Mr John Kaye has most kindly responded to my request for any reminiscences of Sir George Pollock, during the many years of their close friendship; and I have much pleasure in laying before my readers his letter, which will be perused not only with interest, but with increased feelings of esteem for the deceased Field- Marshal.—C. R. L.]
[PB: This is Sir J. W. [John William] Kaye, author of Lives Of Indian Officers: Lives of Indian Officers: Illustrative of the History of the Civil and Military Service of India, 2 vols, [date?]. Also History Of The Indian Mutiny Of 1857-8 [? vols, date?], The Life and Correspondence of Major-General Sir John Malcolm, G. C. B., Late Envoy to Persia, and Governor of Bombay [? vols, date?], History of the War in Afghanistan, 3 vols, date?] &c. &c.
>>https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_William_Kaye<<
Dear Mr. Low,
You ask me to send you my recollections of the late Field-Marshal, Sir George Pollock, in aid of your forthcoming Memoir. In complying with your request, I am afraid that I shall disappoint your expectations, for I did not personally know him until after the close of his military career. Having had the honour to serve, for some years, in the distinguished regiment to which he belonged, I was necessarily familiar with his name and reputation; but it was not until he came down to Calcutta, to take his seat in the Supreme Council, that I made the acquaintance of the General—an acquaintance which soon ripened into a friendship, which is now one of the most cherished memories of my life.
The impression which he first made upon me was this: I thought that I had never known a man of such extreme modesty and simplicity of character; and my more matured experiences of nearly thirty years have not only confirmed, but strengthened, this impression.
Pollock and Nott were then the heroes of the day.
Every prisoner who had suffered, nay, indeed, almost [xvi] every officer who had served, in Afghanistan, was for a time a "lion;" and although Sir George did not arrive at Calcutta (for he had spent some time at the Court of Lucknow) when the popular enthusiasm was at its height, there was a general disposition on the part of the inhabitants of the Indian capital to mark their sense of his services by some public demonstrations of applause. But from all popular displays he shrunk with an amount of sensitiveness such as I have never seen equalled — though I have known other great soldiers to whom an after-dinner speech was more formidable than an enemy in the field. As, when the General reached Calcutta, whither his wife and unmarried daughter had preceded him, I was editing one of the principal daily papers of the Presidency, he begged me not to encourage any intended manifestations in his honour; and he not unjustly urged the state of his health as a reason for declining all public hospi talities. Indeed he was never in full bodily vigour during the whole time of his latter residence in Bengal.
When Sir George Pollock took his seat in Council, Sir Henry Hardinge was Governor-General. He found the old artilleryman a very zealous, a very con scientious, and a very useful coadjutor. When he returned to England as Lord Hardinge, and became, first, Master-General of the Ordnance, and then Com mander-in-Chief, he spoke to me more than once, in terms of the most cordial respect and affection, of the Sir John Kaye's Letter. [xvii] character of Sir George Pollock, and of the assistance rendered by the councillor to him with respect to all military details, and especially to everything connected with the Artillery service. Lord Hardinge had no class prejudices. He often said that the Bengal Artillery was the finest in the world; and, as Master-General of the Ordnance, he was always gratified by an opportunity of giving the son of a deserving Bengal Artillery officer a cadetship at the Woolwich Academy.
But these pleasant relations between the Governor- General and Sir George Pollock were not destined to be of long duration. The state of affairs on the North western frontier demanded the presence of the Go vernor-General in the Upper Country, and Pollock was slowly succumbing to the ravages of a distressing dis ease. It was at one time, indeed, considered that death was imminent; but a naturally strong constitu tion, and the temperate habits of his life enabled him to bear up against these assaults sufficiently to give him strength to embark for England. He arrived in a very feeble state of health; but he soon rallied under judicious treatment, and after a brief residence in Lon don, he took up his abode for a while at West Dray ton, in an old-fashioned house, where it was said that Oliver Cromwell had dwelt. He subsided very gracefully into a life of perfect repose. He was enjoy ing the pleasures of convalescence, and he did not ap pear to desire to return to any participation in public affairs. When I suggested to him that he might do good service as a member of the Court of Directors of [xviii]
the East India Company, he replied that he never could undergo the fatigue and worry of the canvass.
