Regimental Pets - Muriel and Fann

In the late 19th and early 20th century, the Inniskillings acquired at least two pet animals originating from service in India, both of whom met rather sad endings.

MURIEL

Muriel was a wild pig, as distinct from the domestic variety, found in 1921 by members of the 1st Battalion The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers in the jungle just outside the cantonments at Sialkot in the Punjab area of modern day Pakistan. Her parents were nowhere around and she was so young that she had to be fed from a bottle. The Fusiliers made a great fuss of her and gave her huge quantities of milk, accounting for the fact that she soon weighed 400lb.

When the time came for the Battalion to move from Sialkot, the Adjutant applied for Muriel's movement authority under "Horses and Mules" but permission was denied. All seemed lost for Muriel but for the resourcefulness of the Inniskillings.

It was noted that when the train was being loaded a huge crate with canvas sides was brought down on a bullock cart, accompanied by a crowd of soldiers singing and shouting at the top of their voices. It took twenty men to man handle the huge crate onto the train and, despite the men's singing and shouting, the peculiar grunts and squeals coming from the crate could not be completely disguised. Despite Muriel's inability to keep silent, she was successfully smuggled onto the train without the railway authorities being any the wiser.

The journey to Belgaum, in modern day India, took seven days, and Muriel was as well looked after as if she had been a prize racehorse.

Muriel settled down happily at Belgaum and became well known to the students of the Senior Officers School there. She took part in many battalion activities and never missed a cross-country run, usually finishing fifth or sixth among two hundred runners.

On St Patrick's Day, she was decked out with green ribbons and on Sundays, she had a penchant for attending religious services and would invariably attend both Roman Catholic and Church of Ireland services.

When the companies changed station, Muriel went with A Company to Bombay, but she found the trams and motors in the city a bit of a problem and had several near escapes from being run over. Unfortunately, she eventually did come to a sad end. When the battalion left Bombay for Iraq, she had to be left behind. She was handed over to some resident Gunners in Bombay who, it was later reported, killed her and ate her for their Christmas Dinner!

Fann

Fann was a doe antelope who was the darling of the 108th Regiment, later the 2nd Battalion The Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers.

She was caught on the plains near Nusserabad in India in 1875, when she was about two weeks old. She was initially looked after by a corporal in the Pipes and Drums but as her taste for music increased she was handed over to the Regimental Band and frequently marched at the head of the Regiment when on parade.

When the Regiment provided a guard of honour for HRH The Prince of Wales, Fann paraded with the Band and was the first to welcome him to the Residency at Indore.

She spent two years with the Regiment at Mhow before accompanying them back to Colchester in 1876. When the regiment arrived at Portsmouth, Fann was authorised by HRH Princess Edward of Saxe-Weimer to graze on the Governors lawn. It was whilst in Colchester that the officers of the Regiment presented her with a massive silver collar, now on display in the Inniskillings Museum in Enniskillen.

In 1881, Fann caught the eye of Queen Victoria at the Grand Volunteer Review in Edinburgh when standing opposite the saluting dais. In December 1881, the now 2nd Battalion embarked at Liverpool for a posting to Enniskillen. Fann came with them and very soon made friends with the townspeople of Enniskillen; she was well known within a radius of 6 miles from the town and was fond of going for walks by herself.

However, on 25 February 1882, she went absent for the first time; after an extensive search she was found to have been shot when she had probably been mistaken for a wild deer which also lived in the vicinity.