A LUCKNOW HERO.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3610, 6 February 1883, Page 4

A LUCKNOW HERO.

On December loth tiled a!. Gibraltar one of those Tvoith.ier of v/hmi the great Sepoy iruitinv bore co rich a i_rop. la that trial, "V:'.h7, men" of all ranks, classe,, avA call:::-, loft their mark on soma at tlie most diu-ldy glorious pa^eo-

of Anglo-Indian history. Conspicuous even among- names of wider prominence was that of Thomas Henry Kavanagh, of the Uncovcnanted Indian Civil Service. Shut up with Sir James Outraui in the Lucknow Residency, after its first relief by Havelock, Kavanagh made himself useful as an assistant field engineer in the great game of mining and countermining played by the future victor of Magdala, When' Sir Colin Campbell, in November, was approaching the Alumbagh, mi his way to relive Outram, the brave Irish clerk volunteered to act as Outram's messenger to the relieving force. His offer at lengih accepted, he disguised himself as a native irregular soldier, and set forth one evening laden with despatches and private messages for the Com-mander-in-Cbief. A faithful native spy accompanied him. After two days and nights of perilous wandering, first through streets guarded by armed men, and then through a country bristling with rebel pickets and hostile villagers, in the course of which they once lost their way, and had several hair's breadth, escapes, Kavanagh and his friendly guido fell in at last with a British outpost, and the former was sooni imparting to Sir Colin Campbell the information which he found so useful in his subsequent advance into the city. For this feat of special daring Kavaiuurh received, among other awards, the Victorian Cross, an honor which very few civilians have as yet shared with him. His last visit to the British Isles was in July, 188!. A. few months in Ireland failing to re'-ruif his brobm health, he tried the Isle of Wight. For a time he seemed to ■j.rcnv better, but again his health failed him. and he sr.-t out for India. But he never got beyond Gibi-iiltiir, whore he breathed his last on December 13th. A new generation (remarks Hie Home News) has grown up sincn the day when Kavanagh's name was

"familiar in "in- months as household words :" and nothing memorable marked liis ni'trr career vi In;"li:i as n memlitr "f tlie Oudh Commis.-ioii. But his death servos to remind us of the one grr-at exploit for the sake of which his name will always live in the history of an eventful time.