2-646-375 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

'Kavanagh and Kunuji in the Swamp', 1857 (c1912). During the Second Siege of Lucknow the defenders were able to send messengers to and from the Alambagh, from where in turn messengers could reach Cawnpore. A volunteer civil servant, Thomas Henry Kavanagh, disguised himself as a sepoy and ventured from the Residency aided by a local man named Kananji Lal. He and his scout crossed the entrenchments east of the city and reached the Alambagh. For this action, Kavanagh was awarded the Victoria Cross and was the first civilian in British history to be honoured with such an award for action during a military conflict. From The Romance of India, edited by Herbert Strang. [Hodder & Stoughton, London, c1912]