Statues and Monuments: Henry Havelock

Henry Havelock was born near Sunderland in 1795, the son of a shipbuilder. He left school in 1813 and went to study Law at the Middle Temple in London. However following a disagreement with his father in 1815, he had to quit his legal studies and decided to join his 3 brothers in the army.

In 1822, as a lieutenant in the 13th Light Infantry. he was sent to India. He learnt to speak Hindustani and Persian as he believed these would be useful to him. He saw action in Burma but then returned to England, where he got married. A Baptist by faith, he arranged that bibles should be distributed to every soldier.

In 1839, he returned to India where his translation skills were much in demand. Three years later he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant-General of Infantry in Kabul. By 1849 he was a major in the 53rd Foot, but soon afterwards he left the army and returned to England, where he spent 2 years working with the Stepney Baptist Academy.

In 1854 he returned to India as Adjutant-General of India and saw action in the war with Persia and in the Indian Mutiny. It was in this latter campaign that he was responsible in September 1857 for the first relief of Lucknow, although his relief column was subsequently re-besieged within the city by the rebels.

He died in Lucknow in November 1857, a few days after the subsequent siege had been lifted and he had received the information that he had been created a Baronet. He was buried in Lucknow.