BULLER'S GUNS
a novel by

Reviews of
Buller's Guns

`In this vividly told story of Victoria's navy and the men who made it the most powerful force in the world we share campaigns long since forgotten but which at the time maintained an Empire. With his usual skill Richard Hough has enabled us to see that world very clearly through two very different viewpoints. That of a lower deck rating from the Tyneside slums, and of Archy Buller the professional naval officer from a long line of Admirals. How their lives meet and mix, from the brutal kindness of the messdeck to the aloof privilege of the wardroom is the stuff of the navy itself.'
Douglas Reeman

`Vigorous male tale of life at sea by naval historian . . . . Plenty of scope for colourful documentary detail as well as action, as we follow the parallel careers of a lower-deck Geordie, with his background of Tyneside poverty, and an officer-and-gentleman, friend of the future George V and frequenter of great country houses.'
Sunday Times

Blurbs

Rod Maclewin and Archy Buller joined the navy for reasons as different as their own personal lives and backgrounds. Rod came from the slums of Tyneside where poverty and unemployment stalked the narrow streets and shipyards. For him the navy was the only harsh alternative to hunger and despair. For Buller, too, there was no alternative. For generations every Buller boy had left his great Cotswold estate to become an officer, many of them admirals with victories and prize money to their credit.
These two young men, one a rich and privileged officer, the other a rating from the lower deck, were destined to meet in the heat of combat in a distant campaign. From that time, as they grew up and rose in rank, fate and war brought them together time and again, until a bond was sealed in the burning heat of the South African veldt, when Buller's Naval Brigade guns went into action against the rebellious Boer farmers in the disastrous Battle of Colenso.
Buller's Guns is set in the majestic floodtide of Victorian imperialism, when arrogance and self-indulgence, suffering and poverty, were taken for granted, and when foreign uprisings were settled by gunboat or bayonet. Buller and Rod take full part in these actions, often side by side, and at the same time prove that though the wealth and class barriers of their time are powerful, they are nothing compared with the strength of personal friendship and loyalty.
But the contrast between these two young men, in their character and style of living, and especially in their choice of women and their behaviour to them, remains to the stirring climax of this novel, adding a depth to the pace of events which makes Buller and Rod Maclewin such fascinating personalities, and their story so compulsively readable.

Richard Hough is a naval historian and biographer of Admirals Lord Fisher and Mountbatten. He has for long had a special interest in the Royal Navy of Victorian and Edwardian times, and his books such as Admirals in Collision and The Big Battleship have been widely acclaimed. He is well equipped to write a trilogy of naval novels, set in the period 1875 to the end of the First World War, of which this is the first.

* * * * * * * * *

`Cease fire — retreat to the rear.' Buller's voice sounded raw and harsh. And then his horse was hit, and he was thrown hard to the rocky ground. Stunned momentarily. A hand on his shoulder. `Are you all right, sir ?'
`I'm all right. Get moving, Skinner.'
There was no need to give the order, `Help the injured!' No need at all. There were sometimes four men to every man down, the Mauser bullets phut, phut, phut, all round them — killing a man there before he could be lifted.
`God, I'm proud of these men today.' Buller felt like saying it out loud : `I'm proud of you. D'you hear me — I'm proud of you.' He helped a leading seaman to his feet. `Where did they get you, Arkwright ? Right, take it easy, arm round my shoulders. Soon have you out of here.'
And so they came back, `out of here,' out of that hell of bullets and shrapnel and shell splinters on the open veldt, in the cannon's mouth, suicidally far ahead of the infantry that never came. And now all the guns lost ? Maybe half the men gone, too. Or more. It would take time to make the count.
And the Naval Division lay beneath the burning 7 :00 A.M. sun, some in agony, some in pain, some only bruised or nicked like Buller, all with their hearts broken at the knowledge of defeat, lying panting their lungs out, throats dry and dusty.

Jacket design by Andrew Kay Jacket illustration by Mike Roffe

My RETURNS & POSTAGE and PACKING Policies

If you wish to return a book please let me know as soon as possible but no later than three days after receipt. 

If you feel, and I agree after we have discussed it, that my description was misleading or inaccurate then, upon the receipt of the book in the condition you received it, I will then refund all your payment plus your return postage. 

If the book isn't what you really wanted and if we agree, then, upon my receipt of the book in the condition you received it, I will then refund your bid price.

I have found, so far, that the majority of my buyers are genuine.

For my part I try and describe the books as fairly as possible - I am not a professional - and do not like buyers to feel dissatisfied. 

My Postage and Packing charges are calculated before wrapping as best I can with a very nominal amount added for packaging costs.

I am happy to pack together multiple buys made within a seven day period and post at cost as long as total value of purchases in the packet does not exceed the Royal Mail's built in compensation, which at the moment is £39.00.