Harry Prendergast

He stepped between a wounded officer and the enemy marksman.

Harry North Dalrymple Prendergast was born in India on 15 October 1834 into a family with a long connection to military service. He entered the Madras Engineers in 1854 after professional training for an engineering commission. His early service included the Persian campaign, followed by the Indian uprising of 1857.

On 21 November 1857 at Mundisore, a fellow officer, Lieutenant Dew, lay wounded and exposed. Prendergast put himself between Dew and an enemy marksman. He was severely wounded himself, but the intervention saved Dew. His recommendation also recognized further courageous conduct during the Central India operations. Sword and bullet wounds interrupted his service and he was eventually invalided to Britain. Queen Victoria presented his Victoria Cross at Windsor in January 1860.

His career continued far beyond the action that brought him the cross. He served as an engineer on the Abyssinian expedition of 1867-68 and rose through senior appointments in the Indian Army. In 1885 he commanded the Burma Field Force during the invasion that overthrew King Thibaw’s government. The force advanced up the Irrawaddy to Mandalay, and Prendergast accepted the king’s surrender. This campaign made him a prominent figure in Britain’s annexation of Upper Burma.

His service brought successive appointments within the Order of the Bath, culminating in Knight Grand Cross in 1902. After retirement he lived in the Richmond area and devoted attention to veterans of the Indian campaigns, including men facing poverty and the workhouse. He died on 24 July 1913 and was buried at Richmond.

Official Victoria Cross citation

For conspicuous bravery on the 21st of November, 1857, at Mundisore, in saving the life of Lieutenant G. Dew, 14th Light Dragoons, at the risk of his own, by attempting to cut down a Velaitee, who covered him (Lieutenant Dew) with his piece, from only a few paces to the rear. Lieutenant Prendergast was wounded in this affair by the discharge of the piece, and would probably have been cut down, had not the rebel been killed by Major Orr. He also distinguished himself by his gallantry in the actions at Ratgurh and Betwa, when he was severely wounded. Major General Sir Hugh Rose, in forwarding his recommendation of this Officer states:- “Lieutenant Prendergast, Madras Engineers, was specially mentioned by Brigadier, now Sir Charles Stuart, for the gallant act at Mundisore, when he was severely wounded; secondly, he was ‘specially mentioned’ by me when acting voluntarily as my Aide-de-Camp in the Action before besieging Ratgurh, on the Beena River, for gallant conduct. His horse was killed on that occasion. Thirdly, at the Action of ‘the Betwa,’ he again voluntarily acted as my Aide-de-Camp, and distinguished himself by his bravery in the charge, which I made with Captain Need’s Troop, Her Majesty’s 14th Light Dragoons, against the left of the so-called Peishwa’s Army, under Tantia Topee. He was severely wounded on that occasion.”

The London Gazette of 21 October 1859, Numb. 22318, p. 3793