Richard Thomas Glyn
Richard Thomas Glyn was a British Army officer. He joined the 82nd [Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Volunteers)] in 1850 after his father purchased him an ensign's commission. Glyn served with the regiment in the Crimean War and rose in rank to captain before transferring to the 24th (The 2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot in 1856. He served with that regiment in the Indian Mutiny and was appointed to command it in 1872. In 1875 he accompanied the 1st Battalion of the regiment on service in the Cape Colony and fought with them in the 9th Cape Frontier War of 1877–78. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath after the war.
Glyn commanded No. 3 Column, including men from both battalions of his regiment, during the first British invasion of Zululand in 1879. Whilst Glyn was accompanying Lieutenant-General Lord Chelmsford on a reconnaissance, the column's camp was attacked and overrun in the Battle of Isandlwana, with almost 600 men of the 24th Regiment killed. In the aftermath of the Battle of Rorke's Drift Glyn assumed command of the British garrison there. Though suffering from depression and a mental breakdown he made orders to recover the missing Queen's Colour of the 1st Battalion and to bury the bodies of his men. He was excluded from a court of enquiry held by Chelmsford into the defeat at Isandlwana and survived an attempt by Chelmsford's staff to blame him for the disaster.
Glyn commanded a brigade in the second invasion of Zululand that brought the war to an end with a British victory, for which he was appointed a Companion of the [Order of St Michael and St George]. He returned to the United Kingdom after the war to command the regimental depot at Brecon, Wales, and superintended the transformation of the 24th Regiment into the South Wales Borderers. Glyn was promoted to general rank before his retirement, after which he served in the ceremonial role of colonel of the regiment of the South Wales Borderers until his death.
Early career
Glyn was born on 23 December 1831 in Meerut in the Ceded and Conquered Provinces of the Bengal Presidency of British India. He was the only son of Richard Carr Glyn, a civil officer of the East India Company, and Jane Florentia. Glyn's great-grandfather was Sir Richard Glyn, 1st Baronet, of Ewell. Glyn was raised in England where he enjoyed country pursuits such as riding and hunting. He stood only in height but was strongly built.Glyn joined the 82nd Regiment of Foot (Prince of Wales's Volunteers) as an ensign when his father purchased him a commission on 16 August 1850. Glyn received promotion to lieutenant, also by purchase, on 24 June 1853 and served with his regiment in Ireland. He was deployed with his regiment to the Crimean War in late 1855, arriving on 2 September and being posted to the Siege of Sevastopol. Vacancies that arose in the field, such as deaths by enemy action or disease, could be filled without purchase and Glyn was promoted in this manner to the rank of captain on 7 September 1855. Glyn did not take part in combat directly but was present with his regiment at the Battle of the Great Redan on 8 September. Although the British action was unsuccessful, their allies, the French, won a victory the same day at the Battle of Malakoff that brought about the Russian withdrawal from Sevastopol. There was little more land-based combat during the war and Glyn and the 82nd Foot served only on garrison duty until the March 1856 Treaty of Paris ended the conflict. For his service in the war he received the Crimea Medal, with the Sevastopol clasp, and the Ottoman Empire's Turkish Crimea Medal.
Glyn transferred to the 24th (The 2nd Warwickshire) Regiment of Foot on 30 September 1856. That same year he married Ann Penelope Clements, the daughter of colonel (United Kingdom)|Lieutenant-Colonel] Frederick William Clements of the Royal Canadian Rifle Regiment; they went on to have four daughters and two sons. Glyn's honeymoon was curtailed when his regiment was posted to India in response to the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny. He served with General Colin Campbell's force that relieved the Siege of Lucknow in November and took part in subsequently operations that brutally quelled the rebellion by 1858. For his actions, Glyn received the Indian Mutiny Medal. He remained in India for a period after the mutiny, joined by his family, and spent much time hunting. The regiment raised a second battalion in 1858 and was afterwards posted on garrison duty across the British Empire.
Glyn was promoted to the rank of major by purchase on 23 July 1861 and to lieutenant colonel, also by purchase, on 13 February 1867 when his battalion was garrisoned on Malta. Glyn's two infant sons, Richard Oliver Cooper and John Keane, are buried in the island's Ta' Braxia Cemetery. Glyn received command of the 24th Regiment in February 1872, when the unit was garrisoned at Gibraltar, and on the 13th of that month was granted the brevet rank of colonel. At Gibraltar he spent time hunting across the border in nearby Spain.
