LIEUTENANT (LATER MAJOR) E.N.D. LATOUCHE, 44TH (SYLHET) LIGHT INFANTRY. India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Bhootan (officially impressed: LIEUT. E.N.D. LATOUCHE, 44TH. REGT., N.I.). Attractively toned, Good Very Fine.
£1,150.00
LIEUTENANT (LATER MAJOR) E.N.D. LATOUCHE, 44TH (SYLHET) LIGHT INFANTRY. India General Service 1854-95, 1 clasp, Bhootan (officially impressed: LIEUT. E.N.D. LATOUCHE, 44TH. REGT., N.I.). Attractively toned, Good Very Fine.
Medal accompanied by an extensive file of biographical research regarding the life and military careers of Major LaTouche and his two sons, Everard and Averill, both of whom were killed in action during WW1, Everard during the Gallipoli campaign whilst serving with the 13th Battalion Australian Imperial Force and Averill at Hooge, whilst serving with the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Rifles, including copied extracts from Burkes Irish Family Records and Burkes Landed Gentry re. the LaTouche family, extract from Michael McGinleys The LaTouche Family of Ireland, copied East India Company service papers, biographical sketches, probate records, etc
Everard Neal Digges LaTouche, born in Dublin on 12 July 1843, was a member of the Bellvue House, Wicklow, branch of the LaTouche family. He was a descendant of David Digues de la Touche (1671-1745), who established the LaTouche family in Ireland and opened the first bank in Ireland.
Everard Neals was the son of Peter and Mary Ann LaTouche. He was baptised at St Peters Dublin on the 24th August 1843 and was educated at the Royal School Armagh.
LaTouche obtained a Cadetship in the Honorable East India Company Army on the recommendation of a Mrs Bouverie, and was nominated to be a cadet in the Bengal Infantry by Lord Lyvedon. He passed the East India Company Selection Committee on the 3rd April 1861 and was commissioned on the 4th July 1861 into the 48th Native Infantry.
On the 1st January 1863 he was transferred to the 11th Native Infantry, and this was almost certainly because Everard Neil wanted to take part in. the forthcoming campaign against that Bhutanese. For five years leading up to1863 the British Government had constantly been annoyed by the activities of the Bhutanese. Kidnapping and plundering parties frequently entered the British territory and at length Ashley Eden was sent to the country to re-negotiate the existing treaty. His treatment was however far from satisfactory, he was put under close guard and forced to sign a new agreement which not only readjusted the border in favour of Bhootan but also stipulated the compulsory repatriation of all Political Offenders who had taken refuge in India.
In order to take part in the subsequent punitive expedition, Everard managed to get himself transferred again, this time to the 44th Native Infantry, which was part of the Right Column commanded by General Tombs. Their task was to capture Dewangiri.
It proved a challenging task as the final stronghold of the Bhutanese was in a stone and wood blockhouse containing 150 fighters who would not surrender. General Tombs who was well forward realised that unless this last stronghold was rapidly captured, the Bhutanese might yet have time to regroup and organise a counter attack he therefore turned to the attackers and asked, Will no officer give the men a lead?
Lieutenant WS Trevor and Lieutenant J Dundas both volunteered, climbed the wail and, although wounded, led a succesfull assault. For their gallantry both Trevor and Dundas were awarded the Victoria Cross.
In August 1865 LaTouche went on furlough and on return from furlough was appointed Assistant Commissioner in Assam, with the rank of Assistant Commissioner Third Grade. For the rest of his service he remained in Assam, being promoted Captain on the 15th June 1870 and being appointed Assistant Commissioner First Grade, Assam. In May 1881 he returned to Ireland on furlough, was promoted Major on the 4th July 1881 and retired on half pay on the 19th May 1884.
While he was on furlough LaTouche married Clementine (Nee Eager) and on 14th March 1883, and a son, Everard Digges LaTouche, was born at Burrendale, Newcastle, County Down, Ireland, also in 1883. Two years later another son, Averill, was born. Both sons were to be killed in action in the First World War.
