Robert Hawthorne

Under fire at Delhi, he saved a badly wounded army engineer.

Robert Hawthorne came from Maghera in County Londonderry and served as a bugler in the 52nd Regiment of Foot. His early life and birth year are reported differently by surviving accounts, but his military service took him to India before the uprising of 1857.

On 14 September 1857, he accompanied the party assigned to destroy Delhi's Kashmir Gate and open the way for the assaulting troops. When Lieutenant Philip Salkeld of the Bengal Engineers was severely wounded, Hawthorne helped him under heavy musket fire. He bound the officer's wounds and arranged his removal without further injury, combining his dangerous assigned duty with a determined rescue.

Hawthorne received the Victoria Cross and the Indian Mutiny Medal with the Delhi clasp. After returning to Britain, he left the army in 1861 and worked as a bank porter in Manchester. He married Christina Adelaide Neale and raised a family. He died in Manchester on 2 February 1879 and was buried in Ardwick Cemetery. His VC and campaign medal passed into regimental custody.

Official Victoria Cross citation

“Bugler Hawthorne, who accompanied the explosion party, not only performed the dangerous duty on which he was employed, but previously attached himself to Lieutenant Salkeld, of the Engineers, when dangerously wounded, bound up his wounds under a heavy musketry fire, and had him removed without further injury.” (General Order of Major-General Sir Archdale Wilson, Bart., K.C.B., dated Head Quarters, Delhi City, September 21, 1857.)

The London Gazette of 27 April 1858, Numb. 22131, p. 2051