MAJOR-GENERAL Redvers Buller was a veteran of many imperial campaigns before his surprise appointment to civilian duties in the south-west of Ireland in the autumn of 1886. He had been awarded the Victoria Cross for the daring rescue of three of his men in South Africa in 1879 and he had seen action in Egypt and the Sudan, after which he was knighted and acclaimed at home for his exploits. He was gruff and taciturn in manner, but always well regarded by his men.
Although it does not feature prominently in biographies, Buller’s time in Co Kerry 125 years ago was eventful. In response to great public disorder in the county the government appointed the military hero to act as a special commissioner over the RIC and resident magistrates. His full title was Major-General Sir Redvers Buller, VC, KCMG, KCB – “the very model of a modern major-general”, as the press dubbed him.
He reported directly to the chief secretary, and his decisions had a dramatic impact on landlord-tenant relations in the county. Kerry was ablaze with conflict in the months before his appointment. Landlords were using the full force of the law against tenants who withheld their rent, encouraged by the National League, successor to the Land League.
Harrowing evictions were everyday scenes, and murders and moonlighting raids of intimidation were prevalent in many areas.
Buller received a sceptical, even scornful, welcome from the nationalist press, and his mission was derided in the cartoons of United Ireland, organ of the National League; he was shown doing his rounds on a camel and his task was compared to sending "a squadron of Life Guards to catch pickpockets in a London slum". Unionist press was obsequious, revelling in Buller's military credentials; he was urged to snuff out communist doctrines and the Daily Expressvisualised him on another military expedition, "on the front line facing the National League". The Illustrated London Newssent an artist with him to Co Kerry, ensuring that some fine images of him on his official duties there have survived.
Buller soon sprang a few surprises for supporters and critics: he chose not to have a military or police escort on his visits around the county, at a time when almost all landlords and magistrates had special protection because of the ever-present danger of attack. “Buller shows his good sense and, at the same time, the absurdity of his mission by going about Kerry on a jaunting car, like a Cook’s tourist, without escort,” reported United Ireland. Buller also visited areas of Co Clare, but his main work was in Co Kerry. His routine was to visit crime scenes and areas of disturbance, and he called on victims of evictions as well as victims of moonlighting. He also interviewed landlords and their agents, such as the notorious Samuel Hussey and George Sandes, and met the Bishop of Kerry. He socialised openly, walked casually about the streets of Tralee and Killarney, and attended a race meeting with his wife. Soon, he was reported as being “sickened to the heart” by what he witnessed in Co Kerry, and particularly by the “demoralisation of the peasantry”. Gradually, reports supported the belief that Buller was overtly sympathetic to tenants, and was critical of the rack-renting demands of landlords in the harsh times that prevailed. He made it more difficult for landlords’ agents to obtain police protection for evictions, by obliging them to give 10 days’ notice of any such request. This was ostensibly to allow him time to make inquiries into the precise circumstances, but it gave a clear signal to landlords. Magistrates, too, began to issue judgments in favour of tenants and reduced rents in several cases. By the end of October, United Ireland was mischievously claiming that Buller had the landlords “thoroughly cowed” and there was a sharp fall in the number of violent crimes.
In evidence before the Cowper Commission in early November, Buller gave his opinion that “there is not much law in this part of the country, and but a short time ago, what law there was, was on the side of the rich”. He also said that the people saw the Land League as their salvation: “nobody did anything for the tenants until the League was established”. Reports of Buller claiming that that the Land League was the salvation of the people caused further waves of outrage among the gentry. The tenants of Co Kerry now found that they had a formidable ally, while his critics dismissed him as “an emotional Englishman”, who meddled naively in Irish affairs.
In early December 1886, after only three months in Co Kerry, Buller was promoted to the position of under-secretary for Ireland. It seems that he was successfully reined in by the Dublin Castle bureaucracy, as his period as under-secretary was undistinguished. He returned to England to become quartermaster-general of the army in October 1887. The firebrand nationalist MP, Joseph Biggar, reportedly declared: “If you had left him with us a while longer, we would have had him in the League”.
In 1899, aged 60 and aware that he had been away from the front line for 15 years, it was with great reluctance that he accepted command of British forces in South Africa, frankly – and prophetically – stating that he would be more suited to second-in-command.
“He saved Natal” is inscribed on the memorial statue to General Buller unveiled in Exeter in 1905, but it was Natal which led to his downfall.
True, he did lift the siege of Ladysmith after 118 days, but there was relentless press criticism of his conduct of the campaign in South Africa. He was dubbed “Reverse Buller” after defeats at Colenso and elsewhere.
His reputation suffered further when he sent a telegram in which he mooted the possibility of surrendering Ladysmith to the Boers. His capacity for command was questioned, although he always remained highly popular among his own men and in his home area. Buller was back in England in 1901 when he gave an impromptu speech attacking the war correspondent of the London Times, in the course of which he admitted that he had "spatchcocked a sentence into the telegram" suggesting that it might be necessary to surrender Ladysmith.
His passionate speech – made this month 110 years ago – was seen as a serious breach of military discipline, and he was dismissed. He had become a scapegoat for all the military disasters of the Boer War, but research by Thomas Pakenham and others has since restored his reputation. When he died in 1908, a Kerry priest sent a message of condolence saying that Redvers Buller was the only British soldier ever to win the trust and respect of Kerry tenant farmers.