Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

Africa General Service 1902-56, 1 clasp, N. Nigeria 1906 (Lieut. F. E. Blackwood, E. Surrey Regt.) good very fine
£3000-4000

Ex Richard Magor Collection, July 2003.

Francis Edward Blackwood was killed in action at Satiru, near Sokoto, on 14 February 1906, while attached to the Mounted Infantry, Northern Nigeria Regiment. Had Winston Churchill, then the Colonial Secretary, had his way, Blackwood and others never would have been called to an operational footing in the first place. In his view, news of the murder of an African trader and his family by Mimshi tribesmen was nothing to get too excited about. Indeed he famously cabled Sir Frederick Lugard, ‘I see no reason ... why these savage tribes should not be allowed to eat each other without restraint.’

But the Mimshi made the fatal error of laying waste the Royal Niger Company’s depot at the same place and, as outlined in the following despatch from Sir Frederick Lugard, dated 19 July 1906 (which appeared in the London Gazette on 2 July 1907), measures were taken to confront them:

‘Lieutenant F. E. Blackwood was at the time in command of the Company of Mounted Infantry at Sokoto, and, at the request of the Acting Resident (Mr. H. R. Preston-Hillary, who, with his assistant, Mr. A. G. M. Scott, accompanied him), he moved out on the morning of 14 February towards the village at Satiru. Mr. Preston-Hillary was eager to settle the matter without bloodshed, and confident he could do so, and it was probably solely owing to this gallant attempt to give effect to the policy of the Administration by avoiding bloodshed by every possible means, that he lost his life. On arrival at Satiru, he and Mr. Scott left the troops and rode towards the village, shouting that they had not come to fight but to discuss the causes which had led to this disturbance.
Lieutenant Blackwood, it appears, fearing for the lives of his comrades, which he judged to be in danger, abandoned the military precautions he would otherwise have taken, and advanced his men at the gallop, and then, after forming a square, again endeavoured to advance to their support. A mounted infantry square is not a formation which is easily capable of being advanced at the critical moment of a charge, but, if a tactical mistake was made, it was made with a most gallant and heroic intention, and it may be said that Lieutenant Blackwood lost his life in his endeavour to secure the safety of his comrades. The Satiru rebels took no heed of the invitation to a peaceful discussion, and charged the disorganized square. Lieutenant Blackwood and Messrs. Preston-Hillary and Scott fell fighting at the point of impact. Dr. Ellis, Medical Officer, was severely wounded, and was helped out of the action by Sergeant Gosling, the only other European present. Twenty-five rank and file out of 69 were killed, and the greater part of the remainder were panic-stricken by the death of their Officers, and the melee caused by their bolting horses and the overwhelming numbers of the fanatical though ill-armed enemy. Their discipline and courage were, however, vindicated by the gallant action of two men, Privates Moma Wurrikin and Moma Zuria, who, regardless of their own lives, endeavoured to save Mr. Scott (and nearly succeeded in doing so), and finally rescued Dr. Ellis and placed him on a horse, beating off their assailants with great coolness and courage meanwhile. The native Sergeant-Major, Adamu Yola, also collected all whom he could find, and retired slowly and in good order.’

In the same despatch, before moving on to describe the nature of the punitive operations carried out as a result of this outrage, Lugard made a deliberate point of bringing the gallant Blackwood to the notice of higher authority:

‘I trust your Lordships may see fit to bring the action of this brave young Officer to the special notice of the Army Council.’

Another informative account of the action appears in The Conquest of Northern Nigeria:

‘As the column approached Satiru, Hillary and Scott rode out far in front of the troops (where the scouts should have been). Suddenly, hundreds of men rose out of a depression just ahead of them. But, unlike Mallam Jibril’s army at Tongo, they did not hesitate, charging at once straight for the white men. Hillary shouted that they came in peace and tried to parley, but to no avail. Anyway, the Mounted Infantry advancing behind him would have contradicted his statement.

Blackwood could not open fire as the two whites were between him and their attackers, so he galloped forward with the Mounted Infantry to form a square for them to withdraw into. But he misjudged the distances involved due to a combination of poor visibility caused by the harmattan and his own bad eyesight. While the square was forming, he suddenly realised that he had not gone far enough, and that Hillary and Scott would be cut off before they could reach its safety. He therefore countermanded his order, intending to form a square farther forward. However, some of the men did not hear him, and a classic shambles developed, with some remounting while others were still forming square. At this moment, with everyone milling about in a cloud of dust, Hillary and Scott arrived simultaneously with hordes of Satirawa, armed mainly with axes, hoes and clubs. Hillary, Scott and Blackwood were hacked to death almost at once, and most of the Mounted Infantry panicked. However, Dr. Ellis, badly wounded by a spear thrust, was dragged out of the melee by Privates Moma Wurrikin and Moma Zaria, who got him on a horse with the help of Sergeant Gosling and five other privates who had escaped the first rush.

The African Company Sergeant-Major and another six privates also managed to extricate themselves, and the two groups withdrew separately to Sokoto. On the way they were unable to save the Maxim, which fell into the hands of the rebels.’

Unusually, 31-year old Blackwood’s body was recovered in an unmutilated state, and interred locally. He was the son of Captain Sir Francis Blackwood, R.N., a veteran of the Crimea War, and a direct descendant of Vice-Admiral Hon. Sir Henry Blackwood, Captain of the frigate Euryalus and the bearer to England of the despatches announcing the victory at Trafalgar.