“On Saturday the cavalry and mounted infantry, with several batteries of light and field artillery, and the pontoon train of the Royal Engineers, attached to the 1st Army Corps, under the command of Lieut.-Gen. Sir John French, which is to embark at Southampton today, Monday, for conveyance to the East Coast for the autumn manoeuvres, marched into camp on Baddesley Common, which is connected by means of portable field telegraph with the camp on Southampton Common....

“During the night one of the horses of the 8th Hussars was kicked by another, and had its leg broken, and it was determined by a veterinary officer to put the animal out of its misery. “It is stated that he endeavoured to accomplish this end with a silent pistol; but that did not act, and he accordingly used an ordinary one. “In the stillness of the early morning, about half past two, when it was pitch dark, a shot rang out in the lines of the 8th Hussars and immediately the stampede occurred. “There was nothing to stop the maddened rush of the affrighted steeds.

“The ground was soft from the heavy rain of the previous morning, and it was a comparatively easy matter for the horses to pull the pegs from the earth.... “The stampeded horses dashed out of the enclosure, most of them jumping a fence in which was barbed wire, breaking down one or two posts supporting the same. The majority of the maddened creatures... dashed along towards Chilworth.

“The roadway bore traces for a considerable distance of the direction taken by the frightened animals by the large quantity of blood that had dropped from their legs, pieces of string with which their ankles had been tied, broken pegs, and blankets with which they had been covered for the night littering the roadway. “Some of the horses halted after going some distance, either through the injuries to their legs, or having got over their frenzy, and were captured. “Others dashed off in the direction of’ Chandler’s Ford or Winchester, but it is computed that about 300 galloped down the magnificent avenue which intersects Southampton Common…

“Downwards the horses galloped, but as they neared the more thickly-populated parts of Southampton they disappeared in various directions. “About 100 dashed through Above Bar-Street, and a police constable made a gallant attempt to stop the animals, but finding that they continued their mad stampede, and that his efforts had no effect, he wisely beat a retreat. “Through the Bargate the terrified creatures tore, some being crushed against the sides of the structure, down to the Town Quay. All the morning, mounted men were returning to Baddesley Common with batches of the runaways. “Some were discovered by the roadside with such serious injuries that it was necessary in mercy to put an end to their sufferings. “It was reported in the camp at midday that 47 horses had to be shot at different places to put an end to their misery. A good number had been returned to camp about noon, but such a small percentage belonging to the 8th Hussars were fit to ride that the gallant regiment was practically reduced to the position of an unmounted troop.

“The incident was bad enough in all conscience, but the wildest stories got into circulation. One of these was to the effect that many of the horses in their desperate flight dashed over the Town Quay and were drowned, but this was not the case.” Eye-witness accounts painted a vivid picture of the frightening stampede: At the bottom of The Avenue the horses’ weight and impetus was such that some of them were unable to turn into London-road without fouling the ornamental iron fences and low walls in front of the houses in College-place and some of the cast-iron fences were broken off. “When I saw them in the picket lines in the morning many of them had patches of skin and hair scraped off and various cuts and bruises...”

“The first tramlines were being laid in Southampton at the time and, as ‘there was no road round the Bargate in those days, all the horses converged on the narrow road under the Bar, fell into the trenches made for laying the lines, and many suffered broken legs and had to be destroyed.’ “This was in the days when a narrow pedestrian arch was either side of the Bargate and what a fearful mess it was to see blood stains at each opening.” Badly cut and  torn they scattered in all direction – some to Romsey, Chandlers Ford, Otterbourne, Shawford and Compton, one even reached Basingstoke – but most headed through Shirley to Southampton and on towards the Docks,  where a Harbour Policeman hearing the noise switched on the electric lights, which brought the horses to a standstill.

Over half of the 700 horses were so badly injured they had to be shot. A rather sad ending, but no doubt a lively topic of conversation for many a day, for all who had witnessed the Stampede.