| Teesdale | 5 | Tegai |
During the hottest part of the action, when the enemy's fire had driven the Turkish artillerymen from their guns, Teesdale rallied his gunners, and by his intrepid example induced them to return to their posts. After having led the final charge which completed the victory of the day, Teesdale, at great personal risk, saved from the fury of his Turks a considerable number of the disabled among the enemy, who were lying wounded outside the works. This was witnessed and gratefully acknowledged before the Russian staff by General Mouravieff (London Gazette, 25 Sept. 1857). The battle of Kars lasted seven and a half hours. Near midday, however, the Russians were driven off in great disorder, and fled down the heights under a heavy musketry fire. Their loss was over six thousand killed and about as many wounded.
Teesdale, who was hit by a piece of spent shell and received a severe contusion, was most favourably mentioned in despatches. On 12 Oct. General Williams wrote : ‘ My aide-de-camp, Teesdale, had charge of the central redoubt and fought like a lion.’ After the battle the mushir, on behalf of the sultan, decorated Teesdale with the third class of the order of the Medjidie, and promoted him to be a lieutenant-colonel in the Turkish army (Despatch from General Williams to Lord Clarendon, 31 Oct. 1855).
Cholera and famine assumed serious proportions in October, and, although the former ceased in November, severe cold added to the sufferings of the garrison, and every night a number of desertions took place. On 22 Oct. news had arrived of a relieving army of twenty thousand men under Selim Pasha, and in the middle of November it was daily expected from Erzeroum, where it had arrived at the beginning of the month. But Selim had no intention of advancing. On 24 Nov. it was considered impossible to hold out any longer, and, there being no hope of relief, Teesdale was sent with a flag of truce to the Russian camp to arrange for a meeting of the generals and to discuss terms of capitulation ; these were arranged the following day, and on the 28th the garrison laid down its arms, and Teesdale and the other English officers became prisoners of war.
The English officers were most hospitably treated by the Russians, and started on 30 Nov. for Tiflis, which they reached on 8 Dec. In January 1856 Teesdale accompanied General Williams to Riazan, about 180 miles from Moscow. After having been presented to the czar in March, they were given their liberty and proceeded to England.
Teesdale was made a C.B. on 21 June 1856, though still a lieutenant of royal artillery. He was also made an officer of the Legion of Honour, received the medal for Kars, and on 25 Sept. 1857 was awarded the Victoria Cross for acts of bravery at the battle of 29 Sept. 1855.
From 1856 to 1859 Teesdale continued to serve as aide-de-camp to Fenwick-Williams, who had been appointed commandant of the Woolwich district. On 1 Jan. 1858 he was promoted to be second captain in the royal artillery, and on the 15th of the same month to be brevet major in the army for distinguished service in the field. On 9 Nov. 1858 he was appointed equerry to the Prince of Wales, a position which he held for thirty-two years. From 1859 to 1864 he was again aide-de-camp to Fenwick-Williams during his term of office as inspector-general of artillery at headquarters in London. Teesdale was promoted to be first captain in the royal artillery on 3 Feb. 1866, brevet lieutenant-colonel on 14 Dec. 1868, major royal artillery on 5 July 1872, and lieutenant-colonel in his regiment on 23 Sept. 1875. He was appointed aide-de-camp to the queen and promoted to be colonel in the army on 1 Oct. 1877, regimental colonel on 1 Oct. 1882, and major-general on 22 April 1887. On 8 July 1887, on the occasion of the queen's jubilee, he was made a knight commander of St. Michael and St. George.
In 1890 Teesdale resigned the appointment of equerry to the Prince of Wales, and was appointed master of the ceremonies and extra equerry to the prince, positions which he held until his death. He retired from the army active list with a pension on 22 April 1892. He died, unmarried, on 1 Nov. 1893 at his residence, The Ark, South Bersted, Sussex, from a paralytic stroke, a few days after his return from a small estate he had in Germany. He was buried on 4 Nov. in South Bersted churchyard. He wrote a slight sketch of the services of Sir W. F. Williams for the ‘Proceedings’ of the Royal Artillery Institution (vol. xii. pt. ix.)
[War Office Records ; Despatches ; Royal Artillery Records; Times (London), 2 and 6 Nov. 1893; United Service Mag. 1855 and 1857; Gent. Mag. 1856 and 1858; Lake's Kars and our Captivity in Russia, 1856; Sandwith's Narrative of the Siege of Kars, 1856 ; A Campaign with the Turks in Asia, by Charles Duncan, vols. 1856.]
TEGAI (1805–1864), Welsh poet. [See
Hughes, Hugh.]
