|
Despite
the Mutiny the 70th Regiment’s most enduring memory of its
first tour in India was more likely to have been of cholera which
was prevalent throughout the country. It had lost thirty-one soldiers
from the disease after its arrival at Calcutta during the hot
weather of 1849. It had sustained seventy-five fatalities at Cawnpore
during a major epidemic in 1853. The disease derives from contaminated
water and food, and had a high mortality rate. Initial symptoms
are diarrhoea and vomiting followed by agonizing cramp in the
limbs and abdomen.
 |
|
Assistant
Surgeon Dalzell was attached to the Regiment during the 1853 epidemic
and was deeply impressed by the devotion of the comrades of the
unfortunate sufferers “ - rubbing with their whole heart
and soul to relieve them from the terrible cramps”. The
Regimental History records “When the epidemic was at its
worst many thought that the entire Regiment was doomed to death,
yet nothing could exceed the soldier-like bearing of the soldiers
of the Regiment and the devotion shown by them to their stricken
comrades. Such an epidemic strains courage and discipline fully
as severely as the most arduous campaign”. When the Seventieth
marched out of Cawnpore on New Year’s Day 1854, they left
346 men, 37 women and 99 children buried in the cantonment.
 |
 |
|
|
Typhoid and cholera were prevalent diseases in the 19th century,
and cholera the major threat. World War Two saw the extension
of preventative measures by inoculation and by water purification.
The Queen’s and the 31st Regiments also experienced attacks
during their first India tours when good hygiene and the establishment
of temporary tented “cholera camps” until the outbreak
had passed were recognised antidotes, but much depended on the
locality in which the unit was stationed, and the 70th was unlucky
in that respect.
|
