Single Campaign Medals 364
The Indian Mutiny medal awarded to Lieutenant-General Francis Rowcroft, C.B., Brigadier Commanding the Sarun Field Force, to which Pearl’s naval brigade was attached from November 1857 to January 1859
Indian Mutiny 1857-59, no clasp (Brigr. F. Rowcroft, Comg. Sarun Field Force.) toned, nearly extremely fine £1,800-£2,200
Francis Rawdon Edward Rowcroft was born in London on 29 August 1802. He was appointed Ensign in the Bangal Native Infantry on 7 October 1819; Lieutenant, 14 September 1821; Captain, 7 August 1829; Major, 26 May 1843; Lieutenant-Colonel, 14 November 1849; Brevet Colonel, 28 November 1854; Colonel 15 May 1859.
Rowcroft was commanding the 8th Native Infantry as Brevet Colonel when it mutinied at Dinapore on 25 July 1857. He afterwards transferred to the newly-raised 6th Bengal European Infantry. Colonel Rowcroft commanded the Sarun and Goruckpore Field Force with the Naval Brigade of H.M.S. Pearl, in the Goruckpore District, during the Indian War of 1857 and 1858. He served in Command of the Field Force in the successful actions of Shohunpore, 26th December 1857; Phoolpore, in Oude, on the Gogra, capturing three guns, 20th February 1858; of Amorah, near Fyzabad, capturing eight guns, 5th March 1858. Appointed Brigadier from 1st January 1858. Commanded in the actions of 17th and 25th April 1858, near Amorah; of the 26th November and 3rd December 1858, on the Raotee; and present at the battle of Toolseepore, near the Nepal Hills, against Balla Rao and Mahomed Hussun, capturing two guns, 23rd December 1858: in the several actions captured sixteen guns (Medal; C.B. London Gazette 16 November 1858). Promoted to Major-General, 1 January 1862, and to Lieutenant-General, 25 June 1870. Lieutenant-General Rowcroft died at Holcombe, Dawlish, Devon, on 22 March 1877, aged 74.
The following account of the operations of the Sarun Field Force and Pear’s Naval Brigade, under the command of Brigadier Francis Rowcroft is taken from Naval Brigades in the Indian Mutiny by W. L. Clowes:
[H.M.S. Pearl’s Naval] Brigade was attached to the Sarun Field Force, of which, on November 27th [1857], Colonel Rowcroft took command at Myrwa. It first came into action with the mutineers on December 20th at Sohunpore, where an entrenched position was taken, and the enemy was dispersed. No one belonging to the Brigade was hurt.
By February 8th, 1858, the force arrived at Burhul, whence it moved up the Gogra in 150 boats, escorted by the small steamer Jumna, reaching Ghopalpur on the 10th; and on the 17th the strong fort of Chanderpur was captured by Captain Sotheby with 130 of the Brigade, 85 Sikhs, and 60 Gurkhas, acting in concert with the Jumna, which was under the orders of Second-Master John Fowler. Two guns were captured. The casualties on the side of the attack were insignificant, only about four people being wounded. On the evening of February 19th, Nourainie Ghat was reached. That night a fort on the Oudh side of the river was seized; and, on the afternoon of the following day, an attack was made upon a body of rebels at Phoolpur. After a gallant and well-sustained action, the enemy was driven from the field, with a loss of three guns. Two days afterwards, the Brigade recrossed the river by a bridge of boats which it had constructed. There had been some friction with the native allies; and it was deemed advisable to keep a British force to guard the rear of the advance, large numbers of rebels being reported in the vicinity of Fyzabad.
The Brigade marched to Amorha on March 2nd. Colonel Rowcroft was there informed that the fort of Belwa, seven miles further on, was occupied by the mutineers. In the afternoon, 168 men of the Brigade, with four guns, some 24-pr. rockets, 35 Sikhs, and a regiment of Gurkhas, moved to Belwa, and, being there joined by the Bengal Yeomanry Cavalry, 250 strong, opened fired on the fort at 5 p.m. The place, however, proved stronger than had been anticipated; and, when darkness came on, the whole force withdrew to the Yeomanry camp, and, on the day following, returned to Amorha. That night and the succeeding day the rebels received very large reinforcements, chiefly from Fyzabad, but also from Nawabgunge, Gondah, and elsewhere. The retirement from before Belwa had been interpreted as a British defeat; the Sarun Field Force, including the sick, was not then more than 1500 strong; and the mutineers, having collected many thousands of men and fourteen guns, were eager and confident. The little camp was, therefore, rendered as defensible as possible by means of an enclosing line of rifle-pits, and the clearing away of all jungle and houses which could shelter an advance.
On the morning of March 5th, it was reported that the rebels were about to attack. The force thereupon moved out, and took up a position about half a mile to the west of the village of Amorha, with the Naval Brigade and four guns under Captain Sotheby in the centre, astride of the road, a Gurkha regiment and the small detachment of Sikhs on the left, and another Gurkha regiment on the right. On each flank was a squadron of the Bengal Yeomanry Cavalry. The enemy was in such force as to overlap the British force by at least a mile in each direction; and he came on in excellent order in rear of a cloud of skirmishers. The naval guns, under Lieutenant Turnour, opened, and were replied to by ten pieces. After an artillery duel which lasted for some time, Colonel Rowcroft threw out his skirmishers, and began a steady forward movement, which never ceased until the mutineers were driven from the field; for the cavalry, supported by the Gurkhas, cleared the foe from the flanks of the advance. As soon as it was evident that the enemy had been checked, Rowcroft reinforced his Royal Marines, who were in the skirmishing line, with a detachment of seamen, and pressed the foe all along his front. One of the first guns abandoned by the rebels was turned upon them, and worked by Lieutenant Grant, Assistant-Engineer Shearman, Midshipman Lord Charles Scott, and a seaman named Jesse Ward; and, as there was no port-fire wherewith to fire it, a rifle was discharged into the vent, and the retreating foe was plied with his own grape. A brilliant cavalry charge threw the left wing of the mutineers into confusion; and soon the entire body fled, leaving behind it eight unspiked guns. The enemy was pursued for six miles, and, making a brief stand at one point, killed Second-Master John Fowler (actg.) and one Gurkha. Heat and fatigue at length put a stop to the action, which had lasted from 8.30 a.m. to 12.30 p.m. The rebels had attacked with about 14,000 men and ten guns, and had been completely defeated, with a loss of about 500, by 1261 men, with but four guns. The Naval Brigade had 1 officer killed and about 15 people wounded.
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