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

Neill received his See also:

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

rank and See also: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 . See also:Kaye, Lives of See also:Indian Officers (1889) ; and J . C . See also:Marsh-See also:man, See also:Life of Havelock (1867) .

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