Nearly a V.C.: the medals to G.D. Willoughby
The historically significant and Victoria Cross-adjacent group of three medals to Lieutenant George Dobson Percival Willoughby, Bengal Artillery, who led the five-hour Defence of the Magazine at Delhi during the Indian Mutiny, before ordering its detonation: Punjab Medal 1848-49, no clasp, an official replacement (1ST LIEUT. G. D. WILLOUGHBY, 1ST CO. 5TH BATTN BEN. ARTY.); India General Service Medal 1849-95, clasp: Pegu, an official replacement (1ST LIEUT. G. D. WILLOUGHBY, 2ND CO. 5TH BATTN BEN. ARTY.); Indian Mutiny Medal, clasp: Delhi, a late official issue (LIEUT. G. D. WILLOUGHBY, BEN. ARTY.); mounted for wearing on a 20th century pin bar, good very fine or better; [3] offered together with a pencil sketch, 'Springing a Mine', inscribed 'By George Willoughby AD 1846' and depicting a field gun and gunner lifted by a detonation as two soldiers shelter behind a wall; and another sketch in the same hand, a similar scene with a larger explosion involving several men and guns.
(36 mm each)
George Dobson Willoughy was born in November 1828, and received a private education before entering the East India Company's Military Seminary at Addiscombe in 1845. He was commissioned in the Bengal Artillery in December 1846. He served in the Second Anglo-Sikh War of 1848-49, and in the campaign in Burma in 1852-53.
The outbreak of the Indian Mutiny in May 1857 found Willoughby in charge of the Great Magazine at Delhi. He commanded two Lieutenants from the Ordnance Department, George Forrest and William Raynor; six European Conductors and Sergeants, including Conductors John Buckley and John Scully; and a larger number of Indian personnel. On the morning of the 11th of May 1857 news arrived with the magistrate Sir Theophilus Metcalfe of the approach of the Mutineers from Meerut. Willoughby and Metcalfe considered moving guns to a forward position to cover the bridge across the Yamuna River, but finding that the Mutineers had already gained the near side of the river, Willoughby instead ordered preparations for the defence of the magazine.
The gates were shut and barred, and guns were placed "double charged with shot" to cover the approaches. Willoughby hoped that help would arrive from the cantonments at Meerut, but knowing that the chances were slim, and that the vast stocks of munitions in his care must be preserved from capture by the mutineers, he ordered that trains of powder be laid from the main store to a lime tree standing in the yard. Here he stationed Scully, ready to fire the trains on a signal from Buckley.
A tense wait ensued as a hostile crowd pressed around the walls of the magazine, and the last Mughal Emperor and King of Delhi, Bahadur Shah Zafar, sent repeated demands for Willoughby to surrender. In due course, when it became obvious that no help was coming for the defenders, the King sent scaling ladders and a general assault began, with attackers mounting the walls and climbing onto the tombs in the adjacent cemetery to pour fire in on the men desperately working their guns within. For approximately five hours, Willoughby and his eight companions fought on alone, the Indian personnel having gone over to the insurgents as soon as the ladders were placed against the walls. Buckley received a musket ball in the arm, and Forrest was shot twice in the hand. When their supplies of ready ammunition ran out, they were unable to leave their posts to bring up more from the store, and Willoughby, knowing that the hour of decision had arrived, ordered that the magazine be destroyed. Buckley raised his hat in a pre-arranged signal to Scully, who set light to the powder trains. A colossal detonation followed in which, according to contemporary estimates, as many as a thousand of the attackers were killed. Remarkably, four of the defenders survived the explosion, and three - Forrest, Buckley and Raynor, were able eventually to reach safety in Meerut. Their Commanding Officer, George Willoughby, having got clear of Delhi in company with Forrest, was slain by the inhabitants of a village near the Hindun River on the 12th of May.
Forrest, Buckely and Raynor all received the Victoria Cross for their part in the defence of the magazine, and the descriptions of their acts that appeared in the London Gazette of the 18th of June 1858 were identical: "For gallant conduct in the defence of the Delhi Magazine, on the 11th May, 1857". Willougby, having been killed, was ineligible for the award at that time, but given the equal or - as the officer with command responsibility - greater part that he played in the action, and bearing in mind the unvarying form of the other men's citations, it is only possible to conclude that he too would have become a recipient of a V.C., had he survived.
It is supposed that his original medals for the Punjab and Burma were lost or destroyed during the fighting, and the roll shows that official replacements were issued in 1902. Research has not revealed an early claim for the Indian Mutiny medal and, indeed, it has the appearance of having been issued together with the others as a late claim.
In view of the circumstances described here, we regard this group as highly important, not merely because the last medal was qualified for during a V.C. action, but because they were earned by an officer who, beyond reasonable objection, may be said to have carried out a V.C. action.
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Condition Reports
To request a condition report please email nc@woolleyandwallis.co.uk.
