| MAJOR-GENERAL SIR JAMES DUNCAN MACPHERSON, K.C.B. |
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James Duncan Macpherson was born on the January 24th,
1811, at Ardelach, Nairn, Scotland and baptized on the
24th of February, 1811. He was the eldest son of Captain
Duncan Macpherson of the 78th Highlanders and his wife,
Anne Brodie, daughter of Duncan Campbell of Fornighty.
His father had been wounded while serving with his
regiment at the battle of Maida in 1806 and would later
rise to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel before retiring from
the Army.
Educated at King’s College, Aberdeen, James received a
classical and mathematical education. James’ father was
not wealthy enough to purchase an Army commission for
him but was able to use his connection to secure a
nomination for a commission for James in the HEIC Bengal
Infantry.
His father, having then retired from the 78th Highlanders,
was described in James’ Cadet Papers as a Private
Gentleman residing at Plymouth Square, Plymouth.
Having passed the examination on the 22nd of October,
1828, James was appointed a Gentlemen Cadet in the
Company’s service. James was commissioned an Ensign in
the Bengal Infantry on the 4th of December, 1828, the day
of his departure for India.
1811, at Ardelach, Nairn, Scotland and baptized on the
24th of February, 1811. He was the eldest son of Captain
Duncan Macpherson of the 78th Highlanders and his wife,
Anne Brodie, daughter of Duncan Campbell of Fornighty.
His father had been wounded while serving with his
regiment at the battle of Maida in 1806 and would later
rise to the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel before retiring from
the Army.
Educated at King’s College, Aberdeen, James received a
classical and mathematical education. James’ father was
not wealthy enough to purchase an Army commission for
him but was able to use his connection to secure a
nomination for a commission for James in the HEIC Bengal
Infantry.
His father, having then retired from the 78th Highlanders,
was described in James’ Cadet Papers as a Private
Gentleman residing at Plymouth Square, Plymouth.
Having passed the examination on the 22nd of October,
1828, James was appointed a Gentlemen Cadet in the
Company’s service. James was commissioned an Ensign in
the Bengal Infantry on the 4th of December, 1828, the day
of his departure for India.
Arriving in India on the 5th of May, 1829, James was ordered to do duty with 52nd Native Infantry on the 10th of June. A
vacancy having occurred, James was posted to his regiment, the 22nd Native Infantry, on 18th of November, 1829. Apparently
showing early promise, having only arrived in India just a little over four years earlier, James received a temporary
appointment as Interpreter and Quartermaster for his regiment on the 20th of September, 1833.
In November of 1834, James participated in the Shekhawat Expedition when a Field Force under the command of Brigadier-
General Stevenson, C.B., proceeded in a punitive expedition against the Shekhawats, a predatory tribe inhabiting a tract of land
to the north-east of Jodhpur. The force marched into the heart of Shekhawat country without encountering opposition and
occupied or destroyed the strongholds of the plundering chiefs. The Field Force was broken up at the end of December and the
constituent regiments returned to their respective cantonments. No medals were authorized for the expedition but James had
experienced his first taste of active service.
James was promoted Lieutenant on the 26th of November, 1836. On the 25th of August, 1840, James married Mary Kennedy at
Nasirabad. Mary had been born in India and was the eighth daughter of Colonel (later Lieutenant-General) James Kennedy, C.B.,
a Bengal cavalry officer of some repute. Five of Mary’s sisters were to also marry officers in Bengal regiments.
James was appointed Adjutant of the 22nd Native Infantry in September of 1845, a position he held until early1845. In
November of that year, James was promoted Captain.
In 1848, upon the outbreak of the Second Sikh War, James was appointed Brigade-Major in the 3rd Brigade of the Army of the
Punjab. He was present at the passage of the Chenaub, the battles of Chillianwala and Goojerat (or Gujerat), and the pursuit of
the Afghans to Peshawar. For his services James was thanked in Lord Gough’s despatch, made a Brevet-Major and received the
Punjab medal with two clasps, named to him as Captain and Brigade Major, 3rd Division and 22nd B.N.I.
In November of 1852, James was placed at the disposal of the Foreign Department for employment with the Board of
Administration for the Affairs of the Punjab. In March of 1853 James was appointed Military Secretary to the Chief
Commissioner and Agent to the Governor General for the Affairs of the Punjab. As Military Secretary, while having no
command authority, James nevertheless occupied an important position, being charged with not only being the principal military
advisor to the chief civilian authority in the District, but also with representing the military’s interests at that level of
government in what was a large and important area of India which had only recently come under British rule.
In 1853, James volunteered his services to Colonel S.B. Boileau who was preparing a force for an expedition he would lead
against the Bori villages of the Jowaki Afridis. The Afridis were a Pathan tribe with traditional tribal lands on the border of
the Northwest Frontier of India. After several serious raids by the Jowaki Afridis, in November of 1853 the expedition of
approximately 1700 troop under the command of Colonel Boileau was ordered to march against them. Colonel Boileau’s force,
accompanied by Captain H. R. Jones, the Deputy Commissioner, entered the Afridis’ territory by way of the Sarghasha Pass.
