The Exploits and Ailments of Sir Evelyn Wood

[Music] alexandrina victoria was just 18 years old when she became queen of the united kingdom of great britain and ireland on june 20 1837 her extraordinary 63-year and seven month long reign represented an astounding growth of empire when she ascended to the throne in 1837 the british empire was in decline as history extra the official website of the bbc history magazine notes in 1837 the empire was just a jumbled collection of territories that had been acquired in bits and pieces over the generations in less than 30 years of victoria's reign that empire would quintuple in size by the end of the century it was the largest empire the world had ever known ruling over a quarter of the earth's land mass and a quarter of the earth's population their many explanations for the extraordinary growth of the british empire in the victorian era but not least among them were the red coats of the british army we could spend dozens of episodes talking about officers of the victorian army and we may well in the future but i think no officer represents a more harrowing example of the officers who grew and preserved victoria's empire than the strange story of field marshal sir henry evelyn wood a man of extraordinary bravery and weak constitution the exploits and ailments of field marshal evelyn wood are history that deserve to be remembered born henry evelyn wood although he never went by the name henry evelyn wood was the fifth and youngest son of a vicar sir john page wood born in a vicarage near braintree essex february 9 1838 wood came from a distinguished family his paternal grandfather had been mayor of london a paternal uncle would become lord height chancellor his maternal grandfather had been an admiral in the portuguese navy and a maternal uncle would become an admiral in the royal navy still despite being a baronet sir john pagewood had difficulty supporting his large family on a vicar salary and evelyn woods struggled with finances for much of his life evelyn studied briefly at marlboro college an institution founded to teach sons of the church of england clergy but discipline there was harsh and after receiving what he thought was an unjust beating he begged to leave school and joined the royal navy at the age of just 15. he was able to secure an appointment as a midshipman an officer of the lowest rank due to the efforts of his uncle who was at the time a post captain there was little formal training for officers at the time and none in classroom he began service aboard the 110 gun first-rate ship of the line hms queen he passed his midshipmen exam just in time to sail for the brutal war in the crimea it was in this conflict that evelyn wood just 16 years old would demonstrate what seemed to be a virtually required trait for a successful officer in the british military in the victorian era and almost suicidal bravery wood was assigned to the naval contingent naval personnel serving on land he was part of the crew that operated a battery of large naval guns bombarding the russian citadel at sevastopol the capital of the crimea firing the canada would leave evelyn hard of hearing for the rest of his life woods bravery at the battery first drew the attention of the commander of the naval brigade royal navy captain sir robert peale who's the son of the former prime minister for leading a party bringing a powder to his battery under fire an action which peel described as gallant wood would engage in many other notable acts of bravery expose himself to fire to repair a piece of broken battlement during an artillery exchange the roof of a powder magazine was set alight nobody dared approach as the magazine could explode but young wood climbed on the roof and managed to stamp out the fire in the summer of 1855 the allies attempted to break the siege via a number of abortive attacks on the russian defenses in june the british began a suicidal assault on a strategic part of the russian defenses in what became called the battle of the great radan the battle consisted of frontal assaults on a fortification during which they suffered heavy casualties some six thousand british soldiers and sailors would be killed or wounded in days of fruitless assaults wood had been made peels aid to camp during the battle and participated in assault on june 18th during his attack the 17 year old midshipman carried a scaling ladder and was the only one in the assault to reach the radan his left arm was shattered by grapeshot from a russian cannon and he was knocked unconscious he was saved by a corporal from an irish regiment who managed to bring him to consciousness by shaking his wounded arm the soldier took him back to a doctor with the irish regiment who according to woods memoir said sit down boy and i'll have your arm off before you know where you are wood then had to manage an escape from the irish doctor making it back to the naval contingent where he was able to convince the doctor to save the arm his various acts of bravery led peel to recommend wood for a new metal one that had not yet been officially established but was rumored called the victoria cross it was wood's first but not his last recommendation for the highest award in the british armed forces for valor in the face of the enemy the award wasn't granted at the time but he did receive the french legion of honor and the ottoman order of the medidy peel wrote wood's father you'll be glad to hear that not only did your son show the most beautiful courage in battery but his conduct and manners are as exemplary as his courage perhaps most useful woods bravery attracted the attention of lord raglan commander of the british army in the crimea who wrote a letter complementing him but the wound the