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In a message dated 14/04/03 4:28:43 PM GMT Daylight Time, [log in to unmask] writes: > **Weren't the Hearseys one of the big Anglo-Indian families that had > integrated with higher caste Indian families re-Mutiny? Dear Tim, According to Christopher Hibbert in The Great Mutiny (Allen Lane 1978) - a great book - 'the father of Major General J.B. Hearsey was thought to be half Indian and his wife, daughter of his own half-brother, certainly was'. General Hearsey was the Divisional commander at Dum-Dum when the new greased cartridges were first issued in January 1857. Speaking the language and understanding the Indian point of view better than most he warned the authorities about the problem and suggested that each unit should grease its own cartridges with whatever the men would accept. This suggestion was eventually accepted but by then the Mutiny had broken out.