784 Sir Henry Havelock-Allan

Constituency : Sunderland  1874-81, South  East  Durham  1885-92, 1895-7  ( from  1886  Liberal Unionist )  

Henry  replaced  the  ailing  John  Candlish  at  Snderland.

Henry  was  one  of  the  more  colourful  new  members. He  was  the  son  of  a  Major  General , born  in  India.  In  1848  he  suffered  severe  sunstroke   which  affected  him  for  the  rest  of  his  life. He  followed  his  father  into  the  army  and  was  a  lieutenant  in  the  10th  Regiment  of  Foot  during  the  Indian  Mutiny. At  Cawnpore  he  won  the  Victoria  Cross  by  leading  a  suicidal  but  successful  advance  to  take  an  enemy  gun. A  few  weeks  later  he  was  badly  wounded  during  the  siege  of  Lucknow. He  was  created  a  baronet  in  1858.  He  was  promoted  to  Major  in  1864  after  service  in  New  Zealand. He  became  a  colonel  in  1868. He  acted  as  a  war  correspondent  in  the  Franco-Prussian  War. He contested  a  by-election  at  Stroud  early  in  1974.

After  being  elected  Henry  acted  as  a  war   correspondent  in  the  Russo-Turkish  War  of  1877. He  became  a  major-general  the  following  year.  He  was  a  frequent  speaker  in  the  House  on  military  matters  and  eventually  became  chairman  of  the  parliamentary  naval  and  military  service  committee

In  1881 he  resigned  his  seat  to  take  charge  of  an  infantry  brigade  at  Aldershot  but  at  the  end  of  year  he  was  retired  on  health  grounds  with  the  rank  of  lieutenant-colonel.  The  following   year  he  told  his  wife  he  was  going  to  the  Riviera  but  in  fact  made  his  way  to  Ismailia  in  Egypt  to  take  part  in  the  Anglo-Egyptian  conflict. The  British  commander  Sir  Garnet  Wolseley  wrote  to  his  wife  "Havelock  is  still  here  as  mad  as  ever... I  am  extremely  sorry  for  him , and  feel  for  him  very  much, but  still  feel  that  he  can  never  be  employed  again : he  is  not  sane  enough  to  argue  with ".

Henry  re-entered  Parliament  in  1885  though  the  Earl  of  Durham  thought  that  he  was  insane. He  sided  with  the  Liberal  Unionists  in  1886  and  held  his  seat  until  defeated  in  1892  when  the  Liberal  Unionists  suffered  heavy  losses  in  the  region. Henry  was  taking  every  comment  from  his  colleagues  in  Parliament  as  an  insult. In  1890  he  threatened  to  leave  and  told  the  party  that  he  could  "decide  the  fate  of  Liberal  Unionism  in  Durham  and  Northumberland".

 He  reversed  the  result  in  1895. He  also  resumed  his  military  career  as  colonel  of  the  Royal  Irish  Regiment  in  India.

Henry  was  killed  by  an  Afridi  sniper  at  the  Khyber  Pass  in  1897. The  man  was  aiming  at  his  horse  to  capture  him  for  ransom  but  the  bullet  severed  the  artery  in  his  leg  and  he  bled  to  death. He  was  67.