240 mngs ot tbe Ibuntino^jfiem 



regiment was quartered at Canterbury, over the colour of a 

 bottle, whether it were black or dark green, and Cardigan 

 asserted and maintained his opinion so offensively, in 

 face of overwhelming proof of his mistake, that there 

 ensued what was commonly known as ' The Black 

 Bottle Riot' The upshot of this was a quarrel between 

 Captain Richard Anthony Reynolds of the nth and 

 his colonel. Cardigan had, in a very marked w^ay, 

 abstained from inviting Captain Reynolds and his 

 brother to a military ball given at his house, and when 

 asked his reason, stated bluntly that the brothers 

 Reynolds were not persons he cared to have under his 

 roof. 



Then Captain Reynolds wrote a most insolent letter 

 to Lord Cardigan, his commanding officer, sneering 

 at his lordship's reputation as a duellist, and suggest- 

 ing that Lord Cardigan sheltered himself behind his 

 position from giving the satisfaction due from one 

 gentleman to another. Reynolds was court-martialled 

 and cashiered, quite justly as it seems to me, for he 

 had been guilty of a most gross and glaring act of 

 insubordination. But this was not by any means the 

 end of the matter. A letter, signed with the initials 

 ' H. T.,' appeared in the Morning Chronicle^ giving a 

 garbled account of the incidents which had led to the 

 court-martial, and making most offensive charges against 

 Lord Cardigan. The latter took steps to discover the 

 author of the letter, and, finding that it was a certain 

 Captain Harvey Tucker, promptly challenged his 

 traducer. The duel took place near the old windmill 

 on Wimbledon Common, familiar to riflemen in the 

 pre-Bisley days. The first exchange of shots was 

 harmless, but in the second Captain Tucker was severely 



