The Brian Ritchie Collection of H.E.I.C. and British India Medals

The C.B. group of three to Major-General H. M. Wemyss, 1st Bengal Fusiliers, who was severely wounded in the attack on the Lahore Gate at the assault of Delhi

(a) The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (Military) C.B., Companion’s breast badge, 22 carat gold and enamels, hallmarked London 1856, maker’s mark WN, complete with swivel-ring suspension and gold ribbon buckle

(b) Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Delhi (Lieut. Hy. Manly Wemyss, 1st Eurn. Bengal Fusrs.)

(c) Afghanistan 1878-80, no clasp (Lt. Col. H. M. Wemyss, 31 Bl. N.I.) mounted as worn from gold pin, good very fine or better (3) £3000-3500

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Brian Ritchie Collection of H.E.I.C. and British India Medals.

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Henry Manley Wemyss was the third and youngest son of Captain James Wemyss of Wemyss Hall, Fife, and was born on 8 November 1831 at Cupar. He was educated at Edinburgh Academy and at Addiscombe, having been nominated by H. St.G. Tucker, Esq., on the recommendation of his uncle, Captain Carnegie. He was appointed Ensign on 9 December 1848 and landed in India in January 1849, when he was directed to do duty with the 57th Bengal Native Infantry at Dinapore. In June of that year he was posted to the 1st Bengal European Fusiliers at Cawnpore. He was promoted Lieutenant on 18 April 1853. In February 1857 he married, at Ambala, Harriet Eliza Vincent, daughter of Captain David Sherriff, 48th Bengal N.I., thus becoming the brother-in-law of Lieutenant David Sheriff (see Lot 54).

At the outbreak of the Mutiny the 1st Bengal Europeans were directed to form part of the 1st Ambala Brigade, Delhi Field Force. Wemyss, who was then holding a staff appointment, immediately rejoined his regiment and reached it in time to take part in the battle of Badli-ki-Serai on 8 June. He subsequently advanced with the British force to Delhi Ridge.

Before Delhi on 14 July, he was wounded while leading his regiment in the sortie which cleared the suburb of Subzi Mundi. ‘During these operations’, in which the Fusiliers lost sixty-four killed and wounded, ‘Lieutenant H. M. Wemyss, the Adjutant of the Regiment, was hit by a musket-ball on his side; but he refused to go to the rear, and continued to perform his duties.’ Besides participating in numerous engagements between 8th June and 11th September, ‘including the cutting out of a Battery of Light Guns at Ludlow Castle, on the 12th August, by a column under command of Brigadier G. D. Showers’, he was present at the rout of the enemy at the Nudjufghur canal on 25 August when Brigadier John Nicholson’s force killed eight hundred rebels and captured thirteen guns.

At the storm of the city on 14 September, the Fusiliers were selected by Nicholson to lead the First Column in the escalade of the shattered wall near the Kashmir Bastion and climb down to the main-guard by St James’s Church. Here Wemyss was asked by Lieutenant Noel Money (see Lot 103), commanding the leading men of the regiment, how to proceed. Wemyss showed him a narrow lane leading to the Kabul Gate and told him to pass down it under the wall for safety’s sake. Wemyss and regimental headquarters were delayed in following by having to clear some buildings near the Kashmir Gate. When this was accomplished they moved on and were themselves passing down another narrow lane when the commanding officer, Major George Jacob, fell mortally wounded. Captain Greville, the next senior officer, took command and at length headquarters caught up with Money near the Kabul Gate.

The next objective was the heavily defended Lahore Gate. Greville suggested breaking into some houses in order to take the enemy in the rear but Nicholson ignored him and called for a direct assault. Three desperate and costly charges followed. ‘Anything I had been in before was child’s play’, wrote Money afterwards, ‘It was here that I saw about twelve officers knocked out in five minutes.’ ‘General Nicholson, now in front, shook his sword in defiance at the multitude of the enemy around, who, with shouts and yells, poured grape bullets, and stones on the party below. Nicholson, “our best and bravest,” was struck down mortally; wounded; Speke, “gentle everywhere but in the field” fell mortally wounded; Greville, in re-forming the Regiment, was shot through the right shoulder. Captain Caulfield (doing duty), Lieutenants Wemyss, Butler, and Woodcock, all fell at this time; as well as a large proportion of the rank and file.’

Following the capture of Delhi, Wemyss was granted leave but returned to the fray in January 1858 as Brigade Major of the Ambala Brigade and held that appointment until October. In spite of his prominent role at Delhi he was denied public recognition. An official source states: ‘Not mentioned in despatches published of the Siege, from it is believed, the deaths of General Nicholson and Major Jacob and the despatches of the 1st Brigade not having been sent in from so many of the senior Officers being killed and wounded.’

Wemyss rejoined his regiment in December 1859, following a period of leave in England, and transferred to the Bengal Staff Corps on its creation. He afterwards held a succession of staff appointments in the ‘new’ Oudh Division until 1867, when he was posted officiating second-in-command of the 39th Native Infantry, his former regiment having joined the Home Establishment as the 101st (Royal Bengal) Fusiliers in 1861. Advanced to Captain in 1861 and Major in 1868, he succeeded to the command of the 39th N.I. in 1872, and the next year was given command of the Jhansi district in addition.

During the first phase of the Second Afghan War he commanded the 39th N.I. at Ali Musjid in March and April 1879. From the 11th of the latter month until August he commanded the Bhopal Battalion on garrison duties at Landi Kotal, and commanded a reconnaissance of cavalry and infantry to Kam Shiliman to watch the movements of the Mohmands.

During the second campaign he served as D.A.Q.M.G., Khyber Line Force, and accompanied the 1st Brigade in its advance to meet the Kabul troops at Kita Sang. In January and February 1880, he took part in the Lughman expedition against the Wazir Kugianis, and in April participated in the Hissarak Valley expedition. For services in the Afghan War he was made a C.B. (London Gazette 22 February 1881) and was mentioned in despatches. On 9 December 1879 he was promoted Colonel by Brevet. Wemyss, who was advanced to the rank of Honorary Major-General in 1890, died at Stanmore, Canterbury, on 17 November 1915.

Refs: Hodson Index (NAM); IOL L/MIL/10/48, 67, 76. 86 & 91; IOL L/MIL/10/ 56: IOL L/MIL/10/65; IOL L/MIL/17/2480; The History of the Bengal European Regiment (Innes).