Leave statue alone

I read the piece in the Ayrshire Post about Mr Trivedy’s petition to have the statue of General Neill removed; this prompted me to re-read the section in Dr Saul David’s book ‘The Indian Mutiny’.

Dr David is a serious historian and his book is well-researched and documented, including pieces from letters written by General Neill himself.

The Indian mutiny was a black year in British history, and a very difficult time for army officers, many of whose Indian troops mutinied and joined the rebels; mutiny, needless to say was a capital offence. Indeed we executed British soldiers who merely deserted in the First World War.

Kanpur (then called Cawnpore) was besieged by the rebels; the garrison agreed to surrender when offered safe passage, but were treacherously attacked after leaving their fort; almost all were killed, but some women and children were taken prisoner. When the British army under Havelock, eventually reached the city, the rebel leaders fled, but first ordered the massacre of the surviving 73 women and 124 children. They were mostly killed with swords and knives – a slow and bloody massacre. The bodies were then stripped and thrown into the well at Bibighar.

Neil was not present at the recapture of Cawnpore, but was put in charge when Havelock and the army moved on in their initial attempt to relieve Lucknow. Now, what evidence is there for Neill ‘randomly rounding up’ and torturing Brahmins? In his own words Neill said that ‘..the chief rebels or ringleaders I first make clean up a certain portion of the pool of blood….’ ‘The first I caught was a subadhar, a native officer, a high caste Brahmin…’

The man refused at first to wash up blood, so was whipped until he did so, and was subsequently hanged. No mention of any other Brahmins, in

what is a remarkably ‘matter of fact’ description of events. Ironically Neill was criticised by some, especially back in Britain, for his leniency! Subsequently he joined Havelock and the army in the relief of Lucknow, where he was killed in action.

So I suggest we have a complex situation here – it’s not like slavery where individuals grew rich at others expense – this was a soldier caught up in a very difficult situation in general and having to deal with aftermath of the worst atrocities of the whole horrendous war.

To say anything about Neill’s actions one would also, to put matters in perspective, have to say something about both massacres at Kanpur and I doubt Mr Trivedy would want that.

So, on this occasion, please leave alone.

R Vernon, Ayr