The Indian Mutiny Medal awarded to Captain, later Lieutenant-General, J. S. Thomson, 54th Regiment of Foot, who survived the Sarah Sands disaster, 11 November 1857

Indian Mutiny 1857-59, no clasp (Captn. J. S. Thompson [sic] HM’s 54th. Regt.) with fragment of original riband, polished, very fine £1,000-£1,400

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, A Collection of Indian Mutiny Medals, the Property of a Gentleman.

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James Sinclair Thomson was born in Belfast on 3 July 1824 and was commissioned Ensign in the 54th (West Norfolk) Regiment of Foot by purchase on 25 November 1842. Appointed Adjutant on 24 May 1846, he was promoted Lieutenant on 15 June of that year, and Captain, by purchase, on 9 July 1852. He embarked aboard the ill-fated Sarah Sands, bound for India, in August 1857, thus becoming embroiled in one of the epic shipwrecks of Victorian times.

The Sarah Sands
The Sarah Sands, with 368 officers and men of the 54th Regiment, together with women and children, a total complement of some 500 persons including the ship’s crew, sailed from Portsmouth on 15 August 1857. During the course of the voyage the crew became mutinous and many of them were locked in irons below deck. On 7 November a squall carried away the foremost of the vessel's four masts but on 11 November a more serious disaster occurred when a fire broke out some days after leaving Cape Town. For 18 hours the troops and loyal members of the crew fought the fire with admirable discipline. The women and children were successfully lowered in the boats to safety whilst the mutinous sailors deserted in the ship's long boat. The gallantry of the 54th, together with the petty officers and engineers who had remained on board, in fighting the fire and the subsequent powder explosion is a matter of record. The regimental colours, kept in the saloon, were saved by the bravery of half a dozen volunteers who reached them after repeated attempts. Several casks of powder blew up most of the ship aft of the mainmast but in the process also blew away much of the burning woodwork, enabling the fire to be finally extinguished. Without loss of life, the Sarah Sands reached Port Louis, Mauritius, after being adrift for 12 days. Many soldiers had been terribly burned, their uniforms having been almost scorched from their bodies by the intense heat and flames of the fire. Of the original strength of the 54th only 151 remained fit enough to proceed to India and earn the medal for service during the Mutiny.

Thomson is confirmed as being on board the stricken vessel, and he later wrote an account of the incident to the press. The Regimental notes of the 14th Foot state:
‘Colonel Thomson was on board the transport Sarah Sands with the Headquarters of the 54th Regiment on passage to India when that vessel was partially destroyed by fire at sea on the 11th November 1857. The conduct of the Regiment on this occasion was the subject of a Regimental Order from the Horse Guards.’

Arriving in India, Thomson served during the Great Sepoy Mutiny as part of Lord Clyde’s campaign in the Oude in 1858-59:
‘The 54th were assigned to a column concentrated at Beylah, with the Grenadier Company and No 8 Company under Captain Thomson seeing action in a successful attack on the nearby rebel fort at Deolee in early November 1858.’

Thomson was promoted Major by purchase on 21 September 1860, and Lieutenant-Colonel on 27 July 1866. He transferred to the 14th Foot on 30 April 1873, and was advanced Colonel on 27 July 1877, and Major-General on 1 April 1882. He retired on 2 December of that year, being granted the honorary rank of Lieutenant-General, and died in Mackworth, Derbyshire in 1893.

Sold with two large photographic images of the Officers of the 54th (bearing their names) in India circa 1860’s, with Thomson identified in both photographs; and copied research.