Duncan Millar (VC)

In mid-January 1859, during the final operational phase of the Indian Mutiny, British tactical units conducted jungle clearing operations along the River Sarda bordering Oudh and Rohilkhand near the Nepalese frontier. Rebel forces had established defensive positions across the river at Maylah Ghat, utilizing dense cover where cavalry could not maneuver. A small detachment of thirty-seven soldiers from the 42nd Regiment of Foot—the Royal Highland Regiment, known as The Black Watch—was sent into the dense brush to intercept the insurgent force. As the detachment pushed forward into close-quarters fighting, heavy musket fire and sword charges inflicted severe casualties on the small British force.

Both officers leading the advance were rapidly incapacitated—one mortally wounded and the other severely injured and carried to the rear—while the Colour-Sergeant and two corporals were killed in rapid succession. Deprived of senior tactical leadership and fighting at close range against a numerically superior enemy, the remaining skirmishers faced disorganization and potential encirclement. Privates Duncan Millar and Walter Cook stepped forward from the firing line to assume command of the company. Rallying their comrades under direct fire, the two privates reorganized the defensive skirmish line, directed disciplined rifle fire, and held the position against repeated attacks until picquet reinforcements arrived to drive back the rebel force.

Millar was born on 19 June 1824 in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire, the son of David Miller, a bookbinder, and Elizabeth Millar. Working as a laborer in his youth, he enlisted in the British Army at Glasgow on 17 March 1842, joining the 64th Regiment of Foot before volunteering for the 42nd Foot two weeks later. Prior to the Crimean War, his service involved extensive overseas garrison duty across the British Empire, including four years in Malta, four years in Bermuda, and a year in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

When the 42nd Highlanders deployed to the East in 1854, Millar served throughout the Crimean campaign, taking part in the battles of Alma and Balaclava, as well as the extended siege operations surrounding Sevastopol. Following the conclusion of the Crimean War, the regiment redeployed to India to assist in quelling the rebellion. Millar served throughout the Oudh campaign, participating in the siege and capture of Lucknow, where his conduct earned him a Mention in Despatches.

The formal citation for the Victoria Cross was published in The London Gazette on 21 June 1859:

"In the action at Maylah Ghaut, on the 15th January, 1859, Brigadier-General Walpole reports that the conduct of Privates Cook and Millar deserves to be particularly pointed out. At the time the fight was the severest, and the few men of the 42nd Regiment were skirmishing so close to the enemy (who were in great numbers), that some of the men were wounded by sword cuts, and the only officer with the 42nd was carried to the rear, severely wounded, and the Color-Serjeant was killed, these soldiers went to the front, took a prominent part in directing the Company, and displayed a courage, coolness, and discipline, which was the admiration of all who witnessed it."

Brigadier-General Sir Robert Walpole presented the Victoria Cross to Millar during a parade at Bareilly, India, on 7 April 1860. Discharged from the army as medically unfit for further service on 25 July 1863, Millar returned to Scotland and took up employment as a carpet weaver in Kilmarnock. He died at 44 Hutcheson Street in Glasgow on 15 July 1881 at fifty-seven years of age and was interred in an unmarked grave at St Kentigern's Cemetery. His Victoria Cross and campaign medals are displayed at the National War Museum of Scotland inside Edinburgh Castle.