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{{Use dmy dates|date=June 2023}}
{{Short description|East India Company India Army Officer}}
[[File:General Morden Carthew.jpg|thumb|General Morden Carthew CB]]
General '''Morden Carthew''' CB (25 October 1804 – 4 September 1888) was an officer in the service of the [[East India Company]] (E.I.C.) Indian Army in the [[Madras Presidency]], India and South East Asia during the mid 19th century.

== Early life ==
Morden Carthew, the eldest son of the Reverend Morden Carthew and Elizabeth Tweed-Pyke, was born in [[Frettenham|Frettenham, Norfolk]] where his father was the rector.<ref>Norfolk Record Office; Norwich, Norfolk, England; Norfolk Church of England Registers; Reference: PD 279/2. Ancestry.com. Norfolk, England, Church of England Baptism, Marriages, and Burials, 1535-1812</ref>

== Military career ==
Carthew was nominated as an officer cadet by [[William Taylor Money|Sir William Taylor Money]], a director of the [[East India Company]], and joined the Company on 12 January 1821.<ref name=":0">Carthew, Morden. India Office Official Biography, British Library. Available upon request from the British Library, India Office.</ref> In his 56-year career he served in the [[Madras Presidency]], [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]], [[Myanmar|Burma]] (modern [[Myanmar]]) and [[Singapore]]. He first arrived in [[Madras Presidency|Madras]] aboard the ship [https://www.rmg.co.uk/collections/objects/rmgc-object-102844 ''HMS'' ''Jupiter''] on 29 June 1821 as an ensign and was appointed to the 11th [[Madras native infantry|Madras Native Infantry]].<ref name=":0" /> He was promoted from senior ensign to lieutenant on 19 April 1823 and shortly after transferred to the [[21st Madras Native Infantry]] (M.N.I.) where he would spend most of his career.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British India and Its Dependencies, vol. 17. p. 106 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ShGAAAAcAAJ&dq=Morden+Carthew+madras&pg=PA106 |access-date=12 July 2022 |website=Google Books| year=1824 }}</ref><ref name=":0" /> Carthew continued to rise through the ranks and became Commanding Officer of the 21st M.N.I. He commanded the M.N.I. in the [[Straits Settlements|Straits Settlement, Singapore]] from 1846 to 1849 and later was Divisional Commander of Pegu Province in Burma from 1861 to 1863.<ref>{{Cite news |title=The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=1 October 1846 |title=Asiatic Intelligence - Madras |pages=2 |work=The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7ShGAAAAcAAJ&dq=Morden+Carthew+madras&pg=PA106 |access-date=12 July 2022}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=4 January 1849 |title=The Free Press |pages=2 |work=The Singapore Free Press and Mercantile Advertiser}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Buckley |first=Charles |title=An anecdotal history of old times in Singapore |publisher=Fraser & Neave Limited, Singapore |year=1902 |pages=450 |language=English}}</ref><ref name=":0" /> He is portrayed in a painting by acclaimed colonial artist [[John Turnbull Thomson|J.T. Thompson]] and referred to in a poem by colonial era Malay scholar and poet [[Abdullah Abdul Kadir|Abdullah B. Abdul-Kadir]], leading his troops on horseback to assist in fighting a fire in Gelang in Singapore in 1847.<ref name=":2" /><ref>{{Cite journal |last=Skinner |first=C |date=1972 |title=Shaer Kampong Gelam Terbakar oleh Abdullah B. Abdul-Kadir, edited with notes |journal=Journal of the Malaysian Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society |volume=45 |issue=1 (221) |pages=21-56}}</ref>

== Involvement in the Indian Mutiny of 1857 ==
On 10 May 1857 a contingent of [[Sepoy]] soldiers rose up against the East India Company army, firstly in [[Meerut]] and then in [[Delhi]],<ref>{{Cite book |last=Dalrymple |first=William |title=The Last Mughal - The fall of a dynasty: Delhi, 1857 |publisher=Vintage |year=2006 |isbn=978-1-4000-7833-2 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=134-212 |language=English}}</ref> in an action that was to spread across the upper Ganges and central India and was variously known as the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Indian Mutiny, Sepoy Mutiny and Indian Uprising]]. Carthew was promoted to the rank of brigadier on 18 August 1857 in order to command troops in [[Bengal Presidency|Bengal]] against the mutinous Gwalior regiment.<ref name=":0" />

