Orders, Decorations, Medals and Militaria

The Indian Mutiny medal to Captain T. M. Greensil, 24th Foot, a cousin of Lord Roberts who was attached to the Engineer Department and accidentally killed by a British sentry whilst reconnoitring at Delhi in July 1857

Indian Mutiny 1857-59, no clasp (Captn. T, M, Greensil. 1st Batn. 24th Regt.) suspension re-fixed, edge bruising and contact marks, good fine £800-1000

Thomas Maling Greensil was born in 1828, son of John Greensill, Esqr. by Eliza, his wife, the third daughter of the Revd. John Roberts, Rector of Kill St Nicholas, Co. Waterford: he was consequently nephew to General Sir Abraham Roberts, G.C.B., and cousin to Field-Marshal Earl Roberts, K.P., G.C.B. He entered H.M.’s service on the 5th April 1846 as an Ensign in the 24th Foot, and having joined that regiment at Cork, he embarked with it for Bengal on the 8th of the succeeding month. Landing at Calcutta in August, he accompanied the corps to the Upper Provinces, and with it arrived at Agra in March 1847. On the 20th October 1848 he was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. On the regiment being called into the field in October 1848, on the occasion of the second Sikh War, he was left at Agra in command of the depot, and he did not rejoin the regiment until near the end of the following year, when it was stationed at Wazirabad.

He was acting Interpreter to the regiment for months in 1850-51, and in the latter year the permanent appointment of Interpreter was conferred upon him. In February 1852 he accompanied the regiment to Sialkot. On the 15th March 1853 he attained the rank of Captain and vacated the appointment of Interpreter, but no other officer being available to relieve him, he continued acting in the appointment until the spring of 1854. In June 1854 he was again appointed acting Interpreter, and he continued holding the situation for fifteen months, in the course of which, in November 1854, he accompanied the regiment to Peshawar. In September 1855 his services were placed at the disposal of the Govt. of India for employment in the Public Works Dept. in the Punjab, and in the following month he was appointed as Asst. Engineer on the Lahore and Peshawar Road, with his headquarters at Rawal Pindi. He continued in this situation until May 1857, when, on the outbreak of the Mutiny, he was appointed an Asst. Field Engineer with the Delhi Field Force, and when that force moved forward in the following month he accompanied it and was present with it at the action of Badli-ki-Serai and at the subsequent siege of Delhi up to the 20th July, when a lamentable accident brought his career to a close.

On the evening of that day, after dark, being on duty at the Metcalf piquet, he went beyond the line of sentries, for the purpose, it was supposed, of reconnoitring: on his return he approached the post of one of the sentries and was challenged, but having either failed to reply, or his reply not having been heard, the sentry fired, and he fell mortally wounded. After several hours of intense suffering, he died in camp on the following morning, the 21st July 1857 (Soldiers of the Raj refers).

‘The four following days passed without any serious attack being made, but an unfortunate accident occurred about this time to a cousin of mine, Captain Greensil of the 24th Foot. He was attached to the Engineer Dept. and was ordered to undertake some reconnoitring duty after dark. On nearing the enemy’s position, he halted his escort, in order not to attract attention, and proceeded alone to examine the ground. The signal which he had arranged to give on his return was apparently misunderstood, for as he approached the escort fired; he was mortally wounded, and died in great agony the next morning.’ (Forty-One Years in India, by Lord Roberts, refers).