The historically significant and Victoria Cross-adjacent group of three medals to Lieutenant George Dobson Percival Willoughby, Bengal Artillery, who led the five-hour Defence of the Magazine at Delhi during the Indian Mutiny, before ordering its detonation: Punjab Medal 1848-49, no clasp, an official replacement (1ST LIEUT. G. D. WILLOUGHBY, 1ST CO. 5TH BATTN BEN. ARTY.); India General Service Medal 1849-95, clasp: Pegu, an official replacement (1ST LIEUT. G. D. WILLOUGHBY, 2ND CO. 5TH BATTN BEN. ARTY.); Indian Mutiny Medal, clasp: Delhi, a late official issue (LIEUT. G. D. WILLOUGHBY, BEN. ARTY.); mounted for wearing on a 20th century pin bar, good very fine or better; [3] offered together with a pencil sketch, 'Springing a Mine', inscribed 'By George Willoughby AD 1846' and depicting a field gun and gunner lifted by a detonation as two soldiers shelter behind a wall; and another sketch in the same hand, a similar scene with a larger explosion involving several men and guns.
(36 mm each)
George Dobson Willoughy was born in November 1828, and received a private education before entering the East India Company's Military Seminary at Addiscombe in 1845. He was commissioned in the Bengal Artillery in December 1846. He served in the Second Anglo-Sikh War of 1848-49, and in the campaign in Burma in 1852-53.
The outbreak of the Indian Mutiny in May 1857 found Willoughby in charge of the Great Magazine at Delhi. He commanded two Lieutenants from the Ordnance Department, George Forrest and William Raynor; six European Conductors and Sergeants, including Conductors John Buckley and John Scully; and a larger number of Indian personnel. On the morning of the 11th of May 1857 news arrived with the magistrate Sir Theophilus Metcalfe of the approach of the Mutineers from Meerut. Willoughby and Metcalfe considered moving guns to a forward position to cover the bridge across the Yamuna River, but finding that the Mutineers had already gained the near side of the river, Willoughby instead ordered preparations for the defence of the magazine.
The gates were shut and barred, and guns were placed "double charged with shot" to cover the approaches. Willoughby hoped that help would arrive from the cantonments at Meerut, but knowing that the chances were slim, and that the vast stocks of munitions in his care must be preserved from capture by the mutineers, he ordered that trains of powder be laid from the main store to a lime tree standing in the yard. Here he stationed Scully, ready to fire the trains on a signal from Buckley.
A tense wait ensued as a hostile crowd pressed around the walls of the magazine, and the last Mughal Emperor and King of Delhi, Bahadur Shah Zafar, sent repeated demands for Willoughby to surrender. In due course, when it became obvious that no help was coming for the defenders, the King sent scaling ladders and a general assault began, with attackers mounting the walls and climbing onto the tombs in the adjacent cemetery to pour fire in on the men desperately working their guns within. For approximately five hours, Willoughby and his eight companions fought on alone, the Indian personnel having gone over to the insurgents as soon as the ladders were placed against the walls. Buckley received a musket ball in the arm, and Forrest was shot twice in the hand. When their supplies of ready ammunition ran out, they were unable to leave their posts to bring up more from the store, and Willoughby, knowing that the hour of decision had arrived, ordered that the magazine be destroyed. Buckley raised his hat in a pre-arranged signal to Scully, who set light to the powder trains. A colossal detonation followed in which, according to contemporary estimates, as many as a thousand of the attackers were killed. Remarkably, four of the defenders survived the explosion, and three - Forrest, Buckley and Raynor, were able eventually to reach safety in Meerut. Their Commanding Officer, George Willoughby, having got clear of Delhi in company with Forrest, was slain by the inhabitants of a village near the Hindun River on the 12th of May.
Forrest, Buckely and Raynor all received the Victoria Cross for their part in the defence of the magazine, and the descriptions of their acts that appeared in the London Gazette of the 18th of June 1858 were identical: "For gallant conduct in the defence of the Delhi Magazine, on the 11th May, 1857". Willougby, having been killed, was ineligible for the award at that time, but given the equal or - as the officer with command responsibility - greater part that he played in the action, and bearing in mind the unvarying form of the other men's citations, it is only possible to conclude that he too would have become a recipient of a V.C., had he survived.
It is supposed that his original medals for the Punjab and Burma were lost or destroyed during the fighting, and the roll shows that official replacements were issued in 1902. Research has not revealed an early claim for the Indian Mutiny medal and, indeed, it has the appearance of having been issued together with the others as a late claim.
In view of the circumstances described here, we regard this group as highly important, not merely because the last medal was qualified for during a V.C. action, but because they were earned by an officer who, beyond reasonable objection, may be said to have carried out a V.C. action.
Read more »
Condition Reports
To request a condition report please email nc@woolleyandwallis.co.uk.
