NAM.2009-02-110-289

Letter to Sir John Cowell from Stafford Northcote, 1 Apr 1884. Thanks Cowell for his information, ‘We have indeed cause for great uneasiness, and unless the Government can make up their minds to a much more determined line of action we may look for serious troubles. Sooner or later we shall have to fall back on Roberts and an Indian force ... If Gladstone is not in the House we may have a chance of learning something from Hartington.’ From the archive of Maj Gen Sir John Cowell, 1854-1893. Cowell served with the Royal Engineers in the Baltic in 1854 and in the Crimea in 1855. As Master of the Queen’s Household from 1866 until his death in 1894, Cowell acted as military gatekeeper to Queen Victoria and was the man to whom Victorian generals wrote if they wished their views to be communicated to the monarch. Associated with the Crimean War (1854-1856), 1st Sudan War (1884-1885), the Egyptian War (1882), the Sekukuni Campaign (1878-1879) and the 2nd Afghan War (1878-1881).