George Powell Thomas

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George Powell Thomas (1808 - 1857) was a Major in the 3rd Bengal European Regiment who died at the Battle of Agra during the Indian Mutiny. [1] [2] He was described as "a man of consummate courage, a man of genius, an artist and a poet." [3]

Contents

Early life

He was born 26 August 1808 at Bahramghat near Lucknow, the son of Major General Lewis Thomas C.B., Colonel of the 3rd Regt. of Foot Bengal Army E.I.C.S., and Maria Frances.

Career

He was commissioned in 1825, [4] was assistant in the Thagi department in 1835 and in civil employ in the Central Provinces as assistant commissioner from 1835 to 1840. He served as a Captain with the 64th Bengal Native Infantry, taking part in the relief force of Jellalabad (1842). [1] [5] [6]

"Loodianah, on the Sutlej" Loodhianah.jpg
"Loodianah, on the Sutlej"

He served in Afghanistan under General Sir George Pollock during the Afghan War, where he commanded a corps of Jezailchees. He was promoted to Major in 1851. [7]

He was at home on sick leave on the breaking out of the war with Russia, he applied for and obtained the command of a regiment in the Turkish Contingent under General Vivian. [8] [9] He commanded a regiment of Bashi Bazouks under Major-General William Beatson in Turkey, where the Queen conferred upon him the local rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in Turkey. [10] He then left for the Crimea as a volunteer and was present at the fall of Sevastopol (1855), for which he received the Crimea medal. [1]

At the battle before Agra on the 15 July 1857, despite being already ill, he commanded and led on five companies of his regiment on the right wing. He was severely wounded in the foot, and his horse also receiving three bullets fell on top of him, thereby injuring his head. [11] [12] He died of his wounds on 4 August in the fort at Agra. [1] [13] He was buried in the fort cemetery at Agra. [3]

Poetry and art

He was a talented amateur artist producing 'Sketches of the Himalayas' [2] and in 1846 he published his twenty-four, hand-coloured, lithographed 'Views of Simla'. [14] [15] They were much acclaimed. A review in The Spectator noted "Captain Thomas has made sketches of the most striking features of the country round Simla; which have been lithographed in the tinted manner by Messrs. Dickinson and published in a folio volume. They are spirited and effective in style, and drawn on the stone with a freedom that is more agreeable than laboured and formal execution; besides being characteristic of the rapid and vigorous pencil of a soldier." [16]

In 1847 he published a book of poems, described as "a volume of very graceful poems, full of feeling and thought." [17] His poems were included in anthologies, such as "The Book of the Sonnet" (1867). [18]

.

A review of his plays noted that "The intrigue, struggle and revenge, which formed so prominent a part of medieval Italian life, was well expressed by G. P. Thomas, in his Michele Orombello, or the Fatal Secret, and The Assassin, or the Rival Lovers. They are essentially tragical, and very few of the important characters are living at the end of the fifth act. Powerful in plot, and exhibiting considerable skill in the analysis of emotion, they are quite in the forefront of Anglo-Indian dramatic literature, though the slightness of the underplot in the first play and the deficiency of female characters in the second mar their effectiveness to some extent." [19]

Personal life

Richmond Old Cemetery Richmond Old Cemetery, memorial to George Powell Thomas and Albina Grace Thomas.jpg
Richmond Old Cemetery

He married Albina Grace Andrews (b 1811, Richmond) 1 August 1831 at Dacca. Their children were Marian Albina (b 1832, Dinapore, Bengal), Charles Lewis Stratford (b 1833, Dinapore, Bengal), Stratford Powell (b 1837, Saugor, Bengal, d 1839), [20] Charles Frederick (b 1843 Subathu, Bengal), Montague George (1844, Calcutta, Bengal), Alice Constance (b 1846, Bath, Somerset), Alfred Campbell (b 1847, d 1848, Allahabad, Bengal), Florence Juliet (b 1849, Meerut, Bengal). His wife died at 28, Montague Road, Richmond in 1889 [21] and is buried in Richmond Old Cemetery, where he is also commemorated.

Publications

Views of Simla. (1846). London: Dickinson & Co. [22]

Poems. (1847). London: Smith, Elder and Co.

