AUGUSTUS ANDREWS WAS THE ONLY MAN TO BE COURT-MARTIALED AND DISMISSED FROM THE BRITISH, EAST INDIA COMPANY OR INDIAN ARMIES AND YET END HIS CAREER AS A FULL GENERAL. ANDREWS WAS ONE OF THE RINGLEADERS OF THE "WHITE SEPOY" MUTINY AT MASULIPATAM IN AUGUST 1809. COURT-MARTIALED IN SEPTEMBER 1809 AND DISMISSED FOR TAKING PART IN THE MUTINY, HE WAS SUBSEQUENTLY PERMITTED TO REJOIN THE MADRAS ARMY IN APRIL 1810, GOING ON TO COMMAND THE MADRAS EUROPEAN REGIMENT, AND SUBSEQUENTLY BEING PROMOTED FULL GENERAL IN MARCH 1855.
Two: Seringapatam Medal, original English silver striking, with contemporary silver claw and ring suspension, plain silver top brooch suspender, silver buckle on ribbon (unnamed, as issued); Army of India Medal, 1 clasp, Maheidpoor (officially named, impressed in serifed upper and lower case capital letters: MAJOR A. ANDREWS, EUR. REGt.). Serginapatam Medal Good Very Fine, Army of India Medal Almost Extremely Fine.
Group accompanied by copied manuscript service record, extracts Army Lists of the period, extract from the "Alphabetical List of Officers of the Madras Army", extract London Gazette, 26/7/1823, announcing the award of the C.B. to Andrews and various copied research.
Augustus Andrews (1778-1858) was born at St Omer, France, on 18 December 1778, the son of the Reverend Robert Andrews. His East India Company service papers record him as having been recommended for the East India Company service by Sir Stephen Lushington (1744-1807), 1st Baronet Lushington of South Hill Park, Berkshire, a director of the East India Company from 1782, Deputy Chairman, 1789-1790 and Chairman for three terms, 1790-91, 1795-96 and 1799-1800. Andrews was nominated a Cadet for the Madras Infantry in April 1794, landed in Bengal the following December, and was appointed Lieutenant, 27th Madras Infantry in April 1795. He saw service with the 27th Madras Infantry at Seringapatam, receiving £430 prize money, and was promoted Captain, Madras European Regiment, 13/4/1801.
Andrews’s service record records him as having been "Directed to join detachment of the European Regiment at Fort St George 12/10/1807. Ordered by Lord Minto to be tried by Court Martial for conduct during occurrences in 1809. September 1809 dismissed. April 1810 permitted by Court of Directors to return to India and admitted on establishment without prejudice to his rank."
As one of the ringleaders of the ‘White Mutiny’ at Musulipatam in 1809, Captain Andrews was given the option of court-martial or dismissal. At first he elected to be tried, but subsequently accepted dismissal from the service. In April 1810, he was permitted by the Court of Directors in London to return to India to be readmitted to the service without prejudice to his rank, and was promoted to Major, Madras European Regiment, shortly afterwards, on 1/1/1812, Andrews no doubt being readmitted to the service as a result of his connections, both politically and within the Board of Directors of the East India Company.
Service record notes that Andrews was posted in 1813 "to command the flank battalion field force assembling in southern district. 2/12/1814 commanded the Madras European Regiment in the Deccan army. January 1818 services in the battle of Maheidpore extolled by Sir Thomas Hislop. December 1817 London Gazette. June 1818 shared prize for capture of Maheidpore in 1817 with the European Regiment. His services in the attack upon Salnain in February 1818 noticed. In the list of officers who distinguished themselves during the operations against the Pindaries and with the late army of the Deccan, dated 28/4/1819. Wounded in the shoulder at the siege of Malligaum. Has been received with high approbration by the Governor-General in council, 26/9/1818. London Gazette 7/8/1819. Shared prize captured in the wars against the Pindaries and certain of the Mahratta states, 1814-17. Came to Bombay for health, November 1818. Thanked by Sir John Malcolm for his services during the operations against Asseeghur, report dated April 1819."
Major Andrews commanded the Madras European Regiment at the battle of Maheidpoor on 21 December 1817, the regimental history recording that he lead the regiment in a bayonet charge against the enemy artillery. The bayonet charge "was received with a discharge of grape, chain and round shot, which by its weight alone staggered the impetus of the charge. But with a cheer the British soldiers rushed straight at the enemy’s guns. The onslaught was irresistible, and though the gunners stood manfully to their pieces, which were even turned on the British line as it passed, they could not withstand the assault and were nearly all killed, while the guns, 76 in number, fell into the hands of the victors."
Major Andrews’s services at Maheidpoor were extolled by Sir Robert Hislop in his despatch of September 1818. In 1818, at the attack on the fortress at Rajdier, he led the party which drove in the outposts. In May of the same year, when a sortie from the fort at Malegaum threatened the working parties, Major Andrews collected a few men to rush them, and was wounded during the successful repulse. His conduct in the attack on Malegaum received high approbation from the Governor-General (GGO September 1818). He shared in the general prize for the Mahratta and Pindari War of 1817-18, and was thanked by Sir John Malcolm in April 1819 for his services during the operations against Asseerghur (London Gazette 20 August 1820. He commanded a force against the Bheels in Kandeish in 1819-20.
Andrews was promoted Lieutenant-Colonel, 8/11/1820, and appointed Companion of the Bath on 23/7/1823. General Andrews's CB was announced in the London Gazette of 26/7/1823:
"Lieutenant-Colonel Augustus Andrews, 22nd Regiment Madras Native Infantry"
Andrews left India on sick certificate in July 1824 and returned to the U.K. Promoted Colonel 5/6/1829, and admitted to half pay in May 1833. He held the Colonelcies, in succession, of the 27th, 42nd, 1st and 8th Regiments of Madras Infantry, and was promoted Major General 28/6/1838, Brevet Lieutenant-General, 11/11/1851, and full General 16/3/1855. Andrews, who married but had no children, built a grand residence in Bath, “Vellore House”, with seven acres of gardens and specimen trees. General Andrews died at Bath on 3 March 1858.
