James Dundas

He scaled a wall to enter an enemy blockhouse head foremost.

James Dundas was born in Edinburgh in September 1842, the son of the Scottish judge George Dundas. Educated at Edinburgh Academy, Glenalmond and Addiscombe, he was commissioned into the Bengal Engineers in 1860. After further training at Chatham he reached India in 1862 and worked with the sappers and the Bengal Public Works Department.

During the Bhutan campaign in April 1865, Dundas and William Spottiswoode Trevor were ordered to lead an assault on a blockhouse at Dewan-Giri. Some 180 to 200 defenders continued to resist after the surrounding position had fallen. The officers climbed a wall about fourteen feet high and entered through a narrow gap beneath the roof. Their example brought the accompanying Sikh soldiers forward, and both officers were wounded. The two received the Victoria Cross, presented in Calcutta in March 1868.

Dundas returned to public works duties after the campaign. He inherited the family estate at Ochtertyre following his uncle’s death in 1877, briefly visiting Britain before returning to India. In 1878 he rescued a man from a burning building at Simla.

During the Second Afghan War, Frederick Roberts selected Captain Dundas for engineering duties with the Kabul Field Force. On 23 December 1879, while helping destroy enemy-held forts near Sherpur, Dundas was killed when a mine exploded prematurely. He was buried at Seah Sang. He had remained unmarried, and his estate passed to his brother.