BOOK IX.
Chapter I

1857. June.

Mr. Wingfield scents the mutiny at Sikrorá.

It breaks out.

knew that at Sikrorá there was no place of refuge in case of an outbreak. Anxious, therefore, for the safety of his wife, his children, and his country women, he set out from Lakhnao with a party of Sikh and volunteer cavalry, reached Sikrorá, mounted the ladies on elephants and in doolies, and conveyed them safely to the capital. Mr. George Lawrence, the Deputy Commissioner, by the express order of his uncle, Sir Henry, accompanied them. This move was accomplished on the 9th of June.

The same day the temper of the troops manifested itself in a way not to be mistaken. Intelligence had reached Sikrorá of the revolt of the troops at Faizábád on the previous day. Mr. Wingfield accordingly, mounting his horse, rode to the neighbouring station of Gondah, where was stationed the 3rd Oudh Irregulars, commanded by Lieutenant Miles. There I must leave him for a moment, whilst I narrate the occurrences at Sikrorá after his departure.

The day of the 9th of June was a day of great excitement at that station. So violent was the manifestation that early the following morning the officers of the infantry regiment,-Boileau, Hale, and Kendall,-mounted horse and rode straight for Balrámpúr. Lieutenant Bonham, of the artillery, refused to accompany them. He believed in his men; he certainly possessed great influence over them; and he still hoped that they would stand by him in the cause of order. He elected, therefore, to remain at Sikrorá, alone of

BOOK IX. Chapter I.

1857.

June 9.

Lieutenant

all the officers, and supported only by two farrier sergeants and the quartermaster-sergeant of the infantry regiment. Had there been no other native troops at Sikrorá his courage and his influence might have prevailed. But the men of the cavalry and infantry had broken out; they had plundered the treasury, and they were thirsting for blood. Even over these men Bonham Devotion of attempted to assert authority. But it was in Bonham. vain. His own men would save his life, but they would not fire on his comrades. They told him at last that he must go. They brought him at the same time money and a horse, and warned him not to pursue a certain road which they knew to be occupied by the rebels. Forced to leave, Bonham started with a heavy heart, accompanied by his three sergeants, crossed the Ghágrá by an unfrequented ferry, and reached Lakhnao the next day.

Strong feeling towards him of his

men.

at Gondah.

Meanwhile Mr. Wingfield had arrived at Gon- Mr. Wingfield dah. He brought the intelligence that the troops at Faizábád had mutinied, and that those at Sikrora were on the verge of mutiny. He found the troops at Gondah scarcely behind their comrades in that respect. They, too, had heard the news; they, too, were aware of all that had happened at Faizábád. Before the night fell they had received accounts of the mutiny at Sikrorá. In vain were they harangued by their commanding officer. Their demeanour showed that they, too, were preparing for action.

The next day they mutinied. Mr. Wingfield He takes refuge with the had not waited for the overt act, but had started

BOOK IX.

Chapter I.

1857. June 10. Rájá of Balrámpúr.

The station of
Bahráich.

The officials scent the mutiny and leave it.

for Balrampúr. The officers and the women* who remained at the station started as soon as the outbreak had pronounced itself, and reached the same place in safety. The number of individuals who thus received the protection of the Rájá was nineteen, exclusive of children. They all succeeded in crossing into British territory, and in reaching Gorakhpúr.

At Bahráich, the head-quarters of the division, were cantoned two companies of the 3rd Oudh Irregulars, commanded by Lieutenant Longueville Clarke. The Deputy Commissioner was Mr. Cunliffe and his assistant was Mr. Jordan. The main body of the 3rd Oudh Irregulars mutinied, as we have seen, at Gondah, on the 10th of June. As it was very clear that the two companies of the same regiment would at once follow their example, the three officers I have named wisely resolved to take advantage of their earlier information, and to escape. They started off at once, then, northward, in the direction of Nánpárá, the seat of a minor Rájá. There, however, admission was refused them, and they were forced to retrace their steps. Returning to Bahráich, they started for Lakhnao by way of Bairámghát. This was the road against which the native gunners of Sikrorá had warned Bonham. The fugitives, who had disguised themselves as natives, found the passage over the Ghágrá occupied here by the mutineers. Trusting to their disguise, however, they embarked on the ferry-boat with their horses. The

*The ladies had been sent to Lakhnao, via Sikrorá, on the 5th of June.

BOOK IX. Chapter I.

1857.

June.

murdered

crossing by

ferry-boat started. At first the fugitives appeared to attract no attention, but they had crossed scarcely one-third of the river when the cry arose that Europeans were escaping. In- They are stantly there was an uproar. The sepoys crowding into other boats, made for the ferry-boat, the ferry. opening at the same time a fire of musketry. The boatmen at once abandoned the ferry-boat. Exposed to a concentrated fire, our three countrymen were unable effectively to work the boat, thus left to itself, nor to prevent it from being borne back by the current to the bank whence it started. Before it reached that bank Cunliffe and Clarke had been shot dead. Jordan, taken alive, shared the same fate a few days later.

At Malápúr there were no troops,-consequently Malápúr. there was no open mutiny. The general disorganisation of the country soon, however, spread even here, and the civil officers, prominent amongst whom was the Deputy Commissioner, Mr. Gonne, were forced to leave. Having been joined by other fugitives, they first attempted to make their way down the Sarjú river by boat. But warned that all the landing-places were The officials occupied, they abandoned this attempt; they set off northward and gained the fort of Mathiárí, belonging to the minor Rájá of Dhorairah. Thence Mr. Gonne made more than one unsuccessful attempt to reach Lakhnao. At last and even. even the resource of remaining at Mathiárí failed perish, them. The adherents of the minor Rájá proved faithless. In imminent danger of their lives they had to flee. Three of the party were seized. The

leave,

tually all

BOOK 1X. Chapter I.

1857. July.

but one. Faizábád.

remainder gained the Nipál hills, where they found shelter till, gradually, with one exception only, they yielded to the deadly climate of the Tarai.

It

Faizábád is the eastern division of Oudh. lies immediately south of the Bahráich division, and is divided into the three districts of Faizábád, Sultánpúr, and Saloní. The Commissioner was Colonel Philip Goldney.

Colonel Goldney, and the Deputy-Commissioner of the district, Captain Reid, were at the headIts garrison. quarter station of Faizábád. The troops here consisted of a horse battery of native artillery, the 22nd Regiment of Native Infantry, the 6th Oudh Irregular Infantry, and a squadron of the 15th Irregular Cavalry-the whole commanded by Colonel Lennox, of the 22nd Native Infantry.

Precautions

taken by the officials.

May.

The officers at Faizábád suffered from no delusion regarding the intentions of the mutineers. The events that had taken place during the second week in May at Mírath and at Dehlí had made it clear to them that their turn would come. They took precautions then, at an early date, to prepare for the rising storm. With this view they began in May to store supplies in a house occupied by Captain Thurburn, Special Assistant Commissioner. This house was chosen because it was surrounded by a walled enclosure. This walled enclosure was now fortified. So far the authorities at Faizábád acted with wisdom and forethought. But they counted like

* Captain John Hearsey, commanding 2nd Regiment Oudh Military Police.