Provenance:
Campaign medals ex Phillips 1925, Needes 1940, Elson 1963, J. B. Hayward 1975, Dix Noonan Webb, 6th July 2004, lot 805 (when sold with a C.B. - Georgian hallmarks, maker's mark "IN" but date letter obscured) and Warwick & Warwick, 9th March 2005, lot 536 (when sold without C.B.)
The regimental history of the 1st Battalion Royal Dublin Fusiliers, "Neils Bluecaps", with regard to the 1809 Masulipatam mutiny, records that it broke out as a result of discontent among the officers of the Madras European Regiment over "the disproportion in the allowances between the Bengal and Madras services, the larger number of commands given to officers of the Royal army, the abolition of certain monetary allowances and the discontinuance of others."
The following account of the White Mutiny at Masulipatam in 1809 is taken from Alexander Cardew’s "The White Mutiny - A Forgotten Episode in the History of the Indian Army" (Constable & Co., London, 1929).
"LIEUTENANT-COLONEL MALCOLM, as has been seen, left Masulipatam on the 22nd July. Although in his own account of the transactions he carefully avoids mention of any understanding with the mutinous officers there, it seems extremely probable that when he left he gave the officers hopes of a favourable settlement. The advice which he gave to Sir George Barlow suggests such a conclusion, and the lull which occurred at Masulipatam for ten days after he left supports it. On the 2nd August we find General Pater sending a report of an interview which he had had with the mutineers in which he expressly says that their agitation was increased owing to their not having received any news from Colonel Malcolm. On this date the officers sent notice to Captain Morehouse, whose fidelity to their cause was doubtful, to leave the Fort. Next day, the 3rd August, General Pater reports the issue by the Officers' Committee of a Garrison order directing the European Regiment, the 1st Battalion 19th Native Infantry and the Artillery to be ready for immediate field service, and ordering the submission at once of indents for such camp equipage as would be required. Similar reports of preparations for a march were sent in on the 5th and 6th August, but it is not certain whether the Masulipatam garrison contemplated junction with the Hyderabad Subsidiary Force or an advance on Madras. A little later the Assistant Magistrate at Masulipatam told the Government that the troops were in perfect readiness, and would have marched on the 8th August, but that on that day Calcutta newspapers arrived containing Lord Minto's order of the 21st July, and this had led to postponement. Although the decision to march was deferred, the officers at Masulipatam soon found themselves forced to take various violent and illegal actions. Money was needed to pay the troops, and the treasury officer was forced to issue supplies of coin. Correspondence arriving by post was seized, and on the 12th August it is reported that Colonel Innes had been ordered to leave the Fort. Mention is made of some of the men of the European Regiment being drunk and threatening to loot. News now came of the surrender of the officers at Secunderabad, but this termination to the revolt was by no means at first acquiesced in at Masulipatam. On the 15th, General Pater, having ordered a parade of the troops in garrison, entered the Fort and read to them a declaration from the Government promising pardon to the rank and file if they submitted. The officers allowed him to make this announcement without interruption, and indeed encouraged him to do so. But when he had finished and called on those men who accepted the offers of Government to step forward, not a man moved, and the troops marched off with shouts of "Our officers”, “Grievances", "Bengal Allowances”, "The last drop of blood for our officers," etc. It was clear that the soldiers, European and Indian alike, were not at all ready to abandon the cause for which the mutiny had been begun. The first actual movement towards surrender came from the officers. They were better informed as to the true state of affairs, and the impossible position in which they were placed became daily clearer. On the 16th August, Major Storey and Captain Andrews, the leaders of the mutiny, addressed a letter to the General in which they admitted that the time had now arrived when they found they could no longer oppose the measures of the Government of Madras without injury to the interests of their country. "It is true," they said, "that we have been driven to the brink of insurrection," but they were now prepared to submit. When, however, General Pater on the 17th entered the Fort to take charge of the garrison, a serious situation arose. The rank and file of the European Regiment began to be suspicious that they were being betrayed. They did not understand the sudden change of front which had occurred in the last few days. No clear account exists of what happened, but General Pater reported that he had been placed in so critical a position that a general massacre would have occurred if he had not promised a pardon to both officers and men without distinction. As he had hinted only the day before that he intended to exercise his discretion in dealing with the expected surrender, it is not impossible that his account gives rather an exaggerated view of the trouble. At any rate the officers submitted and signed the Test. But the dangers inherent in such a mutiny were not yet at an end. On the 20th August serious disturbances broke out at Masulipatam. An artillery soldier struck a sepoy near Major Storey's house and in his presence. Major Storey remonstrated with the artillery man, who replied that he should do as he liked. Angered by this insolent reply, Major Storey seems to have tried to horsewhip the artillery man, whereupon the latter made off to his barracks and returned with some 200 soldiers of the Artillery Corps armed with loaded guns and threatening to kill Major Storey. The Major had to fly on a bare-backed horse, and reaching the Fort collected a force of 200 sepoys, but meantime General Pater and other officers had pacified the Artillery, and Major Storey was able to return to his house, though he thought it safer to keep a guard for his protection. On the 3rd September, orders arrived from the Government declining to confirm the general pardon granted by General Pater, and ordering that the European Regiment and the 19th Native Infantry should be sent down to Madras. This marked the end of the mutiny."
