Edmund Musgrave Barttelot
Encyclopedia
Edmund Musgrave Barttelot (28 March 1859 – 19 July 1888) was a British Army
officer, born in Sussex, England.
He joined the army (7th Royal Fusiliers) in 1879 and served in India
. He volunteered for Henry Morton Stanley
's Emin Pasha Relief Expedition
. As Stanley's second in command he was leader of the Rear Column which was left in the jungle by the Aruwimi River
to wait for more porters to be brought by the Arab slave trader Tippu Tib while Stanley marched on to reach Emin as soon as possible.
However, historian Adam Hochschild
portrays Major Barttelot in a much different light. After being left in charge of the Rear Column,"Major Barttelot promptly lost his mind. He sent Stanley's personal baggage down the river. He dispatched another officer on a bizarre three-thousand-mile three-month round trip to the nearest telegraph station to send a senseless telegram to England. He next decided that he was being poisoned, and saw traitors on all sides. He had one of his porters lashed three-hundred times (which proved fatal). He jabbed at Africans with a steel-tipped cane, ordered several dozen people put in chains, and bit a village woman. After trying to interfere with a native festival, an African shot and killed Barttelot before he could do more."
Stanley blamed Barttelot and his fellow-officers for the failure of the Rear Column. Walter George Barttelot edited the diaries of his brother, adding some biting comments on Stanley's behavior.
Barttelot appears as a character in Simon Gray
's 1978 play The Rear Column
, which tells the story of the men of the rear column left by Stanley to wait for Tippu Tib.
British Army
The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
officer, born in Sussex, England.
He joined the army (7th Royal Fusiliers) in 1879 and served in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
. He volunteered for Henry Morton Stanley
Henry Morton Stanley
Sir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB, born John Rowlands , was a Welsh journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley allegedly uttered the now-famous greeting, "Dr...
's Emin Pasha Relief Expedition
Emin Pasha Relief Expedition
The Emin Pasha Relief Expedition of 1886 to 1889 was one of the last major European expeditions into the interior of Africa in the nineteenth century, ostensibly to the relief of Emin Pasha, General Charles Gordon's besieged governor of Equatoria, threatened by Mahdist forces...
. As Stanley's second in command he was leader of the Rear Column which was left in the jungle by the Aruwimi River
Aruwimi River
The Aruwimi River is a tributary of the Congo River, located to the north and east of the Congo.The Aruwimi begins as the Ituri River, which arises near Lake Albert, in the savannas north of the Kibale River watershed. It then runs generally south southwest until it is joined by the Shari River...
to wait for more porters to be brought by the Arab slave trader Tippu Tib while Stanley marched on to reach Emin as soon as possible.
However, historian Adam Hochschild
Adam Hochschild
Adam Hochschild is an American author and journalist.-Biography:Hochschild was born in New York City. As a college student, he spent a summer working on an anti-government newspaper in South Africa and subsequently worked briefly as a civil rights worker in Mississippi in 1964...
portrays Major Barttelot in a much different light. After being left in charge of the Rear Column,"Major Barttelot promptly lost his mind. He sent Stanley's personal baggage down the river. He dispatched another officer on a bizarre three-thousand-mile three-month round trip to the nearest telegraph station to send a senseless telegram to England. He next decided that he was being poisoned, and saw traitors on all sides. He had one of his porters lashed three-hundred times (which proved fatal). He jabbed at Africans with a steel-tipped cane, ordered several dozen people put in chains, and bit a village woman. After trying to interfere with a native festival, an African shot and killed Barttelot before he could do more."
Stanley blamed Barttelot and his fellow-officers for the failure of the Rear Column. Walter George Barttelot edited the diaries of his brother, adding some biting comments on Stanley's behavior.
Barttelot appears as a character in Simon Gray
Simon Gray
Simon James Holliday Gray, CBE , was an English playwright and memoirist who also had a career as a university lecturer in English literature at Queen Mary, University of London, for 20 years...
's 1978 play The Rear Column
The Rear Column
The Rear Column is a play by Simon Gray set in the jungle of the Congo Free State in 1887-88. The story begins after explorer Henry Morton Stanley, has gone to relieve Emin Pasha, governor of Equatoria, from a siege by Mahdist forces...
, which tells the story of the men of the rear column left by Stanley to wait for Tippu Tib.