British soldiers clash with Indians in 1857 and Major General Henry Havelock

Lucknow, Sept. 2: Sir Anthony M. Havelock-Allan, a descendant of British commander Major General Henry Havelock who recaptured Kanpur in July 1857, has great expectations from his India trip this month.

“I have been to Lucknow and Delhi twice in the past but without guides. I have never been to Kanpur or Allahabad. I look forward to following the route (Allahabad to Kanpur) which my great-great-grandfather’s small army took,” said Anthony, part of a group of 20 “mutiny tourists” that will include historians.

The visitors will be guided by Rosie Llewellyn-Jones, a London-based architectural historian, and Saul David, another historian. They will try to connect with the events of 1857 on the 150th anniversary of the uprising.

“I shall visit my great-great-grandfather’s grave at Lucknow’s Alumbagh and attend a service for all those who died in the first and second siege of the Residency,” Anthony, who is in his 50s, said in an email to The Telegraph.

The service is likely to be held on September 25, the day in 1857 when relief reached the Residency, the heart of the British defence, for the first time.

British inhabitants of Lucknow had taken shelter in the Residency and the commander, Sir Henry Lawrence, was expected to hold out for as long as 15 days before relief could arrive. It was 87 days before a small force under Havelock broke through to relieve the half-starved defenders.

Havelock, chosen to command a column to quell disturbances in Allahabad and to support Lawrence in Lucknow and General Hugh Wheeler in Kanpur (then Cawnpore), led his soldiers across Oudh, defeating all the rebel forces in his path despite being outnumbered. He died of dysentery in Lucknow on November 24, 1857.

Havelock was awarded the Victoria Cross for the Kanpur feat. He has a statue in London’s Trafalgar Square and a road named after him in the Uttar Pradesh capital.

Anthony said his great-grandfather, Lieutenant General Sir Henry Havelock-Allan, was also awarded the Victoria Cross.

“I have descended directly from the second son of Lieutenant General Sir Henry Havelock-Allan and am the eldest surviving male member of the family,” Anthony said.

The family added Allan to its surname in 1880 as a condition for inheriting a large estate in England from the Allans, who belonged to the same clan.

Anthony, who plans to donate manuscripts and books on the mutiny to Residency Museum, described Major General Havelock as an “austere disciplinarian and a devout Christian”.

“He never drank alcohol and his troops were known for not being drunk and disorderly. He spent all his career (from 1823) in India and Afghanistan.”

Havelock “loved India and the Indian troops he commanded”, especially the Sikhs, whom he described as the bravest native troops he had led, Anthony said.

Anthony and his group will end their tour in Calcutta, where they will visit Barrackpore, the scene of sepoy Mangal Pandey’s rebellion, during their three-day stay.