After overcoming stiff resistance from the fierce tribesmen, the force destroyed several Afridis villages in the Bori Valley and
the tribal leaders finally agreed to terms laid down by the British forbidding future raids and the harboring of criminals. For
his services as a volunteer staff officer in the expedition, James was thanked in Colonel Boileau’s despatch and in 1869, when the
Northwest Frontier clasp to the India General Service Medal was authorized for the men then still living who had taken part in
the expedition, James received the IGS medal with clasp, named to him as Major J.D. Macpherson, Military Secretary to the
Chief Commissioner of the Punjab.
In November of 1854, James was promoted Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel and promoted to substantive Major in December of
1855. In April of 1856 James was granted leave on sick certificate for one year to visit the island of Mauritius, but by
November of that year he had resumed his duties in the Punjab.
On the 10th of May, 1857, the Indian Mutiny erupted when the native regiments stationed at Meerut rose in mutiny against
their officers. Due to indecision by the commanding officer at Meerut, the mutinous troops were allowed to make their way to
unmolested to the great fort at Delhi. The fever of mutiny rapidly spread to other native regiments throughout Northern India
and the Punjab was soon in crisis.
At the time of the outbreak of the Mutiny, James was stationed in Lahore, the capital of the Punjab, and was still serving as
Military Secretary to the Chief Commission of the Punjab. The important role James was to play in the suppression of the
Mutiny can best be recounted by contemporaneous accounts from various sources:
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 105, Edinburgh, 1869.
It would be impossible to leave Lahore without alluding to the two other officers who occupied at this time the most
confidential positions about the person of the Chief Commissioner, his civil and military secretaries. … The military secretary of
the Chief Commissioner, Major (now Major- General) J. D. Macpherson, had, at the time of which we are writing, filled that
position for about five years. He, too, was a man of great energy and quick decision. He possessed, in addition, a simple
directness of manner, sound views regarding military arrangements, and the power of impressing those views upon others. Above
all, he was an honest man. Whatever might have been the opinions of his chief, not for worlds would he have altered or concealed
his own, had he thought it for the public interests that they should be made known. (Id. at page 578.)
…
On leaving Lahore en route to Rawul Pindee, Sir John had left behind him the two principal Commissioners, Messrs Montgomery
and Macleod, and his military secretary, Lieut.-Col. Macpherson. The news of the Meerut outbreak, and its first results at
Delhi, reached Lahore on the 12th May. Almost simultaneously with its arrival, Captain Richard Lawrence, a brother of the Chief
Commissioner, and who commanded two police battalions and some police cavalry at that station, received a hint from a moonshee
(native clerk) of the Thuggee department, serving under his orders, that the sepoys of the garrison were infected with a
mutinous spirit. Captain Lawrence immediately imparted this intelligence to Colonel Macpherson… (Id. at page 584.)
Life of Lord Lawrence, Reginald B. Smith, London, 1883.
In this conjuncture Montgomery took counsel with his colleagues—the chief civilians and staff-officers at Anarkali, who
assembled in the house of Macpherson, the Military Secretary. They were Mr. Donald Macleod, Mr. Egerton, Colonel Ommaney,
Mr. Roberts, Captain (sic) Macpherson, Richard Lawrence, and Waterloo Hutchinson. There was an animated discussion.
Macpherson had already talked the matter over with Robert Montgomery, and they had agreed that it would be expedient to
deprive the Sipahis (Sepoys) of their ammunition. It was now suggested by the former that this should be done — that the
ammunition should be lodged in store, and that the regiments should be told that, as they had obviously much anxiety with respect
to the greased cartridges, it was the order of the Government that all ground of alarm should be removed for the present by
leaving them without any ammunition at all. On this Richard Lawrence said, "I would disarm them altogether;" to which
Macpherson replied that it was scarcely probable that the military authorities would consent to such a measure. (Kaye and
Malleson, History of the Indian Mutiny, Volume II.)
But the Civil officers had no authority in such a matter, and so Montgomery and Macpherson rode over to Mean Meer to urge
the necessity for action on the Brigadier in command. General Corbett was, at first, naturally taken aback at the boldness of the
proposal, but, to his infinite credit, in the course of the afternoon, he made up his mind to go even further, and to deprive his
troops not merely of their ammunition, but of their arms.
A ball was to be given, that very night, to the officers of the one European regiment in the station, and as profound secrecy was
essential to the success of the intended disarmament, it was not postponed. A dreary amusement enough the dance must have
seemed to those few officers who were in the secret, and who felt that they must pass at the dawn of day from the ball-room to
the parade-ground, which might well prove their grave! The thoughts of one and of another may well have leapt back to that
other ball-room at Brussels, which heard ' the cannon's opening roar' and ushered in the crowning victory of Waterloo.
