Written just a month before his death, Owen (1856-1869) had been ill for at least fortnight beforehand, this rich letter contains a detail description of the action at Firket. He commences this letter on a note of thanks for “plunging into the cauldron of cholera … to save me from the pangs of stomach aches.”
Owen then turns to the battle at Firket which he calls “a distinct success,” noting that “They were undoubtedly surprised & deservedly so, but collared they faced the music, though without cohesion and apparently without plan.” He then clarifies: “We had of course an overwhelming force of 5 to 1, to say nothing of horse artillery, Maxims [etc].”
Furthermore, we gain insight into the intelligence made available to Owen, “Wingate’s or Slatin’s information of the numbers Emirs present … seems to have been very accurate (much I fancy to the regret of some of the purely military ‘know alls.’) It was decided I believe that the Special Service Officers should be passengers as much as possible, and so that have been made …”
Notably, he ends with the following: “If the Khalifa don’t jump into the breach now & strongly reinforce Dongola from Omdurman, he’s a juggins. I hear he intends withdrawing the Italian Army for this purpose but this may not be in time for the job.”
Edward “Roddy” Owen combined a successful career in horse racing (he won the 1892 Grand National) with military action in the West African Jebu War. He saw action in Uganda during the Unyoro War, Chitral and the Afghan frontier, and finally Dongola.
After Chitral, Owen travelled to Egypt. At this time Kitchener was “preparing the last stages of the advance which, two years later, brought him and the Regiment to Khartoum … In June, Owen was present at the Battle of Firkeh, where, after a daring night march, Kitchener’s Egyptian and Sudanese regiments won a complete victory over the Dervishes—an omen of things to come. But then all progress was temporarily stopped by a series of misfortunes. Violent storms swept the desert, turning every gully into a torrent, and tearing away miles of the precious railway. Worse still, cholera struck the army, and the death rate began to rise steadily … Owen was himself smitten by cholera; he died on July 11th, 1896, and his Arab followers buried him that night in a desert grave beside the River Nile. His memory is still cherished in the Regiment. He was not a typical regimental officer … but he was typical of generations of high-spirited, audacious individualists whose contribution to the Army, and the nation, has been invaluable” (Eastwood).
Writing of her brother shortly after his death, Mai Bovill notes that “[h]is life only lasted forty years, and in that short time he gained reputation, not only as one of the most successful riders of his day, but also, from the time he gave up racing and took seriously to his profession, as a soldier.”
An important survival from a charismatic member of the XXth Lancashire Fusiliers.
Bovill, M., ‘Roddy Owen’ … (London, 1897), p.2; Eastwood, J., “The Lancashire Connection” accessed 12 April 2025.
