Pell, Henry Duncan (Private, b.1869 - d.1955)

Collection relating to the Sudan War service of 374 Private Henry Duncan Pell, C Company, New South Wales Contingent, 1885.

The collection consists of a Paybook. Sixteen year old clerk Henry Pell enlisted in the New South Wales Infantry in February 1885. He raised his age by three years in order to enlist. He sailed for the Sudan on 3 March 1885 on the SS Iberia, a government transport ship during the Egyptian Arabi Pasha Campaign. After brief service in Sudan he returned to Australia on the steamship SS Arab on 23 June 1885. The paybook records three monthly pays made at Suakin.

In the early 1880s the British-backed Egyptian regime in the Sudan was threatened by an indigenous rebellion under the leadership of Muhammed Ahmed, known to his followers as the Mahdi. In 1883 the Egyptian government, with British acquiescence, sent an army south to crush the revolt. Instead of destroying the Mahdi's forces, the Egyptians were soundly defeated, leaving their government with the problem of extricating the survivors. The difficulties of evacuating their forces in the face of a hostile enemy quickly became apparent, and the British were persuaded to send General Charles Gordon to consider the means by which the Egyptian troops could be safely withdrawn. Disregarding his instructions, Gordon sought instead to delay the evacuation and defeat the Mahdi. Like the Egyptians, Gordon failed and found himself besieged in Khartoum. The popular general's predicament stirred public opinion in England, leading to demands for an expeditionary force to be dispatched to his rescue. The relief force was sent from Cairo in September 1884, but it was still fighting its way up the Nile when Gordon was killed in late January the following year. With news of Gordon's death and the Canadian government's offer of troops for the Sudan, the NSW government cabled London with its own offer. To make its proposal more attractive, it offered to meet the contingent's expenses. London accepted but stipulated that the contingent would be under British command. Similar offers from the other Australian colonies were declined. The British government's acceptance of the contingent was received with enthusiasm by the NSW government and members of the armed forces. It was seen as an historic occasion, marking the first time that soldiers in the pay of a self-governing Australian colony were to fight in an imperial war. The contingent, an infantry battalion of 522 men and 24 officers, and an artillery battery of 212 men, was ready to sail on 3 March 1885. It left Sydney amid much public fanfare.

The NSW contingent anchored at Suakin, Sudan's Red Sea port, on 29 March 1885 and were attached to a brigade composed of Scots, Grenadiers, and Coldstream Guards. Shortly after their arrival they marched as part of a large square formation – on this occasion made up of 10,000 men – for Tamai, a village 30 kilometres inland. Although the march was marked only by minor skirmishing, the men saw something of the reality of war as they halted among the dead from a battle which had taken place 11 days before. Further minor skirmishing took place on the next day's march, but the Australians, now at the rear of the square, sustained only three casualties, none fatal. The infantry reached Tamai, burned whatever huts were standing, and returned to Suakin. After Tamai, the greater part of the NSW contingent worked on the railway line which was being laid across the desert towards the inland town of Berber on the Nile, half-way between Suakin and Khartoum. Far from the excitement they had imagined, the Australians suffered mostly from the enforced idleness of guard duties. When a camel corps was raised, 50 men volunteered immediately.

The artillery saw even less action than the infantry. They were posted to Handoub where, having no enemy close enough to engage, they drilled for a month. On 15 May they rejoined the camp at Suakin. Not having participated in any battles, Australian casualties were few: those who died fell to disease rather than enemy action. By May 1885 the British government had decided to abandon the campaign and left only a garrison in Suakin. The Australian contingent sailed for home on 17 May 1885.

Henry Pell married and settled in Western Australia. His son Peter Harry Pell served in the Second World War (WX12072) and was a prisoner of the Japanese at Changi and on the Thai Burma Railway.