Southern Africa
The 1st Battalion of the 24th Regiment was posted to the Cape Colony in Southern Africa in November 1875 and Glyn accompanied them; the posting gave him ample opportunity for the hunting of the black-backed jackal. Glyn established a formal hunt with himself as master and three of his battalion's subalterns as whips. He kept a pack of hounds, which he exercised three times a week, and led expeditions that lasted up to ten days at a time. Glyn and his officers also took part in the shooting of birds and small game animals. Glyn's family had accompanied him to the Cape and his officers considered that he was so keen on hunting as it offered an escape from his all-female household. Among his subalterns, Lieutenant Nevill Coghill, who lodged for a time with the Glyns, was a particular favourite.American historian Donald Morris writing in 1965 characterised Glyn, during this period, as "a short, grouchy officer" who frequently fell out with his subordinates. British historian Adrian Greaves in 2012 described him as "steady and unflappable" but also "unimaginative and lethargic" and fortunate to have capable subordinates to see to the duties of the battalion. In 1876 Glyn led the battalion on an arduous two-month, march from Cape Town to Kimberley as the civil authorities feared that a rebellion might break out in the recently-established colony of Griqualand West. Upon reaching the colony Glyn determined that the swift arrival of his men had been sufficient to dissuade any potential rebels and they soon marched back to the Cape.
9th Cape Frontier War
Following the Eighth Xhosa War of 1850-53 and European settlement of British Kaffraria, the Gcaleka house of the Xhosa people were confined to a reserve between the Great Kei and Mbashe rivers. Fingoland, home of the Fengu people, former vassals of the Xhosa, was put under the protection of the Cape Colony. A drought in 1877 led to friction between the Gcaleka and the Fengu, erupting into bloodshed at a wedding feast on 3 August and starting the 9th Cape Frontier War. The Cape Colony intervened but, because of a disagreement over authority, the imperial military, of which Glyn was a part, was relegated to a defensive role. Glyn commanded the garrison at King William's Town and established a series of posts along the Great Kei River to secure the frontier. Although initially successful in defeating Xhosa attacks, the Cape Colony's expeditionary force withdrew to the British side of the frontier in mid-November after suffering severe logistical problems.The Gcaleka convinced the Ngqika Xhosa to join them and, with the frontier threatened, the British High Commissioner for Southern Africa, Henry Bartle Frere, overrode the colonial authorities and placed the imperial army on the offensive. Glyn was granted the acting rank of brigadier-general and placed in command of the Army of the Transkei, under the overall command of Lieutenant-General Arthur Cunynghame. Few of the Cape Colony forces agreed to join the army so it was reinforced by naval brigades and irregular mounted infantry units raised from British settlers. Following Cunynghame's orders, Glyn's troops entered the Gcaleka Reserve in three columns. The Gcaleka largely ignored the British troops and slipped across the Great Kei River to join forces with the Ngqika and threaten the British rear. Glyn's forces progressed well, defeating those Gcaleka who remained in the reserve by employing new tactics laid out in the 1877 Field Exercise and Evolution of Infantry. Rather than the traditional rigid, close order formations used by British infantry, the new manual recommended open-order skirmishing formations with individual soldiers given more freedom of movement. Despite Glyn's success, operations were suspended in early January 1878 because of the summer heat.
Glyn resumed his campaign after the worst of the heat had passed and on 13 January led a force of almost 200 men of his battalion, together with some mounted policemen and Fengu auxilliaries, from Centane to Nyamaga to engage a Gcaleka force that was planning to attack the British position. Glyn's force included two RML 7-pounder mountain guns, crewed by his bandsmen due to a lack of Royal Artillery personnel. Upon coming in range of the Gcaleka, the artillery opened fire and forced the Xhosa to retreat behind a ridgeline. Glyn ordered his forces to advance and, after a short firefight, the Gcaleka withdrew from the field, pursued by the Fengu. Glyn afterwards established bases across the Gcaleka Reserve to allow his forces to sweep the territory and destroy the Xhosa's food supply. This, as Glyn had intended, left the Xhosa leaders little choice but to commit to a decisive battle. In the 7 February Battle of Centane a force of 5,000-6,000 Xhosa attacked a British force that Glyn deployed in open skirmish lines anchored on his entrenched artillery. The weight of fire proved sufficient to prevent the Xhosa from closing with the British and around 400 Xhosa, mainly Gcaleka, were killed for the loss of two Fengu dead and nine wounded on the British side. The battle effectively ended the Gcaleka involvement in the war.
