Captain William Robert Moorsom (1834-1858)
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Captain William Robert Moorsom (1834-1858)
Captain William Robert Moorsom is commemorated by a memorial in the North Nave Aisle.
To the Memory of
WILLIAM ROBERT MOORSOM (Eldest son of Captain
Moorsom C.. late of the 52nd Light Infantry)
Who while a Lieutenant in the 52nd Light Infantry
acting first as Aide de Camp and afterwards
as Assistant Quartermaster General to
SIR HENRY HAVELOCK,
and finally as Quartermaster General to the Division Of
SIR JAMES OUTRAM,
was engaged in nine pitched battles and numerous skirmishes,
wounded twice, honorably mentioned thirteen times in public despatches,
including the thanks of the Government of India,
and promoted to a Company in the 13th Light Infantry
for distinguished services.
He was killed on the 11th March 1858 in the 24th year of his age
at the head of a column of attack on the rebel posts of the
CITY OF LUCKNOW.
As a tribute of their affection and regard
The Officers of the 52nd Light Infantry
Devote this tablet.
William Robert Moorsom was born in 1834, son of Captain William Scarth Moorsom, a noted Victorian Engineer and son of Admiral Sir Robert Moorsom K.C.B. His mother was Isabelle Ann (nee W11kins) eldest daughter and fourth child of Lewis Morris Wilkins, Judge of the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.
He was commissioned Ensign by purchase into the 52nd Light Infantry on 17th August 1852, and promoted Lieutenant on 10th June 1853. In 1857 while on leave from his regiment and employed on railway survey in Ceylon, news came to him of the Indian Mutiny. He immediately returned to Calcutta and was sent to repair the telegraph line between Benares and Allahabad, which had been cut by the rebels.
On the approach of the Cawnpore mutineers General Havelock appointed him first his ADC and later DAQMG of his Division. He served in the actions at Futtehpore (he was dressed in civilian clothes and armed only with a stick), Aoung, Pandoo Nuddee and Cawnpore. At the latter action his horse was shot from under him. He was present at Bithoor and the first relief of Lucknow. In the subsequent siege of Lucknow he acted as QMG of Outram's division.
Malleson says that he united with the finest qualities of a fighting soldier the skill of an accomplished draughtsman; it was to his skill indeed that Outram and Havelock were indebted for the plans that enabled them so skilfully to penetrate the Residency. Promoted captain in the 13th Light Infantry (later the Somerset L.I.) on 2nd March 1858, he was killed on 11th March during an attack on the iron bridge at Lucknow.*
His name is inscribed below one of the lancet shaped windows in the west aisle of the N.transept in Westminster Abbey; his regiment erected a memorial to him in Rochester Cathedral.
His sketch maps of the march to Lucknow and of the city are in the British Library. A copy of one of these is included with this paper.
* His promotion does not appear in the Army List. It was too late for inclusion in the 1858 edition and by the time of the issue of 1859 he was dead.
A son of William Robert Moorsom's sister Isabelle, William Moorsom Laurence (1855-1881) went out to South Africa in 1879 and subsequently died in circumstances remarkably comparable with his uncle’s, in a skirmish in the Basuto War in 1881. His career was memorialised by his elder brother, Sir Perceval Maitlend Laurence, a distinguished judge at the Cape. In his 'Selected Writings of the Late William Moorsom Laurence' he refers to his younger brother William Moorsom Laurence in the following terms:
".....he was named after a dear uncle and godfather who perished leading his men in the final Relief of Lucknow under Outram and Havel-ock. (1) At the age of 23, William Robert Moorsom of the 52nd Light Infantry had covered himself with honour, and when he met his death held the responsible position of Deputy Quartermaster-General in Outram's army. During the Indian Mutiny he had been nine times wounded(2) in the field and thirteen times honorably mentioned in public despatches, and few careers of fairer promise than his were ever prematurely cut off in the path of duty glorieusly performed.
Her Majesty the Queen, who had read with deep interest many of the letters he had written home, expressed to the late Sir Charles Phipps her deep sorrow at the loss of "that fine young Moorson", before she could refer to the good public news which had arrived by the same mail. The officers of his regiment inscribed a window to his memory in the Cathedral of Rochester(3), where his father lived; in Westminster Abbey among the seven heroes of the Mutiny to whom over the great west window a similar memorial has been raised, his name is found. His nephew and godson, who took a peculiar pride in the honourable name he bore, has now followed in his footsteps!.. (at the Thlotse Heights, Basutoland, on 9th March 1881)
"On March 11th, the anniversary of the day on which, twenty three years before, his uncle and godfather, a well-known officer on Sir Tames Outram's staff, fell leading one of the final attacks on Lucknow, Major Laurence's body, surrounded by his devoted comrades, was borne to the grave."