A heavy affliction soon fell upon him. His much- loved wife, the mother of his children, died. I had known her before I had known Sir George, and I re member with gratitude her kindness to me. She left five children to mourn her loss: Mrs. Harcourt, widow of Mr. J. Harcourt, of the Indian Medical Service, who was killed on the retreat from Caubul ' Frederick Pollock, the present Baronet, who had been a cadet with me at Addiscombe, who had achieved the great academical feat of obtaining "the Engineers in three terms," and who, but for a failure of health, must have gained distinction in the service; George David, then a rising young surgeon, who had been selected by Sir Benjamin Brodie and Sir Ranald Martin to represent them in Canada, with a view to arrest the ravages of the disease (or at least to mitigate its afflictions) which was eating into the life of Lord Metcalfe; Archibald Swiney, who was entering upon a career of good service as an Indian civilian; and Louisa, whom I first knew, full of hope and heart, before the blood stained battle-fields of the Sutlej blighted the one and broke the other. On these fields she lost her betrothed husband and one of her brothers, and she never recovered from the shock. Lieutenant Robert Pollock, of the Bengal Horse Artillery, who was killed at Moodkhee, had been his father's A.D.C. in Afghanistan. He was the first member of the family whom I ever knew. He was a charming, open-hearted, x . [xix] frank young fellow, and there was not a member of the old regiment who, knowing him, did not lament his death.
As a widower, Sir George Pollock resided, for some time, in a large house surrounded by pleasant garden grounds, at Battersea, where he was always glad to receive his intimate friends. He had entirely re covered his health, but he had not bethought himself of again entering public life. His daughter, Louisa, kept house for him; and it was the model of a Chris tian household. I spent many pleasant days under that hospitable roof; and I never left the house with out increased respect and affection for the master of it.
I well remember the day, in 1852, when he communicated to me his intention of entering a second time into the " holy state of matrimony." I was then going to the house of another very dear friend — a distin guished old Indian public (civil) servant (Mr. Thomas Campbell Robertson), who had held rank next to the Governor-General, and who had befriended me when little more than a boy. Sir George said that he would go with me in his carriage and deliver me at the door.
My new host was an old friend of the General, one who had assisted him greatly on the Afghan campaign; but Sir George said that he had engagements, and could not stop to see him. As we rode on—it was no great distance from Battersea to Belgravia—he told me that he was about to be married to Miss Wollaston, a lady residing on Clapham Common. I had too many associations with that place not to be intimately ac xx
quainted with her name and character, and I heartily congratulated him. It was a curious coincidence that, less than half an hour afterwards, the friend at whose house he had left me, communicated a similar inten tion to me in almost the same words.
Both unions were most happy in their results. I was present at Sir George Pollock's second marriage, and for the twenty years that followed it, I was a constant visitor at his home, which had then been removed to Clapham. He was perfectly happy and contented. I do not think that when he married he had any ambition again to enter into public life. But in 1853, when it was determined by the (Whig) Government of the day, that there should be a revision of the Company's Charter and a reconstitution of the Court of Directors, Sir Charles Wood, then President of the Board of Control, whilst propounding in the House of Commons the revised scheme of Indian Government, including the appointment of certain Government Directors of the East India Company, spoke in words not to be misunderstood of Sir George Pollock, as a man eminently qualified for such a post. It necessarily happened, therefore, that when the project became law, Pollock was the first on the list of the nominated Directors. I think that he was greatly pleased. It was an honour to have been so selected by the Crown. The work to be done in terested him greatly; and, moreover (for the military patronage of India still remained with the Court of Directors), the situation afforded him opportunities of xxi conferring benefits on his old comrades and friends; and this was very gratifying to his kindly heart.