A general parade had been ordered in the usual course for the morning of the 18th, and Montgomery and Macleod, Macpherson
and Roberts, Richard Lawrence, Robert Egerton and Hutchinson, rode over to the ground, prepared to witness the successful
execution of the bold step decided on by Corbett, or to be among the first to fall if it should miscarry. The Sepoy force
consisted of three regiments of foot, the 16th, the 20th, and the 49th, and of one light cavalry regiment, the 8th. The Europeans
who were to disarm them consisted of five companies only of a single regiment, the 81st, with twelve guns. The Sepoy regiments
appeared on the ground, quite unconscious that there was anything unusual in preparation. A simple maneeuvre brought them face
to face with the Europeans, and made it dangerously easy for them to count their foes. While they were thus drawn up, a Staff
officer read aloud to them the orders of the Brigadier. He praised them heartily for their past conduct, but ended by
announcing that, as an evil spirit seemed to be abroad in the Indian army, it had been thought advisable to save them from
others—and it might be from themselves, by taking from them—their arms.
While he was still speaking the five hundred Europeans fell back between the guns which had hitherto been concealed behind
them, and left the Sepoy regiments to look down the twelve black throats of the cannon, which were already loaded with grape,
while the gunners stood by with port-fires lighted. Just as he ceased to speak, the word of command, ' Eighty-first, load!' rang
clearly forth. It was a thrilling moment, a moment in which half a lifetime must have seemed to pass. There was, it is said, a slight
hesitation, but the ringing of the ramrods as the charges were rammed home, spoke eloquently in favour of obedience, and so
some two thousand muskets, and some seven hundred sabres soon lay piled upon the ground. The Sepoy garrison of the fort which
commands Lahore was disarmed at almost the same moment by three companies of the same 81st Regiment, and the capital of the
Punjab was safe from the mutineers. The whole of the responsibility for these measures rested with Brigadier Corbett, and to
him, therefore, must be assigned the chief share of the credit.(Id.at page 8.)
…
Well might Sir John Lawrence, writing a few days later to the man who had so spoken and written and acted on his behalf, say,
in a burst of genuine enthusiasm, which was rare in him, except when a piece of extraordinarily good work called it forth, ' Your
Lahore men have done nobly. I should like to embrace them; Donald, Roberts, Mac (Macpherson), and Dick are, all of them,
pucca trumps,'—one of his very highest terms of praise. (Id. at page 11.)
vacancy having occurred, James was posted to his regiment, the 22nd Native Infantry, on 18th of November, 1829. Apparently
showing early promise, having only arrived in India just a little over four years earlier, James received a temporary
appointment as Interpreter and Quartermaster for his regiment on the 20th of September, 1833.
In November of 1834, James participated in the Shekhawat Expedition when a Field Force under the command of Brigadier-
General Stevenson, C.B., proceeded in a punitive expedition against the Shekhawats, a predatory tribe inhabiting a tract of land
to the north-east of Jodhpur. The force marched into the heart of Shekhawat country without encountering opposition and
occupied or destroyed the strongholds of the plundering chiefs. The Field Force was broken up at the end of December and the
constituent regiments returned to their respective cantonments. No medals were authorized for the expedition but James had
experienced his first taste of active service.
James was promoted Lieutenant on the 26th of November, 1836. On the 25th of August, 1840, James married Mary Kennedy at
Nasirabad. Mary had been born in India and was the eighth daughter of Colonel (later Lieutenant-General) James Kennedy, C.B.,
a Bengal cavalry officer of some repute. Five of Mary’s sisters were to also marry officers in Bengal regiments.
James was appointed Adjutant of the 22nd Native Infantry in September of 1845, a position he held until early1845. In
November of that year, James was promoted Captain.
In 1848, upon the outbreak of the Second Sikh War, James was appointed Brigade-Major in the 3rd Brigade of the Army of the
Punjab. He was present at the passage of the Chenaub, the battles of Chillianwala and Goojerat (or Gujerat), and the pursuit of
the Afghans to Peshawar. For his services James was thanked in Lord Gough’s despatch, made a Brevet-Major and received the
Punjab medal with two clasps, named to him as Captain and Brigade Major, 3rd Division and 22nd B.N.I.
In November of 1852, James was placed at the disposal of the Foreign Department for employment with the Board of
Administration for the Affairs of the Punjab. In March of 1853 James was appointed Military Secretary to the Chief
Commissioner and Agent to the Governor General for the Affairs of the Punjab. As Military Secretary, while having no
command authority, James nevertheless occupied an important position, being charged with not only being the principal military
advisor to the chief civilian authority in the District, but also with representing the military’s interests at that level of
government in what was a large and important area of India which had only recently come under British rule.
In 1853, James volunteered his services to Colonel S.B. Boileau who was preparing a force for an expedition he would lead
against the Bori villages of the Jowaki Afridis. The Afridis were a Pathan tribe with traditional tribal lands on the border of
the Northwest Frontier of India. After several serious raids by the Jowaki Afridis, in November of 1853 the expedition of
approximately 1700 troop under the command of Colonel Boileau was ordered to march against them. Colonel Boileau’s force,
accompanied by Captain H. R. Jones, the Deputy Commissioner, entered the Afridis’ territory by way of the Sarghasha Pass.
