This battle honour was conferred on the 19th Hussars and the Royal Sussex Regiment for their services in the sharp action of January 28, 1885, when the commander of the force, Major-General Sir Herbert Stewart, received a mortal wound, dying a few days after the fight. Although the distinction was only granted to the two regiments above mentioned, the brigade under General Stewart's command comprised a naval brigade, under Captain Lord Charles Beresford, and a camel corps, made up of regiments of heavy and of light cavalry of the Household Cavalry and of the Brigade of Guards, and a force of Mounted Infantry: no less than twenty-two regiments were represented in the camel corps which fought so well at Abu Klea.
+--------------------------+-----------+-----------+ | |_Officers._| _Men._ | | _Regiments._ +-----+-----+-----+-----+ | | K. | W. | K. | W. | +--------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+ |19th Hussars | - | - | 2 | 4 | |Naval Brigade | 2 | 2 | 6 | 9 | |Royal Artillery | - | 2 | - | 2 | |Heavy Cavalry Camel Corps | 6 | - | 48 | 28 | |35th R. Sussex | - | - | 5 | 25 | |Light Cavalry Camel Corps | 1 | 3 | 8 | 9 | |Mounted Infantry | - | 1 | 5 | 35 | +--------------------------+-----+-----+-----+-----+
This battle honour, which is borne by the South Staffordshires and the Royal Highlanders, commemorates the only action fought by what was known as the River Column in the advance up the Nile for the relief of General Gordon in the Soudan Campaign of 1885.
Whilst Sir Herbert Stewart with the camel corps was endeavouring to force his way to Khartoum by the desert route, Major-General Earle, a guardsman at the head of the River Column, was slowly moving south from Korti. On February 10 an indecisive action was fought with a small body of the enemy. Our losses were numerically insignificant, but they included the General in command, Major-General W. Earle, late of the Grenadier Guards, and the commanding officers of the two line regiments present.
The news of the death of General Gordon and the occupation of Khartoum by the Mahdi caused the Home Government to order the withdrawal of the British troops from the Nile, and the task of conducting the retirement was entrusted to Major-General Sir Redvers Buller.