JOANNA LUMLEY, OBE, FRGS
(Born Kashmir, 1946)
Ancestors of Actress
Joanna Lumley
From The Telegraph
By Nick Barratt, 3rd August
2007, in Telegraph Family History
How you think of Joanna Lumley depends
on which generation you belong to - and which of her many roles in television
and film you remember, from her first appearance as Purdy in The New Avengers
in the 1970s, to Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous throughout the 1990s and early
2000s, to her recent role in Sensitive Skin.
In fact, her acting career spans
nearly 40 years, including a brief appearance as a Bond girl in On Her
Majesty's Secret Service. Perhaps her most telling film, however, remains In
the Kingdom of the Thunder Dragon, filmed in 1996, which recounted a journey
made by her grandparents in Bhutan. This reflected a more than a passing interest
in her ancestors, as Lumley's background reveals.
Who is she related to?
Joanna Lamond
Lumley was born in 1946 in Kashmir, the daughter of Major James Rutherford
Lumley, who was serving in the 6th Gurkha Rifles. He had previously married
Thya Rose Weir in 1941, during the Second World War, and after Indian
independence in 1949 Major Lumley brought his family back to Britain to settle down to provincial life in Kent.
The contrast must have been striking
indeed - the family had to leave behind the stunning mountains, clear air,
intensely hot summers and bitterly cold winters of Kashmir, with the relative
luxury and colonial trappings that an important military family might enjoy
even during the last days of the British Raj.
What would have made the change even
harder to acclimatise to, was the fact that four previous generations of
Lumleys had served and fought in India, and although they had on occasion
returned to England, India would have been considered the family's home.
Indeed, both sides of Joanna's family
hailed from the Indian subcontinent. Her mother was the daughter of Lieutenant
Colonel James Leslie Weir, whose distinguished career embraced service in the
Indian Army, a stint in the political department of the colonial government and
various commercial activities.
In many ways, he was merely following
in his father's footsteps - Patrick Alexander Weir was a surgeon in the Indian
Medical Service, who took part in the Second Afghan War (1878-1880) and later
became an opium agent in Ghazipur in the United Province of India. Not all the
Lumley family were involved with the military, however. James Rutherford
Lumley's father, Charles Chester Lumley, was born in 1876 in Chelmsford. His
father, William Faithful Lumley, had returned to England to work in the Church
and became a curate in Stamford, Lincolnshire. He later moved his family south
to Chelmsford, where he became the chaplain at Springfield Prison.
But the call of India proved
irresistible for Charles and he eventually found work as an agent for the Bank
of Bengal, re-joining other members of his family who had stayed out there. His
grandfather, James Rutherford Lumley, was born in Fort William, Calcutta - the
main British military base in Bengal - on October 27, 1810, the son of James
Rutherford Lumley senior, who eventually rose to become Major General Adjutant
General of the East India Company's army in 1833 and was listed as the sixth
most senior officer in the Bengal Almanac of 1837.
By this date the elder James Lumley
had fought in the 2nd Maratha War (1803-1805) in which Arthur Wellesley led the
British forces - this was before he earned the title Duke of Wellington - and
the Third Maratha War (1817-1818). His son was employed in the service of the
East India Company with no less distinction, serving under his father as
Assistant Adjutant-General and taking part in the First Sikh War (1845-1846).
It is perhaps ironic, given the martial career of James Rutherford Lumley
senior, to find that his father, James Lumley, was actually a man of the cloth,
the rector of Barnwell, Northamptonshire - the career chosen by Joanna's
great-grandfather William Faithful Lumley on his return to England.
In many ways, Joanna's family tree
epitomises the essence of the British Empire: civilised and peace-loving
domestically, yet quite prepared to take up arms to defend or acquire
possessions overseas.
When Patsy met the Dalai Lama: Joanna
Lumley's Road to Enlightenment
The Times, UK [Thursday, 20th May
2004]
By Kate Saunders
It is a hot and dusty afternoon, and
tempers are frayed at the Foreigners Booking Office in New Delhi railway
station. My travelling companion, British actress Joanna Lumley, and I have
left our passports in the hotel - a bone-jolting hour's auto-rickshaw ride away
- and are told that it is impossible to buy tickets for our train as a result.
The bespectacled booking clerk, sitting amidst teetering stacks of brown files
under a whirring fan covered in grime, is unmoved until Joanna takes off her
sunglasses, fixes him with a cool gaze, and breathes, 'Sir, we are so terribly
sorry - is there ANYTHING you can do?' The apology is conveyed in a tone of
such rapturous intimacy that the clerk is immediately spell-bound. He foregoes
bureaucratic procedure to sign a chit to the effect that 'Ms Lumley will be
carrying her passport with her on the train' and issues our tickets.