Extract from the Illustrated London News, quoted by Sir Perceval Laurence in 'Selected Writings'.
Notes
(1) The residency at Lucknow had been relieved for the second time by Sir Colin Campbell and the besieged defenders evacuated 17th-19th November 1857. It was not until the following March that the city itself finally fell. It was at this assault on the city that W.R. Moorsom was killed.
(2) He was wounded twice not nine times, as quoted. He was in nine pitched battles.
(3) There is a marble memorial to his memory, not a window.
(4) William Scarth and Isabelle Moorsom had nine children. Charles John (4th child and 3rd son) born in 1837, attended the King's School, Rochester, and entered the army in the 30th Foot. He served at the siege of Sebastopol and at the assault on the Redan 8th September 1855 he was seriously wounded in the left arm and had to wear it in a sling for the rest of his life. Major-General 1893. Retired 1899. Died at Middleburg, Cape Colony, 23 August 1908 aged 72.
The Indian Mutiny
During the Indian Mutiny Nana Sahib was responsible for the massacre of the women and children in the Bibiaghar or Ladies House at Cawnpore.
In the following letter to his sister Captain Moorsom tells how he entered the scene of the massacre in the hope of finding something of the Lindsay family, whom he knew.
Now for the sad story which I must tell in as few words as possible amid my heavy work here. I consider itm duty which I have not neglected where opportunity offered to gain for the sake of those who are relatives of my friends every scrap of information that I could possibly collect.
They consisted of of Major Lindsay and his wife, Mrs George Lindsay, her three daughters and one son. Major Lindsay died from the effects of a cannon ball knocking down the brickwork upon the bed on which he was lying within the entrenchments; his wife died the day before from fever (17th June) and their niece died a victim of cholera. The two remaining sisters and their mother survived the fire and disease within the works, they were unharmed by the treacherous fire in the boats and imprisoned with their sisters in affliction and suffered with them on our approach to the town.
Of the son I have been able to gain no intelligence and can only conclude that he was shot with his brother officers when they went to the boats.
The only comfort I can hope to give to Mrs.Drage and all their other friends is that, though they were all most ruffianly and barbarously killed, I believe and most solemnly affiem such to be my belief that their butchers did not ill-use them while alive, nor protract their suffering when dying.
I was the second man inside the house, so deeply dyed with their blood, nothing should have induced me to go in had I no$ known my friends might have been among the number.
I went through the rooms strewn with Bibles and Prayer books and other religious works, with torn bonnets and clothing, with shoes, some of little children certainly not more than three inches long, and amidst all these fearful stains and pools of innocent English blood.
Each room I entered I peered into expecting to see their bodies, but thank God I was spared that sight, their butchers threw them into a well which we have filled in, and upon which we intend to erect a monument. In this house I found no token of the Lindsays though I searched and caused everything to be collected; one poor girl, at least girl I fancied her, had a number of books "libra sacra" marked with her name Isabella Blair, and of these I have kept one little 'Companion to the Altar' either to render to her mother should I ever come across her or keep myself as a memorial of a day I shall never forget.
He did not find Isabella Blair's mother for he himself was killed later at Lucknow. He did however find three books which had belonged to the Lindsays. Of that family no less than seven died in the Mutiny.
Major General Sir Henry Havelock
Major General Sir Henry Havelock was a man of deep religious convictions. His austere way of life caused him to be called a "vinegary Baptist". Captain Moorson served as his A.D.C. during the Mutiny.
He died on 24 November 1857 of dysentey, saying to his son, "Come, now, and see how er Christian Bend." He is named on the Moorsom Memorial.
Lieutenant-General Sir James Outram, Bi.
From a contemporary engraving Lieutenant General Sir James Outram, who is named in the Moorsom Memorial, was known as "The Bayard of the East", because of his brave bearing and chivalrous behaviour. Captain Moorson served under him during the Indian Nutiny.
Outram accompanied the relief expedition under Major General Sir Henry Havelock which effected the first relief of Lucknow. Outram agreed to serve under Havelock who was his junior in rank. It was a happy situation as Outram often gave advice which Havelock did not always find agreeable, but yet found bound to accept.
The 52nd. Light Infantry
The 52nd. Regiment was raised in 1755 as the 54th Foot, becoming in 1803 the 52nd (oxford Iight Infantry Regiment), the first regiment to become a Light Infantry Unit.