For political reasons Cunynghame was recalled to Britain and replaced by Lieutenant-General Frederic Thesiger on 2 March. He was able to repair relations with the Cape Colony's command and prosecute a combined war effort. March also saw the arrival of the 2nd Battalion of the 24th Regiment in Africa to join the war, an unusual instance in this period of both battalions of foot regiment serving in the same campaign. The Ngqika raided Cape settlements before withdrawing into the forested and mountainous terrain of their reserve. With Glyn still conducting sweeping operations in the Transkei, Thesiger ordered an offensive into the Ngqika Reserve with a number of columns, including men of the 2nd Battalion of the 24th Regiment. Demoralised by the terrain and the Ngqika's guerrilla tactics the British, colonial and Fengu forces failed to achieve a decisive victory. The offensive ended in late March, with British forces withdrawn to King William's Town in early April to rest and resupply.
It was only after a change of tactics to establish garrisons within the Ngqika Reserve and destroy their food and shelter, as Glyn had done with the Gcaleka, that Thesiger brought the Ngqika Xhosa to submission in July. Glyn declared the Transkei fully pacified in August and withdrew his forces; the remaining Ngika were expelled from their lands, relocated to the Gcaleka reserve and brought under the control of white settlers. Glyn received commendations for his work during the war from the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, and from Frere. Glyn was rewarded for his service by appointment as a Companion of the Order of the Bath on 11 November 1878.
Anglo-Zulu War
From July 1878 the 24th Regiment began to be posted to Natal Colony in anticipation of service in the planned Anglo-Zulu War. At this point Glyn was the second-most-senior British officer in Southern Africa, after Thesiger, who had since inherited the title of Baron Chelmsford. Chelmsford planned to invade Zululand in three columns and gave Glyn command of his No. 3 Column, the central and principal British force. On 30 November Glyn left his family behind at Pietermaritzburg and marched with his regiment to Helpmekaar, near to the border with the Zulu Kingdom. Chelmsford accompanied No. 3 Column during the January 1879 invasion of Zululand and allowed Glyn little independence; the general took on many of the decisions that would normally be made by the field commander and left Glyn with only routine and unimportant duties.Glyn, under Chelmsford's direct supervision, commanded the troops in the opening action of the war, at Sihayo's Kraal on 12 January 1879. On their way to the Zulu capital of Ulundi, No. 3 Column made camp at Isandlwana on 20 January. Chelmsford's own regulations required all camps in Zululand be entrenched for defence and for the oxen to be enclosed in a wagon laager. Neither measure was taken at Isandlwana as the ground was too hard and Chelmsford considered it would only be a temporary base. When Glyn suggested that a laager be formed Chelmsford dismissed the idea as "it would take a week to make one"; it had not been the practice to do so during the 9th Cape Frontier War.
On the morning of 22 January Glyn accompanied Chelmsford and around half of the column on a reconnaissance in force to Mangeni, where Zulu forces had been spotted. Lieutenant-Colonel Henry Pulleine of the 1st Battalion of the 24th Regiment was left in command of the camp with five companies of his men and one of the 2nd Battalion. Pulleine was later joined by the more senior Colonel Anthony Durnford, with additional troops. During Glyn's absence, a large Zulu force attacked the camp in the Battle of Isandlwana, Pulleine deployed his men in the open order tactics Glyn and Chelmsford had used in the 9th Frontier War. The British position was outflanked and overrun by the Zulu with few British survivors; Durnford, Pulleine and almost 600 men of the 24th Regiment were killed. Glyn had been sent by Chelmsford to secure the site of the next camp near Mangeni but he and his men were hurriedly recalled when news of the disaster reached the general. Chelmsford's force reached Isandlwana after the battle was over and passed the night there among the ruin of the camp and the bodies of the dead. The force reached the supply base at Rorke's Drift, which a small British garrison of one company of the 2nd Battalion of the 24th Regiment had successfully defended against a Zulu attack, the next day.
Glyn's post-battle report on Isandlwana was emotional and written, in part, as an attempt to vindicate the actions of his officers in the battle. Because there were so few British survivors, some aspects were pure speculation. The report was the first official record of the actions of Lieutenants Teignmouth Melvill and Nevill Coghill, who had made an attempt to save the Queen's Colour of the 1st Battalion of the 24th Regiment but had been killed whilst fleeing the battlefield. After reading an account of Melvill and Coghill's actions from eyewitness Lieutenant Walter Higginson of the Natal Native Contingent, Glyn ordered a party to Isandlwana on 4 February to bury their bodies. A second party sent by Glyn later recovered the remains of the colour. The damaged colour was retrieved and later repaired by Glyn's wife Anne; it remained in use by the regiment until 1933.
