Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The scarce Egypt and Sudan 1882-89 Medal awarded to Trumpeter H. Cottle, 19th Hussars, who was killed in action at El-Teb, 29 February 1884

Egypt and Sudan 1882-89, dated reverse, 3 clasps, Tel-El-Kebir, Suakin 1884, El-Teb (1313. Pte. H. Cottle. 19th Hussars.) pawn broker’s mark to edge at 10 o’clock, good very fine £1,400-£1,800

This lot is to be sold as part of a special collection, Medals from an Africa Collection.

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Dix Noonan Webb, December 2005

H. Cottle served as a Trumpeter with the 19th Hussars, and was killed in action at the battle of El-Teb, 29 February 1884. According to the regimental history the 19th Hussars suffered 14 killed or died of wounds, and 22 wounded, out of the total British casualties of 35 killed and 155 wounded at El-Teb.

The following is given in Khartoum - The Ultimate Imperial Adventure by M. Asher:

‘Herbert Stewart, with the Cavalry Brigade, had hung back waiting for the infantry square to do its work. Now he saw a column of dervishes withdrawing from El-Teb, making for Tokar. Graham [Major General Sir Gerald] had been given strict instructions not to attack until the enemy were completely crushed and retreating in panic. Stewart assumed that the Beja emerging from the village were the broken enemy; in fact they were the rebel reserve, some four thousand strong. They had not been engaged in any serious fighting.

Stewart gave the order to charge. The cavalry, with sabres drawn, thundered forward in three waves - the 10th Hussars leading, followed by the first line of the 19th Hussars led by their C.O. Lieutenant Colonel Percy Burrow. Three lines of British light cavalry should have been enough to terrify the most tenacious of infantry. But the Beja refused to be intimidated. A squadron of dervish horsemen actually counter-charged. At the last moment they sprang off their mounts and, sheltering under the animals bellies, tried to cut at the Hussars as they passed. As the 10th and 19th sprang through the enemy ranks, the Beja footmen fell flat, where the Hussar sabres could not reach them. As the horses cantered past, they leapt up hacking at the troopers with their broad swords from behind. They hurled spears and boomerang like throwing sticks with deadly accuracy, knocking Hussars out of the saddle. Others cut at the horses’ hocks, ham-stringing them. Some squadrons failed to get through the dervish mass.

The lines regrouped on the far side of the enemy and charged back again to rescue their comrades, in reverse order, the 19th leading and the 10th following. They smashed into the dervishes a second time, cutting around frantically. The contact degenerated into a melee. More troopers were dragged from their horses and speared and hacked to death. The cavalry withdrew a second time, and were ordered to dismount. Slowly the Beja melted away into the scrub. Twenty Hussars were killed and forty-eight wounded in the double charge.’

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