The general public's perception of war in the nineteenth century was based upon its depiction in the paintings that lined the walls of institutions such as the Royal Academy. Certainly in the first half of the nineteenth century the average British citizen would have had only a vague idea of the horrors of battle. Not since 1746 had the British Isles experienced armed conflict at first hand, and even then it was a limited and regional experience. The public understanding of war was generally that it was a gentlemanly affair that was often a positive and uplifting event; rarely was it depicted as anything approaching reality

Our picture is a rare example of the work of the war artist Major Godfrey Douglas Giles. Giles set himself apart from other military artists whose images of battle were based on pre-conceived ideas and traditional images of war. He was attached to the Egyptian Gendarmerie and experienced action in the Sudan at first hand. Giles's depictions of El Teb and Tamai provided the British public with an unbiased image of war that avoided sensationalism and captured the true essence of the campaign that was being fought.

'An Incident at the Battle of Tamai' was painted by Giles in 1886. It depicts the gallant actions of Percival Scrope Marling for which he was awarded the Sudan Victoria Cross. When exhibited at the Royal Academy it was described by the Art Journal as 'giving us one of those scenes of savage warfare which actual experience has so well enabled Mr. Giles to depict'.

Colonel Sir Percival Scrope Marling, Bt., V.C., C.B. (1861-1936) eldest son of Sir William Henry Marling, second Baronet, educated at Harrow and the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, entered the army and was gazetted 2nd Lieutenant, 3rd Battalion The King's Royal Rifle Corps on 11 August 1880. He joined his regiment in South Africa, served with them throughout the Boer War of 1880-81 and was present at the actions of Laing's Nek and the Ingogo River. In the Egyptian War of 1882 he participated in the fighting near Alexandria in July, the affair at Tel-el-Mahuta, the action at Kassassin (9 September) and the final defeat of Arubi Pash's army at Tel-el-Kebir on the 13th. Marling served with the Maahdist forces of Osman Digna and was present at the successful battle of El Teb (29 February); after the relief of Tokar the following day he embarked with the main force for Suakin. The troops had scarely reached their destination when intelligence was received of a large body of Dervishes assembling near the village of Tamai about six miles distant.


The Battle of Tamai

The 42nd Regiment marched out of Suakin on 11 March to a point halfway towards Osman Digna's position and formed an entrenched camp. On the following day the 42nd was joined by the other troops from Suakin and the whole force moved forward in square, halting about two miles from the enemy concentration. At 8am, on 13 March the troops formed up in two brigades - the 2nd Brigade (General Davis) to the fore consisted of the 42nd and 65th Regiments, the Royal Marines, Naval machine - guns and Artillery, and the 1st Brigade (General Buller), positioned about 1000 yards to the right rear of the 2nd Brigade consisted of the 60th, 75th and 89th Regiments and two Camel batteries. One squadron from each of the 10th Hussars, the 19th Hussars and 124 Mounted Infantry rode to the left rear of the leading brigade. The whole force amounting to 4,069 men moved forward in two echeloned squares towards elements of the now advancing Dervish army. Brisk fire began from both sides - the cavalry fell back from the advancing Arabs who met the full force of rifle and machine-gun fire from the 2nd Brigade. For an act of gallantry at this time Marling was awarded the Victoria Cross which was reported in the London Gazette 6.5.1884: 'Percival Scrope Marling, Lieut, 3rd Battn. 60th Rifled (Mounted Infantry).

For conspicuous bravery at the battle of Tamai on the 13th March, 1884, in risking his life to save that of Private Morley, Royal Sussex Regt., who having been shot, was lifted and placed in front of Lieut. Marling on his horse. He fell off immediately, when Lieut. Marling dismounted, and gave up his horse for the purpose of carrying Private Morley, the enemy pressing close on to them, until they succeeded in carrying him to a place of comparative safety.'

