Sir
Samuel James Brown VC (3rd October 1824 to 14th March
1901)
I think I was meant to find this grave in a pretty graveyard
at Ryde Cemetery on the Isle Of Wight. I was staying on the southern part of
the island but got a bus north with the sole mission to locate the grave of a
brave soldier who had his arm cut off with sword. As I was walking down the
main path of the cemetery a man with an open amicable manner stopped me and saved
me walking up and down the down grass verges looking for the grave. With a friendly
smile he offered his hand. I shook it and said I was looking for Sam Brown and
did he know him? You bet he did. He also knew of other recipient of the VC buried
there along with other notable people. It was as though he was there waiting to
help any geek who enjoys looking for graves.
He led me to
the grave of Sir Sam Browne whose final resting place is a long way from Barrackpore in India where he was born. His parents were
based there while his brainy dad worked as an eminent surgeon.
Sam joined the
46th Bengal Native Infantry and fought in various parts of India. Aged only 25
he was made a lieutenant and put together his own cavalry which he commanded
for the next five years. After seeing much fighting he was made a captain at
33.
On 31st August
1858 he was fighting in Pradesh, India. Very early in the morning his troops
were being shot at. He spotted the main killer: a large gun discharging a
curtain of bullets. With another man he stormed the position without concern
for their lives and shot the gunners, preventing them from re-loading. A
physical fight ensued and Sam received a cut from a sword on his knee and
another cut which cut off his left arm -
not part of it but all of it from the shoulder. He still won the fight with one
arm missing while bleeding to death.
Afterwards he
found he could not use his left hand to pull out his sword and began wearing a
belt with an extra strap. This held his sword in just the right place. The “Sam
Brown Belt” became famous and is now favoured by army and police officers. The
original belt is now in the National Army Museum in Chelsea.
He was no wimp
and didn’t leave the army with a bottle of painkillers. Twenty years later was
fighting in the Second Anglo-Afghanistan War. He mustered 16,000 troops and 48
guns to the Khyber Pass and used their combined firepower to take over the
fortress of Ali Masjid. They could now proceed though the pass and capture
Jalalabad. For this Sam was promoted to general and even given a knighthood
He retired from the army at 74 and moved
to Ryde on the Isle of Wight. The lazier life mustn’t have suited him as he
died within two years. Even though
there’s a grave here he was cremated. I assume his ashes are buried here
alongside his wife.
The nearby grave looked a little like a
dog kennel (see photo.)
Touching the VC…
There was an
unusual dog kennel grave next door but one…
At the building
where I luckily bumped into John the sexton who knew the cemetery well.
The Sam Browne
Belt…
