General Sir Mowbray Thomson (1832 – 25 February 1917) was a British Army

British Army

The British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...

 officer.

He was born in 1832, and travelled to India at an early age. In 1853 he joined the 53rd Bengal Native Infantry – a regiment with Indian troops and white officers - as a subaltern, and in early 1857 moved with the regiment to Cawnpore. During the Indian Mutiny, the regiment was caught up in the Siege of Cawnpore

Siege of Cawnpore

The Siege of Cawnpore was a key episode in the Indian rebellion of 1857. The besieged British in Cawnpore were unprepared for an extended siege and surrendered to rebel Indian forces under Nana Sahib, in return for a safe passage to Allahabad. However, under ambiguous circumstances, their...

; Thomson led a small party of men in the attempt to escape, and was one of only four male survivors from the garrison.

He was invalided home, heavily wounded, and promoted to brevet-major. On returning to duty he was given a civilian post, political agent at Manipur

Manipur

Manipur is a state in northeastern India, with the city of Imphal as its capital. Manipur is bounded by the Indian states of Nagaland to the north, Mizoram to the south and Assam to the west; it also borders Burma to the east. It covers an area of...

, and later the Governor-General's agent for the former King of Oudh

Wajid Ali Shah

Wajid Ali Shah was the fifth King of Oudh, holding the position from 13 February 1847 to 7 February 1856....

. He retired in 1885, with the Army rank of major-general, and was promoted to full general in 1894.

Whilst convalescing in England, he wrote The Story of Cawnpore, published 1859, a first-hand account of the siege.