1. Major-General Sir Henry Havelock was a British general who is particularly associated with India and his recapture of Cawnpore during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
19 Facts About Henry Havelock
1. 2.
Henry Havelock was born at Ford Hall, Bishopwearmouth, the son of William Havelock, a wealthy shipbuilder, and Jane, daughter of John Carter, solicitor, of Stockton-on-Tees.
3.
Henry Havelock was the second of four brothers, all of whom entered the army.
4.
The family moved to Ingress Park, Greenhithe, Kent, when Henry was still a child, and here his mother died in 1811.
5.
From January 1800 until August 1804 Henry Havelock attended Dartford Grammar School as a parlour boarder with the Master, Rev John Bradley, after which he was placed with his elder brother in the boarding-house of Dr Raine, headmaster of Charterhouse School until he was 17.
6.
Henry Havelock was thrown upon his own resources, and obliged to abandon the law as a profession.
7.
Henry Havelock served with distinction in the First Anglo-Burmese War, after which he returned to England and married Hannah Shepherd Marshman, the daughter of eminent Christian missionaries Dr and Mrs Joshua Marshman.
8.
Henry Havelock introduced some of his new family's missionary ideas to the army and began the distribution of bibles to all soldiers.
9.
Henry Havelock introduced all-rank bible study classes and established the first non-church services for military personnel.
10.
Henry Havelock was present as aide-de-camp to Willoughby Cotton at the capture of Ghazni, on 23 May 1839, and at the occupation of Kabul.
11.
Henry Havelock next went through the Gwalior campaign as Persian interpreter to Sir Hugh Gough, and distinguished himself at Maharajpur in 1843, and in the Sikh Wars at the battles of Mudki, Ferozeshah and Sobraon in 1845.
12.
Henry Havelock used his spare time to produce analytical reports about the skirmishes and battles in which he was involved.
13.
Henry Havelock transferred from the 13th Regiment of Foot to the 39th, then as second major into the 53rd at the beginning of 1849, and soon afterwards left for England, where he spent two years and became involved in the running of the Stepney Baptist Academy, soon to move to Regent's Park.
14.
Henry Havelock returned to India in 1852 with further promotion: he was appointed Quartermaster-General, promoted to full colonel, and appointed Adjutant-General, India in November 1854.
15.
Henry Havelock died in Lucknow on 24 November 1857 of dysentery, a few days after the siege was lifted.
16.
Henry Havelock lived long enough to receive news that he was to be created a Baronet for the first three battles of the campaign; but he never knew of the major-generalship which was conferred shortly afterwards.
17.
An imposing monument to Henry Havelock's memory was erected by his sons, widow, and family.
18.
Henry Havelock, referred to as Gravedigger Henry Havelock, appears as a character in several of the Flashman novels by George MacDonald Fraser - Flashman, Flashman and the Mountain of Light and Flashman in the Great Game.
19.
Henry Havelock is portrayed as a very competent officer and an exceptionally religious man.