Two Tragedies (1852 ). London:W Thacker & Co. [23]

Views of Simla. (2015). Studio Orientalia. ISBN 978-8192450254

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 "Major George Powell Thomas". Glasgow Herald. 9 October 1857. Retrieved 3 December 2022– via British Library Newspapers.
  2. 1 2 "Death of Major Thomas". The Indian News and Chronicle of Eastern Affaires: 511. 1857 – via Google Books.
  3. 1 2 Blunt, Edward (1911). List of Inscriptions on Christian Tombs and Tablets of historical interest in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh (PDF). Allahabad. p. 69.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
  4. ↑ Stanley, Peter (1998). White Mutiny British Military Culture in India, 1825-1875. Hurst. p. 53. ISBN   9781850653301.
  5. ↑ "64th Regiment Native Infantry Proceeding to Afghanistan". The Bengal and Agra Annual Guide and Gazetteer: 238. 1842 – via Google Books.
  6. ↑ Stocqueler, Joachim Hayward (1843). "Extract of Detachment Orders by Lieutenant Colonel Moseley, Commading. Camp Kawuleur, 25th Jan. 1842.". Memorials of Afghanistan Being State Papers, Official Documents, Dispatches, Authentic Narratives, Etc. Illustrative of the British Expedition To, and Occupation Of, Afghanistan and Scinde, Between the Years 1838 and 1842. Ostell and Lepage. pp. 185–186. ISBN   9781406726824.
  7. ↑ "To be Majors". The Edinburgh Gazette (6128): 1086. 25 November 1851.
  8. ↑ "Her Majesty's Levee". Times. 15 March 1855. p. 10 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  9. ↑ "List of officers in the service of the East India Company about to proceed to the Crimea". Allen's Indian Mail and Register of Intelligence for British & Foreign India, China, & All Parts of the East. 13: 144. 1855 – via Google Books.
  10. ↑ "Brevet". The Edinburgh Gazette (6479): 378. 30 March 1855 – via The Gazette.
  11. ↑ Kaye, John William (1876). A history of the Sepoy war in India, 1857-1858 (PDF). Vol. III. London:W H Allen & Co. p. 387.
  12. ↑ Coopland, R M (1859). A Lady's Escape from Gwalior and life in the Fort at Agra during the Mutinies of 1857. London:Smith, Elder & Co – via University of Pennsylvania.
  13. ↑ "List of Europeans, whether belonging to the East India Company's Service or not, who have been Killed or Wounded by the hands of Rebels, prepared from Papers on record in the Military Department". The Edinburgh Gazette (6780): 296. 16 February 1858.
  14. ↑ "Views of Simla". Naval & Military Gazette and Weekly Chronicle of the United Service. 19 September 1846. pp. 6, 7.
  15. ↑ "Illustrated Works and Prints". The Spectator. 19: 884. 1846 – via Google Books.
  16. ↑ "Views of Simla. By Captain George Powell Thomas, Sixty-fourth Bengal Infantry". The Spectator: 20. 12 September 1846 – via The Spectator archive.
  17. ↑ "LITERARY CHRONICLE". Weekly Chronicle (London). 16 October 1847. p. 3.
  18. ↑ Hunt, Leigh; Lee, Samuel Adams, eds. (1867). The Book of the Sonnet. Vol. 2. Boston:Roberts Brothers. pp. 22–26.
  19. ↑ Oaten, Edward Garley (1908). "Chapter III The Lesser Poets". A Sketch of Anglo-Indian Literature (The Le Bas Prize Essay for 1907) (PDF). London: Kegan Paul Trench Trubner & Co Ltd. pp. 67, 81–82.
  20. ↑ "Deaths". Parbury's Oriental Herald and Colonial Intelligencer. 4: 99. 1839 – via Google Books.
  21. ↑ "Deaths". Richmond and Twickenham Times. 21 December 1889. p. 1.
  22. ↑ "Simla. By Captain G P Thomas". Times. 19 August 1846. p. 11 – via The Times Digital Archive.
  23. ↑ "New Books from India". Times. 7 June 1852. p. 2 – via The Times Digital Archive.
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