The 42nd who were in front charged the enemy at the double, but left a gap between themselves and the 65th upon at which the Sudanese concentrated. Before the troops had time to close the square an enormous number of the enemy rose up out of the high grass in front and on the right flank, charged the front face of the square and forced back the side faces until the 2nd Brigade was in complete confusion. The whole square, a mass of friend and foe fighting hand to hand, was driven back and broken before any preventative action could be taken. General Buller's 1st Brigade (the right square) halted and poured volley after volley into the advancing Arabs and the cavalry dismounted their two squadrons which also helped check the rush. The 2nd Brigade which had been pushed back some 500 yards in a confused mass of staff, soldiers, sailors and transport slowly re-formed as the Arab attack weakened. Both formations then moved forward abreast and the disheartened and somewhat diluted force of Sudanese kept up a feeble fire as they retreated before the the advancing British squares; at 10.30am the force reached the well at Tamai. On the following day the village and Osman Digna's camp was destroyed and the troops returned to Suakin. Dervish losses were estimated at about 3,000 from a total of 12,000 employed in the field, while our own loss amounted to 217 from all ranks killed and wounded.

So 'eres to you, Fuzzy Wuzzy at your
'ome in the Soudan;
Your a pure benighted heathen but a
first-class fightin' man;
An 'eres to you Fuzzy Wuzzy, with your
'ayrick 'ead of 'air;
You big black boundin' beggar; for you
broke a British square!
(Fuzzy Wuzzy by Kipling)

The Mounted Infantry which was converted into a Camel Corps for the Nile Expedition of 1884-85 was employed by Wolseley in the attempt to relieve Gordon besieged in Khartoum. Marling served with his company in the desert operations of the newly formed Mounted Infantry Camel Regiment and was present at the fighting in the Bayuda area, the actions near Abu Kloa Wells, Abu Kru, the engagements at El Gulat and Metemmeh, the second action at Abu Klea and in all the operations under Sir Herbert Stewart. He was made local Captain, October 1885 and was appointed to the command of a company of Mounted Infantry in Egypt. For his services in Egypt the Duke of Cambridge especially promoted him to a troop in the 18th Hussars, March 1887. Two years later Marling proceeded to India and, apart from one year as Adjutant of the West Somerset Yeomanry, he served there until 1895. He received his Majority in 1896 and for the following two years commanded the Regimental Depot at Canterbury.

In June 1899 he proceeded to South Africa to rejoin his regiment, the 18th Hussars, and was present at the battle of Talana Hill, the retirement from Dundee to Ladysmith, the action at Lambard's Kop and the Defence of Ladysmith. He was invalided to England with enteric fever, returned to South Africa, February 1901 and commanded his regiment in the field from 10 April 1901 to 31 May 1902 during operations in the Transvaal, Orange River Colony and on the Zulu Frontier of Natal (where he was mentioned in despatches twice; promoted to the command of the 18th Hussars and was created a C.B. for his services in South Africa London Gazette 17.6.1902). He retired in 1910 as a result of injuries caused by his horse falling on him. On the outbreak of the Great War in 1914 Marling volunteered for active service, went to France in September and served at the front on the Headquarters Staff, Indian Army Corps until 1915 when he was invalided home with congestion of the lungs.

After the Great War Colonel Marling became a Deputy Lieutenant for Gloucestershire and a High Sheriff of the County. In 1931 he published his reminiscences Rifleman and Hussar and at about the same time he toured some of the old battlefields in Egypt and the Sudan including Tamai and stated 'I never thought I should return some 50 years later to the places in the comfort of a motor-car and with whisky-and-soda to drink instead of water which had been carried in goatskins for days'.

Extracts from Colonel Marling's autobiography Rifleman and Hussar were read by Sir Peter Ustinov on BBC Radio 4, 15-19 August 1994.

His 'Sudan Victoria Cross' and several other of his medals will be included in a sale of Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals and Militaria on 8th November at Spink & Son Ltd.


Lieutenant P.S. Marling, V.C., at the Battle of Abuklea, 17 January 1885; Bayuda Desert, Sudan, Gordon Relief Expedition to Khartoum.

Colonel Marling's Medals, including his Victoria Cross which will be sold by Spink & Son Ltd. on 8 November 1994.