William Alexander Kerr

He stormed a fortified gate and fought through its defenders

William Alexander Kerr was born near Melrose in Scotland on 18 July 1831. Educated at Loretto, he entered the 24th Bombay Native Infantry in June 1849. During the Indian rebellion of 1857, he was serving as a lieutenant with the Southern Mahratta Horse, a cavalry unit whose men could also be used dismounted when the situation demanded it.

In July, news reached the officers at Satara that the 27th Bombay Native Infantry had mutinied at Kolapore. European residents and loyal troops had taken refuge, while rebels occupied a strong defensive enclosure. Kerr volunteered to lead a relief attempt with the small force available. His men travelled roughly seventy-five miles through monsoon conditions and swollen rivers, reaching the area after a demanding forced march.

The action on 10 July was decided at close quarters. Without artillery to open the defences, Kerr led dismounted horsemen against a gateway. The official Victoria Cross account, published in the London Gazette in April 1858, credits him with taking a prominent part in the assault and forcing entry by breaking down the gate. Once the attackers were inside, the defenders were killed, wounded or captured. The notice attributes the success to his leadership at the point where the attack could have failed (citation transcription: https://victoriacross.org.uk/bbkerrwa.htm).

Accounts of the fighting describe successive doors, musket fire and a violent struggle within the enclosure. Kerr was wounded, and his subordinate Gumpunt Rao helped protect him during the assault. The success came at a severe cost to the small storming party, with men killed outright and others dying of wounds. It was not simply a mounted charge but an improvised attack on a defended position.

Major General F. T. Farrell presented Kerr's Victoria Cross at Belgaum on 4 September 1858. Kerr reached captain and became second-in-command of the Southern Mahratta Horse. He resigned in 1860 when its disbandment was expected and married Harriet Atty that January. In civilian life he wrote on horsemanship, carrying knowledge from his cavalry career into print. He lived into old age in Britain and died at Folkestone on 21 May 1919, aged eighty-seven. He was buried in Cheriton Road Cemetery.

Official Victoria Cross citation

On the breaking out of a mutiny in the 27th Bombay Native Infantry in July, 1857, a party of the mutineers took up a position in the stronghold, or paga, near the town of Kolapore, and defended themselves to extremity. “Lieutenant Kerr, of the Southern Mahratta Irregular Horse, took a prominent share of the attack on the position, and at the moment when its capture was of great public importance, he made a dash at one of the gateways, with some dismounted horsemen, and forced an entrance by breaking down the gate. The attack was completely successful, and the defenders were either killed, wounded, or captured, a result that may with perfect justice be attributed to Lieutenant Kerr’s dashing and devoted bravery.” (Letter from the Political Superintendent at Kolapore, to the Adjutant-General of the Army, dated 10th September, 1857.)

The London Gazette of 27 April 1858, Numb. 22131, p. 2050