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Captain William Spottiswoode TREVOR VC |
| Born: | India - 9 October 1831 | 
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| Died: | London - 2 November 1907 | ||
| Burial details: | Kensal Green Cemetery (Plot 179/PS/31775) | ||
| Corps service: | His father was Captain RS Trevor, Bengal Cavalry, who had taken part in the disastrous First Afghan War and during which the young William was taken captive by Akbar Khan. He was commissioned into the Bengal Engineers on 11 December 1849. Prior to his posting to India he was selected for special duty under the Commissioners of the Great Exhibition of 1851. He served under General Godwin during the Second Burma War (1852). He retired as Major General WS Trevor VC | ||
| VC awarded: | Won VC at Dewangiri, Bhutan, on 30 April 1865. (Bhutan War 1864-66) | ||
| VC unit: | Royal Engineers (late Bengal Engineers) attached. | ||
| VC presented: | VC presented by Major General Fordyce, commanding the Presidency Division, at The Maidan, Calcutta on 23 March 1868. | ||
| VC citation: | (to be read in conjunction with Lieutenant
J Dundas) For gallant conduct at the attack on the blockhouse
at Dewan-Giri, in Bhootan on 30 April 1865. Major General Tombs, VC,
CB, the officer in command at the time, reports that a party of the
enemy, from 180 to 200 in number, had barricaded themselves in the
blockhouse in question, which they continued to defend after the rest
of the position had been carried, and the main body was in retreat.
The blockhouse, which was loopholed, was the key of the enemy's position.
Seeing no officer of the storming party near him, and being anxious
that the place should be taken immediately, as any protracted resistance
might have caused the main body of the Bhooteas to rally, the British
force having been fighting in a broiling sun on a very steep and diff
cult ground for upwards of three hours, the General in command ordered
these two officers [Lt Trevor and Lt Dundas] to show the
way into the blockhouse. They had to climb a wall which was fourteen
feet high, and then to enter a house occupied by some 200 desperate
men, head foremost through an opening not more than two feet wide
between the top of the wall and the roof of the blockhouse. Major
General Tombs states that on speaking to Sikn soldiers around him,
and telling them in Hindoostani to swarm up the wall, none of them
responded to the call until these two officers had shop the may, when
they followed with the greatest alacrity. Both of them [Lt Trevor
and Lt Dundas] were wounded. (London Gazette: 31 December 1867) |
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| VC location: | Royal Engineers Museum | ||
| Background: | Trevor was awarded his VC for his part in the Bhutan War. In 1864 a civil war broke out in the Bhutan, located just east of Nepal, the British wishing to protect their interests sent a peace mission to restore order. The British mission's attempts to to broker a peace were rejected, so Britain declared war on Bhutan in November 1864. The Bhutan, armed with matchlocks, bows and arrows, swords, knives and catapults, were no match for the well equipped Anglo-Indian force and were defeated in five months. | ||
| Source:
Additional material: SC Fenwick, FoREM Links to further reading:
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Royal Engineers Museum main site