He was very regular in his attendance at the India House, and he read, with characteristic conscientiousness, all the papers placed before him, as a member of the Military and Political Committee. His great military experience was of the highest value to the Home Government, and as he had considerable knowledge of the native character, and some fami liarity with native Courts, he was competent to take sound views of the political questions that were brought before him. He was not given either to much writing or to much speaking. Except on a few important occasions, when he knew that he had in formation to impart not possessed by any of his col leagues, he expressed his opinions in a few terse sen tences, always much to the point. Although he was younger at that time than some, who are now doing good service as members of the Council of India, he was afflicted with deafness, in a much more aggravated form in one ear than in the other, and this to some extent prevented him from following, as distinctly as he could have wished, all that was said in the de bates of the Court of Directors. But his colleagues, who, one and all, had the highest respect for the fine old soldier, endeavoured to remedy this inconvenience by placing him at the top of the Council table, with his sounder ear next to the Chairman, who propounded the business in hand, and was generally the principal speaker. But as members commonly entered the xxii
Court room, either with opinions previously formed, or with a foregone intention to " support the Chairs," it is probable that an inability to follow the course of debate did not much detract from the efficiency of a Director.
But it happened that, after Sir George Pollock had sat for two years as a Government Director of the East India Company, during which he had done more good work than the majority of his colleagues, the in firmities of age were cited against him, by the Presi dent of the Board of Control, as a reason for remov ing him from his post. It was stated afterwards that he was not removed; but this was a " distinction without a difference." The Act of Parliament de clared that a vacancy was to be created in the list of Crown Directors, on the expiration of every recurring period of two years, but that the Crown Director at the head of the list thus subjected to retirement was to be qualified for reappointment. Sir George Pol lock being the first on the list of the Crown Directors— a position which was intended to confer the highest honour upon him—was necessarily, therefore, the first to vacate his seat.
Virtually the Act contemplated the retirement of each Crown Director after a service of six years— which was the longest period for which any one was appointed—and the principle, which was contended for, of non-appointment for life, would have been sufficiently confirmed by a reappointment at the end of that term. It was a surprise, therefore, to every one xxiii to learn, that the President of the Board of Control had intimated to Sir George Pollock his intention not to reappoint him to the Board of Directors. Sir Henry Rawlinson was to be nominated in his place.
I remember Sir George saying to me—"Well, they could not have appointed a better man. He will make a better Director than I could ever be; but I was getting to understand my work, and might have been useful." I had, a very short time before, joined the establishment of the East India Company, and he honoured me by saying that nothing would grieve him more in leaving the India House than the ces sation of daily intercourse with me.
Those were kindly regrets. But that which excited Sir George Pollock's indignation was the manner in which the decision of the Crown Minister was con veyed to him. Honourable and truthful to the core, he abhorred subterfuges and disguises; and he was incensed in the extreme when he was told that an opportunity was afforded to him for acting out a sham by pretending to resign. " The Government ap pointed me," he said, " declaredly for the public good; and if they now think it for the public good that an other man should be appointed in my place, they have every right to do so. But why should they insult me by suggesting that I may tell alie?" If it were, as some said, "intended kindly," it was committed under a grievous misconception of the old soldier's character, among the most prominent features of which were his extreme openness and frankness—the trans- c 2 xxiv Sir John Kayea Letter.
parency, I may say, of his nature. But there were not wanting those who said that, in suggesting such a course, the Minister thought rather of screening himself from the condemnation with which the abrupt removal from his post of an officer so univer sally respected as Sir George Pollock was sure to be received. He did not say this—though his friends did—but he greatly resented the indignity that had been put upon him, and replied, as you know, to the Indian Minister's letter in becoming terms.
The remainder of his life was very tranquil. But he was never inactive. He had always work of some kind or other to do; if not for himself, for others. As his years increased, the strong human interest which he took in the worldly welfare of others seemed to increase with them. His works of charity and love were innumerable. He spared no amount of trouble to right a wrong, or to succour adversity, when his sympathies were moved and his convictions satisfied.
