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JAMES GEORGE SMITH NEILL (1810-1857)

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Originally appearing in Volume V19, Page 350 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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JAMES GEORGE SMITH NEILL (1810-1857)  ,
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British soldier, was born near
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Ayr, Scotland, on the 26th of May 181o, and educated at
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Glasgow University . Entering the service of the East India
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Company in 1827, he received his
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lieutenant's commission a
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year later . From 1828 to 1852 he was mainly employed in duty with his regiment, the 1st
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Madras Europeans (of which he wrote a
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Historical Record), but gained some experience on the general and the
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personal staffs as D.A.A.G. and as aide-de-camp . In 185o he received his majority, and two years later set out for the Burmese War with the regiment . He served throughout the war with distinction, became second-in-command to Cheape, and took
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part in the minor operations which followed, receiving the brevet of lieutenant-colonel . In
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June 1854 he was appointed second-in-command to
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Sir Robert Vivian to organize the
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Turkish contingent for the
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Crimean War . Early in 1857 he returned to India . Six weeks after his arrival came the
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news that all
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northern India was aflame with revolt . Neill acted promptly; he
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left Madras with his regiment at a moment's
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notice, and proceeded to
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Benares . The day after his arrival he completely and ruthlessly crushed the mutineers (4th June 1857) . He next turned his attention to Ailahabad, where a handful of Europeans still held out in the fort against the rebels . From the 6th to the 15th of June his men forced their way under conditions of heat and of opposition that would have appalled any but a real leader of men, and _the place, " the most precious in India at that moment," as Lord Canning wrote, was saved .

Neill received his

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reward in an army colonelcy and appointment of aide-de-camp to the queen .
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Allahabad was soon made the concentration of Havelock's column . The two
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officers, through a misunderstanding in their respective instructions, disagreed, and when Havelock went on from Cawnpore (which Neill had reoccupied shortly before) he left his subordinate there to command the lines of communication . At Cawnpore, while the traces of the
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massacre were yet fresh, Neill inflicted the
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death penalty on all his prisoners with the most merciless rigour . Meanwhile, Havelock, in spite of a succession of victories, had been compelled to fall back for lack of men; and Neill criticized his
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superior's
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action with a
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total want of restraint . A second expedition had the same
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fate, and Neill himself was nowattacked, though by his own exertions and Havelock's victory at Bithor (16th August) the tension on the communications was ended . Havelock's men returned to Cawnpore, and cholera broke out there, whereupon Neill again committed himself to criticisms, this time addressed to the
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commander-in-chief and to Outram, who was on the way with reinforcements . In spite of these very
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grave acts of insubordination, Havelock gave his
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rival a brigade command in the final advance . The famous march from Cawnpore to
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Lucknow began on September 19th; on the 21st there was a sharp fight, on the 22nd incessant rain, on the 23rd intense heat . On the 23rd the fighting opened with the assault on the
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Alum Bagh, Neill at the head of the leading brigade recklessly exposing himself . Next day he was again heavily engaged, and on the 25th he led the
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great attack on Lucknow itself . The fury of his assault carried everything before it, and his men were entering the city when a bullet killed their commander .

Strict as he was, he was loved not less than feared, and throughout the British dominions he had established a name as a skilful and extraordinarily energetic commander . The

rank and precedence of the wife of a K.C.E. was given to his widow, and memorials have been erected in India and at Ayr . See J . W . Kaye, Lives of
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Indian Officers (1889) ; and J . C . Marsh-man,
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Life of Havelock (1867) .

End of Article: JAMES GEORGE SMITH NEILL (1810-1857)
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