HC Deb 08 June 1860 vol 159 cc182-3
MR. VANSITTART

said, he rose to ask the Secretary of State for India, Whether the names of those Civilians on the Bengal Establishment who were killed in action, murdered, or died from wounds and exposure during the late Mutiny, between the 11th day of May and the 19th day of November, 1857, have at any time been brought under the notice of the Government, and whether he intends to do honour to their memory by the erection of a Monument. As Her Majesty had been graciously pleased at the recommendation of her responsible Ministers to confer from time to time high honours upon members of the Indian Civil Service, and in speaking of that service to couple the deeds performed by them with those of their military brethren, it would ill become him to add a word in their behalf. He held, however, in his hand a list which contained the names of no less than thirty-six civilians, who either fell nobly in upholding the honour and dignity of their Sovereign and their country, or were brutally murdered at their posts, in reference to whom no allusion had been made, except on one occasion, namely, on the 14th of December, 1857, on the final closing of the East India College at Hailey bury by Mr. Mangles, the Chairman of the East India Company, whose name was familiar to most hon. Members in that House. Mr. Mangles, in touching upon this subject, said:— Let me also say that I intend to propose to my colleagues to erect a tablet in your chapel to the memory of those of the civil servants in India, educated at Hailey bury, who have fallen in this atrocious mutiny; and I trust it will go down to the latest posterity as a memorial of their deeds, and of the gratitude, not only of the East India Company, but of the country, for their services. Shortly afterwards, and before this praiseworthy object could be carried out, Parliament in its wisdom deemed it expedient to abolish the East India Company; and this fact, in the absence of any other explanation, no doubt, would account for its having hitherto escaped the attention of Her Majesty's Government. Under these circumstances he ventured to bring the subject under the notice of the right hon. Baronet the Secretary for India, in the hope that he would take it into his early consideration, assuring him that by so doing he would earn, not only the deep gratitude of the relatives and friends of those civilians, but the appreciation of the country generally. With the permission of the House he would read out the names of the civilians on the Bengal establishment who had been killed in action, murdered, or died from wounds and exposure during the late mutiny between the 11th May and the 19th November, 1857, and the places at which they died:—Messrs. J. R. Colvin (Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces) and W. C. Watson died at Agra; Mr. H. E. Cockerell, at Banda; Messrs. D. Robertson and G. D. Raikes, at Bareilly; Messrs. R. B. Thornhill, C. G. Hillersdon, T. R. Mackillop, and R. N. Lewis, at Cawnpore; Messrs. S. Fraser, J. R. Hutchinson, H. H. Greathed, and A. Galloway, at Delhi; Mr. R. T. Tucker, at Futtehpore; Mr. R. H. Pomeroy, at Ghazeepore; Mr. W. Clifford, at Goorgaon; Mr. W. R. Moore, at Gopeegunge; Mr. J. Wedderburn, at Hissar; Messrs. T. K. Loyd and D. Grant, at Humeerpore; Mr. B. R. Cuppage, at Juanpore; Mr. A. Johnston, at Meerut; Messrs. G. F. Christian, M. C. Ommaney, A. H. G. Block, C. W. Cunliffe, A. Jenkins, H. B. Thornhill, J. B. Thornhill, J. G. Thomason, G. S. Benson, H. Gonne, and Sir Mountstuart Jackson, at Oude and, most of them, at Lucknow; and Messrs. M. Ricketts, C. J. Jenkins, and A. C. Smith, at Shahjehanpore.