Thomas Henry Kavanagh
Thomas Henry Kavanagh ( born July 15, 1821 in Mullingar, County Westmeath, Ireland, † November 11, 1882 ) is a British civilian who gained fame in England during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Because a successful mission during the siege of Lucknow, he was awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest British medal for bravery, excellent and is one of the few civilians who received this award. In the British public he gained popularity.
Background
Thomas Henry Kavanagh was a civil official of the Bengal Civil Service, a civil administration of the British East India Company. He worked in Lucknow, one of the British garrison towns in the Presidency of Bengal. Lucknow was one of the major sites of the British and was besieged from June 1857 by rebel troops. British civilians loyal Indian soldiers and British soldiers had barricaded themselves in one of the residences in Lucknow and spent over weeks fierce resistance. However, in the besieged residence broke very early from cholera and dysentery, so that in August every day more than 20 people in the besieged died not only by the shelling by the Indian troops but also to diseases. Sir Henry Havelock tried the garrison, who attributed it high on the British side strategic and symbolic value to shock in September. His troops suffered However, during the advance to the garrison such high losses that an evacuation of the besieged was not possible. The troops remained to reinforce the besieged in Lucknow. In November, new British troops reached under the leadership of Sir Colin Campbell near the garrison. Given the numerical superiority of the Indian insurgents, however, was the risk that they would suffer similarly as before, the troops of Sir Henry Havelock such high losses that a relief of the besieged troops would fail again.
Thomas Henry Kavanagh offered himself on the evening of November 9 to smuggle a plan to Sir Colin Campbell, who was expected to give more precise information on the establishment of the Indian troops. This proposal was initially rejected by Sir James Outram and Henry Havelock, because in their view, no chance for a European was to pass through the Indian lines. Kavanagh convinced them after they did not recognize him in Indian disguise and reprimanded after he had seated himself in her presence without prompting. Thomas Henry Kavanagh broke on the evening of 20 clock 30 and reached together with an Indian companion on the following morning at five clock the troops of Sir Colin Campbell. The military historian Saul David wrote about the events of that night, that they would probably fill a chapter of a book. Among other things, Kavanagh went astray and fell into a canal and has been repeatedly questioned by suspicious sepoys. For this act he was awarded the Victoria Cross and was the third civilian, received this distinction was awarded by then. The other two, William McDonnell and Rose Mangles, were as employees of the Bengal Civil Services and were honored for their actions in Arrah on 30 July 1857.