| Regiments. | Officers. | Men. | ||
| K. | W. | K. | W. | |
| 32nd Corn. L.I. | 7 | 8 | 192 | 171 |
| Royal Bengal Artillery | 1 | 2 | 52 | 18 |
| 84th York and Lancs (one company) | - | 1 | 12 | 8 |
No fewer than eighty-nine women and children also perished.
Relief of Lucknow by General Sir Henry Havelock.
The most serious problem that faced the Governor-General in India, as soon as the real gravity of the Mutiny was realized, was to effect the relief of the beleaguered garrisons of Lucknow and Cawnpore, where large numbers of women and children were hemmed in by the mutineers, and were in daily peril of their lives. It was well known that at both places the defences were utterly inadequate, and that the garrisons were all too small. By a fortunate coincidence, a strong force was on its way to China for the purpose of compelling a respect for treaty rights, and the regiments composing that force were stopped at Singapore and diverted to Calcutta. At the same time, the regiment at the Mauritius was despatched with all haste to India, and the return of the two battalions—the 64th (North Staffords) and the 78th (Ross-shire Buffs)—from the Persian Campaign enabled Lord Canning, the Governor-General, to send these up to Allahabad, and so to form the nucleus of a relieving army.
The officer selected for the command of the relieving force was Colonel Henry Havelock, an officer who had recently commanded a brigade in the Persian War. Havelock had seen an immensity of service in India, mostly on the Staff. He had been Adjutant of the 13th Light Infantry, and had served with that distinguished regiment throughout the Burmese War of 1824. In Afghanistan he had earned a Brevet and a C.B. for his exceptional services at the defence of Jelalabad. He had been present at Maharajpore, where he had earned a second Brevet. But he was a disappointed man. Success had come to him late in life, for he had been twenty-three years a subaltern, and had been purchased over times without number.
Immediately on his arrival in Calcutta Havelock learned of his new command, and he at once pushed up to Allahabad to take over charge from Colonel Neill, of the Madras Fusiliers, already at that station. The force was all too weak for the task imposed upon it. It barely numbered 1,350 bayonets, including 500 Sikhs. Its cavalry numbered just twenty sabres, composed of officers of regiments which had disappeared in the storm and a few brave planters. The following are the details of the brigade with which Havelock essayed the relief of Lucknow:
| Royal Artillery | 76 | men. |
| 64th (North Staffords) | 435 | " |
| 78th (Ross-shire Buffs) | 284 | " |
| 84th (York and Lancaster) | 191 | " |
| Madras Fusiliers | 376 | " |
| Ferozepore Sikhs | 448 | " |
| Volunteer cavalry | 20 | sabres. |
Arriving at Allahabad on June 30, Havelock immediately moved forward; but the weather was terrific, and his men suffered much—not only from heat, but also from cholera. Not a day passed without some victim being claimed by one or other of these deadly foes. To-day it was a drummer of the Highlanders, to-morrow the senior Staff Officer of the army. Still, no heart quailed. The danger that faced their countrywomen nerved all, but, alas! their gallant efforts were doomed to failure. When the Nana saw the net closing round him, he gave the order for the murder of the women and children who, trusting to his honour, had surrendered to him at Cawnpore; and when Havelock's force entered the place, they were met with the most ghastly evidence of cruelties which had been perpetrated by the man who for many years professed himself a loyal ally of the English.
Weakened by losses in action, as well as by disease, Havelock was compelled to halt at Cawnpore for reinforcements. These reached him in the shape of the 5th (Northumberland Fusiliers)—the Fighting Fifth—from the Mauritius, and six companies of the 90th (Scottish Rifles)—a regiment which, under its Colonel, Campbell, had earned a great reputation for dash in the Crimea. With the reinforcements came the unwelcome news that he had been superseded by Sir James Outram, who was reappointed to his old post of Chief Commissioner of Oude, with the supreme command of all the troops in that province. Sir James, however, with rare self-denial, refused to deprive Havelock of the honour of carrying out the relief, and published an order announcing his intention to act in the ranks of the volunteer cavalry until Lucknow was entered.
It was not until the middle of September that Havelock was enabled to continue his onward march. He was opposed at every step, but the troops would not be denied; and on the 25th of that month a welcome reinforcement of nearly 2,000 fighting men was thrown into Lucknow, and the lives of the sorely-pressed garrison assured.