The very good Indian Mutiny Siege of Delhi Final Assault 14th September 1857 ladder storming party leader and subsequent Bhootan Campaign pair awarded to Lieutenant later Colonel C.H. Cantor, Indian Army, formerly Honourable East India Company forces. Cantor was only commissioned and appointed to the Bengal Establishment in January 1857, and was with the 2nd European Bengal Fusiliers on the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny, in which he saw service in the siege of Delhi which lasted from 30th May to 14th September 1857, and specifically distinguished himself in this action, when at the final assault on the city on 14th September, he was one of the Subalterns selected to lead the ladder storming party over the walls of the city, and on his successfully getting into the city, he found himself hotly engaged in leading and co-ordinating part of the heavy street fighting that followed the assault, lasting up to 20th September 1857. During the subsequent operations outside the city, he went on to form part of Brigadier General Showers’s movable column. As the Adjutant of the 5th Bengal Cavalry. he then went on to see further active service during the Bhootan Campaign which lasted from December 1864 to February 1865, and he would remain in uniform through to late 1894!
Indian Mutiny Medal 1857-1859, 1 Clasp: Delhi; (LIEUT. C.H. CANTOR, 2ND. EURN. BENGAL FUSRS:); India General Service Medal 1854-1895, 1 Clasp: Bhootan; (LIEUT. C H. CANTOR 5TH. BENGAL CAVY.)
Condition: sometime lacquered, light contact wear, Good Very Fine.
Charles Henry Cantor was born on 21st November 1836 at Fort William, Calcutta, the son of Charles Augustus Cantor, a merchant of Calcutta, and his wife, Charlotte Caroline, and he was baptised there on 26th December 1836. Cantor was then sent to England to be schooled, receiving a classical and mathematical education by private tutor in Twickenham.
Cantor was then nominated as a cadet for the Honourable East India Company during the season of 1855 to 1856, being nominated by HEIC Director Henry Thorby Prinsep, at the recommendation of Charles Princep, and having been selected for service with the Bengal Infantry, his candidacy was approved by the Military Committee at East India House in London on 5th November 1856 and he was then appointed as an Ensign into the Bengal Infantry on 13th December 1856, he being admitted to the service on 13th January 1857, and he was then appointed to the 4th Bengal Native Infantry on 24th February 1857, being transferred at his own request to the 2nd European Bengal Fusiliers on 3rd April 1857. Unbeknownst to Cantor, this was a momentous moment in Indian history, which would shortly see the end of the Honourable East India Company and a transferral of it’s territories to the British Crown in the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny, which broke out one month later.
With the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny, Cantor then saw service in the siege of Delhi which lasted from 30th May to 14th September 1857. He distinguished himself in this action, when at the final assault on the city on 14th September, he was one of the Subalterns selected to lead the ladder storming party over the walls of the city, and on his successfully getting into the city, he found himself hotly engaged in leading and co-ordinating part of the heavy street fighting that followed the assault, lasting up to 20th September 1857. During the subsequent operations outside the city, he went on to form part of Brigadier General Showers’s movable column.
Cantor found himself on leave owing to health reasons between 25th January and 15th March 1858, before being promoted to Lieutenant on 1st May 1858. Granted a Sick Certificate, he was then sent on furlough to the United Kingdom between 10th December 1858 and 29th September 1860. On his return to India, and with the dissolution of the Honourable East India Company forces, he then found himself posted to the recruit depot at Barrackpore where he was attached to a British cavalry regiment, the 7th Hussars from 7th June 1861, and he was then further appointed to be in charge of remounts to the 21st Hussars at Peshawar from February 1862, being later that year then attached to the 21st Hussars and with the creation of the Indian Army, the 6th Bengal Cavalry.
Appointed to the 2nd Bengal Cavalry in July 1862, he then continued to see service with it until appointed as Adjutant to the 5th Bengal Cavalry on 13th December 1863, and remained in this position through to 20th October 1865. As such he saw service with his regiment at the Adjutant during the Bhootan Campaign which lasted from December 1864 to February 1865.
The Indian Government decided to take punitive action as a result of the treatment of the Honourable Ashley Eden, head of a mission into Bhootan, and perhaps more importantly because of continued raids from Bhootan into British territory. Four columns advanced into Bhootan under Brigadier General W.E. Mulcaster and were able to overcome the slight resistance they met at Dhalimcote, Bhumsong, and Charmoorchee. However, the Bhootanese then attacked various Anglo-Indian positions with serious result. A further expedition was dispatched under Brigadier General Sir H. Tombs, V.C., K.C.B., which captured Dewangiri on 2nd April 1865, and another was mounted in 1866 after which the Bhootanese accepted defeat.
Cantor was appointed to the Northwest Province Police on 20th October 1866, and was promoted to Captain and appointed to the Bengal Staff Corps on 13th December 1868. Once again sent to the United Kingdom on furlough owing to ill health from 19th March 1871 to 15th February 1873, in this period he received the promotion to Brevet Major on 14th December 1871, and after his return to India, he was promoted to Major on 13th December 1876.
Further promoted to Lieutenant Colonel on 13th December 1882 and to Colonel on 13th December 18666, he was on furlough in the United Kingdom on private matters for one year from 1st May 1887 before returning to India. Cantor was ultimately transferred to the Supernumerary List on a Colonel’s allowance on 13th December 1894, and as one of the last surviving Mutiny veterans, he died on 14th December 1919. Confirmed as his full entitlement.
