John Moyse

Historical background

The Second Opium War (1856–1860) was fought to guarantee European sovereignty of the seas after a Chinese-owned and British-registered ship, The Arrow, was seized in 1856 for being involved in smuggling and piracy. Since it had been flying the British Ensign, the British government pressed for an apology. They allied with France and Russia and invaded China from 1857 to 1858. In 1858, China sued for peace and agreed to the Treaty of Tientsin, which allowed the creation of French and English embassies in Beijing, and the Treaty of Aigun, which redrew Russia's border with China.

In 1859, after China repudiated the Treaty of Tientsin, the war continued. A naval force under the command of Admiral Sir James Hope shelled the forts guarding the mouth of the Peiho river. It was damaged and withdrew under the cover of fire from a naval squadron commanded by Commodore Josiah Tattnall.

In 1860, an Anglo-French army gathered at Hong Kong and then carried out a landing at Pei Tang on 3 August, and a successful assault on the Taku Forts on 21 August. On the march to Beijing the Anglo-French forces pushed aside several Manchu military units but the fighting was limited.

"The Private of the Buffs"

On 13 August 1860 during the march on the Taku Forts, a party of Sikh sappers and some laborers transporting their column's rum rations was captured by a force of Tartar cavalry. Among them was Private John Moyse of the 3rd (East Kent) Regiment (also known as "The Buffs") and an unnamed sergeant of the 44th (East Essex) Regiment.

The next day the prisoners were brought before a local mandarin and were ordered to kow-tow, under penalty of torture or execution if they didn't comply. Private Moyse alone refused and was savagely beaten and then beheaded, his body afterwards thrown on a dungheap. He was, ironically, his regiment's only casualty in the fighting.

The cause of his refusal has been a subject of much dispute. The popular story was that it was on the grounds that it would disgrace his country. However, it has been surmised that Moyse, who had a history of insubordination, refused out of personal pride and stubbornness. When the prisoners were released a week later, their tale of Moyse's bravery spread through the army.

His act of defiance was later celebrated in The Private of the Buffs, a poem by Sir Francis Hastings Doyle. The poem refers to Moyse as a newly recruited young Kentish farmboy but he was, in fact, a veteran middle-aged Irishman who had recently been broken in rank. However, the poem was written on the strength of newspaper reports, and it is likely that Doyle was unaware of the discrepancies.