to see a yard in advance; but when it cleared away, a
scene of the greatest disorder
presented itself. Numbers lay strewed about in all directions – dead,
dying, and wounded, - Horses
running here and there without their riders, and the riders encumbered
with their heavy armour,
scampered away as best they could, without their horses’.(13)
Despite having no physical bayonet contact with the enemy, a stationary
target can sometimes be richpickings; from a field strength of some 649, casualties of the 14th on
the day were 36 in total being, 3
officers wounded, with 7 killed and 26 wounded from the rank and file. A
further five men would later
die from their Waterloo wounds.
Tidy’s near neighbours ie: the 23rd and 51st lost 104 and 42
respectively, all these mostly from artillery
fire.
(14)
The young battalion were affectionately known as the ‘Johnny Raws’
following the battle, as many of
the men had gathered up some of the spoils of the vanquished which lay
around the fields in
abundance. Cuirassier helmets, Hussar pelisses, Grenadier caps and
bearskins were proudly worn as
they marched away from the battle site the following day. The Peninsular
veterans laughed and shook
their heads in despair; these old hands would never have imposed such
added weight and burden to
their kit.
With the 4th brigade being temporarily detached, General Colville’s
remaining part of the division
stationed at Hal, had apparently heard nothing of the victory despite
being only 12 miles away. At least
that was the case until his A.Q.M.G. Lt – Col John Woodford, who had
galloped off in the early hours
of the 19th had delivered to him the grim news of the substantial loss
of life. Woodford had been sent by
his commander to Mont Saint Jean to obtain further instructions from
Wellington. Arriving early on the
morning of the 18th the Duke told him that the battle was imminent, and
said that it was too late for the
division at Hal to move up, but added,
“Now that you are here, keep
with me”
(15)
Compared to some of Wellington’s Regiments, Mitchell’s brigade had
suffered relatively little during
the battle, and probably for this reason, as the Allied Army followed
Napoleon’s retreat through
northern France, they were selected to attack the fortified town of
Cambray. The brigade having
rejoined General Colville’s infantry Division, met with pockets of
resistance as they marched quickly
onto the capital city. The Division halted at Cambray where the Governor
of the place refused to
surrender to any terms and had locked himself up in the citadel with a
sizeable force. The town
however, first had to be taken by escalade, and Wellington gave Colville
two additional brigades of
artillery for this purpose. At 8’Oclock on the evening of the 24th June,
under cover of eighteen pieces of
cannon, the 3/14th battalion debouched from their cover and made a rush
for the horn-work of the Paris gate. Tidy describes the attack in a letter written two weeks after the
event;
Two of the brigades were
ordered to attack it one side, whilst ours, the 4th the only one engaged
on the 18th were to make a feint
on the other, which we did accordingly; but having got close to the wall
with a few hay stack ladders
tied together we resolved to our luck in a quick attack: my position
happened to be on a bridge with a
great part of the 51st and all of my own who were getting two at a time
over the top of the gate; which
being tedious we knock’d at the gate and an inhabitant or two actually
let down the bridge and we
walked in in sub-divisions. We marched onto the Grand Square and formed
up in the most regular
order of columns of battalions. Negotiations were set going for the
surrender of the citadel a place of
great strength and suspense agreed on 5 o’clock the day after tomorrow
in the morning, but the fellow
gave in and we started for Paris, encamping on the 1st july before Monte
Matre. The convention of
suspension agreed upon, you will see more of than we do, in fact we know
nothing of what is going on.
I hope Bull is satisfied.
(16)
Despite Tidy’s modest description. Six men were wounded in the attack of
which two later died of their
wounds. Colville states that of the 3 brigades engaged, he had one
officer killed and 40 rank and file
killed or wounded. 20 of the enemy were taken prisoner at the Paris
Horn-work and another 130
altogether in the town.
(17)
Following a short stay with the Army of occupation in France, the 3rd
battalion was sent home and
disbanded at Deal on 17th February 1816. The short life of the battalion
had lasted barely two years.
Colonel Tidy was nominated a Companion of the Bath and immediately
embarked in command of the
2/ 14th for the Ionian Islands. Returning to England for a short leave,
he sat for the English Portrait
painter, James Ramsey (1786-1854). The portrait is currently held at the
York Army Museum.
Colonel Francis Skelly Tidy Wearing his Companion of the Bath
and Waterloo Medal.
Tidy then took command of the 1st Battalion, serving in Bengal and with
whom he stayed as Deputy
Adjutant General under Lt-Col Sir Archibald Campbell, from 1819 through
to 1826; and a further two
years as an unconfirmed Lieutenant - Colonel of the 59th Regiment. These
nine years of war in India
fighting the Burmese rebels and battling against the oppressive climate,
took many of the soldiers lives.
When the rainy season set in, so did the Cholera and Malaria. Camping
beds made from blankets and
propped up with sticks in marshlands above stagnant water; Colonel Tidy
was one who suffered
severely, only putting his survival down to a single fastidious routine:
‘We have a good deal of fever, in consequence of the constant dampness
of the air. I had it slightly, and
have kept myself well by having my Dobee (washerman),with his iron at my
bedside at daylight every
morning, to iron my clothes before putting them on- they are never dry
otherwise’.
Before the termination of the war, the privations began to tell on his
constitution and Tidy’s health
never did fully recover from the ravages of the extreme heat and
water-borne maladies of the East
Indies. Doctors advised him that it would not be prudent to remain in
residence in India and was sent
home in 1828. Tidy now, as a commissioned Lieutenant – Colonel, took
command of the 44th Regiment
as Inspecting Field – Officer and was stationed in Glasgow until 1833.
