Henry Havelock

Seeing no prospect of active service, he resolved to go to India, and at the end of 1822 transferred into the 13th (1st Somersetshire) Regiment (Light Infantry), then commanded by Major Robert Sale, and embarked on the General Kyd in January 1823 for India.^[5] Before embarkation he studied the Persian and Hindustani languages with success under John Borthwick Gilchrist. During the voyage a brother officer, Lieutenant James Gardner, awakened in Havelock religious convictions which had slumbered since his mother's death, but henceforth became the guiding principle of his life.^[1]

Havelock served with distinction in the

By the time Havelock took part in the First Anglo-Afghan War in 1839, he had been promoted to the rank of captain. He was present as aide-de-camp to Willoughby Cotton at the capture of Ghazni, on 23 May 1839, and at the occupation of Kabul. After a short period in Bengal to secure the publication of his Memoirs of the Afghan Campaign, he returned to Kabul in charge of recruits, and became interpreter to General William George Keith Elphinstone.^[1]

In 1841, being attached to Sir

Three times he advanced for the relief of the Lucknow, but twice held back rather than risk fighting with troops wasted by battle and disease.^[1] Reinforcements arrived at last under Outram, who assumed command. With Havelock commanding the assault, Lucknow was relieved on 25 September 1857. However, a second rebel force arrived and besieged the town again. This time Havelock and his troops were caught inside the blockade.^[1]

Death

He died in Lucknow on 24 November 1857 of

Legacy

Statue in Trafalgar Square

There is a statue of Havelock (by William Behnes) in Trafalgar Square, London. The plaque on the plinth reads:

To Major General Sir Henry Havelock KCB and his brave companions in arms during the campaign in India 1857. "Soldiers! Your labours, your privations, your sufferings and your valour, will not be forgotten by a grateful country." H. Havelock

In 2000, there was a controversy when the then mayor of London, Ken Livingstone suggested that the Trafalgar Square statue, together with that of General Charles James Napier, be replaced with "more relevant" figures.^[8]

Statue in Mowbray Park

William Behnes also designed the statue of Havelock at the top of Building Hill in Mowbray Park Sunderland. Two cannon (replicas of cannons presented to Sunderland after the Crimean War in 1857) stand beside the statue, facing north commanding the view over the park. The statue, however, looks west towards Havelock's birthplace. The statue reads: Born 5, April 1795 at Ford Hall Bishopwearmouth Died 24 November 1857 at Dil-Koosa Lucknow.^[9]

An imposing monument to Havelock's memory was erected by his sons, widow, and family. His tomb still stands in Chander Nagar – Alambagh area of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh. These verses are inscribed on his tomb: " His ashes in a peaceful urn shall rest; His name a great example stands, to show How strangely high endeavours may be blessed, When piety and valour jointly go." ^[10]

Other

• Havelock MRT station and Havelock Road along Singapore River, Singapore^[11][12]
• Swaraj Dweep).^[13]
• Several
  public Houses in England are named "The General Havelock":^[14] The Haydon Bridge pub sign bears his portrait, as does the East Sleekburn one; in addition, there is a road/street called Havelock Mews next to the latter.^[15]
• Havelock Road in Luton is claimed to be named after him.[16] The road appears on The 1887 1st edition and 1901 2nd edition OS maps^[17]
• Havelock Guest House in Jersey.^[18]
• The New Zealand towns of Havelock, on the South Island, and Havelock North, on the North Island, are named after him.^[19][20]
• Havelock Road in Southall, London, was to be renamed Guru Nanak Road in 2021.^[21][22]
• Havelock, North Carolina, a city in coastal North Carolina^[23]
• The town of Havelock, Nebraska, which was incorporated in 1893 but was later annexed by the City of Lincoln, was named after him. The former area of the town is still known today as the Havelock neighborhood in Lincoln.^[24]
• Havelock Street in Sunnyside, San Francisco, California established in 1880.^[25]

In fiction

Havelock, referred to as Gravedigger Havelock, appears as a character in several of the Flashman novels by George MacDonald Fraser - Flashman,^[26] Flashman and the Mountain of Light^[27] and Flashman in the Great Game.^[28] He is portrayed as a very competent officer^[28] and an exceptionally religious man.^[27]

Published works

• Havelock, Henry (1840). Narrative of the War in Affghanistan 1838–39. London:
  OCLC 36579435
  .

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