Morden Carthew
General Morden Carthew CB (25 October 1804 – 4 September 1888) was an officer in the service of the East India Company (E.I.C.) Indian Army in the Madras Presidency, India and South East Asia during the mid 19th century. Early life Morden Carthew, the eldest son of the Reverend Morden Carthew and Elizabeth Tweed-Pyke, was born in Frettenham, Norfolk where his father was the rector. Military career Carthew was nominated as an officer cadet by Sir William Taylor Money, a director of the East India Company, and joined the Company on 12 January 1821. In his 56-year career he served in the Madras Presidency, Bengal, Burma (modern Myanmar) and Singapore. He first arrived in Madras aboard the ship HMS Jupiter on 29 June 1821 as an ensign and was appointed to the 11th Madras Native Infantry. He was promoted from senior ensign to lieutenant on 19 April 1823 and shortly after transferred to the 21st Madras Native Infantry (M.N.I.) where he would spend most of his career. Carthew continued to rise through the ranks and became Commanding Officer of the 21st M.N.I. He commanded the M.N.I. in the Straits Settlement, Singapore from 1846 to 1849 and later was Divisional Commander of Pegu Province in Burma from 1861 to 1863. He is portrayed in a painting by acclaimed colonial artist J.T. Thompson and referred to in a poem by colonial era Malay scholar and poet Abdullah B. Abdul-Kadir, leading his troops on horseback to assist in fighting a fire in Gelang in Singapore in 1847. Involvement in the Indian Mutiny of 1857 On 10 May 1857 a contingent of Sepoy soldiers rose up against the East India Company army, firstly in Meerut and then in Delhi, in an action that was to spread across the upper Ganges and central India and was variously known as the Indian Mutiny, Sepoy Mutiny and Indian Uprising. Carthew was promoted to the rank of brigadier on 18 August 1857 in order to command troops in Bengal against the mutinous Gwalior regiment. On 26 August 1857 Carthew was given orders to assist in holding the Bithoor Road at Cawnpoor, preventing the Gwalior troops from entering Cawnpoor. For several days Carthew and the E.I.C. troops succeeded in repelling the mutineers but on the evening of 28 August 1857, following heavy fighting, Carthew ordered the retreat of the E.I.C. troops, effectively surrendering the town of Cawnpoor to the mutineers. Carthew's withdrawal initially drew the ire of his superior officers with his commander-in-chief, General Colin Campbell, responding to the news by dispatch, "... although his excellency fully admits the arduous nature of the service which Brigadier Carthew had been engaged during the 28th of November, he cannot recall his approval of that officer's retreat on the evening of that day. Under the instruction of Major-general Windham, his commanding officer, Brigadier Carthew had been placed in position. No discretion of retiring [retreating] was allowed him". General Campbell's dispatch goes on to berate Carthew for retreating without first seeking permission from