The Brian Ritchie Collection of H.E.I.C. and British India Medals

The Indian Mutiny medal to Major-General Thomas Wilson, C.B., C.I.E., 13th Bengal N.I., Deputy Assistant Adjutant-General and Chief Staff Officer to both Sir Henry Lawrence and Brigadier John Inglis, whose own diary of The Siege is one of the most widely quoted works in all the main histories of the Indian Mutiny

Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Defence of Lucknow (Capt. T. F. Wilson, Dy.A.A. Genl.) minor surface marks, otherwise good very fine £2500-3000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Brian Ritchie Collection of H.E.I.C. and British India Medals.

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Thomas Fourness Wilson was commissioned Ensign in the 13th Bengal Native Infantry on 24 April 1838. Three years later he commanded a detached company of the 13th at the capture of Chirgong Fort, and was subsequently mentioned in despatches. In June 1842 he took part in operations in Bundelkhund being present at the action of Punwarree. He was promoted Lieutenant the following month, and, in 1848-49, served with his regiment in the Second Sikh War being present at Ramnuggur, the passage of the Chenab, the battle of Goojerat and the subsequent pursuit of the Sikhs to the Afghan border.

The start of 1857 found Wilson in the rank of Captain and stationed with his regiment at Lucknow. He had been in the army nineteen years, but possessing ‘neither influence nor the interest of in those high office’ considered that he had little prospect of advancement. By the close of that tumultuous year, however, his distinguished service at the centre of the Lucknow command had earned him a niche in history and had given him the necessary experience to write a seminal account of the siege.

On 20 March 1857 Sir Henry Lawrence arrived in Lucknow to take up the post of Chief Commissioner of Oudh. ‘On being nominated brigadier-general’, records Malleson in his History of the Indian Mutiny, ‘Sir Henry was naturally anxious to have as his assistant adjutant-general a perfectly competent officer. He selected Captain Wilson, unknown to him before, but whom he had specially marked from the time of his first conversation with him. Brought at once into a confidential relationship with Sir Henry, Wilson speedily gained his admiration and esteem. His activity, his prudence, his cool daring, his stern and inflexible nature, the determination with which he carried out his orders, marked him as the man for the occasion. And when, after Sir Henry’s death, Wilson served under Inglis in this same capacity, he won his confidence by the display of the same qualities which had gained for him the esteem of his predecessor.’

Wilson took up his appointment under Lawrence on 21 May 1857, and over the course of the next month was constantly with Lawrence, who, appearing to ‘live in the saddle’, rode about the Residency compound making all manner of preparations for its defence. On 30 June, Lawrence, against his better judgement, marched out with six hundred men to disperse the mutineers at Chinhut. During the early part of the action the rebel commander, Barkhat Ahmad, cleverly drew the British force on by making them think his men were in retreat.

‘We thought the day was ours,’ wrote L. E. R. Rees, ‘and Captain Wilson, the Deputy Assistant-Adjutant-General, who throughout the action had behaved with great coolness, and was always in the thickest of the fight, came riding up, crying, “That’s it! There they go! Keep it up! ...”’ But, far from retreating, the rebels were executing a masterly flanking movement, and began to drive Lawrence’s force back to Lucknow in great disorder. The guns were now the only hope, but the native gunners and drivers, witnessing the reverse, deserted. Before joining the headlong flight back to the Residency, Wilson, according to Lawrence’s secretary, Mr Couper, spiked two of the abandoned guns and ‘did the work with the end of a bayonet’. The survivors of the disaster at Chinhut eventually gained the comparative safety of the Residency compound and, having closed the gates, counted 313 killed and missing and 78 wounded.

Two days into the siege, fate overtook Sir Henry Lawrence. ‘During the first day’, wrote Wilson, ‘the enemy threw an 8-inch shell from the howitzer they had captured from us into the room in which Sir Henry and Mr Couper were. It burst close to both, but without injury to either, and curiously enough did little damage. We now urged Sir Henry to leave the Residency and go elsewhere, or at least go down into the lower storey. This, however, he then declined to do, as he laughingly said he did not believe the enemy had an artilleryman good enough to put another shell into that small room. Later in the day some round shot came into the top storey of the Residency; and in the evening Mr Couper and I both pressed him to go below, and allow his writing things and papers to be moved; and he promised that he would next day ...

Towards 8 a.m. [on the 2nd] he returned, greatly exhausted (the heat was dreadful), and lay down on the bed with his clothes on, and desired me to draw up a memorandum as to how the rations were to be distributed. I went into the next room to write it, but, previous to doing so, I reminded him of his promise to go below. He said he was very tired, and would rest a couple of hours, and that then he would have his things moved. In about half an hour I went back into the room with what I had written. His nephew, Mr George Lawrence, was then lying on a small bed parallel to his uncle’s, with very few feet between them. I went between the beds, and stood on the right hand side of Sir Henry’s with one knee resting on it. A native servant was sitting on the floor pulling the punkah. I read what I had written. It was not quite in accordance with his wishes, and he was in the act of explaining what he desired to be altered, when the fatal shot came; a sheet of flame, a terrific report and shock, and dense darkness, is all I can describe. I fell on the floor, and, perhaps for a few seconds, was quite stunned. I then got up, but could see nothing for the smoke and dust. Neither Sir Henry nor his nephew made any noise, and in alarm, I cried out, “Sir Henry, are you hurt?” Twice I thus called out without answer. The third time he said, in a low tone, “I am killed.” The punkah had come down with the ceiling, and a great deal of plaster, and the dust and smoke were so great that it was some minutes before I could see anything; but as they gradually cleared away I saw the white coverlet of the bed on which Sir Henry was laid was crimson with blood. Some soldiers of the 32nd now rushed in and placed Sir Henry in a chair. I then found that the back of my shirt was all blown off (I had on only a shirt and trowsers [sic]), that I was slightly wounded by a fragment of shell, that our chief was mortally wounded; and that the servant pulling the punkah had had one of his feet cut off by another fragment of the shell. Mr George Lawrence was alone of the four in the room unhurt.’

