38. The painting to which Flashman refers, of Havelock and Outram greeting Campbell at Lucknow, is by a celebrated Victorian painter of military scenes, T. J. Barker. The mounted figure shown raising a hand in acclamation may indeed be intended to be Flashman; it bears some resemblance to the only other identifiable picture of him as a comparatively young man — in a group of Union staff officers with President Lincoln during the U.S. Civil War.
39. Flashman's old friend, William Howard Russell, The Times correspondent, makes an obvious reference to this incident in My Diary in India (p. 188, vol. I).
40. Flashman's description of the looting is borne out by Russell, who described his attempt to buy the jewelled chain from an Irish soldier in his Diary; their accounts are almost word for word, and Russell even confirms that the chain subsequently fetched £7,500, as Flashman says.
41. Griff, or griffin — a greenhorn, a young officer. Hardly a fair description of Roberts who, although still young, was to win his Victoria Cross only a few weeks later. But Flashman plainly had little liking for the legendary "Bobs", who was to become Field-Marshal Lord Roberts of Kandahar; no doubt he was jealous of him.
42. Roberts apart, it seems to have been a distinguished gathering round the fire that night. William Stephen Raikes Hodson (1821-58) was already renowned as an irregular cavalry leader and the founder of Hodson's Horse. He was a year older than Flashman and since they were at Rugby together it seems quite feasible that Flashman had been his fag. Hodson has left a mixed reputation; a brilliant soldier, he was capable of cold-blooded cruelty, as when he murdered the Delhi princes while they were his prisoners. He was shot at Lucknow on March 11th, 1858, and there was a rumour (repeated by Flashman) that he was in the act of looting at the time. Roberts firmly denied this, with convincing evidence (see note, page 404, Forty-one Years in India, vol. I). Sam Browne, inventor of the belt which bears his name, was another celebrated cavalry leader, who became a general and won the V.C. He lost his left arm in a skirmish some months after Lucknow. "Macdonald the Peeler" was probably Macdonald who had been provost-marshal in the Crimea.
43. As one of the Jhansi besiegers later put it: "The Ranee, young, unwedded, jealous of power, sat watching the puny figures below … we watched and wondered what she said and did to those best-favoured among a band of chieftains, and imagination ran wild in the fervid heat." (See J. H. Sylvester, Cavalry Surgeon, ed. A. McKenzie Annand, 1971.)
44. Until the discovery of The Flashman Papers, Lyster (later General Sir Harry Hamon Lyster, V.C.) was the only authority for the plan to capture the Rani of Jhansi alive. No other contemporary writer on the Mutiny mentions the scheme, and it was not until 1913, when the Rev. H. H. Lyster Denny published a little-known work, Memorials of an Ancient House, containing some of General Lyster's recollections, that the story came out. According to Lyster, Rose confided the plan to him in strict confidence, and Lyster himself did not reveal it until many years after Rose's death. The plan was substantially as Flashman recounts it, and involved luring the Rani into attempting an escape by withdrawing a British picket from its position covering one of the Jhansi gates.
45. The battle on the Betwa (April 1, 1858) is one of the forgotten actions, but it is a striking illustration of Rose's coolness and tactical brilliance. Caught at an apparent disadvantage, he turned from Jhansi and attacked the new rebel force, which outnumbered him ten to one; Rose led the cavalry charge in person, and Tantia's army was routed with the loss of 1,500 dead and '28 guns captured. (See Fortescue, History of the British Army, vol. xiii.)
46. This incident took place about twenty miles from Jhansi, following the Rani's escape, when a party of British cavalry under Lieutenant Dowker caught up with her. According to popular tradition (now confirmed by Flashman's account) the rebel horseman who wounded Dowker was the Rani herself. Incidentally, Flashman is probably in error when he says the Rani left Jhansi through the Orcha Gate; other authorities specify the Bandhari Gate, and say that the Rani herself had the child Damodar on her saddle.
47. There are differing accounts of Lakshmibai's death, but Flashman's accords with the generally accepted version. This is that she was killed in the action of Kota-ki-serai, before Gwalior, when the 8th Hussars charged the rebel camp at Phool Bagh. She was seen in the melee, with her horse's reins in her mouth, and was struck in the body, probably by a carbine bullet: she swayed in the saddle, crossed swords with a trooper, and was cut down. According to tradition, she was wearing the priceless necklace of Scindia, which she gave away to an attendant as she lay dying. Her tent on the battlefield was later found to contain a full-length mirror, books, pictures, and her swing.
48. Captain Clement Heneage took part in the Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaclava, and also charged with the 8th Hussars in the action of June 17, 1858, in which the Rani of Jhansi was killed. Flashman's misspelling may have arisen through his never having seen the name written.
49. Deplorable though Flashman's attitude to women was, there were obviously some for whom he felt a genuine attachment, and even respect — Lola Montez and the Rani of Jhansi among them. Lakshmibai obviously captivated him, but how far she returned his affection is debatable. He would turn in his grave at the suggestion, but it seems highly questionable that she spent the night with him in the Jhansi pavilion (see pages 112-14). It may be significant that he never saw her face clearly on that occasion, and his description of the encounter might seem to suggest that the lady who entertained him was a professional nautch-dancer or courtesan, rather than the Rani. It is unfortunately true that in the climate created by the Mutiny, Lakshmibai was credited with every vice ("ardent" and "licentious" were two of the adjectives employed) but there is no evidence that her private life and behaviour were not entirely respectable.
That is not to say that she would not use her feminine power (or any other weapon) for political ends; in this may be found a logical explanation of the pavilion incident. It is possible, on the basis of Flashman's account, that at that time the Rani was already deep in mutinous conspiracy, perhaps with agitators like Ignatieff, and either at their prompting or on her own initiative, decided to destroy Flashman, a potentially dangerous British agent. To lead him on, to lure him to the pavilion, and to arrange for an attack on him by professional assassins, was simple; that something of the sort actually happened is indicated by the confession which Ilderim Khan extracted from the captured Thug. As to the Rani's display of affection for Flashman on his last visit to Jhansi, it may well have been entirely (and not partially, as he complacently assumed) prompted by her need to extract every scrap of information from him. Or — perhaps she was not entirely indifferent to him, after all; he seemed to think so, and he was not inexperienced.