HLI Chronicle 1907 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

8 HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY CHRONICLE.
proceedings were terminated' by a ladies'
hopping race, won by Miss Bright.
BALL GIVEN BY THE OFFICERS OF THE
1ST BATTALION AT DINAPORE.
ON Wednesday, 7th November, a most
successful dance was given in the Dinapore
Club, and the sounds of revelry re-echoed
over the placid waters of the Sone River,
which flows under the Club windows, till 4
a.m.
The rooms were most tastefully decorated
with pipe-banners, dirks, plaids, and appropriate
ornaments. A profusion of palms and
plants made the somewhat barn-like rooms
of an Indian bungalow look like the finest of
conservatories. Supper was laid in the Badminton
Court, and sitting-out accommodation
was provided by two large marquee tents.
Mrs. M'Culloch and Messrs. Alston and
Cameron, who arranged the decorations, are
to be highly congratulated on making the
most of what a small station in the plains can
produce. The music was furnished by our
string band, who played with great spirit.
We had two reels, for which many of the
ladies in the station had been preparing for
by practice during the past week. Piper
'Buchan "screwed the pipes and gart them
rorl," and most merry reels were enjoyed.
Perhaps the excellence of our steps were not
quite up to luverness and Oban form, but
they went without the semblance of a hitch;
nor had anyone to be carried off in a fainting
condition owing to the heat which began to
tell when the " Reel of Tulloch " started.
An excellent supper was provided, thanks
to the exertions of Col.-Sergeant Underwood.
Among those present were Major Ronaldson,
Captains Wilson and Stockwell, Messrs. Alston,
Grey, Acklom, Knight, M'Culloch, Ma.lcolm,
Campbell, and Rorison, H.L.I.; Colonel
Harris, Majors Pond and Edwards, Captain
Stooks, Messrs. Ba.H, TyndaH, and Pott, 5th
Light Infantry; Colonel Gordon Hall, and
Captain M'Keniie, R.A.M.C., and Captain
Stein, I.M.S.; Messrs. Duke, Thomson,
Walker, Selte and Hayward, from Bankipore ;
Mr. Lame, Khagole,; Major Herbert, 5th
Gurkhas; Father Carrel jthe Rev. lan Fraser ;
Messrs. Luce, Budenkamp, Spalding, and
Blackmore. Ladies-Lady Ardwall, Mesdames
H. O. Stockwell,. M'CulIoch, Laurie, Herbert,
Spalding, Luce, Crichton, Blackmore, Pond,
and Selfe; Misses Duke, Griffiths, Toogood,
Short, J ameson, Macnamara, Spalding, and
Bright.
MUTINY VETERAN'S DEATH IN
EDINBURGH.
A VERY well known ex-soldier has just
passed away in the person of William Ferguson
Oattes (known in 7lst H.L.1. as " Titus," and
by the troops who served in South Africa as
"Daddy.") He was a native of Stirling,
where he was born about sixty-five years ago.
He enlisted in the old 7lst (now the lst Battalion
Highland Light Infantry), and i~
February, 1859, was drafted out to Indi~
and although too late for the grand historic
scenes of Cawnpore, Lucknow, or Delhi, he
had plenty of hard fighting, for which he
received the medal. He was again, in 1863,
engaged in the Northern Frontier Campaign
at Umbeyla, which may be likened to Dargai.
For this service he was awarded the Northern
Frontier medal.
He returned to Scotland with his regiment
for a season, and when the regiment was sent
out to the Mediterranean in 1868 he continued
with them in Gibraltar, Malta, and Cyprus.
He then was sent home, and served as sergeantinstructor
of Haddington Volunteers, was
transferred to the Munster Fusiliers at Tralee,
and finally served on the staff of the H.L.1.
Militia at Hamilton. After' twenty-seven
years untiring service he was discharged in
1885. For the following fifteen years he was
employed in many capacities, such as church
officer for a time at Musselburgh, and he
was in the service of Lady Shrewsbury and
others.
At the outbreak of the South African war,
although upwards of sixty years of age, the
martial spirit was still dominant, and he
offered his services and was accepted as one of
the Scottish' National Red Cross Hospital
officials for duty at the front. There he remained
until the hospital staff returned home
on the Trojan hospital ship, his position being
wardmaster. For his services he was decorated
with the medal for South Africa, and
received the bronze medallion and ribbon of
the society, and, along with others, had the
honour of being made a burgess of the city
of Glasgow. He subsequently became drill
instructor at the New Cumnock School, and
latterly, for the past three years, had been
messenger and caretaker of the Royal Engineers
Division Office in Edinburgh.
"Weekly News," Dec. 29th, 1906.