Remembering local VC heroes from the Indian mutiny of 1857

Meanwhile, History Hub Ulster researcher Nigel Henderson, a regular contributor to this page, shares a less-told wartime story - of three Ulstermen who were awarded the Victoria Cross for valour during the Indian Mutiny of 1857.

Two are commemorated with stone memorials - one isn’t, yet.

Patrick Carlin, born in Belfast’s Shankill Parish in 1832, was a labourer prior to becoming a soldier.

Private Carlin enlisted with the 13th (1st Somersetshire) Regiment of Foot in Belfast on May 8, 1855 at the age of 23 and was serving in India when he was awarded a VC.

The London Gazette of October 26, 1858 announced details of his VC “for valour and daring in the field…for rescuing, on the 6th of April, 1858, a wounded Naick (an Indian non-commissioned officer) of the 4th Madras Rifles, in the field of battle, after killing, with the Naick’s sword, a mutineer sepoy (Indian soldier) who fired at him whilst bearing off his wounded comrade on his shoulders.”

Private Carlin was also awarded the Indian Mutiny Medal and, following a severe fracture of his right femur bone (leg) was invalided out of the army in September 1871.

He returned to Belfast and married Catherine Hagans of English Street on September 6, 1872 in the Roman Catholic Chapel of St Peter’s in the Lower Falls area.

They were living in 57 Irwin Street when Patrick was admitted to the Workhouse Infirmary, where he died on May 11, 1895.

His entry in the Register of Deaths states that he was 51 years old though military records indicate that he was 63.

Sources say he is buried in an unmarked grave in Friar’s Bush Graveyard, where there has been an ongoing campaign by members of the Ulster Covenant Historical Society to have a memorial erected.

Patrick Carlin’s VC is displayed at the Somersetshire Light Infantry Museum at Taunton Castle, Somerset.

The second of the trio of VCs awarded to local men during the Indian Mutiny of 1857 went to Valentine Munbee McMaster, born on May 16, 1834 at Trichinopoly, British India, one of the oldest inhabited regions in South India.

Valentine’s father was Major General Bryce McMaster, from Belfast.

His mother, Mary Letitia McMaster (nee Munbee) hailed from Londonderry.

Valentine McMaster graduated from the University of Edinburgh Medical School with a Doctorate in Medicine, and was a 23-year-old Assistant Surgeon with the 78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot when he was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during the Siege of Lucknow in 1857.

His VC citation stated, “For the intrepidity with which he exposed himself to the fire of the enemy, in bringing in, and attending to, the wounded, on the 25th of September (1857) at Lucknow.”

Like Private Carlin, Assistant Surgeon McMaster was also awarded the Indian Mutiny Medal.

Much travelled, he married Eleanor Ann Burmester on May 10, 1871 in Halifax in Nova Scotia and having been promoted to the rank of Surgeon he died of valvular heart disease in the hospital at Victoria Barracks in Belfast on January 22, 1872, aged 37.

He was buried three days later in Belfast City Cemetery and a simple cross was erected at the grave by his widow.

An elaborate memorial tablet was put up in St Columb’s Cathedral, Londonderry, and his widow later married Campbell Mellis Douglas from Quebec, who had been awarded a VC in 1867.

Surgeon McMaster’s VC is displayed at the National War Museum of Scotland in Edinburgh Castle.

The last of Nigel Henderson’s three local, Indian Mutiny VCs was awarded to Bernard McQuirt, born around 1829 in Donaghcloney in County Armagh.

Private McQuirt enlisted with the 95th (Derbyshire) Regiment of Foot on October 5, 1854 at the age of 25 and served in Malta, Crimea (where he was awarded the Crimea campaign medal with the Sevastopol Clasp) and India.

Private McQuirt was 29 when he was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions during the capture of the town of Rowa, North East India.

His citation was published in the London Gazette on November 11, 1859: “For gallant conduct on the 6th of January 1858, at the capture of the entrenched town of Rowa, when he was severely and dangerously wounded in a hand to hand fight with three men, of whom he killed one and wounded another. He received five sabre cuts and a musket shot in this service.”

Private McQuirt was medically discharged on July 5, 1859 due to the severity of his wounds and was invested with his Victoria Cross by Queen Victoria at Windsor Castle on January 4, 1860, almost two years after his heroic action.

Bernard died of chronic bronchitis at home in Belfast’s Urney Street on October 5, 1888 and was buried in one of the Public (or Poor Ground) sections of Belfast City Cemetery on October 7, his surname being erroneously recorded as McCourt in cemetery documentation.

As there may be other bodies interred in the same plot, he has no gravestone, but there’s one in the graveyard in Donaghcloney and a recumbent plaque at Donaghcloney War Memorial.

The location of his Victoria Cross is not known.

History Hub Ulster is at http://historyhubulster.co.uk/