A HERO OF THE MUTINY.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1062, 1 February 1883, Page 3

A HERO OF THE MUTINY.

There died recently at Gibraltar one of those wort hies-of whom the great Sepoy mutiny bore so rich a crop. In that year of trial, 1857, English-speaking men of all ranks, classes and callings left their mark on some of the most darkly glorious pages of Anglo-Indian history. Conspicuous even among names of wider prominence was that of Thomas Henry Kavanagb, of the Uncovenanted Indian Civil Service. Shut up with Sir James Outram in the Lucknow Residency, after its first relief by Havelock, Kavauagh 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 Almnbagh, on bis way to relievo Outram, the brave Irish dork volunteered to act as Outram’s messenger to the relieving force. His oiler at length accepted, he disguised himself as a native irregular soldier, and set forth one evening laden with despatches and private messages for the Commander in-Chief. 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-breadth escapes, Kavanagh and his friendly guide fell in at last with a British outpost, and the former was soon imparting to bir Colin Campbell the information which he found so useful in his subsequent advance into that city. For this feat of special daring Kavanagh received, among other awards, the Victoria Cross, an honor which very few civilians have as yet shared with him.

Hs last visit to the British Isles was in July 1881. A few months in Ireland failing to recruit his broken health, he tried the Isle of Wight. For a lieu he seemed to grow better, but again his health failed him and he set out for India. But he never got beyond Gibraltar, where he breathed his last on Dec. 13. A new generation (remarks the Home News) has grown up since the day when Kavanagh’s name was as ‘ familiar in our cars as household wordsand nothing memorable marked his after career in India as a member of the Ondli Commission, But his death serves to remind us of the one groat exploit for the sake of which Ins name will always live iu the history of an eventful time.