Memoir of the Career of Thomas Edward Rogers [‎5r] (9/118)

Though memories of the Lawrence brothers and Robert Montgomery helped to
turn me later towards a career in India, I sometimes wonder why more was not
made, in my eight years at Foyle College, of their great achievements. These
demonstrated qualities the public schools admire: courage, loyalty, self-
discipline, 'character'. On the retreat from Kabul there was the ruthless
Afghan leader Akbar Khan sparing Sir George Lawrence's life because of his 'high
character' and 'strict adherence to the promises which he made'. There was
Robert Montgomery's bold decision during the Mutiny, when he was backed by
only a few British troops, to parade four whole regiments of sepoys Term used in English to refer to an Indian infantryman. Carries some derogatory connotations as sometimes used as a means of othering and emphasising race, colour, origins, or rank. and, with
full ceremony, disarm them. This move at the height of the crisis allowed
John Lawrence to hold the key area, the Punjab, almost by prestige alone backed
by supreme self-confidence, and so free every man and gun possible for the
relief of Delhi. There was the immensely touching show of comradeship and
solidarity towards the disarmed sepoys Term used in English to refer to an Indian infantryman. Carries some derogatory connotations as sometimes used as a means of othering and emphasising race, colour, origins, or rank. of four out of five Indian corps at
Peshawar when many of their British officers cast their own swords on the heap of
surrendered weapons.
Such stirring stuff might well have fired impressionable schoolboys to serve
in India. Yet our masters, whom I remember with affection, told us little of
these giants when more distinguished schools would surely have idolised such an
extraordinary quartet. We kept them rather out of sight on a pedestal of remote
honour instead of bringing them down constantly to delight and inspire us with
the bright colour of their lives.
Like the Lawrence brothers I too went off to England to complete my education.
At Bedford School, though it sent men to the army, the threads which at Foyle
had joined me tenuously to India were broken but for a brief renewal when I played
rugger for Bedford at Haileybury, the East India Company's school where they had
trained their servants, among them John Lawrence. My thoughts were naturally on