Ballads of Brave Deeds :: :: University of Virginia Library

“The Queen has been graciously pleased to signify her intention to confer the decoration of the Victoria Cross upon the undermentioned Officer, whose claim has been submitted for her Majesty's approval, for his conspicuous bravery during the sortie from Chitral Fort, on the 3rd March last, as recorded against his name:—

Department.—Indian Medical Service.
Name.—Surgeon Captain Harry Frederick Whitchurch.

Act of Courage for which recommended.—During the sortie from Chitral Fort of the 3rd March last, at the commencement of the siege, Surgeon Captain Whitchurch went to the assistance of Captain Baird, 24th Bengal Infantry, who was mortally wounded, and brought him back to the fort under a heavy fire from the enemy. Captain Baird was on the right of the fighting line, and had only a small party of Gurkhas and men of the 4th Kashmir Rifles. He was wounded on the heights at a distance of a mile and a half from the fort. When Surgeon Captain Whitchurch proceeded to his rescue, the enemy, in great strength, had broken through the fighting line; darkness had set in, and Captain Baird, Surgeon Captain Whitchurch, and the sepoys were completely isolated from assistance. Captain Baird was placed in a dooly by Surgeon Captain Whitchurch, and the party then attempted to return to the fort. The Gurkhas bravely clung to the dooly until three were killed and a fourth was severely wounded. Surgeon Captain Whitchurch then put Captain Baird upon his back and carried him some distance with heroic courage and resolution. The little party kept diminishing in numbers, being fired at the whole way. On one or two occasions Surgeon Captain Whitchurch was obliged to charge walls, from behind which the enemy kept up an incessant fire. At one place particularly the whole party was in imminent danger of being cut up, having been surrounded by the enemy. Surgeon Captain Whitchurch gallantly rushed the position, and eventually succeeded in getting Captain Baird and the sepoys into the fort. Nearly all the party were wounded, Captain Baird receiving two additional wounds before reaching the fort.”— Cf. The Standard, July 17, 1895.

“It is difficult to write temperately about Whithurch,” said Mr Robertson in reporting this action to the Government, and men who have themselves gained the Victoria Cross have said that never was it more gallantly earned than on this occasion by the Surgeon Major.

Baird! is he wounded? up there on the height?
A mile? Ay a mile and a half away!
What of the sunset, what of the night,
What of the tribesmen flushed with the fight,
And the line of our Gurkhas melting away!

But forth on the hope forlorn they went—
The Doctor and twelve of his fighting men.
From in face of the foeman a cheer we sent:
We counted their rifles; we knew what it meant—
They would few of them reach the fort again.

The ravines might smoke, and the rock spit fire,
But there on the heights was a wounded man!
If a hundred bugles had bade retire,
Would Whitchurch be baulked of his soul's desire
To save from the clutches of Umra Khan?

They have climbed to the ridge, they have tenderly cared
For him who had led his Gurkhas well,
For love of their wounded Captain Baird.
As back with the dooly swift they fared
There was never a groan when a Sepoy fell.

But forward ever—each brave brown face
Set for the Fort in the plain beneath—
For him they loved of the white man's race,
With a sturdy hand and a steady pace,
They dared the gauntlet of doom and death.

Volley to left of them, volley to right,
“Nullahs” and “Sangars” tongued with flame,
Bullets singing from hollow and height,
And the foemen following hard on their flight,
The furious Hillmen sure of their game.

They heard the yelp of the Pathan pack,—
Tribesmen in triumph a thousand strong,
But never of hope did their true hearts slack,
With bullet for bullet they answered back,
And bleeding and breathless hurried along.

But the fire was fierce, and the bearers fell.
God have mercy and mend their case!
Tho' the foe be close, by their fiendish yell,
Shall love not end what began so well?
And courage not win the desperate race?

Then the Surgeon stooped and he lifted Baird
Gently and strong as a Doctor will,
And on thro' the dark with his burden fared
To the Fort in the plain, where the torches flared
To guide the gallant back from the hill.

He charged the trenches, he rushed the walls,
Swept from the hollows and over the mounds,
Brave, tho' many a comrade falls,
To cheer a way thro' the whistling balls,
And to staunch as he went the mortal wounds.

The Fort is won! they are safe inside!
Safe from the clutches of Umra Khan!
In the arms of his fellows the Captain died;
But the Doctor's daring—a nation's pride—
Shall live as long as we honour a man.