Campaign Groups and Pairs
The ghastly scenes which constantly recur in executions carried out by the Provost Marshal constitute grave public scandals. The Provost Marshal, who is an ardent amateur photographer is desirous of securing views of the persons being executed at the precise moment when they are struck by the bullet. To secure this result, after the orders “ready, “present” have been given to the firing party, the Provost Marshal fixed his camera on the prisoners, who at times are kept waiting several minutes in that position. The officer commanding the firing party is then directed by the Provost Marshal to give the order to fire at the moment when he exposes his plates. So far no satisfactory negative has been obtained and the experiments are likely to continue. These proceedings take place before a crowd of mixed nationalities and cannot fail to have a demoralising effect on both soldiers and spectators.’
The article produced instant outrage. Prime Minister Gladstone and the Houses of Parliament were incensed and Lord Randolph Churchill was instructed to telegraph Lord Dufferin to have Hooper, together with Lieutenant G. V. Burrows, 25th Madras Infantry, the officer in charge of the firing party, removed from Burma.
However, in Burma and India opinions differed. It was known that Moylan had a grudge against the army and was only too keen to to use the views of the Rev'd Colbeck to exacerbate the army's discomfort. Of Moylan it is stated that, while he had no personal animus against Hooper, he did wish to press home against the military authorities every charge he could on account of the way he was dismissed and sent back to Rangoon, under General Prendergast's orders, for writing exaggerated reports without prior vetting by the military authorities. His piece in The Times was described as full of distortion, exaggerations and downright lies. While it was understood that Hooper's use of the threat of execution to procure confessions from prisoners was improper and indecorous, others pointed out that Hooper, throughout the executions was in civilian clothes, that none of the rifles were loaded, a point that was mentioned by witnesses in the later inquiry and that Hooper was not present in any official capacity. Others felt that Moylan, who was not present at any executions, together with his reliance on the clergy and other unqualified witnesses, made the chances of conviction at any court-martial highly improbable and it was therefore decided to hold instead a Court of Enquiry into the events which convened at Mandalay on 19 March 1886, under the Presidency of Colonel T. Lowndes, of the Madras Staff Corps.
The transcripts of the enquiry run into twenty two pages. At summation Lieutenant Burrows was immediately exonerated as he had just been following orders.
On the assertion that there were several minutes between the “present” and “fire”, no witness, civilian or military, confirmed this fact. All stated the pause was no more than 4 to 5 seconds at most. The Rev'd Colbeck did not attend the enquiry nor did he present any submission of his account so it was concluded that the commands were given in “slow time” as laid down in the regulations.
On the charge concerning the photographing of the executions, Hooper advised in his written summation that he was asked by a military doctor to get an image at the time of death, while General White stated that Hooper did nothing more than what a special war artist did. Instead of using a pencil and block he used a rapid mechanical process. It was also confirmed that Hooper only took two images of the executions. The death sentences came from a civilian authority and Hooper was meticulous in checking that the execution documents were in order. On several occasions he returned prisoners back to the civilian authority as the prisoner had either the wrong name or was not on the list.
The enquiry however found that Hooper had been culpable of using the threat of death to gain a confession, which Hooper himself admitted to the enquiry that he was wrong to do. He stood by his statement that the prisoner in question was a known rebel and was desperate to find evidence that armed dacoits had planned to fire Mandalay and kill the Europeans. In mitigation it was stated that Hooper ‘acted undoubtedly under a mistaken view of duty and in the most open manner.’
All the evidence was sent to Simla where, on June 11 1886, the Judge Advocate General censured Hooper but made allowance for the unusual circumstances in which he operated in Burma. The appointment of Provost-Marshal in Burma was abolished and Hooper's name was removed from all mentions in despatches. He was to return to India to carry out regimental duties. All executions in Burma were ceased.
Upon his return to England in 1887, he published his ‘Burma’, a series of one hundred photograph, illustrating incidents connected with the British Expeditionary Force to that country, from embarkation at Madras,1 November 1885 to the capture of the King Theebaw, with many views of Mandalay and surrounding country.
He returned to India and took up regimental duties with the 4th Light Cavalry, but in late 1889 he returned permanently to England until his retirement on 20 April 1896, when he was advanced to Colonel. On one of the surviving execution negatives in the British Library is a note stating that Hooper had had an interview with the Viceroy and that his promotion to Colonel was agreed and was therefore eligible for off-reckonings and entitled to a pension of £1,100 per annum. For the latter part of his life he live in Kilmington, near Axminster, Devon, where he died unmarried on 21 April 1912, and is buried in Kilmington Parish Church.
Sold with 2 folders of research, including copied personal photographs and images of his work, and photographs of his uniform from the collection of the National Army Museum.
171 Pair: Chief Officer T. Carroll, H.M. Coast Guard, late Royal Navy
Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 1 clasp, Alexandria 11th July (T. Carroll, Chf: Offr. Cst. Gd., H.M.S. “Penelope”); Khedive’s Star 1882, unnamed as issued, good very fine (2)
£200-£240 Provenance: Dix Noonan Webb, December 2008. Carroll was presented with his Medal by Queen Victoria at Windsor on 21 November 1882.
Timothy Carroll was born in Deptford, Kent in August 1827 and entered the Royal Navy as a Boy 2nd Class in August 1845. He subsequently served in H.M.S. Powerful as a Captain of the Foretop from May 1854 to October 1856. Transferring to the Coast Guard as a Boatman in December 1856, he was subsequently one of eight Chief Officers borne on the books of H.M.S. Penelope during the Egypt operations of 1882. Carroll returned to his duties in the Coast Guard at Harwich and was finally placed on the Retired List in April 1885, on which occasion his C.O. presented him with a ‘splendid marble time-piece as a token of regard.’ Having then settled in Ipswich, he died in December 1915.
Sold with copied research, including service record, death certificate and modern day photographs of his gravestone, together with an extract from the East Anglian Daily Times reporting on his funeral (‘The coffin was covered with the Union Jack, on which rested the deceased officer’s sword and cap and the breastplate was inscribed: Timothy Carroll, R.N., died December 1st 1915, aged 89 years’).
172 Pair: Ordinary Seaman H. R. Saville, Royal Navy
Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, no clasp (H. R. Saville, Ord: H.M.S. “Eclipse”.) ‘e’ of surname officially corrected; Khedive’s Star 1882, unnamed as issued, good very fine (2)
£120-£160
Henry Robert Saville was born in Mitcham, Surrey, on 5 September 1863 and joined the Royal Navy as a Boy Second Class on 17 June 1879. He spent seven days in cells in 1887, which explains his lack of a Long Service and Good Conduct Medal, and was shore pensioned on 31 December 1901.
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