After overcoming stiff resistance from the fierce tribesmen, the force destroyed several Afridis villages in the Bori Valley and
the tribal leaders finally agreed to terms laid down by the British forbidding future raids and the harboring of criminals. For
his services as a volunteer staff officer in the expedition, James was thanked in Colonel Boileau’s despatch and in 1869, when the
Northwest Frontier clasp to the India General Service Medal was authorized for the men then still living who had taken part in
the expedition, James received the IGS medal with clasp, named to him as Major J.D. Macpherson, Military Secretary to the
Chief Commissioner of the Punjab.
In November of 1854, James was promoted Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel and promoted to substantive Major in December of
1855. In April of 1856 James was granted leave on sick certificate for one year to visit the island of Mauritius, but by
November of that year he had resumed his duties in the Punjab.
On the 10th of May, 1857, the Indian Mutiny erupted when the native regiments stationed at Meerut rose in mutiny against
their officers. Due to indecision by the commanding officer at Meerut, the mutinous troops were allowed to make their way to
unmolested to the great fort at Delhi. The fever of mutiny rapidly spread to other native regiments throughout Northern India
and the Punjab was soon in crisis.
At the time of the outbreak of the Mutiny, James was stationed in Lahore, the capital of the Punjab, and was still serving as
Military Secretary to the Chief Commission of the Punjab. The important role James was to play in the suppression of the
Mutiny can best be recounted by contemporaneous accounts from various sources:
Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine, Vol. 105, Edinburgh, 1869.
It would be impossible to leave Lahore without alluding to the two other officers who occupied at this time the most
confidential positions about the person of the Chief Commissioner, his civil and military secretaries. … The military secretary of
the Chief Commissioner, Major (now Major- General) J. D. Macpherson, had, at the time of which we are writing, filled that
position for about five years. He, too, was a man of great energy and quick decision. He possessed, in addition, a simple
directness of manner, sound views regarding military arrangements, and the power of impressing those views upon others. Above
all, he was an honest man. Whatever might have been the opinions of his chief, not for worlds would he have altered or concealed
his own, had he thought it for the public interests that they should be made known. (Id. at page 578.)
…
On leaving Lahore en route to Rawul Pindee, Sir John had left behind him the two principal Commissioners, Messrs Montgomery
and Macleod, and his military secretary, Lieut.-Col. Macpherson. The news of the Meerut outbreak, and its first results at
Delhi, reached Lahore on the 12th May. Almost simultaneously with its arrival, Captain Richard Lawrence, a brother of the Chief
Commissioner, and who commanded two police battalions and some police cavalry at that station, received a hint from a moonshee
(native clerk) of the Thuggee department, serving under his orders, that the sepoys of the garrison were infected with a
mutinous spirit. Captain Lawrence immediately imparted this intelligence to Colonel Macpherson… (Id. at page 584.)
Life of Lord Lawrence, Reginald B. Smith, London, 1883.
In this conjuncture Montgomery took counsel with his colleagues—the chief civilians and staff-officers at Anarkali, who
assembled in the house of Macpherson, the Military Secretary. They were Mr. Donald Macleod, Mr. Egerton, Colonel Ommaney,
Mr. Roberts, Captain (sic) Macpherson, Richard Lawrence, and Waterloo Hutchinson. There was an animated discussion.
Macpherson had already talked the matter over with Robert Montgomery, and they had agreed that it would be expedient to
deprive the Sipahis (Sepoys) of their ammunition. It was now suggested by the former that this should be done — that the
ammunition should be lodged in store, and that the regiments should be told that, as they had obviously much anxiety with respect
to the greased cartridges, it was the order of the Government that all ground of alarm should be removed for the present by
leaving them without any ammunition at all. On this Richard Lawrence said, "I would disarm them altogether;" to which
Macpherson replied that it was scarcely probable that the military authorities would consent to such a measure. (Kaye and
Malleson, History of the Indian Mutiny, Volume II.)
But the Civil officers had no authority in such a matter, and so Montgomery and Macpherson rode over to Mean Meer to urge
the necessity for action on the Brigadier in command. General Corbett was, at first, naturally taken aback at the boldness of the
proposal, but, to his infinite credit, in the course of the afternoon, he made up his mind to go even further, and to deprive his
troops not merely of their ammunition, but of their arms.
A ball was to be given, that very night, to the officers of the one European regiment in the station, and as profound secrecy was
essential to the success of the intended disarmament, it was not postponed. A dreary amusement enough the dance must have
seemed to those few officers who were in the secret, and who felt that they must pass at the dawn of day from the ball-room to
the parade-ground, which might well prove their grave! The thoughts of one and of another may well have leapt back to that
other ball-room at Brussels, which heard ' the cannon's opening roar' and ushered in the crowning victory of Waterloo.