first of many to come in the life of evelyn wood refused to heal and he was invalid at home in many ways this wound could be said to be emblematic of the travails of evelyn wood as it was healing the wound pushed out bone splinters he managed to reopen it twice once while hunting and another time when he fell down the barrack stairs when he left the navy and joined a cavalry unit the 13th light dragoons is at coronet a move made possible because of the letter from lord ragland his arm was still in a sling upon joining this regiment he was almost immediately posted back to the crimea arriving in january 1856 but unfortunately for wood he saw no more battle in the crimea he was struck down with both typhoid and pneumonia he was hospitalized at schootari in one of florence nightingales hospitals illness was not uncommon in the filthy conditions in which the armies lived in the crimea a war in which more than four times as many britons died of disease than to battle the conditions there may have been part of what spurred would to push for reforms within the army in his later career but for what it was the beginning of a pattern wood would suffer constant medical complaints and injuries during his long career in addition to typhoid fever and pneumonia he suffered from chronic neuralgia and indigestion and had bouts of malaria dysentery and sunstroke he had periods of deafness eye problems and toothache he was a chronically excitable man who would often work until exhaustion and not surprising given all his actual conditions was an inveterate hypochondriac he also suffered numerous injuries an avid hunter he was described as an expert horseman in a cracked shot and yet still had frequent falls in accidents while hunting in the hospital for five months he became so emaciated that his hip bone started to protrude through his skin he was only saved because his mother came to visit him when she saw one of florence dungale's nurses strike her ill son she demanded to bring him back home where she nursed him back to health by october 1857 he had recovered enough to secure a transfer to the 17th lancers that allowed him to go to india to fight in the sepoy rebellion the indian rebellion of 1857 was revolt by some regiments of the native soldiers called sepoys of the british east india company army there were many reasons for the rebellion and early war for indian independence which only took place in parts of the country but the fight was brutal for both combatants and civilians although would arrive towards the end of the rebellion the 20 year old lieutenant saw enough action to be recommended a second time for the victoria cross this time for single-handedly routing a group of mutineers who had surrounded him but he was also well himself he suffered from sun stroke fever a type of facial neuralgia that gave him what he called face ache and chronic indigestion he mysteriously lost his hearing for a period of time and medicine he used for a toothache burned a hole in his cheek while hunting he rode into a tree and broke his collarbone another time he was bitten on the hand by a wounded tiger which was killed in the nick of time by another officer in one of his most bizarre injuries he was visiting a local prince who had a menagerie that included a giraffe another officer bet him he could not write it wood climbed onto a balcony and managed to ride the animal but there was no good way to get off he fell and the giraffe stepped on his face his cheekbones came through both cheeks and his nose was crushed he breathed with an audible wheezing noise for the rest of his life yet he was as brave and daring as ever after rebellion ended many of the rebellious sepoys became bandits on december 19th 1859 wood leading just 10 cavalrymen charged a group of 80 bandits he killed several and scattered the wraths rescuing two hostages that were being held for ransom the action earned him his third victoria cross recommendation and this time it was awarded but illness returned in 1860 and stricken with fever he returned to england he attended staff college a place where he made many important connections most notably he impressed garnet woolsey one of the most famous generals in the army in fact touted by the press as our only general the two never became good friends but woolsey was impressed by wood's energy and intelligence wood would become one of those officers that woesley took with him on his campaigns a group that came to be called the wolseley ring but evelyn wood was still evelyn wood while at staff college he went hunting fell off his horse and landed on the crown of his head so that quote his neck swelled up larger than his cheekbones giving the appearance of a giant double goiter his children caught a fever and he helped nurse them back to health but it caused so much stress to him that he got insomnia a doctor prescribed morphine and he nearly died of an overdose in 1873 woolsey was selected to lead a campaign in one of the series of conflicts against the ashanti empire on africa's gold coast woolsey selected wood a brevard lieutenant colonel to be his transport officer and to raise a native regiment wood who had suffered numerous tropical diseases and chronic medical complaints over his entire life went but he was not allowed to bring a servant because the army said the climate was particularly fatal to the constitutions of europeans in addition to his normal medical complaints he was taking laudanum and chloradine for his intestinal complaints in a brief skirmish wood was struck in the chest by an ashanti firearm the weapon was a smooth bore gun that used rocks or pieces of metal as ammunition and a nail was stuck in wood's chest near his heart doctors decided that it was too risky to