On 26 August 1857 Carthew was given orders to assist in holding the Bithoor Road at Cawnpoor, preventing the Gwalior troops from entering Cawnpoor. For several days Carthew and the E.I.C. troops succeeded in repelling the mutineers but on the evening of 28 August 1857, following heavy fighting, Carthew ordered the retreat of the E.I.C. troops, effectively surrendering the town of Cawnpoor to the mutineers.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Adye |first=John |title=Defence Of Cawnpore by The Troops Under The Orders of Major General Charles A. Wyndham C.B in November 1857. |publisher=Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans & Roberts |year=1858 |pages=29, 30, 32, 36, 39, 40, 44}}</ref>

Carthew's withdrawal initially drew the ire of his superior officers with his commander-in-chief, [[Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde|General Colin Campbell]], responding to the news by dispatch, "... although his excellency fully admits the arduous nature of the service which Brigadier Carthew had been engaged during the 28th of November, he cannot recall his approval of that officer's retreat on the evening of that day. Under the instruction of [[Charles Ash Windham|Major-general Windham]], his commanding officer, Brigadier Carthew had been placed in position. No discretion of retiring [retreating] was allowed him".<ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Forrest C.I.E. |first=G.W. |title=A History of the Indian Mutiny Reviewed and Illustrated from Original Documents |publisher=William Blackwood and Sons |year=1904 |edition=Vol. 1 |location=Edinburgh and London |pages=196–198}}</ref> General Campbell's dispatch goes on to berate Carthew for retreating without first seeking permission from his immediate superior officer (Maj. Gen. Windham) and for failing to wait for reinforcements which Windham had already ordered to Carthew's position in Cawnpoor.<ref name=":1" /> Whilst first denying any concession for retreat had been given, Major General Windham later conceded that he had given permission for Carthew to withdraw from his position should the need arise, and the order to withdraw given by Carthew was correctly issued given the circumstances, thus exonerating Brigadier Carthew from any wrongdoing.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kaye & Malleson |title=Kaye's and Malleson's History of the Indian Mutiny of 1857–8 |publisher=W.H. Allen & Co |year=1889 |location=London |pages=178}}</ref>

Carthew would eventually be awarded a [[Order of the Bath|Companion of the Order of Bath, Military Division]] (CB), on 13 March 1867 in recognition of his service during the uprising.<ref name=":0" />

== The Banda and Kirwee Booty ==
Carthew was a claimant in the case of the Banda and Kirwee booty, a treasure hoard captured from the towns of Banda and Kirwee in Bengal by British forces under the command of Lord Clyde and [[George Cornish Whitlock|General Whitlock]] during mop-up operations following the 1857 mutiny. The total value of the booty was estimated as in excess of £700,000 sterling in 1858 or more than £92million sterling today. Whilst technically the property of the Crown, there were several claimants to the booty, including Carthew. In order to determine how the booty would be distributed, the case was firstly taken before parliament with the argument that the maritime law under which booty captured at sea is distributed among its captors should also apply to booty captured by land forces. Parliament ultimately deferred the case and claimants to the High Court of the Admiralty where it was heard before the Right Honourable [[Stephen Lushington (judge)|Stephen Lushington D.L.C.]] who ultimately awarded the entire bounty to General Whitlock for distribution among those of his troops directly involved in its capture and denying, among other officers, Carthew's claim.<ref>{{Cite web |date=1864 |title=India: Banda and Kirwee Booty |url=https://hansard.parliament.uk/Commons/1864-05-27/debates/e25ff7c5-f669-47a7-a9ce-6e59efe19d22/India—BandaAndKirweeBooty}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=Banda and Kirwee Booty: Judgment of the Right Honourable Stephen Lushington, D.C.L., Delivered on the 30th of June 1866 |publisher=H.M. Stationery Office |year=1866 |location=London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=15 March 2023 |title=Banda and Kirwee Prize Money |url=https://wiki.fibis.org/w/Banda_and_Kirwee_Prize_Money |website=Families in British India Society (FIBIS)}}</ref>

