Edgeworth. Not identified. "At the Siege of Delhi" is an account of the siege, Sept. 1857, told by a participant who served "as a volunteer in the batteries" for some twenty days previous to the assault as well as during the assault itself, and thereafter accompanied the "pursuing force" marched on Sept. 23 "in the direction of Bolundshuhur." He describes the work of the battery unit in breaching the wall near the Cashmere Gate, Sept. 12 and 13, and his execution of the charge assigned to him on Sept. 14 – the taking of certain pieces of ordnance into the city through the Cashmere Gate after the gate had been opened. He speaks of himself as an officer ("dinner [was] none the less welcome to us officers"). There seems no reason to question the authenticity of the account or to take it as other than the writer's actual report of his work during the assault.

      The only Edgeworth listed in the East-India Register of appropriate dates is Michael Pakenham Edgeworth, 1812-1881 (D.N.B.), son of Richard LoveIl Edgeworth. Michael Pakenham Edgeworth was a student at the East-India College, Haileybury; entered civil service of East India Co., Bengal Establishment, 1831. Held various administrative posts; in 1850 appointed one of the five commissioners for settlement of the Punjab, being stationed first at Multan, then at Jullundur. Served in India until 1858 or 1859. Contributed papers on botany to Transactions and Journal of Linnean Society; and "Grammar and Vocabulary of the Cashmiri Language" to Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1841. No mention of him, in biographical accounts, in connection with the Mutiny.
      The India Office Records division, Commonwealth Relations Office, London, reports that the name Edgeworth does not appear in the Muster Rolls of East India Co. troops or Army lists or in the lists of Mutiny Medal Awards to officers and men of the various artillery regiments of the Royal and Bengal Armies.

Author: Anne Lohrli; © University of Toronto Press, 1971