| |
« Click on Picture to
Return » |
|
|
 |
|
Lieutenant George Alexander Renny VC at the Delhi Magazine, 16th September 1857
After the capture of the Magazine on 16th September 1857, at the Siege of Delhi, the mutineers staged a counter-attack. Several times they set light to the thatched roof adjacent to the perimeter wall. The actual Magazine was a building in the centre of the compound, but it had been blown up by the British earlier in the siege, leaving the perimeter wall intact. At that time there were buildings between the Magazine and the Red Fort. Lieutenant Renny of the Bengal Horse Artillery mounted the wall and flung 5.5 inch shells, with their fuses lit, into the midst of the enemy, although he was under heavy fire from the walls of the Palace ('the Red Fort') and Selinghur (an outlying fortification). For this action he was later awarded the Victoria Cross.
I have depicted men of Renny's 5th (Native) Troop, 1st Brigade, Bengal Horse Artillery lighting shells with a portfire. Soldiers of the Belooch Regiment (in green uniforms) are handing these up to Renny. Other soldiers of HM's 61st Regiment, which had captured the Magazine that morning, are seen lining the wall and attempting to put out the fire in the compound. Some are in khaki and some in shirt sleeves.
In the hot weather at the Siege of Delhi, most British troops wore their white summer uniforms, often dyed locally to produce varying shades of khaki, sometimes described as a slate-grey blue colour. I have depicted Renny, who was 31 years old, with his pouch belt worn over his left shoulder, and his Undress sword belt (as described in the Standing Orders for the Bengal Horse Artillery). He and his men wore their forage caps with a cover and a neck curtain for protection from the sun.
The picture was commissioned by T Battery (Shah Sujah's Troop) Royal Artillery.
Medium: Oil on Canvas
Printed image size(s): B2 only (58 x 38 cm)
Owner: T Battery (Shah Sujah's Troop) Royal Artillery
Price(s): £70
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
