Page 111 - Chronicle Vol 17

Figure 1 – The battered ruins of The Residency, taken sometime after the battle - National Army Museum Online Collection
against a possible 30,000 rebels, the defenders fortified The Residency, an inner sanctum of governmental buildings in the city centre. Networks of trenches, earthworks, barricades, and gun batteries were rapidly constructed, with many only half-finished when the siege began. Despite a river and open ground provid- ing some advantages, the urban sprawl of Lucknow crept perilously close to The Residency, enabling the enemy to constantly ‘pile artillery and musketry at all who moved’. This, combined with the rebels’ overwhelming numbers, meant ‘no spot in the whole works could be considered safe’, as even women and children were continuously felled by enemy fire. It was an imperfect position, but the only choice for the desperate defenders.
The sheer hell of those 140 days highlights both why this conflict deserves more prominent commemoration, and one of the key factors behind the 32nd’s sur- prising success – their Herculean levels of grit and determination. As is the case today, strong physical and mental resilience are invaluable for military success, as they help soldiers prevail over seemingly impossible challenges. As shall become apparent, the defenders of Lucknow could not have survived if they lacked these qualities. Various diaries and letters kept throughout the siege capture the hard- ships that they faced: Julia Inglis describes ‘a most trying, fatiguing, and anx- ious life’ for the defenders, in which ‘rest was almost out of the question’. Private Metcalfe explained how he and his comrades ‘never had our boots off our feet for five months’ due to ceaseless enemy attacks. The pains of this unimaginable fatigue were exacerbated by an insufficient diet, as daily rations were reduced as the siege dragged on, being just four ounces of flour per man at one point, caus- ing one survivor to exclaim how ‘famine stared us in the face’. Unsurprisingly, scurvy became ‘fearfully prevalent’, alongside cholera and smallpox. But perhaps the greatest tormentor was the heat of the Indian summer, which Swiney declares ‘more destructive’ than enemy fire. Indeed, Inglis describes how a small action against the enemy sustained no combat loses, but two 32nd men died of heat apoplexy through their efforts. Holmes further details this suffering, explaining how British woollen uniforms ‘were literally sweated to destruction’. In Lucknow this was especially taxing, as many of the defences were exposed directly to the
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