Introduction
William Nelson Hall (1827-1904) had every reason to love the Royal Navy. Under instructions from the Admiralty in London, the Navy had helped his parents and thousands of others to escape slavery in Maryland. The Halls were resettled as free citizens in Nova Scotia, where William was born, and he repaid the Navy handsomely during the Indian Mutiny thirty years later.
WILLIAM Hall volunteered for the Royal Navy in 1852, and saw action aboard HMS Rodney in the Crimea, at Inkerman and Sevastopol. Five years later, at the outbreak of the Indian Mutiny,* he was in Hong Kong on HMS Shannon when she was urgently summoned to Calcutta, and towed 600 miles up the Ganges to Allahabad.
A brigade of 450 men, including Hall, then dragged her guns 160 miles through rebel-held country to Cawnpore and Lucknow, to help Sir Colin Campbell relieve the besieged Residency there.* Hall was captain of the foretop,* but volunteered to join the gunnery crews, as they were a man short.
Under the direction of his Captain, William Peel, Hall helped to trundle four guns up close to the Shah Najaf imambara,* from which the rebels were raining down musket shot and grenades.* One by one the gunners were wounded or killed. Peel was hit in the leg. Hall was unscathed, but soon just two gun-crews were left, and little progress had been made.
See The Indian Mutiny.
See The Siege of Lucknow. Cawnpore is Kanpur.
That is, he was in charge of the crew responsible for the forward mast of the ship, its rigging, maintenance and use in all weathers and situations – physically demanding and skilful work. At his retirement he was Petty Officer First Class aboard HMS Royal Adelaide.
The Shah Najaf imambara was built in 1817 as a mausoleum for King Ghazi-ud-Din Haider of Awadh (Oudh), in whose realm Lucknow lay. An imambara is not the same as a mosque: its use is restricted to certain Shia ceremonies throughout the year.
Sir Henry Lawrence, whose Residency was being defended in the siege, had given strict instructions that holy places within the grounds of the Residency must be kept as intact as possible, but the Sikandar Bagh and the Shah Najaf were rebel-held positions. See a map of Positions held by the British in the Siege of Lucknow, June-November 1857. Shah Najaf and the Sikandar Bagh can be seen to the right.
Précis
William Hall was a black Canadian sailor who was serving on HMS SHannon in 1857 when the Indian Mutiny broke out. Shannon was called over to India from Hong Kong, and her guns brought overland to Lucknow, where Hall joined four gunnery crews hoping to breach the rebels’ defensives and relieve a four-month siege of the Residency there. (58 / 60 words)
William Hall was a black Canadian sailor who was serving on HMS SHannon in 1857 when the Indian Mutiny broke out. Shannon was called over to India from Hong Kong, and her guns brought overland to Lucknow, where Hall joined four gunnery crews hoping to breach the rebels’ defensives and relieve a four-month siege of the Residency there.
Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: about, despite, just, may, must, otherwise, whereas, whether.
Word Games
Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence, using different words as much as possible. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
You are welcome to share your creativity with me, or ask for help with any of the exercises on Clay Lane. Write to me at this address:
See more at Post Box.
If you like what I’m doing here on Clay Lane, from time to time you could buy me a coffee.
Buy Me a Coffee is a crowdfunding website, used by over a million people. It is designed to help content creators like me make a living from their work. ‘Buy Me a Coffee’ prides itself on its security, and there is no need to register.
