3-052-431 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The late Lieutenant H. H. Forbes, 1880. Engraving from a photograph by Bourne and Shepherd. 'The recent expedition against the Naga tribes on the northeastern frontier of India, to chastise the insurgents guilty of the murder of Mr. Damant, has been noticed in our Journal. It was on Nov. 22 that the fortified village of Khonoma, occupied by a thousand fighting men with plenty of fire-arms, was stormed by part of the force under command of Brigadier-General Nation. The rampart and stockade were defences of a formidable kind, but the assault was gallantly performed by the 44th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, under Colonel Nuttall, C.B.; and three of the leading officers, Major Cock, Deputy-Assistant-Adjutant-General, Lieutenant Ridgeway, and Lieutenant Forbes, received wounds, from which Major Cock and the last-named young officer died. Lieutenant Henry Hodges Forbes...was only twenty-one years of age...He had passed several examinations with very great credit, showing equal devotion to his studies and talent for the acquirement of native languages, by which he won the Government prize of 1500 rupees; and his gallantry in the action which cost his life has been described by some brother officers with much admiration'. From "Illustrated London News", 1880.