Nobody knew better than myself how much good he did, and how much he tried to do; for, with an exag gerated estimate of my powers to aid him, he fre quently came to me with some case of injustice done, or suffering endured, the evils of which he thought my official position might help him to remedy. Of the claims of the widows and children of his old com rades, he was ever an unfailing advocate. Although, on some points, in extreme old age, his memory was defective, it seemed to me to be perfectly clear and retentive, with respect to personal affairs of this kind [xxv in which he was interested, and his natural sagacity never deserted him. I do not know a case in which he was imposed upon by an unworthy claimant.
He was very hospitable almost to the last day of his life, and he was often to be seen at the table of some old familiar friend. The infirmity of deafness pre vented him from taking much part in general conver sation, but when the subject discussed was explained to him, his face would brighten up, and he would have something to say about it — perhaps some anecdote to narrate. It always pleased him to see happy faces around him. Many a time has he turned to me at the dinner-table and said, with a pleasant, half-humorous smile: " I don't understand a word you are all saying, but you seem very happy." He was very temperate—almost abstemious in his way of living, and was with difficulty to be persuaded to take even the very moderate quantity of wine that was neces sary for the support of his strength. I remember tell ing him that Lord Combermere had said that the Duke of Wellington would have lived longer if he had taken more wine. He laughed and answered, " I dare say." But I don't think the story was lost upon him.
After he had attained his eightieth year, two events occurred which deeply pained him. His brother Frederick, to whom he had all his life been cordially attached, died after a few weeks' illness. Although necessarily prepared for such a calamity, it was a heavy blow to George when it came. The two brothers were [xxvi
very fond and mutually proud of each other. There was nothing pleasanter than to hear the language in which the lawyer brother spoke of the soldier brother, or the soldier spoke of the lawyer. It was long before Sir George recovered from the effects of this bereavement. For many months I could observe a marked change in his appearance and demeanour. The death of his old friend and comrade, General Swiney, of the Bengal Artillery, also affected him greatly.
They had been friends for more than threescore years; and their names stood next to each other in the Army List. Swiney, who was a man of considerable lite rary and scientific attainments, and a most genial com panion, not only cherished the warmest affection for his old friend, but had a keen critical appreciation of Pollock's military services, and often wrote and spoke of them, as one well skilled in the theory of war. Those were white-letter days for both, when Swiney came up from Cheltenham, with some mem bers of his family, to spend a little time with his old friend on Clapham Common; and very sorry was Pollock when Swiney passed away from the scene.
" I shall soon follow him," he said; " my turn will come next." If, however, there were pains, there were pleasures also for him, in advanced age. It is not to be doubted that the cumulative honours which were bestowed upon Sir George Pollock, within the last few years of his life, afforded him much cor dial gratification. He had not solicited them. He [xxvii had never at any time been a disappointed man.
Nothing had ever soured the sweetness of his nature.
How it happened that these distinctions were so long deferred—that when, in the full freshness of his repu tation, that was not done which nearly thirty years afterwards was cheerfully accorded to him (I speak of the grant of an hereditary title), is among the marvels and mysteries of public life. That within a very brief period (after he had passed his eightieth year), he was made a Field-Marshal of the Army, a Baronet and Constable of the Tower, are facts very honourable to Mr. Gladstone, the Duke of Cambridge, and the Duke of Argyll; and they afford most encouraging proofs that really good service, though it may be overlooked for a time, in this country, is seldom forgotten.
The last public mark of respect that was shown to him was the solicitation of the Court of Directors of the East India Company, that he would become one of their body. It was but a shadowy distinction; still, as it was wholly unsought, it was a compliment to his high character. There were those who wished him to decline the offer, as he was far too conscien tious not to take his share of the work, whatever it might be; but when assured that the work was very light, and that it would be a disappointment to the Court if he declined to do them the honour of joining them, he consented to be elected and took his seat at the Board.
The summer of 1872 was an unusually trying one, not only to people of advanced age (for the [xxviii Sir John Kayes Ltiler.
changes of temperature were frequent and sudden), and the Field-Marshal suffered, as did many others, from derangement of the liver, but there was nothing to cause the least anxiety to his friends. In the early part of the autumn he appeared to me to be in excellent health and spirits. One of the last occasions on which I dined with him, very shortly be fore his death, was for the special purpose of meeting his favourite nephew—my friend General F. R. Pol lock, whom I had first met as a " griffin," in 1844, at Sir George's house at Cossipore, and who had now recently returned from a special mission to Seistan.