A general parade had been ordered in the usual course for the morning of the 18th, and Montgomery and Macleod, Macpherson
and Roberts, Richard Lawrence, Robert Egerton and Hutchinson, rode over to the ground, prepared to witness the successful
execution of the bold step decided on by Corbett, or to be among the first to fall if it should miscarry. The Sepoy force
consisted of three regiments of foot, the 16th, the 20th, and the 49th, and of one light cavalry regiment, the 8th. The Europeans
who were to disarm them consisted of five companies only of a single regiment, the 81st, with twelve guns. The Sepoy regiments
appeared on the ground, quite unconscious that there was anything unusual in preparation. A simple maneeuvre brought them face
to face with the Europeans, and made it dangerously easy for them to count their foes. While they were thus drawn up, a Staff
officer read aloud to them the orders of the Brigadier. He praised them heartily for their past conduct, but ended by
announcing that, as an evil spirit seemed to be abroad in the Indian army, it had been thought advisable to save them from
others—and it might be from themselves, by taking from them—their arms.
While he was still speaking the five hundred Europeans fell back between the guns which had hitherto been concealed behind
them, and left the Sepoy regiments to look down the twelve black throats of the cannon, which were already loaded with grape,
while the gunners stood by with port-fires lighted. Just as he ceased to speak, the word of command, ' Eighty-first, load!' rang
clearly forth. It was a thrilling moment, a moment in which half a lifetime must have seemed to pass. There was, it is said, a slight
hesitation, but the ringing of the ramrods as the charges were rammed home, spoke eloquently in favour of obedience, and so
some two thousand muskets, and some seven hundred sabres soon lay piled upon the ground. The Sepoy garrison of the fort which
commands Lahore was disarmed at almost the same moment by three companies of the same 81st Regiment, and the capital of the
Punjab was safe from the mutineers. The whole of the responsibility for these measures rested with Brigadier Corbett, and to
him, therefore, must be assigned the chief share of the credit.(Id.at page 8.)
…
Well might Sir John Lawrence, writing a few days later to the man who had so spoken and written and acted on his behalf, say,
in a burst of genuine enthusiasm, which was rare in him, except when a piece of extraordinarily good work called it forth, ' Your
Lahore men have done nobly. I should like to embrace them; Donald, Roberts, Mac (Macpherson), and Dick are, all of them,
pucca trumps,'—one of his very highest terms of praise. (Id. at page 11.)
|
Men and Events of My Time in India, Richard Temple, London, 1882.
In reviewing the events of 1857 in the Panjab, he (John Lawrence) assigned the utmost credit to Robert Montgomery, General
Corbett and Colonel James Duncan Macpherson for the prompt disarming of the sepoys at Lahore; also to Herbert Edwardes
and General Sydney Cotton for maintaining order at Peshawar. The disarming of the Sepoys at Lahore on 13th of May, 1857,
was one of the most remarkable events in the history of the mutinies. Corbett in the exercise of the soundest judgment assumed
a perilous responsibility, and Macpherson played his part excellently well. But the chief credit is due to Robert Montgomery,
who rendered a priceless service to his country. Had this measure not been taken with the requisite promptness, the sepoys
certainly would have revolted. Whether such a revolt would have succeeded is a question which the boldest might tremble to
answer; the chances of its success were considerable. Had it occurred, the course of affairs in the Panjab might have been
disastrously altered. (Id. at page 146.)
Parliamentary Papers, Parliament of Great Britain, House of Commons.
Here also the Anarkullee Volunteers and the Lahore Light Horse may be appropriately noticed. At the commencement of the
crisis, in May 1857, the European community of Anarkullee (the civil station of Lahore), consisting of clerks belonging to the
various central offices, and other residents, volunteered to form a body of infantry, upwards of a hundred strong, under the
command of Lieutenant-Colonel J. D. Macpherson. They remained embodied for about eight months. In August 1857 the
Lahore Light Horse was formed, consisting of drummer boys of mutinied infantry and cavalry corps, and other Eurasians, about
160 strong (i. e. two troops or one squadron), mounted on Government horses of the mutinied cavalry, under command of Captain
Snow. They were first employed in quelling the Googaira e´meute, then they were despatched to Hindoostan, and have served
with credit at Lucknow, in Rohilcund, and Allahabad.(Id. Session 3 Feb.- 19 April 1859, Vol. XVIII at 113,pg. 20.)
The Chief Commissioner's military secretary, Lieutenant Colonel J. D. Macpherson, rendered valuable assistance throughout
the crisis. The labours of Colonel Macpherson in the organisation of the new regiments and in the multifarious duties which
devolved on him were incessant. His counsel as an experienced soldier was most useful. Since the outbreak of the mutiny there
have, from first to last, been raised and organised 18 new regiments of infantry, six of cavalry, besides many thousands of
levies, horse and foot. On the 1st May 1858, just one year after the mutiny, the new force numbered upwards of 34,000, which,
with the previous numbers (20,000) make up an aggregate of 54,000 men. The details of this large force passed through
Colonel Macpherson's hands. (Id. at 58, pg. 55.)