In 1801 the Regiment together with the 43rd and 95th were placed under Major General Sir John Moore and reorganized as the first British regiments of light infantry. Under Moore's inspired leadership they became some of the best trained troops in Europe. Their deeds as the famous light division in the Peninsular War are immortalised in Napier's History.
At Waterloo the 52nd pepulsed Napoleon's Old Guard. It won honour in the Indian Mutiny, during which time William Robert Moorsom was serving with them.
In 1881 the 52nd was united with the 43rd to become the Oxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry.
On 7th November 1958 the Regiment was redesignated - 1st Green Jackets, 43rd and 52nd.
On 1st January 1966 the Regiment was amalgamated with the and Green Jackets, The King's Royal Rifle Corps and the 3rd.Green Jackets, The Rifle Brigade, to form THE ROYAL GREEN JACKETS.
There is a fuller account of William Robert Moorson's life in Trett’s scrapbook, taken from notes compiled by Isabella Sarah Laurence, daughter of William searth Moorsom and forwarded to the author of these papers by Mrs. Elaine Drake, herself a member of the Moorsom family,
Notes
* Later research has shown that It.Moorsom was wrong about Isabella Blair. She was a married woman and one of her daughters was married to Captain (later General) W.R.E.Alexander. Two other daughters died in the Mutiny• A prayer book did eventually come back to the family, but it is not known whether it was the book found by Moorson.
1. Captain Moorsom's father lived at Satis House (now part of the King's School) circa 1859.
2. At the assault on Lucknow in the firgt relief Havelock and Outram were Havelock wishing for an immediate assault with Outran advising could find a Baler Way of approach. - Hevelock by Leonard Cooper (Bodley
3. Moorson was a lively correspondent and his letters provided much material background for incidents in the Indian Mutiny. Among other things he records The doubts of concade"Havelock's officers regarding his fitness to command. Tho Sound of Run by Richerd Collier (Collins 1963) he In The Great Mutiny by Christopher Hibbert (Penguin Books It 1978) h28 laine appears among the sources used by the author. No the Lindsay family, whose deaths he reported in his letter. 1 V0:*
The taking of Lucknow, The Bombay Mail
Lucknow, March 12, 1858.
Yesterday two columns started to advance our front, the right under Generals Outram and Walpole sweeping to the right went up by Cantonments as far as the Chan Ghat near Moossa Bagh, and returned by the stone to the Iron Bridge. The left went more directly to the latter. There was a good deal of irregular fighting and the enemy suffered considerably. Most men swear that not less than eight hundred corpses were seen. But the general, who always underestimates, has I believe, reputed the enemy's loss at four or five hundred. Ours was not great as regards numbers, but we sustalned an irreparable loss, Captain Moorson of her Naiesty's 52nd Regiment, Assistant Quartermaster General, one of the very ablest men in the service, as brave as he was able, as cool as he was brave, honoured and beloved by all. He called for four Rifle volunteers to enable him to clear a house from which about thirty Sepoys were firing on our column.
At their head he stormed the house, and was shot through the head. But his death was terribly avenged by his Rifles, who killed every man in the house.
Captain Moorsom was buried this morning by the Rev. G. Cowie. Sir J.Outram whose deep anguish at the loss of his beloved was visibly depicted on his features, acted as chief mourner. All his staff were present, and many others, for Captain Moorsom was known by all and beloved by all; and his minute knowledge of all the localities about Lucknow, which he surveyed on the annexation, renders his loss quite irreparable. But our loss is his gain. He lived the life of the righteous; and he has now entered into the mansions of the blessed.
Photograph of a portrait of Captain William Robert Moorsom, now in the possession of Rosalie Hacon, a member of the Moorsom family.
To be compared with a photograph of an original photograph whidh is included with these papers.
An extract from the Bombay Mail for March 12, 1858, was found pasted to the back of the portrait.
A photograph of this extract, together with a typed transcription, is found on another page.
Details of the marriage of William Scerth Moorson of Satis House Rochester, Kent, and father of Wil11am Robert Moorson, Killed at Lucknow March 1858.
William Scarth Moorsom, 52nd Foot, married at Windsor, Nova Scotia Oct.4th, 1831 to Isabella daughter of Judge Wilkins.
Isabella Ann Morris, spinster, married by licence with consent. No witnesses signed, by William Colsel King, Rector.
William Scarth, Captain 52nd Foot, sold out 1832.
From the notebooks ‘The Naval and Military Memorials of Rochester Cathedral’ (1979)
by Roy Trett, OBE, TD,
Rochester Cathedral Chapter Library
The medieval tombs of the Presbytery and Quire Transept have had a tortured history which many effigies apparently moved and several defaced along with the medieval memorials and brasses over the Early Modern period.