We exchanged congratulations on the heartiness and cheerfulness of the Field-Marshal, and thought that he might attain to the age of the oldest of the Con stables of the Tower. I was, therefore, as much surprised as I was shocked, to receive on Sunday, the 6th of October, a telegraphic message from Walmer, whither he had gone with Lady Pollock on a visit to Mrs. Wollaston, announcing that the Field- Marshal had died suddenly, in the morning, at that place. He had been full of life on the preceding day, and had gone to Walmer Castle to leave his card on Lord Granville, Warden of the Cinque Ports.
On seeing it, the Warden, observing that Sir George Pollock was not to be treated as an ordinary visitor, requested the Field-Marshal to come in and see him.
Whether any thought passed over the old soldier's mind that another Constable of the Tower had been Warden of the Cinque Ports, and that he had died Sir John Kuyes Letter. [xxix beneath the roof under which they were then con versing, can only be vaguely surmised. But it is at least a coincidence worthy to be noted in your book, that two Field-Marshals, Constables of the Tower, died in that little sea-coast place within a period of twenty years.
His mind seemed to be very active at that time.
He had taken down with him a volume of the Calcutta Review, which contained an article I had written, many years before, reviewing Stocqueler's " Life of Sir William Nott. Sir George had asked me if I had seen the book. Quite forgetting that he had himself read it at the time of publication, he spoke of it as something new to him. I called his attention to the criticism, which had, indeed, been based upon his own notes or oral observations; and when, on the day before his death, he read it over very carefully, all the incidents referred to in it came back to his mind, and he commented with obvious satisfaction on its accuracy. Those about him, indeed, were much struck with the clearness with which he seemed to recall even comparatively un important details connected with that eventful period of his life. He had also carried with him to Walmer the " Memoirs of Sir Henry Lawrence," by Edwardes and Merivale, and he asked one of the ladies of the family whether she had read them, saying that he especially wished her to read a letter written by Lawrence to his children after their mother's death. He sent for the book, pointed out [xxx
the letter, and spoke in the wannest terms of the high Christian tone that pervaded it. Of Henry Lawrence's character, Sir George Pollock had the most genuine admiration, and he expressed himself on this occasion very strongly about it. I believe that Lawrence thought that his old commandant had scarcely done him justice, with respect to his services in Afghanistan. But I am sure that, if it were so, the omission must have been purely accidental; not only on account of what I have above said, but because I never knew a man, who was more habi tually disposed to give credit to others for the assis tance which they had rendered to him, and sometimes, indeed, for what he had done wholly himself. He often spoke to me, with gratitude and admiration, of the help which he had derived from the energy and ability of Henry Lawrence and Richmond Shake- spear throughout the war of Retribution; and said that he did not know how he should have got on without them.
A lady resident in the house, to whom I am indebted for some of the above details, and who then met Sir George Pollock I believe for the first time, says that she was greatly impressed by the gentleness and tenderness of his manner—his unwillingness to give trouble, and his thankfulness to all who in any way administered to his comforts. This was so habitual to him, that those who were in constant intercourse with the good old man, and know well the modesty of his nature, had ceased to take account Sir John Kaye's Letter. [xxxi of it. But strangers were greatly impressed with the sight of this exceeding unpretentiousness in one occupying so high a position and so long accustomed to command.
As illustrative of this trait of character, I may mention, that up to the very last, he would insist, when he came to see me at office, on ascending the laborious stairs leading to my room (an ascent of which men of not more than half his years often com plained), although I repeatedly begged him not to do so, saying that if he would send up his name to me, I should always be most pleased to go down to see him, either in a ground-floor room, or at his carriage door. His answer always was, that my time was of more value than his; and nothing could ever persuade him to let me do as I suggested.
