Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The important Indian Mutiny medal to Donald Grant, Bengal Civil Service, who was twice shot and beheaded while officiating as Joint Magistrate at Humeerpore on 19 June 1857; no graves nor memorial were ever erected to the civilians who perished in the district and it was left to Grant's grieving mother to produce an emotional mourning locket in which she commemorated all those brutally murdered

Indian Mutiny 1857-59, no clasp (Donald Grant) together with a very fine gold and enamel memorial portrait locket, the reverse hinged cover, enamelled with black cross within a wreath, opening to reveal a locket of hair with inscription around ‘Donald Grant, B.C.S., born 26th Septr. 1832, murdered during the Indian Mutiny, 19th June 1857’, the reverse of the cover additionally inscribed ‘Ruthlessly murdered on the 19th June 1857 by the brutal sepoys of the 56th N.I. at Humeespore. Mr. Loyd. D. Grant. Mr. Bunter. Wife & 2 Children, a Native Christian, his Wife & 2 Childn.!! “Vengeance is mine I will repay saith The Lord”, the medal a little polished, otherwise very fine, the locket extremely fine (2) £1,500-£2,000

Donald Grant was born in Calcutta on 26 September 1832, the son of John Grant, Apothecary General to the East India Company and his wife Elizabeth Nicholson Agnes née Hayes. John joined the Indian Medical Service on 7 October 1816, retired on 11 September 1857, and died in London on 14 April 1862; he started and edited the Indian Journal of Medical Science 1834-36; with J. R. Martin edited Jackson's Formation, Discipline and Economy of Armies, wrote Jackson's biography and was one of the founder members of the Calcutta Medical School.

Donald Grant was educated at the Proprietary Grammar School, Kensington, and East India College, Haileybury, from September 1850 to June 1852, where his special ability as an author was noted with no fewer than 14 articles being written for the Haileybury Observer.

On arrival in India he was appointed Assistant to the Magistrate and Collector, Agra, and later Joint magistrate and Deputy Collector second grade, Furruckabad. At the time of the mutiny he was Joint Magistrate and Collector at Humeerpore (Hamirpur) relieving George Hamilton Freeling who had returned to England on sick certificate and bereavement furlough. Head of the 5th District Allahabad Division at Hamirpur was Thomas Kirkman Loyd the Magistrate.

The other Christian inhabitants at Humeerpore at that time consisted of Mr W. D. Murray, a Scottish landholder; Mr James Crawford, Head Clerk; Mr W. Bunter, Judicial Clerk; Mrs Bunter; Mr & Mrs Anderson, relative of the Bunters, with four or five children; Jeremiah, a catechist of the Church Mission Society, his wife and four children.

The only official report covering the tragic events that took place at Humeerpore was the Narrative of Events compiled by George H. Freeling, the previous joint Collector and Magistrate of this district. Establishing the chronological order of events, so long after the events, proved problematic. The narrative Freeling wrote was considered the best that could be achieved under the circumstances. He gathered dozens of depositions from the local population but self preservation and hearsay made it difficult for Freeling to take many of them seriously. However one deposition found in the National Archives of India, New Delhi, gives a revealing account of the deaths of Loyd and Grant and closely follows Freeling's account.

The troops stationed at Humeerpore were a detachment of the 56th Native Infantry, who on the 14th June, after daily alarms, broke into revolt. For a while Messrs Loyd and Grant refused to quit their posts but, after the release of prisoners from the jail, they saw that the crisis had reached breaking point and that the loyalty of the native soldiers could no longer be trusted.

Deposition No. 86 from Thakoordeen from the Pergannah Ghatimpore forms part of a letter sent by Mr G. Probyn to Mr C. B. Thornhill, Officiating Commissioner 4th Division, Allahabad, dated Futtehpore 25 May 1858 and states:

‘On Sunday 14th June 1857 two gentlemen who had escaped from Orai arrived at Humeerpore. Shortly after their arrival the Subahdar of the Guard came and told Mr Loyd that if he did not escape at once he would be killed. Accordingly Messrs Loyd and Grant accompanied by the two gentlemen got into a small boat which was moored close to Mr Loyd's house. The Sepoys came up and seeing the men in the boat started firing at them. One of the men from Orai jumped into the river and was drowned. Messrs Loyd, Grant and the other man reached the other bank where Loyd and Grant managed to escape in an easterly direction towards Meerapore Ghat where they went into the jungle between the Jumna and Betwa rivers. The other man from Orai was killed by the inhabitants of Rawpoor. Loyd and Grant stayed in the jungle for 3 days. On Wednesday 17th June an Aheer of Meerapore took some cattle into the jungle to graze and saw the gentlemen. Mr Loyd called him and gave Rupees 5 to him to bring some food. [Up to this point Loyd and Grant had been supplied food by Gunga Sahai, Loyd's Shirastadar at the court]. The Aheer told the Sepoys of the retreat of the gentlemen and fifty or sixty men brought them in.
Mr Loyd said “Kill me but spare Mr Grant”. The Subahdar interceded for the gentlemen but the Sepoys threatened to kill him if he interceded and then they killed both of the gentlemen.’

The deposition then goes on to explain the fate of other victims of the tragedy, with the last page of the deposition being given to the interrogation of Thakoordeen, the most poignant of which is the following:

Question: Where were the men killed?

Answer: It is two miles from the jungle to the Treasury. The gentlemen were killed near the Treasury under a tree. Mr Loyd was shot dead. Mr Grant was hit with two bullets and then his head was cut off.

Other depositions describe variations of the above theme including how Messrs Loyd and Grant actually hid themselves in the Castor Oil fields until evening, and then, swam with the current, to reach the Humeerpore bank, spending the day standing up to their necks in water amidst the reeds, and by night only daring to come to the shore.

In recalling the events of Humeerpore, one account can be totally discounted as a fabrication of Victorian sense of honour and bravery and that is the account that appears in the Memorials of Old Haileybury where the wounded Mr Loyd staggers to his feet and utters “Are the English troops not yet come?” In reality Thomas Kirkman Loyd and Donald Grant died tragic and brutal deaths far less heroic than painted by Victorian England.

Sold with a comprehensive file of records of the events at Hamirpur.