The Robertson court martial : authentic report of the trial (by Court Martial) of Captain A.M. Robertson, Fourth (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards, held at the Royal Barracks, Dublin, on the 6th February 1862 and following days. With portraits.
- Date:
- 1862
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: The Robertson court martial : authentic report of the trial (by Court Martial) of Captain A.M. Robertson, Fourth (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards, held at the Royal Barracks, Dublin, on the 6th February 1862 and following days. With portraits. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
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![Bv the Prisoner: Was tliis alleged conrersation between you and me, as to tho lodging the price of my commission, before or after the interview between Colonel Clarke and you and me ?—After. ^ , x, « ^ i ^ How soon after ; give the date if possible?—On that day—on the first day on which Captain Jioberston communicated with me, and in the afternoon of that day ; it was between the hour I wrote to Captain Durant, and the time I bad the inter- view with Captain Durant, on the day on which Captain Robertson spoke to me. Was there an interview between you. Colonel Clarke and me, some few days after the 18th of October ?—There may have been, but I cannot say distinctly. Did I tell you, in the presence of Colonel Clarke, that a challenge ought to be sent to Colonel Dickson on my behalf, or words to that effect ?—I have no recollec, tion of such a fact, nor would I have considered it of any use to send a challenge several days afterwards. , , Did I tell you in the course of a conversation between you and Colonel Clarke and me, in the same month of October, 1860, that Dickson was a slippery fellow, and would get out of it by saying that he had not been sent a challenge by me,^ or words to that effect ?—I do not remember the details of any conversation between Colonel Clarke, Captain Robertson, and myself, after the J8th October, 1860, rela- tive to that subject. Did Mr. Owen subsequently, on or about the 23rd of March, 1861, state to you at Birmingham, that he was going to London, as my friend, to demand satisfaction from Colonel Dickson?—Yes. Did he then ask you for information as to what had occurred between you and Captain Durant relative to my affair?—Yes. Did you thereupon give him this letter ?—Yes. [The letter was read. It was the statement of Captain Henry, of 23rd March, 1861, as printed above.] President: Were the words “distinctly rmderstood” underlined at the time the statement was written ?—They were. Is the letter which has just been read all in your handwriting ?—Yes. Colonel Brownrigg: Can you reconcile the apparent discrepancy between the document just put in and your statement of Captain Robertson declining to meet Colonel Dickson unless he lodged the price of his commission ?—I wrote that letter in the very strongest terms, hoping that by means of that and other means, which he declared himself about to take, to afford him the best opportunity of settling this unpleasant affair. This closed the evidence on the first and second charges. The Court then proceeded to take evidence on the third charge,which was as fol- lows :—‘ ‘ For having behaved in a scandalous manner, unbecoming the character of an officer and a gentleman, in having stated in a letter, addressed to Major-General Forster, Military Secretary, and dated 4th October, 1861, that he had submitted his application to retire from the army by the sale of his commission entirely through intimidation, he well knowing the said statement to be false.” Colonel Brownrigg, C.B., having been sworn, deposed as follows : I am Deputy Adjutant General of the Forces serving in Ireland. I lay before the Court a letter by the prisoner, dated 4th October, 1861, and addressed to Major Forster, Military Secretary for Ireland, at the Horse Guards. The letter was put in and read as follows :— “Army and Navy Club, St. James’s-square, ^ _ 4th October, 1861. “ Sir—Reverting to my application for permission to retire from the service, I have the honour to ask you to submit to his Royal Highness the General Commanding-in-Chief this jny application for a withdrawal of the same, in consequence of the former having been sent in entirely from intimidation, and that a Court of Inquiry may be granted to me relative to the affair with Colonel Dickson, which Colonel Bentinck is for ever persecuting me with.—I have the honour to be, &c., “A. M. Robertson, Captain 4 th Dragoon Guards. Major-General Forster, Military Secretary.” Examination resumed : On or about the 30th September last Colonel Bentinck, commanding the 4th Dragoon Guards, called upon me at my office in Dublin, and ^ correspondence respecting the prisoner, which is now in possession ot the court; I refer to the letter of the Assistant Adjutant-General for Manchester, ami the six enclosures, together with an accompanying letter from Colonel Bentinck, which I also hand in. [The letter of Colonel Bentinck, narrating the circumstances 01 the case, was hero put in and read.] I submitted the documents alluded to to the 2](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28407349_0025.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
