An unusual eye-witness account of the Indian Mutiny, culled from the letters of an officer who commanded the 9th Lancers during the episode, and edited by the writer’s son. Written to his wife, Brevet-Major Anson’s letters give bluff descriptions of much of the Mutiny’s hardest fighting, including the taking of Delhi and Lucknow. Sustained by his Christian faith, Anson gives his wife unvarnished accounts of the atrocities committed, and is full of righteous wrath against the dastardly ‘brutes’ who mutinied against the benefits of British rule and exalts in the ‘lickings’ inflicted upon them. Frank in his criticism of some brother officers, Anson’s son has spared their reputations by disguising the objects of his father’s scorn under initials. In a poignant preface, the editor reveals that his father never recovered from a fever he contracted at Lucknow, exacerbated by the rigours of the campaign, and that he died, aged just 41, in January 1849. Illustrated by a portrait of the author.
WITH H.M. 9TH LANCERS DURING THE INDIAN MUTINY, THE LETTERS OF BREVET-MAJOR O.H.S.G. ANSON (1896)
Vivid eye-witness account of the Indian Mutiny by the officer who commanded the 9th Lancers. Written to the author’s wife, the letters are frank in their critique of some brother officers.