In October 1879, the City of Exeter laid on a grand banquet in the Victoria Hall to congratulate Colonel Redvers Buller, the gallant commander of the South African Light Horse, on the occasion of his safe return from the Zulu War. Some four or five hundred ladies and gentlemen gathered to listen to the many toasts. Colonel Buller, when he replied, said, among much else:
"I was passing through Maritzburg in August last year. The regiment I was commanding wanted a few recruits, and so many offered themselves that I had a good deal of difficulty in selecting them. I asked some ten or a dozen their names. The second man told me his name was Vinnicombe. I said, 'That's good enough for me - (a laugh ) - you come from the right end of England at any rate.' 'Well," he replied, I come from Devonshire.'
" 'And he was good enough for me. He stayed with me throughout the war, he was one of the very best men I had, and I had the greatest pleasure last week in witing to his mother to tell her that the Queen had been pleased to give him one of the most valuable decorations a soldier can receive - the medal for distinguished service and gallant conduct in the field' - (Loud applause\.)"
"Buller by name, buller by nature!" you might think, but is this not the trick of all great commanders, carefully to remember and honour the men who serve them? The conclusion of Colonel Buller's speech went like this:
"I ask you now, therefore, to let me feel that the praises, the kind words , and the honours you have bestowed on me today are offered equally, and belong equally, to those men who gained for me the renown I now enjoy."
Source, The Exeter Flying Post, 8th October 1879.
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