Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 25.djvu/183

H changed again into the 53rd. When the 53rd regiment was ordered to take part in the Punjab campaign, Havelock obtained leave from Sir W. Cotton to relinquish his staff appointment at Bombay, and to join his regiment in the Punjab. On 12 March, however, when he was halfway between Indore and Agra, he was directed by telegram to return to Bombay, and Sir W. Cotton was censured for allowing him to leave without Lord Gough's permission. At the battle of Ramnuggur in the second Sikh war, his brother, Colonel William Havelock [q. v.], was killed charging at the head of his troopers, and Havelock drew up a memoir of his brother's career, which was published in Dr. Buist's ‘Annals of the Year.’ In the autumn of 1849 Havelock's health necessitated a visit to England, whither his family had preceded him. He arrived in London in November, after six-and-twenty years' continuous service in India. He resided during his furlough at Plymouth and on the continent, renewing his intercourse with Sir W. Norris and Archdeacon Hale. At the end of 1851 he left his family at Bonn, and returned to his old post at Bombay. In 1854 Lord Hardinge appointed him quartermaster-general of the queen's troops in India. On 20 June 1854 he obtained his regimental lieutenant-colonelcy and brevet-colonelcy, and when the appointment of adjutant-general of queen's troops in India became vacant a few months later he was transferred to that post.

On 1 Nov. 1856 war with Persia was declared, and early in 1857 Havelock was appointed to command a division of the force under Sir James Outram, ordered to the Persian Gulf. He joined Outram at Bushire on 15 Feb., and was at once directed to prepare for an attack on Mohumra, a strongly fortified town on the Euphrates. The troops were forwarded gradually, in vessels which anchored some miles below Mohumra, and were joined by Havelock in the Berenice on 15 March. Havelock drew up a complete plan of operations, which he sent to Outram, who was detained at Bushire by the death of General Stalker. The plan was approved by Outram, who himself reached the rendezvous on 22 March. The attack took place on the 26th, Havelock with the highlanders and sappers leading the way in the Berenice. The attack was completely successful, but on 5 April came news of a treaty of peace, signed at Paris on 4 March, and the expedition was at an end. Havelock's son [Sir Henry Havelock-Allan [q. v.], see SUPPL.] acted as his aide-de-camp throughout the campaign.

Havelock left Mohumra on 15 May, and on the 29th reached Bombay, where he learned that the native regiments at Meerut, Ferozepore, and Delhi had mutinied, and that Delhi was in the hands of the rebels. The upcountry route, by which he desired to join the commander-in-chief, General Anson, then marching on Delhi, was no longer open, so he embarked on 12 June in the steamship Erin for Galle. The Erin was wrecked on the Singalese coast near Celturn, but no lives were lost. Havelock hastened to Galle, and embarked in the Fire Queen, which had been sent from Calcutta, and reached Madras on 13 June. Here he learned that General George Anson [q. v.] had died (27 May), and Sir Patrick Grant, commander-in-chief of the Madras presidency, had been summoned by the governor-general to take supreme command for the time. Havelock accompanied Grant to Calcutta, arriving there on 17 June, just five weeks after the outbreak of Meerut. He was at once selected to command a column to be formed at Allahabad; left Calcutta, accompanied by his son Henry of the 10th regiment as aide-de-camp, on 25 June; and reached Allahabad on the 30th. His instructions were to quell all disturbances at Allahabad, to lose no time in supporting Sir Hugh Wheeler at Cawnpore, and Sir Henry Lawrence at Lucknow, and to take prompt measures to disperse and destroy all mutineers. Tidings of the capitulation and massacre of the garrison at Cawnpore reached Havelock on 3 July. On the 7th, leaving Colonel Neill to take care of Allahabad, he marched out to recapture Cawnpore with a force consisting of about a thousand bayonets, made up of the 64th regiment, the 78th highlanders, the 84th regiment, and the 1st Madras fusiliers, a dozen Sikhs, a handful of volunteer cavalry, and six guns. By forced marches at the hottest season of the year, he reached Futtehpore on the 12th, and signally defeated the rebels. On the 15th Havelock again came up with the enemy at Aong, and again defeated them, but the absence of cavalry prevented him from following up his victories. He pushed on to the Pandoo-nuddee river to reach the bridge before it should be destroyed by the enemy. He arrived as they were attempting to blow it up. The attempt was unsuccessful, but the enemy held the bridge in force, and heavy guns raked it from the other side. The Madras fusiliers stormed the bridge, and closed with the enemy's gunners on the other side. The bridge was saved, and the enemy in retreat. On the 16th tidings reached the force that over two hundred European women and children were still alive in Cawnpore, and in the hope of saving them Havelock pressed forward. Already,