Colonel Macpherson, Military Secretary, being in charge of the Chief Commissioner's office at Lahore, the general
superintendence of arrangements connected, not only with the raising of new levies, hut with the marching of detachments,
providing carriage, ammunition, tents, &c., stationing of guards and pickets for the security of the town and civil station, and
generally all matters affecting the efficiency and distribution of the Punjab local force and Military Police, devolved mainly
upon him. The Chief Commissioner knows too well, and appreciates too highly, the services rendered by Colonel Macpherson
throughout this critical period to require any assurance from me; but I deem it incumbent on me here to record how prominent
and important was his share in all that was transacted at the metropolis of the Punjab previous to the Chief Commissioner's
arrival.
With health much impaired, and an office of which the duties had been enormously increased by the course, of events, he
nevertheless showed himself equal to every emergency, and took an active part wherever his services could be useful. When
volunteer companies were formed, he superintended their organization and drill: the examination of native letters received by
the post was chiefly conducted by him: he especially maintained a complete understanding at all times with the military
authorities; and his energy, resolution, and judgment, inspired general confidence. To myself personally his presence was of the
very greatest value.(Id. at 135,136 at pg.55, quoting R. Montgomery, Judicial Commissioner of the Punjab.)
Among the excellent body of officers who have served under him in civil capacities during the two years, the Chief
Commissioner especially commends the- following:—
…The Chief Commissioner's military secretary, Lieutenant Colonel J. D. Macpherson, deserves especial praise and notice for
the zealous and hearty service he rendered, and the incessant labour he sustained from the commencement of the mutinies till he
joined the army headquarters as Officiating Quarter-master General. (Id. at 155, pg. 45, quoting R. Temple, Civil Secretary to
the Chief Commissioner of the Punjab, Sir John Lawrence.,)
On the 27th of February, 1858, James was appointed to officiate as Quartermaster General of the Army. In that capacity he
participated in the final reduction of the City of Lucknow in March of 1858. In April of that year he was made a Brevet
Colonel and on the 26th of July, 1858, James was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath, Military Division. In March of
1859, James was mentioned in Lord Clyde’s despatch of the in which Lord Clyde announced the cessation of hostilities in Oude
and the close of the campaign.
For his services during the Mutiny, James received the Indian Mutiny medal with clasp for Lucknow named to him as Lieutenant-
Colonel J. D. Macpherson, C.B., Officiating Quartermaster General of the Army. James’ medal was one of only eight Mutiny
medals on the roll submitted by the Quartermaster General Department which also included the authorization for the medal for
Frederick Roberts, V.C., later Field Marshall Lord Roberts of Kandahar.
James continued to officiate as Quartermaster General until January of 1859, when he was appointed Military Secretary to
the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab. In April of 1859 James was promoted Brevet Colonel and in October of 1859, James
was posted as Lieutenant-Colonel to the newly raised 6th European Regiment.
In March of 1860, James was granted an eighteen month furlough for personal affairs. Returning to the 6th European
Regiment following his furlough, in August of 1862 James was promoted to Brigadier General commanding the Agra Brigade, a
position he held for a little under two years as he was appointed Commissary General of the Bengal Army in March of 1864, a
position he was to hold until James was promoted Major General in 1868. In February of 1868 James returned to England on
furlough. James was raised to K.C.B. in the Queen’s Birthday List of 1873.
Major General Sir James Duncan Macpherson, K.C.B., died of pneumonia on the 29th of May, 1874, at his residence at 31
Belsize Park Gardens, London. Lady Macpherson lived for another twenty-nine years following her husband’s death, dying in
October of 1903 at the age 82. She left an estate of approximately £2,500.
_______________________________________________________________________
James’ and Mary’s son James Duncan Macpherson, Jr., like his father, also served in the Bengal Army. He was commissioned
into the Bengal Infantry in 1857, serving in the suppression of the Indian Mutiny with the 1st Bengal European Fusiliers,
receiving the Indian Mutiny medal without clasp. Having transferred to the 3rd Punjab Cavalry, in October of 1868 he served
as Orderly Officer to General Vaughn commanding the 2nd Brigade of the Hazara Field Force on the Northwest Frontier of
India against the Black Mountain tribes for which he received the IGS medal with Northwest Frontier clasp. Serving as a
Major in the 3rd Punjab Cavalry, he served in the 2nd Afghan War, taking part in the famous march from Kabul to Kandahar
and the battle of Kandahar for which he received the 2nd Afghan War medal with clasp for Kandahar and the Robert’s Star.
Retiring as a Colonel in 1895, James Duncan Macpherson, Jr. moved to Inverness and lived to be 86 years old, dying there in
1927.
Another of James’ and Mary’s sons, Captain George Ewen Macpherson, died in India at age 39 while serving in the Bengal
Army. He had joined the Bengal Infantry in 1860, and in 1863 served with the 4th Gurkhas during the Umbeyla campaign,
receiving the India General Service medal and clasp. At the time of his death, having been admitted to the Bengal Staff Corps,
George had recently been appointed Officiating Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon and was on his way to take up his post there
when he suddenly died at Karnal, India on the 17th of September of 1879.
