The Children's Story of Westminster AbbeyTroutbeck, G. E. (Georgina E.)
History
The Children's Story of Westminster Abbey
Troutbeck, G. E. (Georgina E.)
Westminster Abbey
In 1854 the Crimean War, between Russia on one side and Turkey with her
English and French allies on the other, broke out. The real Westminster
memorial to the heroes of the Crimean War stands in Broad Sanctuary,
just outside the Abbey, and speaks to us of the Westminster scholars who
fell in the Crimea, the most famous of them being Lord Raglan. But there
are windows in the Abbey in memory of officers who served in this war,
as well as in the war in India which followed it. Some years before the
Crimean War there had been wars and disturbances in Afghanistan, in the
Punjaub, and in Burmah; and at last, in 1857, the terrible Indian Mutiny
broke out. The horrors of this time will probably never be forgotten
while English history lasts, and we need only speak of the massacre of
Cawnpore and the siege of Lucknow in order to bring the story of the
Mutiny back to every one’s mind.
There are many graves and monuments in the Abbey to tell us of the brave
men who saved our Indian Empire at that troubled time.
The first Afghan War is commemorated by the grave of Sir George Pollock,
who fought his way through the Khyber Pass to Cabul, after the terrible
slaughter of the British in 1842. Sir George Pollock was thanked by
Parliament for his services in that war. He died in 1872, and is buried
in the Nave.
In the North Transept is the bust of Sir Herbert Edwardes, who greatly
distinguished himself in the Sikh War, and quelled the outbreak at
Mooltan in 1848. He also did good service during the Mutiny. He died in
1868.
In the Nave are the graves of three of the great heroes of the Indian
Mutiny, namely, Sir Colin Campbell (afterwards Lord Clyde), Sir James
Outram, and John Laird Mair, Lord Lawrence.
Sir Colin Campbell joined the army when he was quite a boy, and fought
in the Peninsular War. He served under Sir John Moore in the advance to
Salamanca, and in the famous retreat to Corunna. Later on he fought in
the Sikh War, and then in the Crimean War. He was sent out to India to
help to crush the Mutiny, and the most celebrated thing he did was the
relief of Lucknow, thus putting an end to that terrible siege. He died
in 1863.
Sir James Outram’s grave is close by, and all English boys and girls
should look at his monument, where they will see a representation of the
great scene at Lucknow, when Sir Colin Campbell relieved the town and
met the gallant defenders, Outram and Havelock. Outram died in 1863.
The name of Sir Henry Lawrence ought also to be remembered when we speak
of Lucknow, although his body does not rest in the Abbey. He did much to
save Lucknow in the time of the siege, and he was killed on the ramparts
only a short time before Sir Colin Campbell arrived with his
Highlanders.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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