Even though the years of travel
were beginning to tell on his physical appearance and general well
being, he still yearned for active
service and to be in full command of a Regiment. A near friend wished to
persuade him against reentering
any more active scenes of life and even perhaps retire. Tidy who was now
58 years old replied:
‘you do not take into account what a fine thing it is to have it in your
power to make eight hundred
people happy.’
Tidy’s Daughter Harriet, knew that truly, ‘the sword was wearing out
the scabbard!’ On the 1st March,
1833, he exchanged from his position at Glasgow to the Lieutenant –
Colonelcy of the 24th Regiment,
who were then posted abroad. As soon as Harriet saw him gazetted in the
newspapers her heart sank:
‘I
looked upon his doom as sealed,- for his destination was Canada: a
fearful climate to encounter after
the sultry heat of India, and with a shattered constitution’.
Furthermore, once Tidy had disembarked on the shores of his final
destination in the spring of 1833, he
was greeted by an official letter stating that all his savings of nine
years service in India had been lost.
The banking house of Messrs. Ferguson and Co. in Calcutta, had gone
bankrupt! A trifling dividend
was to be paid to its creditors before the firm folded, and there was to
be no appeal. Such a crisis at
Tidy’s time of life was distressing to say the least – his entire
fortune had vanished. Needless to say, the
remaining nineteen months of his life were spent undertaking his
military duties during the rebellion
suppression at this time, and once more gaining the admiration of his
men. Lieutenant Colonel Francis
Skelly Tidy passed from this world on the 9th October 1835 aged 60, and
was buried at the Kingston
garrison in Canada. Harriet was convinced that the many years of disease
ridden locations were the sole
cause of his early demise. A fitting tribute was later affected by one
singular occurrence; Sergeant major
Maltby, being quartered in Canada, requested in his last moments, that
he might be laid in a
grave close to that of his old commanding officer. Having three rounds
fired over the grave, the volleys
served a dual-purpose, having been one of Tidy’s earnest wish; the
firing party and the deceased, were
all men of the 14th Regiment.
Such was the career and life of a dedicated regimental officer of the
old school. Serving his country
with distinction during some of the most critical periods in history,
and a veteran of merit who through devotion and loyalty to his country, raised himself beyond the
limitations of most.
Perhaps our hero should have followed in the footsteps of one of his
‘Waterloo Boys’, Mr Matthew
John Marsh, one of the ‘Johnny Raws’ in the 14th Foot Regiment at
Waterloo, who had also later served
in the East Indies. With the prize money obtained in the war and a
legacy he received at the time, he
bought his discharge and returned to fairer shores. On his way back to
England from India he passed
through Paris and was present at the second burial of Napoleon, giving a
profound conclusion to his
military career. Matthew lived to the ripe old age of ninety-two.
(18)
References:
1)
United Service Journal and Naval and Military Magazine. Vol 33, part
2, June to Aug 1840. Pages
205-214, 353-359 & 474-481.
2)
Victor Hughes appointed governer of Guadeloupe in 1794. Took
horrifying revenge on any who
supported the British cause.
3)
USJ. Page 207.
4)
Recollections of An Old Soldier: A biographical sketch of the Late
Colonel Tidy, C.B. By Mrs Ward.
London Richard Bentley 1849. Page 40.
5)
Recollections. Page 57.
6)
Probably the best recent study of the 3/14th is written by Steve
Brown, for the Napoleon series web
site, entitled ‘A very pretty little battalion’.
7)
Keppell, George Thomas. Fifty Years of my Life. New York: Henry Holt
& Company1877. Page
102.
8)
Fifty Years of my Life. Page 103.
9)
Recollections. Page 106.
10)
Lt. Lonsdale Boldero. 1st Regt Foot Guards.
11)
Brett-James, Antony. The Hundred Days. London Macmillan & Co. 1964.
Page 205.
12)
Recollections. Page 104.
13)
Recollections. Page 105.
14)
Bowden, Scott. Armies at Waterloo. Empire Press. 1983.
15)
A Brief memoir of Major-Gen. Sir John Geo. Woodford, A paper read to the
Keswick literary and
scientific society on March 29th 1880. by J. Fisher Crosthwaite, F.S.A.
London 1883. Page 23 & 29. Sir
John Woodford was the brother of Sir Alexander Woodford.
16)
Letter from Lt Col Francis Skelly Tidy, held by the Yorkshire
regiment, at the York Army Museum.
Headed: The camp in the Bois de Bologne, 8th July 1815. A copy of which
was kindly lent to me by
Paul F. Brunyee, Honorary Editor of The Waterloo Association.
17)
A good description of the affairs at Cambray can be found in: The
Battle of Waterloo, containing a series of accounts published by
authority, British & Foreign with circumstantial details relative to the
battle. By a near observer. 1816. Also Colville’s letters in, The
Portrait of a General by John Colville.
Michael Russell publishing. 1980.
18)
Obituary of Mr Matthew John Marsh. Guardian. June 9, 1886.
Inscription
To
The Memory
OF
COLONEL F.S. TIDY C.B.
Who died whilst in Command of
His Majesty’s 24th Regiment of Foot
in this Garison
on the 9th October 1835
at the Age of
60 Years
This Tomb was Erected by
The Officers Non Commissioned Officer Brigade
of the above Corp
a Tribute
of
RESPECT AND ESTEEM
for
COLONEL AND OFFICER
who served his
KING AND COUNTRY
___hfully
for a period of
43 years
The Portsmouth Napoleonic Society