Sir James’ youngest brother, Herbert Taylor Macpherson also served in the military with distinction. Born in 1827, in 1845
Herbert received a commission in his father’s old regiment, the 78th Highlanders which was then serving in India. Like his
brother and his nephew, Herbert also served in the suppression of the Indian Mutiny. While serving with his regiment, Herbert
received the Victoria Cross for an act of gallantry during the first relief of the Residency at Lucknow in September of 1857.
In addition to the Indian Mutiny medal and the V.C., Herbert went on to earn the India General Service medal with three
clasps, the 2nd Afghan medal with four clasps, the Robert’s Star, the Egypt medal with clasp and the Khedive’s Star. Having
reached the rank of Major-General, Herbert was appointed to succeed Lord Roberts as Commander-in-Chief of the Madras
Army. In 1886, he was appointed to command an expeditionary force to pacify the recently annexed territory of Upper Burma
when while in Burma he contracted a fever and suddenly died in October of that year. The Victoria Cross awarded to Major-
General Sir Herbert Taylor Macpherson, V.C., G.C.B., K.C.S.I. is on display at the Highlander Museum at Fort George,
Ardersier, Scotland, his home town.
In reviewing the events of 1857 in the Panjab, he (John Lawrence) assigned the utmost credit to Robert Montgomery, General
Corbett and Colonel James Duncan Macpherson for the prompt disarming of the sepoys at Lahore; also to Herbert Edwardes
and General Sydney Cotton for maintaining order at Peshawar. The disarming of the Sepoys at Lahore on 13th of May, 1857,
was one of the most remarkable events in the history of the mutinies. Corbett in the exercise of the soundest judgment assumed
a perilous responsibility, and Macpherson played his part excellently well. But the chief credit is due to Robert Montgomery,
who rendered a priceless service to his country. Had this measure not been taken with the requisite promptness, the sepoys
certainly would have revolted. Whether such a revolt would have succeeded is a question which the boldest might tremble to
answer; the chances of its success were considerable. Had it occurred, the course of affairs in the Panjab might have been
disastrously altered. (Id. at page 146.)
Parliamentary Papers, Parliament of Great Britain, House of Commons.
Here also the Anarkullee Volunteers and the Lahore Light Horse may be appropriately noticed. At the commencement of the
crisis, in May 1857, the European community of Anarkullee (the civil station of Lahore), consisting of clerks belonging to the
various central offices, and other residents, volunteered to form a body of infantry, upwards of a hundred strong, under the
command of Lieutenant-Colonel J. D. Macpherson. They remained embodied for about eight months. In August 1857 the
Lahore Light Horse was formed, consisting of drummer boys of mutinied infantry and cavalry corps, and other Eurasians, about
160 strong (i. e. two troops or one squadron), mounted on Government horses of the mutinied cavalry, under command of Captain
Snow. They were first employed in quelling the Googaira e´meute, then they were despatched to Hindoostan, and have served
with credit at Lucknow, in Rohilcund, and Allahabad.(Id. Session 3 Feb.- 19 April 1859, Vol. XVIII at 113,pg. 20.)
The Chief Commissioner's military secretary, Lieutenant Colonel J. D. Macpherson, rendered valuable assistance throughout
the crisis. The labours of Colonel Macpherson in the organisation of the new regiments and in the multifarious duties which
devolved on him were incessant. His counsel as an experienced soldier was most useful. Since the outbreak of the mutiny there
have, from first to last, been raised and organised 18 new regiments of infantry, six of cavalry, besides many thousands of
levies, horse and foot. On the 1st May 1858, just one year after the mutiny, the new force numbered upwards of 34,000, which,
with the previous numbers (20,000) make up an aggregate of 54,000 men. The details of this large force passed through
Colonel Macpherson's hands. (Id. at 58, pg. 55.)
Colonel Macpherson, Military Secretary, being in charge of the Chief Commissioner's office at Lahore, the general
superintendence of arrangements connected, not only with the raising of new levies, hut with the marching of detachments,
providing carriage, ammunition, tents, &c., stationing of guards and pickets for the security of the town and civil station, and
generally all matters affecting the efficiency and distribution of the Punjab local force and Military Police, devolved mainly
upon him. The Chief Commissioner knows too well, and appreciates too highly, the services rendered by Colonel Macpherson
throughout this critical period to require any assurance from me; but I deem it incumbent on me here to record how prominent
and important was his share in all that was transacted at the metropolis of the Punjab previous to the Chief Commissioner's
arrival.
With health much impaired, and an office of which the duties had been enormously increased by the course, of events, he
nevertheless showed himself equal to every emergency, and took an active part wherever his services could be useful. When
volunteer companies were formed, he superintended their organization and drill: the examination of native letters received by
the post was chiefly conducted by him: he especially maintained a complete understanding at all times with the military
authorities; and his energy, resolution, and judgment, inspired general confidence. To myself personally his presence was of the
very greatest value.(Id. at 135,136 at pg.55, quoting R. Montgomery, Judicial Commissioner of the Punjab.)
