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Wadham force ordered to proceed to Delhi, then in the hands of the mutineers. On 2 June of this year, 1857, Wadeson was promoted to a commission as ensign in the regiment, without purchase, and was advanced to the rank of lieutenant on 19 Sept. following. He served with the regiment throughout the mutiny campaign, including the battle of Budleekerserai, when the 75th carried the key of the rebel position by assault. He was present during the siege operations before Delhi and the repulse of the sorties on 12 and 15 June, the repulse of the night attacks on the camp on 19 and 23 June, and 14 and 18 July. On the latter occasion his bravery was most conspicuous. When the regiment was engaged in the Subjee Mundee, at great personal risk he saved the life of a private who was attacked by a rebel sowar, whom Wadeson killed. On the same day he rescued another private of his regiment, who was lying wounded and helpless, and was attacked by one of the rebel cavalry. On this occasion also he slew his man. For these acts of gallantry he was mentioned in despatches, and received the distinction of the Victoria cross. He was with the regiment and was wounded at the assault of Delhi on 14 Sept. 1857; and at the close of the campaign received the medal and clasp.

On 11 March 1859 he was appointed adjutant of the regiment, which position he retained until promoted to captain on 9 Dec. 1864. He was with the 75th during the fenian disturbances of 1866–67, and served in Gibraltar, Singapore, Hongkong, Mauritius, and the Cape, until promoted to major on 11 July 1872. In 1873 the 75th returned home, and was quartered in England and Ireland, and there, on 18 Dec. 1875, he was promoted to the command of the regiment, which he held at home and in the Channel Islands until his promotion to a brevet colonelcy on 18 Dec. 1880. As a reward for his faithful service he was on 26 March 1881 given the appointment of major and lieutenant-governor of the Royal Hospital, Chelsea, where he died on 24 Jan. 1885. He was buried with military honours, and a brass tablet has been erected in the hospital to his memory.

[Records 75th Regimental District; Guide to Chelsea Hospital; Army Lists.] 

WADHAM, NICHOLAS (1532–1609), founder of Wadham College, Oxford, born in 1532, was the only surviving son of John Wadham (d. 1577), and his wife Joan, daughter and coheir of John Tregarthin of Cornwall. The family originally came and took its name from Wadham or Wadeham in the parish of Knowstone, North Devonshire, where it was settled in the reign of Edward I. Thence it migrated to Egge or Edge, near Seaton in the same county. Edge was the seat of (d. 1411), who was appointed a judge of the common pleas in or about 1388. He seems to have been dismissed or resigned in 1397, but survived until 1411 (, Origg. Jurid. p. 46; Cal. Patent Rolls, Richard II, vols. i. and ii.;, Lives of the Judges). His son, Sir William Wadham, sheriff of Devonshire in 1438, was great-grandfather of Sir Nicholas Wadham (d. 1541), captain of the Isle of Wight, vice-admiral to the Earl of Surrey in 1522–3, and knight of the shire for Somerset during the ‘Reformation’ parliament, 1529–34; he married as his second wife Margaret, aunt of Queen Jane Seymour and the Protector Somerset. His eldest son by his first wife was John, father of the founder of Wadham College.

Nicholas is said to have been educated at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, but his name does not occur in either the college or the university registers. On 3 Sept. 1555 he married, at St. Botolph's, Aldersgate Street, London, Dorothy (b. 1534), elder daughter of Sir William Petre [q. v.], by his first wife, Gertrude, daughter of Sir John Tyrrell. Wadham then retired to his seat at Merefield, where he resided the remainder of his life, dispensing lavish hospitality. He avoided politics, and apparently took little share in local affairs; he was, however, on 21 April 1586 added to the commission for the restraint of grain and victuals in Somerset (Acts of the Privy Council, xiv. 70). His estates were worth three thousand pounds a year in the currency of the period, and out of this income he saved fourteen thousand pounds, which he determined to spend on charitable purposes, having no children, and his inherited property devolving on his nephews, Sir John Strangways and Sir William Wyndham, father of Wadham Wyndham [q. v.] In 1606 he founded an almshouse for eight poor people at Ilton, but the bulk of his savings was to be devoted to educational purposes. His original idea is said to have been to establish a college at Venice for the education of English Roman catholics. The reason for this intention was his alleged adherence to the Roman catholic faith, but this is inconsistent with the Anglican tone of his statutes for Wadham College, and in any case the foundation at Venice would have been illegal. Ultimately Wadham determined to found a college at Oxford,