INDIAN MUTINY HERO

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1052, 16 August 1930, Page 22

INDIAN MUTINY HERO

“FIGHTING BARNES” DEAD ROMANTIC CAREER IN ARMY Colonel Osmond Barnes, one of the most romantic figures of the Indian Mutiny—he was the last surviving officer of the famous '‘Hodson’s Horse” —died at his home at Ealing recently at the age of 95. Colonel Barnes —he was known as “Fighting Barnes”—stood 6ft. 6in. in his socks, and until almost the day of his death he was alert in mind and full of vigour. He was thirty-three years in India, and was at Hyderabad when the mutiny broke out. The regiment of Colonel Barnes went to Kota, where the rajah, who had remained loyal, was besieged in his own citadel- They attacked the city from the river and rescued the rajah. Colonel Barnes's horse was shot from under his legs on the river bank, but he escaped unwounded. Colonel Barnes was born on December 23, 1834. He was educated at Rugby, joined the Indian Army in the old “John Company” days, and at 23 fought with distinction. He won the Abyssinian medal in the campaign in that country in 1868, and gained further distinctions in the Afghan War of IS7S-79 and the Zhob Valley campaign in 1884.

For some time Colonel Barnes was in command of the 10th Bengal Lancers, and in 1877. as Chief Herald of India, it fell to his duty at Delhi to proclaim Queen Victoria as Empress of India. On this occasion he was requested to stand on the steps of the dais, instead of on the dais itself, as his great height would have dwarfed the principal official figures at the ceremony. Men from the remotest parts of India, Afghanistan, and Tibet were assembled at Delhi for the occasion, and their tents were furnished with

luxuries to which some of theta were so unaccustomed that they ate the scented toilet soap provided. “iM then complained,” said the colon-, “that they did not care for English sweetmeats! ” The house of Colonel Barnes at Ksiing was full of cabinets, chair*, tablet, and bookcases which he had constructed with his own hands He had been gifted with remarkable skill in that direction.