Glyn was given command of Rorke's Drift by Chelmsford. He led a demoralised force, isolated from any immediate assistance and in fear of Zulu attack. Rainy conditions and the outbreak of disease did not help matters, nor Glyn's orders confining most of the garrison to the interior of the post. On 24 January the Natal Native Contingent at the post mutinied, being fearful for the safety of their families and unhappy at being left outside the post at night; after disarming them Glyn permitted them to leave. Glyn arranged the fortification of the post into Fort Bromhead and, later, established a new fort near the Buffalo River, Fort Melvill. Glyn's command was dysfunctional due to him being affected by depression; he suffered a temporary mental breakdown, took little interest in his work and remarked that he should have been with his men at Isandlwana. Captain Walter Jones of the Royal Engineers, present at Rorke's Drift in this period, noted that "Col. Glyn does nothing and is effete". The 24th Regiment's dead at Isandlwana went unburied until 20 June as Glyn insisted on the work being done by men of his regiment.
When Chelmsford held a court of inquiry into the defeat at Isandlwana on 27 January he chose not to call Glyn as a witness. The court served principally as a means of exonerating Chelmsford and placing the blame for the defeat on Durnford. Chelmsford's staff, lead by his military secretary Lieutenant-Colonel John North Crealock attempted to deflect the blame for Isandlwana onto Glyn, who was isolated at Rorke's Drift. Glyn, advised by his staff officer Major Francis Clery, refused to answer written requests for an account of his interpretation of Chelmsford's orders relating to the camp and to state who had ordered the movement of troops in or out of the camp. Glyn noted privately that Chelmsford knew what his orders had been and that his duty had been to obey them. Glyn's wife Ann was indignant at his treatment and robustly defended him, which, together with Chelmsford's disapproval, forced Chelmsford's staff to cease this line of action. Chelmsford wrote to the Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, Prince George, Duke of Cambridge, on 27 March to assure him that he had "no desire to cast any blame upon Colonel Glyn". He also rebuked Crealock for his ungentlemanly conduct and sent a letter to Glyn distancing himself from the actions of his staff.
By the end of April Glyn was at Dundee where Chelmsford was assembling the 2nd Division to lead the second invasion of Zululand. Chelmsford visited the camp and expressed shock at the lack of defensive measures taken, in a letter to Colonel Evelyn Wood he said "the camp here shows that neither nor Clery have learned anything from Isandlwana" and insisted on the site being entrenched. Glyn led the division's 1st Brigade during the advance on the Zulu capital of Ulundi, although Chelmsford noted he had made the appointment reluctantly "as there is absolutely no one who is better". Following the 1 June death in action of Louis-Napoléon, Prince Imperial, Glyn served as president of the court martial of Lieutenant Jahleel Brenton Carey, who had commanded the patrol that the Prince had accompanied. Carey was found guilty of misbehaviour before the enemy for riding off from the scene of the action, but the court could not decide on a punishment and he was sent back to Britain. The General of the Armed Forces|Judge Advocate General], James Cornelius O'Dowd, found the conviction unsound, as the Prince had exercised effective command of the patrol, and quashed it. Glyn commanded the infantry brigade at the 5 July Battle of Ulundi, the decisive last major battle of the war, which ended in British victory.
Later career and death
After the Zulu War Glyn returned to the United Kingdom with his family in September 1879. He relinquished his regimental command in May 1880 and was appointed to command the regiment's depot at Brecon, Wales, on half pay. Glyn was appointed a Companion of the Order of St Michael and St George on 30 October 1880 for his services in the Zulu War. He superintended the change of his regiment's name to the South Wales Borderers under the 1881 Childers Reforms and was given command of the 24th Regimental District created by those reforms.Glyn was promoted to major-general on 30 September 1882 and his appointment as commander of the regimental district ended on 6 December 1882. He was promoted to the honorary rank of lieutenant-general shortly before his retirement on 30 September 1887. During this period he lived in Mortimer Common in Berkshire. Glyn was appointed to the ceremonial role of colonel of the regiment of the South Wales Borderers on 29 May 1898.
Glyn died at his home, Chequers, in Stratfield Saye, Hampshire, on 21 November 1900, aged 68, not long after witnessing his regiment depart for Southern Africa for service in the Second Boer War. He is buried in his family's plot at St Mary's Church in Ewell, Surrey. A hoof from his horse, Yellow Rose, serves as an ash tray in the officers' dining room of the Royal Welsh, the successor regiment of the South Wales Borderers. Glyn's wife Ann died in 1927; three of their daughters survived into adulthood: Annie Jane who married William Maxwell Brander ; Elizabeth Mary and Alice Farquhar.