British soldier, born in Sunderland, Tyne and Wear, NE England, UK. He studied at Charterhouse and the Middle Temple, entered the army a month after Waterloo, and went out to India in 1823. He distinguished himself in the Afghan and Sikh wars, and in 1856 commanded a division in Persia. He led the relief of Cawnpore and Lucknow (1857).
Major-General Sir Henry Havelock (April 5, 1795 – November 29, 1857) was a British general who is particularly associated with India. He was noted for his recapture of Cawnpore from rebels during The Indian Mutiny of 1857 (also known as the First War of Indian Independence).
Biography
Havelock was born at Ford Hall, Bishopwearmouth (now in Sunderland), the son of William Havelock, a wealthy shipbuilder, and Jane, daughter of John Carter, solicitor, of Stockton-on-Tees.
In accordance with the desire of his mother he entered the Middle Temple in 1813, and became a pupil of Joseph Chitty; Havelock was thrown upon his own resources, and obliged to abandon the law as a profession. By the good offices of his brother William, who had distinguished himself in the Peninsula and at Waterloo, he obtained on 30 July 1815, at the age of 20, a second lieutenancy in the in the 95th Regiment of Foot, Rifle Brigade, and was posted to the company of Captain (afterwards Sir) Harry Smith, who encouraged him to study military history and the art of war.
India
Seeing no prospect of active service, he resolved to go to India, and at the end of 1822 exchanged into the 13th regiment (Light Infantry), then commanded by Major (afterwards Sir) Robert Sale, and embarked in the General Kyd in January 1823 for India.
Havelock served with distinction in the First Anglo-Burmese War (1824-1826), after which he returned to England and married Hannah Marshman, the daughter of eminent Christian missionaries Dr. and Mrs. Joshua Marshman.
By the time Havelock took part in the First Afghan War in 1839, he had been promoted to the rank of captain. After a short absence to Bengal to secure the publication of his Memoirs of the Afghan Campaign, he returned to Kabul in charge of recruits, and became interpreter to General Elphinstone.
In 1840, being attached to Sir Robert Sale's force, he took part in the celebrated passage of the defiles of the Ghilzais and in the fighting from Tezeen to Jalalabad. Having obtained a regimental majority he next went through the Mahratta campaign as Persian interpreter to Sir Hugh Gough, and distinguished himself at Maharajpur in 1843, and also in the Sikh Wars at the battles of Mudki, Ferozeshah and Sobraon in 1845.
He used his spare time to produce analytical reports about the skirmishes and battles in which he was involved. He exchanged from the 13th Foot to the 39th Foot, then as second major into the 53rd at the beginning of 1849, and soon afterwards left for England, where spent two years. He returned to India in 1852 with further promotion, and in 1854 he was appointed Quartermaster-General, promoted to full colonel, and lastly appointed Adjutant-General to the British Army in India in 1857.
In that year, he was selected by Sir James Outram for the command of a division in the Persian campaign, during which he was present at the action of Muhamra. and he was chosen to command a column to quell disturbances in Allahabad, to support Sir Henry Lawrence at Lucknow and Wheeler at Cawnpore, to pursue and utterly destroy all mutineers and insurgents. Throughout August Havelock led his soldiers northwards across Oudh (present day Uttar Pradesh), defeating all rebel forces in his path, despite being greatly outnumbered. At this time Lady Canning wrote of him in her diary: "General Havelock is not in fashion, but all the same we believe that he will do well." But in spite of this lukewarm commendation Havelock proved himself the man for the occasion and won the reputation a great military leader.
Thrice he advanced for the relief of Lucknow, but twice prudence forbade a reckless exposure of troops wasted by battle and disease in the almost impracticable task. This time Havelock and his troops were caught inside the blockade.
There he died on the November 29, 1857 of dysentery, a few days after the siege was lifted.
Statue in Trafalgar Square
There is a statue of Havelock (by William Behnes) in Trafalgar Square, London (a copy is also situated in Mowbray Park, Sunderland). The plaque on the plinth reads: To Major General Sir Henry Havelock KCB and his brave companions in arms during the campaign in India 1857. In 2003, there was minor controversy when the mayor of London, Ken Livingstone suggested that the Trafalgar Square statue, together with that of General Charles James Napier, be replaced with "more relevant" figures, not taking into account the actual historical importance of the two individuals.
Bibliography
Pollock, John — Way to Glory: the biography of General Henry Havelock, Christian Focus Publications, 1996, ISBN 1-85792-245-X. Marshman, John Clark — Memoirs of Major-General Sir Henry Havelock, K.C.B, London : Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1860 (and subsequent editions up to 1909).Other
"H" a play about Havelock by Charles Wood was performed at the National Theatre, London in 1969. As a tribute to General Havelock, Lucknow has a road and locality dedicated to his name called Havelock Road and Havelock Road Colony.This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain.
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