HLI Chronicle 1914 - The Royal Highland Fusiliers

HIGHLAND LIGHT INFANTRY CHRONICLE.37order appeared in the Battalion orders of2nd January:­" IN MEMORIAM."The Oommanding Officer wishes to placeon record his great appeciation of the servicesof the late Oaptain Bramwell Davis, both asa Oompany Officer and Adjutant of the Battalionfor 3 years, in which he is sure thateveryone under whom and with whom heserved will join. He was conspicuous alikeas a soldier and in the field of sport, and hisperformance with the late Captain BalfourBryant, M. V.O., in winning the Inter-RegimentalRacquet Oup for the Battalion sixyears in succession (1902-1907) will always beremembered."In the name of the Battalion the OommandingOfficer extends sincere sympathy toCaptain Bramwell Davis' family and relations."MILITARY FUNERAL IN EPINBURGH.AT the Queen's Hall Protestant meeting lastnight reference was made by the variousspeakers to the death of Mr. Daniel Cummings,treasurer of the Protestant Guardians of Freedomand president of Leith Protestant andBible Union, who died suddenly on Wednesdayand who was interred in Echobank Oemeteryon Saturday. As deceased served for manyyears in the H.L.I. in India he was given amilitary funeral, which was followed by membersof the Ii.O.L. and large numbers of hisfellow-workers and friends of the Queen'sHall Protestant meetings. -Evening (Edinburgh)NMV8, 20th October, 1913.DEATHS.BRAMWELL DAVIS.-At Crookham House, Newbury, theresidence of his father-in.law, on 27th December,1913, Percy Bramwell Davis, Captain, the High.land Light Infantry, age 33.HAMILTON.-At the house of Gerald Christy, Esq .•Chelmsford, on the 9th November, 1913, at theearly age of 20, result of a football accident. JohnMontgomery Hamilton, 2nd Lieutenant, HighlandLight Infantry. eldest son of Ivie Hamilton, latePostmaster. General of Eastern Bengal and Assam,and grandson of the late Captain J. MontgomeryHamilton, Commander, H.M.B. Marines.The Battles before Bayonne..*9TH TO 12TH OF DEOEMBER, 1813.THE battle of the Nivelle, fought on the 10thof November, was succeeded by a pause inactive operations between Wellington's andSoult's armies, which lasted for nearly amonth. Soult had withdrawn his troops int~a position in front of Bayonne, where anextensive entrenched camp had been constructedbeyond the outskirts of the oldenceinte designed by Vauban. He held theright bank of the Nive as far as Cambo, however,and as he had at his disposal two bridges.over this river close to Bayonne he enjoyedthe advantage of being able to thrust troops.forward at will either between it and theAdour or else between it and the sea. Thegreat stone bridge over the Adour within theprecincts of the fortress, moreover, affordedhim a means of passage across that formidablewaterway should circumstances compel himto retreat northwards or north-eastwards. Inthe meantime Wellington had distributed hisarmy in cantonments, spread over the areabetween the Nive and the sea. He had theNivelle behind him, while his outposts ranfrom the coast-line about Bidart eastwards, infront of Arcanguez, to the Nive, a little northof Ustaritz, from which point Hill with theright wing watched· the river up to aboveOambo. All through November the weatherwas most inclement, rendering military movementsin such a region extremely difficult.The Allied forces had furthermore beenappreciably reduced in numbers, as the bulkof the Spanish troops had been sent back totheir own country owing to outrages committedby them on the French inhabitants ~fthe district. But Wellington was findinghimself in some difficulty as regards supplies,cooped up as he was in a confined area, so hedecided to push part of his army across theNive in order to gain possession of the productivelands between that stream and theAdour, and this brought on the five days ofalmost continuous fighting which is commemoratedon the colours of the regimentsthat were present by the name" Nive."The Nive is tidal for some little distanceabove Bayonne, and is only fordable at oneor two points below Cambo at ordinary times.The right bank which was held by the French*Reprinted, by permission of the Editor, from the­;t.f.orning Post of December 11 and 13, 1913.