Mowbray Thomson

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Sir Mowbray Thomson

KCIE KH
Sir Mowbray Thomson
Born(1832-04-01)1 April 1832
Bhurtpore, British India
Died25 February 1917(1917-02-25) (aged 84)
Reading, Berkshire, England
Buried
Cremated at Golders Green Crematorium, London
AllegianceEast India Company
United Kingdom British Empire
BranchBengal Army
 British Indian Army
RankGeneral
UnitBengal Native Infantry
Battles / warsIndian Mutiny of 1857
Second Anglo-Afghan War
AwardsKnight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire
Knight of the Royal Guelphic Order
Alma materAddiscombe Military Seminary
RelationsElizabeth (Eliza) Thomson (sister)
James Sant, R.A. (brother-in-law)
Other workPolitical Agent
Governor-General's Agent
Military portrait of Colonel Mowbray Thomson from an Afghanistan Album (1879-80) of rare historical photographs by John Burke (photographer), Sir Benjamin Simpson KCIE, and others.

General Sir Mowbray Thomson KCIE KH (1 April 1832 – 25 February 1917) was an officer in the British East India Company and one of the only two survivors from the Cawnpore garrison.[1]

Early life and education

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Mowbray Thomson was born in "Bhurtpore" (modern-day Bharatpur, Rajasthan), India, on 1 April 1832, the son of Dr Richard Mowbray Martin Thomson (1799–1848), a marine surgeon at Calcutta, and Mary, née Prendergast.[2] He was educated in England and attended Addiscombe Military Seminary as a cadet.[3]

Military career

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In 1853 he received a commission in the 53rd Bengal Native Infantry, a regiment in the British East India Company. During the Indian Mutiny of 1857, Thomson played a key role in the defence of Wheeler's Entrenchment during the Siege of Cawnpore.[4] He was one of the few survivors of the siege and subsequent massacre at Sati Chaura Ghat.[5][6]

Thomson was invalided to England, heavily wounded, and promoted to brevet-major. While convalescing in England, he wrote The Story of Cawnpore, a first-hand account of the siege, which was published in 1859.[7][8]

After returning to India, he was given a civilian post as Political Agent at Manipur and later appointed Agent to the Governor-General for Wajid Ali Shah, the former King of Oudh.[9] He retired in 1885 with the army rank of major-general and was promoted to full general in 1894.[5]

Thomson died in Reading, Berkshire, England, on 25 February 1917. The funeral service was held on 28 February in Saint Bartholomew's Church, Reading, Berkshire, and his body was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium in London.[10][11]

Family

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Thomson married Mary Ironside Money (1835-1903) on November 26, 1859, in Calcutta, and the couple had five children. Mowbray Townshend Thomson, the eldest and only son, rose to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the 4th Goorkha Rifles.

Mowbray Thomson's younger sister, Elizabeth (Eliza) Thomson (1833–1907), married James Sant R.A., Queen Victoria's portrait painter.

Memorial

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A brass plaque commemorating Gen. Sir Mowbray Thomson KCIE is located in the All Souls' Memorial Church in Kanpur, India (Protestant).

References

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  1. ^ "Thomson, Gen. Sir Mowbray". Who's Who. A & C Black. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
  2. ^ List of Pre-mutiny Inscriptions in Christian burial grounds in the Patna District, J. F. W. James, 1935, p. 6
  3. ^ Vibart, Colonel H. M. (1894). Addiscombe: Its Heroes and Men of Note. Westminster: Archibald Constable And Co. pp. 626–8. OL 23336661M.
  4. ^ Bancroft, James W. (2021). "The Cawnpore Massacres by Mowbray Thomson". The Devil's Trap: The Victims of the Cawnpore Massacre During the Indian Mutiny. Barnsley: Pen & Sword. ISBN 978-1526718037.
  5. ^ a b The Annual Register, p. 162
  6. ^ Maude, Francis Cornwallis; Sherer, John Walter (1894). Memories of the Mutiny. Vol. 1. London: Remington & Company, Ltd. pp. 241–246.
  7. ^ Thomson, Capt. Mowbray (1 January 1859). The Story of Cawnpore. One of the Only Two Survivors of the Cawnpore Garrison. New Burlington Street, London: Richard Bentley, Publisher in Ordinary to Her Majesty. ISBN 1871085284. {{cite book}}: ISBN / Date incompatibility (help)
  8. ^ Cotton, Sir Henry (1911). "VII Arms And The Man". Indian and Home Memories. London: T. Fischer Unwin. pp. 136–146.
  9. ^ Llewellyn-Jones, Rosie (2014). The Last King in India: Wajid Ali Shah. London: C. Hurst & Co. pp. 153–160, 201–225, 239, 279, 313. ISBN 978-1849044080.
  10. ^ Staff (1918). The Annual Register: A Review of Public Events at Home and Abroad, for the year 1917. Obituary. London: Longmans, Green and Company. p. 162.
  11. ^ "Obituary: Gen. Sir Mowbray Thomson". The Observer. Adelaide, SA. 3 March 1917. p. 21. Retrieved 30 August 2025.
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