The American Cyclopædia (1879)/Lawrence, Henry Montgomery

LAWRENCE. I. Sir Henry Montgomery, a British soldier, born in Matura, Ceylon, June 28, 1806, died in Lucknow, July 4, 1857. He studied in the military college at Addiscombe, obtained a cadetship in the Bengal artillery in 1821, served in the Afghan campaign in 1843, and in the same year, having then reached the rank of major, was appointed British resident at Katmandu. He distinguished himself in the Sutlej campaigns, and from 1846 to 1849 was agent for the governor general on the N. W. frontier and resident at Lahore. He was next appointed chief of the board of administration in the Punjaub, and received the commission of colonel. From 1852 to 1857 he was agent of the governor general in Rajpootana. Although ill health demanded his return to England, he consented at the request of the Indian government to assume the chief commissionership of Oude, and arrived at Lucknow in March, just before the commencement of the mutiny. When the first disturbances occurred he demanded and obtained full powers as chief military commander in Oude, receiving at the same time a commission as brigadier general, and the memorable defence of the residency was made under his direction up to the time of his death. He was mortally wounded by a shell July 2, and died at the residency two days afterward. He was the author of “Adventures of an Officer in Runjeet Singh's Service,” and of various military and political essays, originally published in the “Calcutta Review,” which were collected and reprinted in London in 1859. His life has been written by Maj. Gen. Sir H. B. Edwardes and Herman Merivale (London, 1872). II. John Laird Mair, lord, brother of the preceding, born in Richmond, Yorkshire, March 4, 1811. He went to India in 1829 as a cadet in the Bengal civil service, passed through various subordinate stations, and was magistrate successively at Delhi, Paniput, and Goorgaon. About 1845 he was appointed judge, magistrate, and collector in the central district of Bengal, whence he was transferred in 1846 to the chief commissionership of the newly annexed provinces beyond the Sutlej. In 1852 he was appointed chief commissioner of the Punjaub. He was still at the head of affairs in that country when the mutiny broke out in 1857, and owing to his prompt and judicious measures the Punjaub was one of the few parts of Bengal in which the rebellion never succeeded. He was created a baronet Aug. 16, 1858. In the same year he returned home, where he was made a member of the privy council, and received from the court of directors a life pension of £2,000. At the end of 1863 he was appointed viceroy of India. He retired in 1868, and was created a baron, April 4, 1869. In 1870 he was elected a member of the London school board, and chosen chairman.