After leaving the Army, Everard Neal, Clementine and their two sons moved to Bedfordshire and lived at number 10 Goldington Avenue, where Major LaTouche died in 1903. His son, Everard, went to Bedfordshire Grammar School. He was very talented young man and obtained a BA at Dublin University in 1904, an MA in 1908 and D. Litt in 1910. Subsequently, he was appointed Donnellan Lecturer at Dublin University, the youngest man ever appointed to the post. Because of ill health he decided to emigrate to warmer climes and so moved to Hornsby, Sydney, Australia where he became Vicar of Emmnville and a Commissioner for the Bishop of Bendigo. When war broke out in 1914 he tried to join the army as a chaplain, but his application was rejected. Then, despite the fact that, as a man of the cloth he was not permitted to bear arms, he attempted to enlist as a private in the 2nd Battalion A.I.F., but was rejected because of varicose veins. He then had a successful operation to treat the varicose veins. Then, leaving his wife Eve and two sons, who were then living in The Rectory, Milltown County Kerry, he successfully enlisted into the 13th Battalion A.I.F. He landed in Alexandria as a Sergeant but was later commissioned 2nd Lieutenant. On the 6th August 1915 he landed at Anzac Cove and was subsequently killed in action during the intense fighting on 6th – 8th August 1915.
Everard Neals second son Averill was also killed in action a month later in the Battle of Loos at Hooge in September 1915, while serving with the 2nd Battalion Royal Irish Rifles. Their mother, Clementine then living in Ireland at 56 Highfield Road, Rathgar, Dublin, afterwards had a memorial to her husband and her two sons erected in St Patrick’s Cathedral Dublin.
David Digues La Touch (1671-1745), who established the LaTouche family in Ireland, was a Huguenot who fled to Holland after the Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, where he obtained a commission as a Captain in the army of Prince William of Orange (later William III). He saw service in Ireland with Williams army, distinguishing himself at the Battle of the Boyne in 1690, and afterwards settled in Dublin, where he established the first bank to be set up in Ireland. He was also instrumental in establishing the worldwide reputation for Irish Linen. He gave £200 to establish the Weavers Guild House. In the decades that followed, successive members of the LaTouche family, including Major Everett Neal Digges LaTouche, were intimately and actively involved in banking in Ireland, as owners, directors and investors, and played a leading part in the establishment of the Bank of Ireland in 1783.
David Digues LaTouche set up his banking business in Dublin circa 1712 with three partners, Nathaniel Kane, Thomas Howe and Richard Norton. By 1726 Hown and Norton had left the business, which became a partnership, Kane and LaTouche. Kane died in 1735 and was succeeded by his son, also called Nathaniel. At about the same time, David Digues LaTouche brought his son, David II, into the business as a partner and the bank became known as LaTouche Kane and LaTouche. Nathaniel Kane II died in 1758, whereupon the bank was renamed LaTouche and Son, being now in the sole ownership of the family. After 1758, nobody outside the family was admitted as a partner. During the succeeding century the bank prospered, its reputation increasing with each decade. In 1870 the LaTouche bank merged with the larger and rapidly expanding Munster and Leinster Bank. The Munster and Leinster Bank had only opened in 1864, but had grown rapidly, acheiving deposits of £2.8 million during its first four years. This initial blaze of glory was not to last. Much of its business was reliant on agriculture, and the severe agricultural crisis of 1879 led to a sharp decline in the banks fortunes and eventual bankruptcy. Major Everard Neal Digges LaTouche was one of nine members of the LaTouche family who were shareholders in the Munster and Leinster Bank when it collapsed in 1885. All nine members of the family had their investment wiped out. As a result, when Major LaTouche died in 1903 he was not a wealthy man, leaving an estate valued at just £222. He did, however, leave his widowed wife an Indian Army pension of £187 per annum.
The India General Service Medal with Bhutan clasp was Major LaTouch’s sole medal entitlement.