Memorial for George Broadfoot (1807-1845)
Edward Richardson
1850
Madras (Chennai) Cathedral
This memorial has for many years been mostly hidden in the office at Madras Cathedral behind a heavy green filing cabinet. The author wishes to thank the staff who willingly shifted the heavy item to reveal, albeit at an oblique angle, this fine work by Richardson.
See commentary below.
Photograph and text by Tim Willasey-Wilsey
George Broadfoot was one of the few heroes to emerge from the disastrous First Afghan War. Buckland gives the basic details of his career as follows:
Born 1807: son of the Rev W Broadfoot: entered the Madras Native Infantry in 1826: in 1841 was sent to Kabul commanding the escort with the families of Shah Shuja and Zaman Shah: in Oct 1841 he commanded Sir R Sale’s force from Kabul to capture Jalalabad: which he fortified and became garrison engineer there during the siege by the Afghans: he animated the whole defence and prevented a surrender: was with General Pollock’s army in the campaign of 1842 and distinguished himself in the actions in the Khyber, at Tezin and Mamu Khel: CB: made Commissioner of Tenasserim and later Agent to the Governor General on the North West Frontier: he was a Major in the Sikh War of 1845-6, was mortally wounded at Firozashahr, Dec 21st 1845”.
The representation of two Indian soldiers in bare feet from his regiment, the 34th Madras Light Infantry (also known as the Chicacole Light Infantry; which explains the initials CLI on the memorial), was typical of British colonial memorials of the era with the officer’s colleagues and family wishing to stress the comradeship between British officers and their Indian soldiers in a shared brotherhood when faced with danger, discomfort and death. It was this romantic notion of loyalty which was so brutally shattered by the Sepoy Mutinies of 1857 (link).
The Inscription reads
Sacred to the memory of Major GEORGE BROADFOOT, C. B., 34th Madras Light Infantry, of Kirkwall in the Orkney's; and of London. His valour, foresight and science mainly contributed to the success of the glorious defence of Jellalabad, and in the ensuing Afghan Campaign, he with his brave Corps of Mountain Sappers acquired enduring renown. His diplomatic and military service as Commissioner of the Tenasserim Provinces and as Governor-General's Agent on the North-West Frontier at a most important crisis of our Indian Empire called forth the eloquent eulogy of Sir H. Hardinge. that he was "as brave its he was able and second to none in all the great qualities of an accomplished officer" He fell at the battle of Ferozshahar in his 39th year acting as aide de camp to the Governor General. "Though severely wounded he continued heroically to lead and animate the troops in the assault until mortally wounded in the Sikh camp at the moment of victory," The last of three brothers who died for their country on the battlefields of Asia. Raised by public subscription throughout the Presidency of Madras.”
References
Buckland, C E. Dictionary of Indian Biography. London: Swan, Sonnenschein, 1905.
Groseclose, Barbara. British Sculpture and the Company Raj: Church Monuments and Public Statuary in Madras, Calcutta, and Bombay to 1858. Delaware; University of Delaware Press, 1995.
Roscoe, Ingrid with Hardy, Emma and Sullivan, MG. A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2009.
Last modified 5 January 2017