Page:Sir Henry Lawrence, the Pacificator.djvu/203

 CHAPTER XVII

Lawrence's Death. Final Remarks

The early hours next morning were spent by Sir Henry in going round the defences, settling the arrangements, and issuing his orders; after which he retired to his room in the Residency building. And it was here that the fatal shell dashed in and burst, inflicting the mortal wounds to which, unhappily, he succumbed on the 4th. The fatal occurrence is thus described by his nephew George Lawrence: —

'On July 2, about 8 o'clock, just before breakfast (which was laid in the next room at my suggestion), when uncle and I were lying on our beds, side by side, having just come in from our usual morning walk and inspection, and while Wilson, the Deputy Adjutant-General, was standing between our beds, reading some orders to uncle, an eight-inch shell thrown from a howitzer came in at the wall, exactly in front of my bed, and at the same time burst. There was an instant darkness, and a kind of red glare, and for a second or two no one spoke. Finding myself uninjured, though covered with bricks from top to toe, I jumped up; at the same time uncle cried out that he was killed. Assistance came, and we found that Sir Henry's left leg had been almost taken off, high up by the thigh — a painful wound.