Journal of the Society for Army Historical Research 99/397

182

ARMY HISTORICAL RESEARCH

home in the transport Lord Ellenborough with a draft of invalids, including 14 men of the 16 th Lancers who were to be discharged because of wounds received at the Battle of Aliwal. Although Philmer Eves was not on board, Hall’s description shows that his mutilation from the heavy Sikh sabre or tulwar was typical: 23 And some of the men belonging to the 16 th Lancers were severely wounded, in the late Sike War that they had lately been in, Serjt Chitwin lost his right arm above the elbow, Corpl. Ray with the loss of his left arm close to the shoulder, and the thumb and the two fore fingers of his right hand and likewise a desperate Saber cut on the back of his neck, John Harris loss of right arm close up to the shoulder, and the sinews of his left cut through of his left arm near the elbow, Waghorn with the loss of left arm, those others of the 16 th Lancers slightly… The scene of Edwin Cowtan’s homecoming must have been re-enacted many times amongst the survivors of Aliwal: ‘The tall and manly form of my brother, with the gay scarlet uniform of his regiment, with face bronzed by the scorching suns of India… My brother brought with him many little trinkets and curiosities from Lahore and other places for his mother and sisters; and he rewarded me with a silken sash, taken from some Sikh chieftain slain at Aliwal.’ 24

23 NAM 1973-01-67-3 William Hall, The Life and Recollections of a Soldier, Vol. 3, p. 783. The soldiers named were 834 Sgt John Chetwin, 1017 Cpl Joseph Ray, 576 Pte John Harris, and 1199 Pte William Waghorne. 24 Cowtan, Passages from the Autobiography , pp. 174-175. Edwin was wearing the sergeant’s jacket that had belonged to his brother Fred.