James Neill

Brigadier-General James George Smith Neill (1810-1857) was a British soldier who went to India in 1827 to join the 1st Madras (European) Fusiliers with whom he served in the 1st Burma War. After a spell in the Crimea he returned to India in 1857 shortly before the Indian Mutiny broke out. Neil left Madras for Benares where he ruthlessly crushed the mutineers.

He was ADC to General Sir Willoughby Cotton in the 1st Afghan War. He took part in General Sale's March from Kabul to Jalalabad and the subsequent siege. In the Gwalior Campaign he was Persian interpreter to Sir Hugh Gough and served in both the 1st Sikh War and the 2nd Sikh War. He rose to Quartermaster-General and then Adjutant-General to the British Army in India. After commanding a division in the Persian War, Havelock's Campaign proved him a great military leader during the Indian Mutiny. He achieved the First Lucknow Relief but was in turn besieged and died of dysentery shortly after the town was freed.

External links

James Neill Dictionary of Indian Biography (1906)
James Neill Wikipedia

Historical books on-line

The Life of General H. Havelock KCB Google Books
Memoirs of Sir Henry Havelock Google Books