== Family ==
Carthew married Jemima Ewart, daughter of John Ewart of Mullock, in [[Bombay Presidency|Bombay]] (modern [[Mumbai]]), India, on 16 July 1827.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1828 |title=Births, Marriages & Deaths |pages=396 |work=The Oriental Herald and Colonial Review, Volume 16. |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=BhxUAAAAcAAJ&dq=jemima+borland+ewart&pg=PA396 |access-date=13 July 2022}}</ref> John Ewart is also the fourth great-grandfather of [[Tony Blair|Sir Tony Blair]], former [[Prime Minister of the United Kingdom|Prime Minister]] of the [[United Kingdom]], through Jemima's elder sister, Jane. The Ewarts were direct descendants of King James V of Scotland, Christian I of Denmark and other modern royals and nobles.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Davies |first=Edward J. |date=2008 |title=A Descent of Tony Blair from James V, King of Scots |journal=The Genealogist |volume=22 |issue=2 |pages=247–255}}</ref> Carthew is also a direct descendent of Edward the I and II of England.

Carthew inherited [[Woodbridge School|Woodbridge Abbey]] in [[Woodbridge, Suffolk|Woodbridge Suffolk]] from his uncle, [https://morethannelson.com/officer/william-carthew/ Admiral William Carthew]<ref>{{Cite book |last=Burke |first=John & John Bernard |title=A genealogical and heraldic dictionary of the landed gentry of Great Britain and Ireland. |publisher=Henry Colburn |year=1849 |location=London |pages=58}}</ref> and was the great-great grandson of London serjeant-at-law, [[wikisource:Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Carthew, Thomas|Thomas Carthew esq]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Woolrych |first=Humphry William |title=Eminent Serjeants at Law of the English Bar |publisher=The Law Book Exchange |year=2002 |isbn=1-58477-217-4 |location=New Jersey |pages=459–463}}</ref> He was also the brother-in-law and cousin of the antiquarian and genealogist [[George Alfred Carthew]]. The Carthew's had also previously owned [[Benacre Hall]] in Suffolk which originally belonged to Carthew's great, great Grandfather, Thomas Carthew.<ref>{{cite DNB |wstitle= Carthew, Thomas |volume= 09 |last= Courtney |first= William Prideaux |author-link= William Prideaux Courtney |page=219 |short= 1}}</ref>

The Carthew's had ten children, including:

* Margaret - Born 17 September 1828 in Madras (modern [[Chennai]]), Married Lt. Col. Hugh Rigg, E.I.C. officer and [[Aide-de-camp]] to General Carthew, and later of [[Crossrigg Hall]], Cumbria and [[Sheriff of Westmorland|High Sheriff]] and [[Deputy lieutenant|Deputy Lieutenant]] of Westmorland and a magistrate.<ref>{{Cite news |date=1 April 1881 |title=Naval and Military Intelligence |pages=5 |work=The Morning Post}}</ref>
* Morden - Born 21 June 1832, would go on to have a career of note as an officer in the E.I.C. and later take on the surname Yorstoun as a requirement of inheritance. Married Maynard Bogle, daughter of Major General Sir Archibald Bogle<ref>{{Cite web |date=14 March 2023 |title=Centre for the Study of the Legacies of British Slavery |url=https://www.ucl.ac.uk/lbs/person/view/2146651297}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=13 July 2022 |title=National Archives, British Library, Asian and African Studies, Roll of subscribers to Madras Military Fund: CARTHEW, Morden, 1804-1888 |url=https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details/r/0912fb45-d941-4d0f-a22b-827deda50bfd}}</ref>

Carthew retired under Royal Warrant on 1 October 1877 and was promoted to full general. He died on 4 September 1888 at Denton, Norfolk.<ref>{{Cite web |title=England & Wales General Register Office, GRO Online Index - Death (:accessed database entry for Morden Carthew GRO Reference: 1888 S Quarter in Depwade, Volume 04B Page 136) |url=https://www.gro.gov.uk/gro/content |access-date=13 July 2022 |website=General Register Officer, United Kingdom}}</ref>

== Additional reading ==
Colonel Malleson (1889) ''Volume IV, Kaye’s and Malleson’s History of the Indian Mutiny of 1857–8'', pp.162 - 180 [https://www.ibiblio.org/britishraj/KayeMalleson4/bk11ch03.html#fn131]

== References ==

{{reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Carthew, Morden}}
[[Category:1804 births]]
[[Category:1888 deaths]]
[[Category:People from the Madras Presidency]]
[[Category:British Indian Army officers]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]

Morden Carthew - Revision history

ChristenaMcGraw: created basic info more to come