THE LASI NINE

Evening Star, Issue 22448, 19 September 1936, Page 2

THE LASI NINE

A world that has become accustomed to war may not recall it, but there are nine men and women scattered all over the world who look back upon a childhood when they endured the horrors of the Siege of Lucknow, one of the most* vital phases of the Indian Mutiny, which occurred 99 years ago last July. No combatants survive those 87 days when a handful of men withstood thousands, but of the men born behind Lucknow’s stockades still living is a clergyman at Eastbourne. Another, who at the age of 10 years, acted as munition carrier Md errand boy at the siege, now listens on his verandah m Vancouver, 8.C., to newspapers read to him by a servant. Other male survivors live in India and Australia, and there are two women survivors in England. Each ,of these nine survivors year in and out commemorates the relief of Lucknow by raising a glass to “The Survivors.” They give this toast in their own homes, for since 1913 there have been too few left to justify the annual dinner that was always held (says the ‘ Sunday Express ’). The Residency at Lucknow is the only place in the Empire where the flag is neverlowered, not even on the death of the King.