remove and the nail stayed with him for the rest of his life wood only stayed on the stretcher for a brief time before getting up and leading his troops woolsey's troops had arrived in january 1874 and the war was over by july victory made wellesley a household name in england and raised the reputation of wood who was knighted in 1878 wood went to south africa where he served on the staff of lieutenant general augustus theisiger in part of the series of border wars called the hosa wars wood had a good reputation although a subordinate wrote about him he's so plucky that he imagines that everyone is like him and would lead us into trouble if there's any serious fighting his medical conditions followed him however and aides complained that they had to carry a virtual chemist shop with them to treat all his ailments wood earned thiezinger's respect and when in 1879 britain went to war with the zulu kingdom the general by then having inherited the title lord shemsferd appointed wood to command one of the three columns attacking into zulu land the anglo-zulo war was a messy campaign where the british army suffered notable defeats and as a result was called a graveyard of reputations for the officers involved but not so for evelyn wood when shemsler's central column faced a devastating defeat at the battle visiting shemsworth sent a note to wood saying you must be prepared to have the whole of the zulu army on your hands any day wood made his own missteps with his cavalry being defeated in the march 28 battle of flo bane but the next day the zulu army attacked wood's well-defended camp in the battle of cambola wood showed his shooting prowess in the battle reportedly killing a zulu chief at a range of 250 yards the zulu were defeated in what was the turning point in the war and wood was the hero while the defeat at kambula convinced the zulu chief quechua that he could not win the war the war continued until the defeat of the zulu army at the battle of ulundi in july but wood was still wood became so hard of hearing that when he went to inspect his sentries at night and aid always went with him because they were afraid he wouldn't hear a century's challenge and get shot in 1881 wood was sent as a second in command when the british went to war with the boer republics what arrived too late however for the first anglo-boer wars the british force was defeated in its commander sir george cawley killed at the disastrous battle of mujab hill instead of continuing the fighting wood was ordered to negotiate an unpopular treaty despite the fact that he was following orders woolsey was furious with him and he was still evelyn wood while traveling in an artillery wagon the horses were spooked by a snake and bolted running the wagon into a termite mound wood was thrown out of the wagon landing with his spine across the back of one of the horses an injury which caused his feet to swell to enormous size eventually wood would become so hard of hearing that willie complained that he grew horse from yelling at him by the end of the 1884-85 nile expedition wherewood was responsible for transport woolsey said that wood was so disabled from diarrhea that he could scarcely stand for more than a few minutes during the campaign he sat in a folding chair and accidentally cut his finger in the joint crushing the tip so that it was like jelly in his later career wood served in several important commands in england where he became an army reformer he pushed for better food clothing housing sanitary conditions and medical care for soldiers queen victoria liked him very much she described him as a remarkable man not only an admirable general with plenty of dash as well as prudence but a man of what can be called imperial views he was made adjutant general of the army and in 1903 was promoted to the rank of field marshal and yet he was still evelyn wood in 1897 59 years old and a full general in the army he took up the new craze of bicycling in london he accidentally ran his bicycle into a horse that was pulling a hackney cab and the horse bit him on the arm so hard that it left a mark that like the shanty nail and the nose crushed by a giraffe and the loss of hearing from his time in the navy lasted him for the rest of his life in 1900 he took a fall while hunting and it drove a crucifix that he had been wearing that had belonged to his late wife into his rib cage some accounts claim that victorious armies were in action somewhere in the world during every day of her 63-year seven-month reign it was officers like evelyn wood that held the empire for her majesty wood retired from active service in 1904 although field marshals never officially retire after leaving active service he wrote several books he was made under a colonel of the 14th middlesex volunteer corps and in 1911 was appointed constable of the tower of london field marshal sir evelyn wood vc passed away peacefully at home in his bed in 1919 of heart failure at the age of 81. i hope you enjoyed this episode of the history guy short snippets have forgotten history between 10 and 15 minutes long and if you did enjoy please go ahead and click that thumbs up button if you have any questions or comments or suggestions for future episodes please write those in the comment section i will be happy to personally respond be sure to follow the history guy on facebook instagram twitter and check out our merchandise on teespring.com and if you'd 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Channel: The History Guy: History Deserves to Be Remembered

Views: 211,690

Keywords: history, history guy, the history guy, british history, victorian soldier, evelyn wood, world history

Id: OrbFfd7m7Ik

Length: 16min 37sec (997 seconds)

Published: Wed Oct 14 2020