Lawrence was removed to another room and Doctors Hadow and Fayrer examined his injuries. They found the wounds to his left thigh and abdomen were mortal, and Fayrer correctly predicted that he had forty-eight hours to live. Before he died, Lawrence appointed Major John Sherbrooke Banks as Chief Commissioner, much to the annoyance of Martin Gubbins (qv), and Colonel Inglis to the command of the troops.

Inglis, his staff and engineer officers were more exposed to the enemy’s fire than the other members of the garrison. Each post around the perimeter was manned by an independent unit, the members of which were kept under cover as much as possible, and only left their own position at night when on fatigue. Wilson and other Staff Officers were obliged to make dangerous and frequent inspections of all the outposts. Indeed, Malleson records ‘every night throughout the siege he visited the several posts, ready with advice, with assistance, with encouragement. His determined nature, prompt decision, were invaluable to all, from the Brigadier to the meanest private’. Inglis soon discovered that in Wilson he had not only a first-class Staff Officer, but also a most energetic soldier. His new chief said of him, ‘he was ever to be found where shots were flying thickest’ and remarked on ‘his untiring physical endurance and bravery’, as well as to ‘his ever ready pertinent counsel and advice in moments of difficulty and danger’.

Following the explosion of the mine at dawn on 18 August under Sikh Square, which brought down the house on which Lieutenant Clifford Meacham (qv) was posted, Wilson took part in the the desperate struggle to stop the rebels breaking through the breach in the outer wall of Sikh Square, and in the afternoon was one of the party under Inglis that blocked the gap, under point-blank fire from the rebels across the street, with heavy shutters brought from the Residency .

When at last the combined garrisons of Inglis and Outram evacuated the extended Residency position on the night of 22-23 November, Wilson hoped to have the honour of being the last man out. ‘The retreat began at midnight, the lights being left burning in the entrenchment for the enemy to see. Inglis and Outram stood with Captain Wilson, Lieutenant Barwell, the Brigade Major, and Lieutenant Birch, watching each separate garrison march out in turn.’ There should have been fourteen men from Innes’ Post but when the last had gone by someone said that only thirteen had passed. ‘Birch was therefore sent back to Innes’ post, the extreme point of the position, to make sure that they were all withdrawn. The unaccustomed quiet and loneliness of the place struck coldly on his nerves, but he had to go on. There was no one there. When he had returned and reported to the two Generals, they bared their heads to the Baillie Guard in honour of the long defence, and then Outram waved his hand to Inglis to go first; but Inglis stood his ground, claiming it as his right to come behind. Outram smiled and held out his hand. “Let us go out together,” he said; so they shook hands and walked side by side down the slope that led away from the battered gate. Behind them came the staff, both Wilson and Birch having determined to be the last man out. The hardships of the siege had told more heavily on Wilson; Birch sent him rolling down the slope with a charge he had learnt on the playing fields of Harrow, and was himself the last, as he thought, to leave the entrenchment.’

Birch, as is well known, was in fact the second to last out, Lieutenant Waterman of the 13th N.I. having fallen asleep in the Brigade Mess after his name was called out. He awoke at 2 a.m., and was shocked to find himself alone. He ran from post to post only to find them all deserted and seized with panic he fled along the line of retreat through the silent and empty Terhi Kothi, the Farhat Bakhsh and Chattar Manzil palaces. At length he caught up with the rearguard, but the horror of his experience had been so great that he was driven temporarily insane.

For his services at Lucknow, Wilson was prominently mentioned in despatches, and received the thanks of the Government for, ‘courage, activity, and sound judgement in a very high degree’. He afterwards took part in 1859 in Colonel the Hon. Percy Herbert’s pursuit of the Moghul prince, Firuz Shah, who had been out of the country at the time of the uprising in Delhi. Wilson was promoted Brevet Major on 24 March 1858, created a C.B. (London Gazette 21 March 1859), and awarded a year’s extra service for the Defence of Lucknow. He received his regimental majority in February 1861 and was appointed Aide-de-Camp to Queen Victoria, which appointment he held from 20 January 1868 to 20 December 1880. He became Lieutenant-Colonel in May 1864, Brevet Colonel in June 1868, Major-General in December 1880, and Lieutenant-General on 1 April 1882. Wilson served as an ordinary member of the Council of the Governor General in India from May 1881 until December 1885, in recognition of which services he was made a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire. He died at Barrackpur, near Calcutta, on 26 February 1886.

Wilson’s personal account of the Siege, The Defence of Lucknow. A diary recording the daily events during the siege of the European residency from 31st May to 25th September 1857, ‘by a Staff Officer’, was published in 1858, by Smith, Elder & Co., of London. It is one of the most widely quoted works in all the main histories of the Indian Mutiny, and particularly in Kaye & Malleson, who refer to this diary continually when recording events at Lucknow during the Siege. Indeed, as Malleson maintained, it will remain impossible to ‘speak of the gallant defence of the beleaguered Residency without associating it in the mind with the name of Thomas Fourness Wilson’.

Refs: Defence of Lucknow: A Diary recording the Daily Events During the Siege of the European Residency by a Staff Officer (Wilson); A Personal Narrative of the Siege of Lucknow (Rees); A History of the Indian Mutiny (Malleson); History of the Sepoy War in India (Kaye); Hart’s Army List 1885; Modern English Biography (Boase).