For Joanna Lumley, former model and
Britain's best-loved comedy actress, our train that night through the Punjab
and into the foothills of the Himalayas is the beginning of a journey to
rediscover her Indian roots - 58-year old Joanna was born in Srinagar, Kashmir.
Our trip to Dharamsala in Himachal Pradesh, a small town nestling amid pine
forests in the shadow of the snow peaks, is also the fulfilment of a long-held
dream for Joanna, because she is meeting the man known as a 'God-King' and
revered by millions all over the world - the Tibetan spiritual leader, the
Dalai Lama.
Joanna, who is best known as the
outrageous, champagne-quaffing Patsy in the hit sit-com Absolutely Fabulous as
well as numerous film and TV roles in a career that spans more than 30 years,
uses the profile gained through her fame and fees from her acting to support
more than 40 different charities. But she is particularly passionate about the
Tibetan cause. She explains: 'My grandfather, Captain Leslie Weir, worked for
the British government at the time of the Raj in the Kingdom of Sikkim in the
Himalayas, and was close personal friends with the last Dalai Lama, the 13th.
He spoke Tibetan and studied Buddhism.' Joanna's Stockwell home is adorned by
water-colour scenes of Tibet, including the Dalai Lama's former home the Potala
Palace, painted by her grandmother, who accompanied her husband on his many
trips to Tibet, and were among the first Western visitors to the 'Forbidden
City' of Lhasa.
Joanna says: 'When I was growing up,
our family home was always full of oriental artefacts from tea-cups to thangkas
(Tibetan religious paintings) and Buddhas of every kind. So Buddhism to me is
not exotic, but deeply familiar. There was always a sense during my childhood
that Tibet was a very special place, and that our family had a very special
relationship with the Tibetan people. This is one of the reasons why I have
always dreamed of meeting the Dalai Lama - and of presenting him with a very
special gift from my family.'
Joanna, whose new autobiography will
be published in October, has drawn upon the spiritual teachings of the Dalai
Lama to help her find a balance in her life amid conflicting demands from her
celebrity, acting roles, charity work and family.
She says: 'I think the Dalai Lama is a
hero simply because he emphasises the most essential teaching of Buddhism,
which is to be kind, and that is rather an unfashionable subject for world
leaders or other religious figures to talk about these days.'
It is a message that Joanna has
clearly taken to heart. Ab Fab's Patsy doesn't care about anything - but the
actress Joanna Lumley cares about everything, from the plight of pack mules in
Egypt and the state of the earth's environment to the anger of a homeless
alcoholic in her local newsagents in south London a few weeks ago. ("I
told him, I'll buy you a packet of fags, but you have to stop being so rude! Of
course, I didn't buy him Gitanes, just Benson & Hedges.")
As our taxi rattles up the steep dusty
roads, lined with eucalyptus and past stalls selling water-melons, brown
settees, and Ambassador Whisky, Joanna talks about her childhood in the Far
East. Her father, Captain James Lumley, was born in Lahore and served on the
North-Western Frontier as a Gurkha officer. Soon after Joanna was born in
India, the family moved to Malaya, which was then at the height of a civil war
in which communist guerrillas were attempting to drive out the British. She
remembers her father disappearing for months into the jungle with his Gurkha
troops and returning, much thinner, and with a long beard. Joanna continued her
education at a school in Hong Kong before being transferred to a convent school
in Sussex together with her sister.
She says: 'I don't remember India as I
was so small when we left. But generations of my family have served in the
Indian Army - my great-great-grandfather joined the regiment here in 1796. So I
have a deep connection to India. Everything seems familiar here; the dogs
barking at night, the sound of crickets in the garden, a cold glass of nimbu
pani (lemonade), the temple bells. I used to be so uninterested in my family
history. But I think as you get older you begin to care more. These days I find
myself looking more and more through my grandparents' letters and poring over
maps, and reading about the period to see how it was and how it would have
been.'
Joanna's interest in her ancestry
coincides with a new generation in her family - she has just become a
grandmother to baby Alice, the daughter of her photographer son James, who she
brought up as a single mother, and his girlfriend Tessa. 'I babysit whenever I
can,' she says. 'Being a grand-mum is an immense privilege.'
On our arrival in Dharamsala, the base of
the Tibetan government in exile and home to approximately 20,000 Tibetan
refugees, the Dalai Lama gives permission for us to attend a rare audience with
Tibetans who have recently arrived in India. His private secretary, Tenzin
Taklha, takes Joanna and I, to the Dalai Lama's private quarters, where about
60 Tibetans are clustered at the spiritual leader's feet and on the steps
leading to his rooms beyond a small sunlit courtyard full of orange and yellow
flowers. There are red-cheeked children in torn jeans and tee-shirts, Tibetan
grandmothers in dusty chubas, crouched low to the ground and clutching their
rosary beads, sturdy nomads with braided hair and turquoise necklaces.
