Personal info
- Name: Robert BLAIR
- D.O.B: 13th Mar, 1834
- D.O.A: 28th Sep, 1857
- D.O.D: 28th Mar, 1859
- Award: Victoria Cross
- Occupation at time of action: Lieutenant, 2nd Dragoon Guards (Queen’s Bays) attached 9th (Queen’s Royal) Lancers
- Book: The Complete History - Volume 1
Bulandshahr, India 28 September 1857
28 September 1857
The Indian Mutiny 1857-59
After the recapture of Delhi, Colonel E H Greathed led a force into the Gangetic Doab, the area between the two Rivers Jumna and Ganges. On 28 September 1857 Greathed confronted the forces of Nawab Walidad Khan at Bulandshahr, fifty miles south-east of Delhi. One of the British columns was engaged by the enemy at a crossroads outside the town, while the other column, with two guns under Lieutenant G Cracklow, was engaged in heavy fighting within it. Once Bulandshahr was secured, Walidad Khan’s abandoned stronghold at Malagarh, five miles away, was also taken. This was destroyed on 1 October but Lieutenant D C Home VC, sole survivor of the group of engineers who had blown up the Kashmir Gate two weeks earlier, was accidentally killed in the process. Greathed’s column then advanced south to Agra.
Citation
“A most gallant feat was here performed by Lieutenant Blair, who was ordered to take a party of one serjeant and twelve men and bring in a deserted ammunition waggon. As his party approached, a body of fifty or sixty of the enemy’s horse came down upon him, from a village, where they had remained unobserved: without a moment’s hestitation he formed up his men, and, regardless of the odds, gallantly led them on, dashing through the rebels. He made good his retreat without losing a man, leaving nine of them dead on the field. Of these he killed four himself; but, to my regret, after having run a native officer through the body with his sword, he was severely wounded, the joint of his shoulder being nearly severed.” Despatch from Major-General James Hope Grant, K.C.B., dated 10th January, 1858.
Extra Information
(Subscription Required)