[BITList] Captain Thomas Waterman - the last British officer to escape the Lucknow Residency in 1857

[John Feltham]

Captain Thomas Waterman's medals auctioned in Marlow

 Saturday 5th June 2010

By Lawrence Dunhill

THE medals of an army officer who overslept and found himself surrounded by 30,000 rebels during the Indian Mutiny were sold at an auction in Marlow.

The “fascinating” lot went under the hammer at Bosley's auctioneers on West Street on Wednesday and was sold for £4,400.


 
Captain Thomas Waterman was the last British officer to escape the Lucknow Residency before it was sacked during the 1857 uprising.

He awoke two hours after the last of 2,000 Britons, including hundreds of women and children, had abandoned the stronghold after 148 days under siege.

The story is detailed in a number of Histories, including Charles Ball’s History of the Indian Mutiny.

The 13th Native Infantryman had been wounded in the Siege and having gone to bed late in the evening was forgotten by his men in the moment of departure and over slept himself.

He woke to find the place silent and deserted, yet he knew the enemy surrounded the encampment.

The only route through which he could escape unseen was the sewers and he made a dash for freedom wading through the slime and was eventually reunited with his company.

Waterman was awarded the Punjab Campaign Medal and the Indian Mutiny Medal after the ordeal. These, along with a note explaining the events, were included in the lot.

Steven Bosley, the auctioneer, said: “What was so interesting about the lot, apart from the amazing situation he escaped from, is that it is almost certain that the character of Sir Harry Flashman's – the cad in George MacDonald Fraser novels - was based on Waterman.”

The siege of Lucknow began in July 1857 after Muslim and Hindu soldiers refused to use cartridges supplied by the army on religious grounds.

Rumours had spread that the cartridges were greased with pig and cow fat, which made them offensive to both Muslims and Hindus.

Two largescale relief efforts were made during the siege, one of which led to the award of 24 Victoria Crosses in one day.

By November the relieving troops made it to the residency and began to evacuate those inside, helping the women and children out first.

http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk/news/8203354.indian_mutiny_medal/

http://www.bucksfreepress.co.uk


-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20100606/f53dd09c/attachment-0001.shtml 
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: Waterman-Mutiny-medals.jpg.display.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 16084 bytes
Desc: not available
Url : http://lists.bcn.mythic-beasts.com/pipermail/bitlist/attachments/20100606/f53dd09c/attachment-0001.jpg