| Brindle | Robert | | Reverend | He was born in Liverpool 4 November 1837. He studied for twelve years at the English College at Lisbon; was ordained Deacon, and became Priest in 1862. He worked on the Missions at Plymonth for some twelve years, and became Military Chaplain in 1874, his first experience being at Woolwich. Thence he passed to Halifax, Nova Scotia, for live years and on his return served for a short time at Aldershot. In 1882 came the campaign against Arabi Pasha, and for four years he saw constant active service in Egypt. Of the landing of the troops the Bishop was wont to give a very lively description. The scene of hopeless confusion in the unloading of the transports at Ishmailia, the horses swimming from the ships on to the shore, the men encumbered with all manner of military stores and equipments, he would relate in an amusing manner—adding the remark of one of the British Tars who said that he had hitherto considered himself as one of Her Majesty's seamen, but had now been turned into a commissariat mule! He was continually with the fighting line. He was present at a great many battles, in which he shared the risks of the combatants. Speaking to the students at Lisbon College in 1909, His Lordship frankly admitted that in the first engagement with the enemy, when the English lost about a hundred men, he felt anything but comfortable, and called himself a fool for having left congenial work in England to go out to a desert place where he thought he would certainly be shot. Such, however, was not to be, and in future, when under fire, he experienced no such fear, although he had some narrow escapes. He was not present at the Battle of Tel-el-Kebir, being stricken down with cholera just previously. While he was in Cairo he worked among the numerous cases of enteric fever. One who was with him says that, he cheered all by his companionship, and was never downhearted. He was always in the best of spirits, and was always most popular with the soldiers. In the Nile Expedition of 1884, he captained one of the boats of the Royal Irish Regiment — the regiment which won the prize of £10 offered by Lord Wolseley to the first boat to reach the end of the river journey. Field-Marshal Sir Evelyn Wood says: "I was riding up the banks of the Nile on a camel, and he was pulling in a boat of the Royal Irish Regiment. About sundown on Christmas Day I saw a little flotilla of boats flying the Royal Irish flag toiling up the river. Father Brindle got out when he had pulled up to us, hot, tired and irritable, with his hands blistered and the perspiration running down his face. Said I: 'Father, what have you been doing?' 'Pulling stroke in order to encourage them.' 'Any result?' I asked. What he really said was 'Devil a bit'. But I interpreted it, to the clerics, 'No, none at all'. The Father was, however, unduly pessimistic, for the Royal Irish won Lord Wolseley's prize, given to the battalion which made the best time for the three or four hundred miles up the river, and also which, brought up in good order the largest amount of public stores intact". This incident occurred on Christmas Day, 1884, during the Gordon Relief Expedition, and is related by Field-Marshal Sir E Wood, VC, in 'Winnowed Memories'. A Protestant friend of Dr Brindle's, a doctor attached to the Expedition, relates how, after the Battle of Metemmeh, "the Royal Irish were ordered across the desert to assist in the return of the force. Lord Wolseley was aware that to send the regiment without Father Brindle was out, of the question, and so he accompanied the regiment, and was provided with a camel for the hundreds of miles of the march. But Father Brindle did not use the camel, and did the whole desert journey to Metemmeh and back on foot. I went out a few miles, from Korti, to meet the returning force, and found the Father inarching with the regiment, but, the soles of his boots were gone, and rags rolled about, his feet had replaced them. According to my experience, everyone that met him appreciated him. He was a wonderful man for making friends, and Lord Wolseley had a very high opinion of him". After being present, at the Battle of Ginniss, he returned to England, and for the next ten years served as Chaplain at, Colchester and Aldershot. During this period of his life, says his friend, the Very Reverend Canon Vere, "I saw him from time to time, and was his guest at Aldershot. In the thirty-fifth year of his priesthood, and Hearing the fifty-ninth year of his age, Father Brindle again set sail for Egypt, and, in 1896, was attached to Lord Kitchener's Expedition to Dongola. During the long and trying period of inaction at Sarras, the soldier-Chaplain distinguished himself by his devotion to the sick. He was, when cholera invaded the camp, tireless in his ministration to the troops, who were always cheered by his undaunted spirit". Mr R Caton Woodville, in his 'Random Recollections', speaks of Father Brindle thus: "All the Tommies loved him when he was Army Chaplain. It was he who carried the Tommies out, of their quarters in his arms, placed them in the ambulance to convey them to the hospital when nobody else would come near them, as the cholera was raging and the men were dying like flies, and even many of the doctors themselves had died. When I asked him how it was that he never caught it himself, he replied that he never ate anything that was not freshly cooked. It was during the halt at Atbara that Father Brindle performed a very heroic deed. It was a Saturday night, and word came from another camp some nine miles away that a Catholic soldier was dying. Unarmed, he set out at once, and walked across the El Teb, which was infested by the enemy. He administered the last rites to the dying man, and stayed with him to the end. He then tramped back without rest or food, and reached the camp in time to say Mass for his men on Sunday morning". On Good Friday, the 8th of April, Father Brindle was present at the Battle of the Atbara, which wiped out the finest Dervish Army that had opposed the British. In the three great attacks of the Battle of Omdurman, the heroic priest was in the fighting line. At the Memorial Service for General Gordon, held in Khartoum, Father Brindle was one of the officiating Chaplains, and composed a prayer which he recited on that occasion, and which by Lord Kitchener's orders was printed for distribution. G W Steevens says, on page 314 of his book 'With Kitchener to Khartoum': "Next fell a deeper hush than ever, except for the solemn minute guns that had followed the fierce salute. Four Chaplains—Catholic, Anglican, Presbyterian and Methodist—came slowly forward and ranged themselves with their backs to the palace, just before the Sirdar. The Presbyterian read the fifteenth Psalm, the Anglican led the rustling whisper of the Lord's Prayer. Snow-haired Father Brindle, best beloved of Priests, laid his helmet at his feet and read a memorial prayer bareheaded in the sun". Father Brindle was five times mentioned in Despatches, and received rapid promotion. For the Nile Expedition of 1884, he received the British War Medal with four clasps, and for the Khartoum Expedition the Medal with three clasps. He was given a Good Service Pension, and received the Turkish Orders of the Medjidie with three clasps, the Osmanieh with four clasps, and the Khedive's Bronze Star. He was created a Companion of the Distinguished Service Order [London Gazette, 15 November 1898]: "Reverend Robert Brindle, Chaplain to the Forces, 1st Class, in recognition of services in Egypt and the Sudan, including the battles of Atbara and Khartoum". The Insignia were sent to the General OC in Egypt, and presented by him 20 December 1898, at a full dress parade at the Cairo Garrison. Father Brindle had his decoration stolen from him in Rome, and obtained another at his own expense, and this was presented to him by Queen Victoria on 11 May 1899. He retired from the Army in 1899; journeyed from Egypt to Rome, and on 12 March 1899, was consecrated Titular Bishop of Hermopolis by Cardinal Satolli. After the death of Monsignor Barry, Bishop Brindle became Provost of the Westminster Chapter, a | Chaplain to the Forces |
