Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 56.djvu/10

 Henry George Teesdale of South Bersted, Sussex, was born at the Cape of Good Hope on 1 June 1833. He entered the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich in May 1848, and received a commission as second lieutenant in the royal artillery on 18 June 1851. He went to Corfu in 1852, was promoted to be first lieutenant on 22 April 1853, and in the following year was appointed aide-de-camp to Colonel (afterwards General Sir) William Fenwick Williams [q.v.], British commissioner with the Turkish army in Asia Minor during the war with Russia.

Teesdale, with Dr. Humphry Sandwith [q. v.], another member of the British commissioner's staff, accompanied Williams to Erzeroum, and thence to Kars, where they arrived on 24 Sept. 1854. Williams returned to the headquarters of the Turkish army at Erzeroum, leaving Teesdale at Kars to establish what discipline and order he could. During the whole winter Teesdale, aided by his interpreter, Mr. Zohrab, worked incessantly to secure the well-being of the troops in Kars. Sandwith says he exhibited such a rare combination of firmness and conciliatory tact that he won all hearts, and the grey-bearded old general, Kherim Pasha, never ventured on any act of importance without first consulting this young subaltern of artillery. Colonel (afterwards Sir) Henry Atwell Lake [q.v.] and Captain Henry Langhorne Thompson [q. v.] having arrived at Kars in March 1855, Teesdale returned to Erzeroum and rejoined his chief, who, in January, had been made a lieutenant-general, or ferik, in the Turkish army, and a pasha. At the same time Teesdale had been made a major in the Turkish army. In a letter from the foreign office dated 7 March 1855, her majesty's government approved of Teesdale's efforts in averting from the garrison of Kars the horrors that they suffered from famine in the previous winter. After the thawing of the snow Teesdale was daily engaged with Williams from early morning to sunset in fortifying all the heights around Erzeroum.

On 1 June 1855 a courier from Lake informed Williams of the formidable Russian army assembled at Gumri, and the indication of a speedy advance upon Kars. On the following day Teesdale started with Williams and Sandwith for Kars, arriving there on 7 June. On the 9th Teesdale, with Zohrab his interpreter, went to his post at the Tahmasp batteries, and on the 12th he made a reconnaissance of the Russian camp. On the 16th the Russians, twenty-five thousand strong, attacked early in the morning, but were repulsed by the artillery fire of the fortress. Williams, in his despatch, records his thanks to Teesdale, ‘ whose labours were incessant.’ Two days later the Russians established a blockade of Kars, and shortly afterwards intercepted communication with Erzeroum. The garrison of Kars was continually occupied in skirmishes with the enemy, and in the task of strengthening the fortifications. On 7 Aug. an attack was made by the Russians, who were again beaten off.

Teesdale lived in Tahmasp Tabia with that gallant Hungarian and first-rate soldier, General Kmety, for whom he had a great admiration. He acted as chief of his staff, and, besides his graver duties, was constantly engaged in harassing the Cossacks with parties of riflemen, or in menacing and attacking the Russian cavalry with a company of rifles and a couple of guns.

Early in September the weather grew suddenly cold, and snow fell. Provisions were scarce, and desertions became frequent. Late in the month cholera appeared. At 4 A.M. on 29 Sept. the Russian general Mouravieff, with the bulk of his army, attacked the heights above Kars and on the opposite side of the river. At Tahmasp the advance was distinctly heard and preparations made to meet it. The guns were quietly charged with grape. Teesdale, returning from his rounds, flung himself into the most exposed battery in the redoubt, Yuksek Tabia, the key of the position. The Russians advanced with their usual steadiness in three close columns, supported by twenty-four guns, and hoped under cover of the mist and in the dim light of dawn to effect a surprise; but they were received with a crushing artillery fire of grape. Undaunted, the Russian infantry cheered and rushed up the hill to the breastworks, and, in spite of a murderous fire of musketry, drove out the Turks and advanced to the rear of the redoubts of Tahmasp and Yuksek Tabia, where desperate fighting took place. Teesdale turned some of his guns to the rear and worked them vigorously. The redoubts being closed in rear and flanking one another, the artillery and musketry fire from them made havoc in the ranks of the assailants. Nevertheless the Russians precipitated themselves upon the works, and some even effected an entrance. Three were killed ‘ on the platform of a gun which at that moment was being worked by Teesdale, who then sprang out and led two charges with the bayonet, the Turks fighting like heroes ’ (Letter from General Williams, 30 Sept. 1855).