SIEGE OF LUCKNOW

Taranaki Daily News, 1 November 1935, Page 11

SIEGE OF LUCKNOW

10 SURVIVORS STILL LIVING.

INCIDENTS OF INDIAN MUTINY. Ten people in various parts of the world recently celebrated the 78th. anniversary of one of the most thrilling episodes in the annals of war—the relief of Lucknow. They are the only survivors of the six i. onths’ siege, says the Morning Post. , No official gathering took place, for the annual “Defence Dinner” has not been held since the war. , The youngest survivor, Mr. Arthur Dashwood, aged 78, described to a Morning Post representative how, through the intervening years, he has kept in close contact with those who endured the / £1 “I was bom in the Lucknow Residency during the height of the assault,” he said. “Somewhat naturally, therefore, I have always taken the deepest interest ih the doings of all who were rescued from the city. “My father and uncle, both officers in the 48th Native Infantry, were killed in helping to defend the Residency. A brother also died. Despite the hardships—there were 17 people herded together in the small room in which I was bom—my mother lived to be over 70.” , » , Among Mr. Dashwood s most treasured possessions at his London home is Sir Joseph Fayrer’s Lucknow Album, containing portraits of more than 150 of the soldiers and civ" : ans who held out against the rebels until the entry of the

relief force under Genera: Havelock and Sir James Outram.

Sir Joseph was the surgeon at the Residency, and attended Sir Henry Lawrence when he died. In his “Recollections,” Sir Joseph described the scene of the Relief, when “big, rough-bearded soldiers were seizing the little children, kissing them, with tears running down their cheeks, and thanking God they had come in time to save, them from the fate of'those at Cawnpore.” Mr. Dashwood maintains a regular correspondence with his nine co-survivors of the siege. “Since it became imposs-

ible to hold our annual commemoration dinners, I have felt that it was up to me to make some effort to keep in touch with the others,” he said. “Practically every year finds another absentee on the Roll of Honour. After all, three-quarters of a century has passed since the siege. “The oldest of us is Mr. C. G. Palmer, who lives in British Columbia and from whom I often receive news.- He is the only living holdc ■ of the Lucknow Medal.

“Then there is Sir Ramsay Couper, in Australia, and Mr. A. G. Mampagnac

and Mrs. Hollingbery, in Calcutta. The remainder, in England, are Mrs. Haynes, Mrs. Pryce, Mrs. A. Thomson, Mr. R. R. Anderson, and the Rev. I. A. Edgell. Mrs. Haynes, I regret to say, is dangerously ill at the moment.” Mr. Dashwood, who is known as the “Baby of Lucknow,” is a man of many activities. He is a well-known Conservative, is a familiar figure at race meetings, and is frequently to be seen striding purposely round golf courses. He is proud that he has not missed a ’Varsity cricket match at Lords for 60 years.