Halik Kochanski's 'Sir Garnet Wolseley. Victorian Hero'

The Hambleton Press first edition -

The long gap between this Blog and the last one can be explained under two headings:

• I was asked to read and produce a Review for the Richard III Society's Journal, The Ricardian Bulletin, on the latest Scott Mariani novel. Since the Review will not be published until June, I daren't use it as a Blog until then.
• I must admit I struggled with this Biography of Sir Garnet Wolseley. The first nine chapters, detailing his early life onwards, until the fiasco relating to the failure to rescue Gordon from Khartoum, were interesting and plain sailing. This took me up to page 176 out of 275; however, the last hundred or so pages were very heavy-going and I kept putting the book down. Well, I have finished just before the end of March. But to Blog on just two books must be one of my lowest monthly totals ever.

I am a great believer in heroes and heroines. From my teenage years, when I had photos of (usually nubile!) film actresses and tennis players (who now remembers the South Africans Sandra Reynolds, now 91!; Annette Van Zyl, just 81? - well, I do) pinned on my locker walls; and, later, the wonderful Argentinian Gabriela Sabatini - now a mere 54. My early interest in History at school was stimulated by my awe when reading about heroes such as Henry V, Prince Rupert and the Marquis of Montrose. Later, it became more nuanced, as I studied the careers of William Gladstone, Cavour and Garibaldi. History, to me, has always been about individuals. In Literature, it was Trollope, Scott, Stevenson, Susan Ferrier, Thomas Hardy; in Art, the Pre Raphaelites and most of the Impressionists. If I had grown up in the late 19th century, undoubtedly, Sir Garnet would have been a hero of mine.

The secrets to Wolseley's long career were threefold. He was undoubtedly talented; he was driven by ambition to reach the top; and he was lucky. He saw action in the Crimean War, then was plucked out of a group of staff officers during the Indian Mutiny and given a staff job; whilst in the relative backwater of Canada, he gained further advancement when the Red River expedition was decided upon. After a period in South Africa in 1879-80, the patronage of well-placed politicians made up for his lack of social connections. It meant administrative posts at the War Office - Quartermaster General, Adjutant General and, finally, Commander-in Chief.

However, it was his innate ability which brought him this career success. He was a master of small wars - in Canada, West Africa, South Africa, Egypt and the Sudan He excelled in administration and logistics; planning each campaign before arriving at the war front and always advancing with great care. He was certainly respected by his troops and most of his peers, but he seemingly was too cold and distant to win their affection. A vital ingredient in Wolseley's success was his ability to select able subordinates. His 'Ring' of officers may have been criticised for being too 'narrow', but they were usually effective. He also recognised the value of the improved education provided by the Staff College. In his later years, driven by a desire to improve the efficiency of the army, he proved to be an extremely talented and energetic administrator at the War Office. He was a major exponent and defender of the newly introduced short service system and the Army Reserve. Leo Amery praised him for having helped to awaken the national consciousness out of the self-satisfied full-bellied drowsiness in which it had so long rested. One of Wolseley's greatest achievements was the organisation of the British army into army corps ready for mobilisation for service at home or abroad. The 1914 British Expeditionary Force was organised on the system he had drawn up in the 1880s. As the author says at the very end of the biography, in such a way Wolseley was the father of the modern British army and fully merits the statue of him looking out over Horse Guards Parade.

Finally, I found his comments to the then Commander in Chief of the British Army, the Duke of Cambridge, when out in the Sudan (and having failed to rescue Gordon), very enlightening.

We cannot flatter ourselves that we are here to fight for an oppressed people, to help a population struggling to be free or to put down slavery. None of the spurious and clap trap pretexts under which we so often invade uncivilised countries will serve us here...