When Sir George Pollock, on the evening before his death, retired to rest, he was in his usual health and spirits. He had all his life been an early riser, as had his brother the Chief Baron,* and on that Sunday morning he left his bed at the usual time and lighted the fire in his dressing-room, according to his wonted custom. "When his faithful attendant went into the room to take his master his usual cup of coffee, he found the Field-Marshal lying on a couch, • I remember Sir George Pollock George,—Having got up rather telling me one day, that he had earlier than usual (3.30), the best received a letter from his brother tiling that I can do is to write you Frederick, beginning—" My dear a letter." [xxxii]
apparently insensible. He summoned Lady Pollock, and some brandy was administered to the dying man.
He was asked if he was in any pain; he answered, " None," and that was the last word he ever spoke.
He passed away in perfect peace with himself and with all mankind.
I went down to Walmer to see him for the last time—in his coffin. I cannot write of that solemn interview with the dead I had lost the dearest and the best friend that ever man had; and I loved him with filial reverence and affection.
His face, as often happens, seemed to be much younger in death than in life. And there was an appearance of greater massiveness about it, and an expression indicative of far greater power than had been observable in it for many years. Altogether, the countenance, in the beautiful repose of death, re called the wonderful likeness of Sir Francis Grant's portrait, taken a quarter of a century ago. This was, perhaps, mainly caused by the fact that in life, owing to his infirmity of deafness, his face often wore that distressed and anxious aspect, which, I believe, is common to all those who have a similar physical defect.
I have incidentally spoken of some of the most prominent features of Sir George Pollock's character, and I have not now much to add. I never in my life knew so simple-minded a man. He was perfectly transparent. There was nothing for you to find out.[xxxiii] You saw at once a thoroughly honest, open-hearted English gentleman; of a kindly nature and with a cordial manner which endeared him to all who were honoured with his friendship, and to many who had but a superficial acquaintance with him. There were few of his friends who were not also my friends, and I seldom heard him spoken of otherwise than as " dear Sir George." He never made any parade of his religion, but he was a righteous man to the core.
The secret of this was his constant study of the Bible, with prayer; a habit first instilled into him by a pious mother, daily continued through his whole life, and not interrupted by the fatigues and occupations of a military life. This habit was continued to the very last. The time gained by early rising during his last years was wholly devoted to the study of the Bible. Living a blameless life himself, he had an overflowing charity towards the weaknesses of others; and altogether a large-hearted toleration, which caused him, both in public and private life, if not to espouse the cause of, at least to endeavour to mitigate the penalties incurred by, men who had manifestly offended. He saw clearly the whole extent of the offence; but he took generous account of the temptation. It may be added, as another proof of the gentleness of his nature, that he was very fond of children, and always a great favourite with them.
I never saw so many true mourners gathered [xxxiv] together, as at the funeral of the Field-Marshal in Westminster Abbey. Men who had loved and honoured him during life, came from distant parts of the country to pay their last respects to the "warrior dead." It was said by a distinguished military writer, in an appreciative review of the career of Sir George Pollock, that Lord Clyde had said, when he received his highest honours, that he had outlived nearly all the friends whom his elevation would gratify. It was not so with the old soldier who now rests so near to him. The distinctions conferred on Pollock towards the close of his career afforded heart-felt pleasure to troops of friends; for his affec tions were as warm as in the prime of his life, and none whom he had once honoured with his friendship, ever slackened in their devotion to him. The last scene in Westminster Abbey was a touching proof of this; it proved that his personal kindnesses were as fresh in the hearts as his public acts in the memories of the mourners.
Heading over what I have written, I feel somewhat ashamed of the egotism pervading these notes.
But you asked me for my "personal recollections," and personal recollections must be more or less ego tistical. I have not written anything about Sir George Pollock's character and career as a military commander; for I could add nothing to what I wrote about them more than twenty years ago. You will, I am sure, do ample justice to them. But if these [xxxv slight notes, principally relating to the mere private life of the deceased Field-Marshal, should be of any service to you, you are welcome to make such use of them as you may think fit.
Yours faithfully, J. W. KAYE.
Bath, January, 1873.
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