ABSTRACT
Robert Waterfield was born in Leicester, but the dates of his birth and death are not known. He enlisted in the 32nd Regiment of Foot (the Duke of Cornwall’s Light Infantry) in 1842 at Portsmouth, and then spent eleven years in India with his regiment, beginning in 1846. Waterfield saw action at the Siege of Multan and at the Battle of Gujerat (after which the British annexed the Punjab). He also took part in a number of minor conflicts and sieges, before being discharged just prior to the Indian Uprising of 1857. He returned to Leicester, and joined the Conservative party. All knowledge of him ceases after 1876, and it is possible that he emigrated to Canada. Waterfield’s book, which is in the form of a diary, gives an opinionated, and somewhat prickly, account of the daily lives of soldiers in India, dealing with such issues as billeting, guard duty, and executions (“military murder” as he termed it). In the excerpt below, he describes the marriage of the daughter of a deceased sergeant to a soldier in the regiment. At best, this practice constituted a form of insurance guaranteeing that orphaned daughters in regiments would be provided for. In this case, however, the coercive element of the arrangement is apparent. These girls were frequently provided for by other soldiers and their wives during childhood, but were married off at young ages (sometimes as early as 14) often to much older soldiers.
