100
THE YPRES TIMES
mounted troops of his force. After the Battle of Ginniss he was given command
of a mixed force, 150 strong, of 20th Hussars, Camel Corps and Mounted Infantry,
to pursue the enemy. For this task, described by him as the most enjoyable,
dangerless and delightful trip he ever made," he was thanked in General Orders,
mentioned in despatches, awarded a D.S.O. and the Orders of Osmanieh and
Medjidieh.
His contract with the Egyptian Army had been made subject to the condition
that he was to be allowed to compete for the Staff Collegea very wise proviso for
an ambitious soldier. In the spring of 1886 he went home on leave for that purpose,
succeeded, and accordingly spent the two next years at Camberley, attaining there
the distinction of Master of the Drag Hounds; rejoining his regiment in India in
January, 1889. It was not until April, 1892, that this capable young soldier, not
withstanding his unusual experience and approved merit, was given a permanent
Staff appointment, but in those times the grant of such employment depended, in
India, more on whom an officer knew than on what he had done. From D.A.A.G.
Lucknow (1892-93) he was in 1894 promoted to A.A.G. Umbala. The following
year he saw service again for the fourth time, as D.A.A. and Q.M.G. of a reserved
brigade in Chitral.
Having completed his tour of Staff service, he took a short spell of leave home
in 1897, but hurried back almost immediately to rejoin his regiment as Second-in-
Command for the Tirah Campaign, in which capacity he served until March, 1898,
in the brigade commanded by Major-General R. Hart, being mentioned in
despatches and promoted Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel, thus completing his fifth
campaign.
It was now the very eve of Kitchener's expedition for the capture of Khar
toum. Smith-Dorrien, determined to secure one more campaign in subordinate
command, took leave to England and was overjoyed there by a telegram from
Lord Kitchener demanding his services. Assigned the command of his old bat
talion, the 13th Sudanese, he served with it under Sir John Maxwell as a Brigadier,
and Hunter as Divisional Commander, in the advance up the Nile and capture of
Omdurman, subsequently commanding the force which escorted Lord Kitchener
to Fashoda, and relieved Marchand at that post. Smith-Dorrien's work in this
his last campaign below the rank of General Officer was rewarded by a Brevet
Colonelcy. On January 1st, 1899, he found himself promoted to the command
of the 1st Battalion Sherwood Foresters, at Malta.
In November that regiment embarked for Durban and the South African
War, and in the following February Smith-Dorrien was placed in command of
the 19th Brigade, with temporary rank of Major-Generala rank which, being
subsequently confirmed, was dated the last day of his twenty-fourth year of Army
service.
Paardeberg, Poplar Grove, Thaba Nchu, the advance to Johannesburg,
operations near Krugersdorp, and those round Belfast, all proved Smith-
Dorrien's notable capacity as a leader. The Times, in a recent obituary, empha
sizesvery rightlythe fighting spirit he infused into his troops, and recalls that
his reputation for tenacity, combined with the intelligent handling of men, led
the official historian to compare him with that great figure Ulysses Grant."
We must pass rapidly over the next thirteen years of peace service, spent
as Adjutant-General in India, in command of the 4th (Quetta) Division, and later
in the two principle training Commands at home—Aldershot (1907-1911) and the
Southern Command (1912)—to the outbreak of the Great War; but it cannot be
too greatly emphasized that the Regular Army, which was about to face the
severest test in its history, owed Smith-Dorrien an enormous debt of gratitude
during those years of sympathetic command and extraordinarily efficient training.
The facts as regards Sir Horace's supreme achievement at Le Cateau and