Among the excellent body of officers who have served under him in civil capacities during the two years, the Chief
Commissioner especially commends the- following:—
…The Chief Commissioner's military secretary, Lieutenant Colonel J. D. Macpherson, deserves especial praise and notice for
the zealous and hearty service he rendered, and the incessant labour he sustained from the commencement of the mutinies till he
joined the army headquarters as Officiating Quarter-master General. (Id. at 155, pg. 45, quoting R. Temple, Civil Secretary to
the Chief Commissioner of the Punjab, Sir John Lawrence.,)
On the 27th of February, 1858, James was appointed to officiate as Quartermaster General of the Army. In that capacity he
participated in the final reduction of the City of Lucknow in March of 1858. In April of that year he was made a Brevet
Colonel and on the 26th of July, 1858, James was made a Companion of the Order of the Bath, Military Division. In March of
1859, James was mentioned in Lord Clyde’s despatch of the in which Lord Clyde announced the cessation of hostilities in Oude
and the close of the campaign.
For his services during the Mutiny, James received the Indian Mutiny medal with clasp for Lucknow named to him as Lieutenant-
Colonel J. D. Macpherson, C.B., Officiating Quartermaster General of the Army. James’ medal was one of only eight Mutiny
medals on the roll submitted by the Quartermaster General Department which also included the authorization for the medal for
Frederick Roberts, V.C., later Field Marshall Lord Roberts of Kandahar.
James continued to officiate as Quartermaster General until January of 1859, when he was appointed Military Secretary to
the Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab. In April of 1859 James was promoted Brevet Colonel and in October of 1859, James
was posted as Lieutenant-Colonel to the newly raised 6th European Regiment.
In March of 1860, James was granted an eighteen month furlough for personal affairs. Returning to the 6th European
Regiment following his furlough, in August of 1862 James was promoted to Brigadier General commanding the Agra Brigade, a
position he held for a little under two years as he was appointed Commissary General of the Bengal Army in March of 1864, a
position he was to hold until James was promoted Major General in 1868. In February of 1868 James returned to England on
furlough. James was raised to K.C.B. in the Queen’s Birthday List of 1873.
Major General Sir James Duncan Macpherson, K.C.B., died of pneumonia on the 29th of May, 1874, at his residence at 31
Belsize Park Gardens, London. Lady Macpherson lived for another twenty-nine years following her husband’s death, dying in
October of 1903 at the age 82. She left an estate of approximately £2,500.
_______________________________________________________________________
James’ and Mary’s son James Duncan Macpherson, Jr., like his father, also served in the Bengal Army. He was commissioned
into the Bengal Infantry in 1857, serving in the suppression of the Indian Mutiny with the 1st Bengal European Fusiliers,
receiving the Indian Mutiny medal without clasp. Having transferred to the 3rd Punjab Cavalry, in October of 1868 he served
as Orderly Officer to General Vaughn commanding the 2nd Brigade of the Hazara Field Force on the Northwest Frontier of
India against the Black Mountain tribes for which he received the IGS medal with Northwest Frontier clasp. Serving as a
Major in the 3rd Punjab Cavalry, he served in the 2nd Afghan War, taking part in the famous march from Kabul to Kandahar
and the battle of Kandahar for which he received the 2nd Afghan War medal with clasp for Kandahar and the Robert’s Star.
Retiring as a Colonel in 1895, James Duncan Macpherson, Jr. moved to Inverness and lived to be 86 years old, dying there in
1927.
Another of James’ and Mary’s sons, Captain George Ewen Macpherson, died in India at age 39 while serving in the Bengal
Army. He had joined the Bengal Infantry in 1860, and in 1863 served with the 4th Gurkhas during the Umbeyla campaign,
receiving the India General Service medal and clasp. At the time of his death, having been admitted to the Bengal Staff Corps,
George had recently been appointed Officiating Deputy Commissioner of Gurgaon and was on his way to take up his post there
when he suddenly died at Karnal, India on the 17th of September of 1879.
Sir James’ youngest brother, Herbert Taylor Macpherson also served in the military with distinction. Born in 1827, in 1845
Herbert received a commission in his father’s old regiment, the 78th Highlanders which was then serving in India. Like his
brother and his nephew, Herbert also served in the suppression of the Indian Mutiny. While serving with his regiment, Herbert
received the Victoria Cross for an act of gallantry during the first relief of the Residency at Lucknow in September of 1857.
In addition to the Indian Mutiny medal and the V.C., Herbert went on to earn the India General Service medal with three
clasps, the 2nd Afghan medal with four clasps, the Robert’s Star, the Egypt medal with clasp and the Khedive’s Star. Having
reached the rank of Major-General, Herbert was appointed to succeed Lord Roberts as Commander-in-Chief of the Madras
Army. In 1886, he was appointed to command an expeditionary force to pacify the recently annexed territory of Upper Burma
when while in Burma he contracted a fever and suddenly died in October of that year. The Victoria Cross awarded to Major-
General Sir Herbert Taylor Macpherson, V.C., G.C.B., K.C.S.I. is on display at the Highlander Museum at Fort George,
Ardersier, Scotland, his home town.