Approximately 2-3000 Tibetans make the perilous journey across the Himalayas
each year to escape from the repression of Chinese rule in their homeland and
to be in the presence of the Dalai Lama, whom they regard as the reincarnation
of the Buddha of Compassion.
The Dalai Lama tells the Tibetans to
make the most of their opportunity in exile to learn about the Tibetan Buddhist
religion they are not allowed to practise freely in their homeland. When he
finishes speaking, there is silence, but for the muffled sobs of many of the
Tibetans overwhelmed to be in the presence of the spiritual leader who has
become such a potent symbol of Tibetan identity and hope over despair. 'I hear
there is a former political prisoner among you,' the Dalai Lama says quietly. A
slight, slim young girl with long black hair, dressed in shabby trousers and a
blue hooded top, stands up, sobbing so hard she can barely speak. 'You have
done something for your people, you have been brave,' the Dalai Lama tells her.
They are words that the young girl, a 29-year old nun called Damchoe, who was
sentenced to six years in one of Tibet's most notorious prisons simply for
shouting 'Long live the Dalai Lama!' in Tibet, will never forget.
Later Joanna and I visit a transit
centre run by the Tibetan government in exile to provide temporary shelter and
food for Tibetans who arrive in exile. Joanna is immediately surrounded by
small Tibetan children in a cramped, shabby dormitory, where mattresses are
laid out on the floor and the sole possessions of the refugees are stored in
paper bags and plastic suitcases somehow carried across the most forbidding
mountain ranges in the world. Joanna talks to a young Tibetan boy who is curled
up in a corner, studying English letters in a tattered notebook. Eighteen-year
old Gyaltsen was caught on his first attempt to escape from Tibet and
imprisoned. He was beaten and tortured and forced to carry out hard labour.
After he was released, he risked further imprisonment by making the long
journey into exile again - determined to join his parents, who had arrived in
safety in India.
Despite his bleak surroundings,
Gyaltsen looks immaculate in a smart, buttoned-up grey waistcoat and pressed
trousers. He tells Joanna: 'Living in Tibet is like being in a very dark room,
with just a glimmering of light that is the possibility of escape to India. I
had to walk towards that light.' Joanna is moved by his maturity and
determination to make something of his life. While meeting the Dalai Lama is a
spiritual and personal quest for Joanna, she is beginning to learn about the political
realities of life in Tibet.
On the day of our meeting with Tibet's
revered leader in exile, Joanna is nervous. She is wearing a patterned blue
silk traditional Tibetan chuba, held together with a safety pin, and with a
striped apron meaning, she is a married woman. 'He's a living God and a Buddha
and a political leader. There is no one else of his stature worldwide. I feel
very privileged that he's agreed to meet me, particularly because I'm not a
Tibetan, nor a Buddhist, nor an exile.' She adds: 'I've brought him some socks,
for his visit to Britain at the end of May. He'll be teaching in Scotland and I
thought they would be protection against the midges - they are burgundy, which
is a respectful colour for a monk, isn't it?'
But Joanna has another more
significant gift when we are ushered into a simple reception room adorned with
religious paintings and a gold Buddha at a shrine, and into the presence of the
Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, whose name means 'Ocean of Wisdom' in Mongolian. The
Dalai Lama gestures for us to sit on a comfy settee, and Joanna places a
package wrapped in maroon patterned cloth on the table before him. She
explains: 'Your Holiness, this is a gift given to my grandfather by the 13th
Dalai Lama, your last incarnation. The present was given to thank my
grandfather for his advice on how to help Tibet defend itself against China. My
grandfather would have been so sad about the Chinese invasion of Tibet in 1949
- and so angry that the British didn't speak out against it, despite the close
relationship between the two countries.'
The Dalai Lama carefully unwraps the
gift, a set of handwritten scriptures on fragile parchment encased by two
wood-blocks. He calls for one of the monks, and says something in Tibetan. The
monk soon returns with another set of scriptures, which the Dalai Lama presents
to Joanna. 'I will accept your gift,' he tells her. 'But in return, I want to
give you a present. These are ancient texts on Buddhism that I would like to
present to you in honour of your forefathers and your parents.' He sits back
and laughs, a deep, familiar laugh, bubbling with joy. Joanna clasps her hands
in delight, and tells him: 'My mother will be overjoyed. It was so important
to her that I gave this gift. It is like closing a circle. I'll always remember
this moment.'
The Dalai Lama may be regarded by
millions as a divine being, but he is no ethereal figure. He has the energy and
build of a man much younger than his 68 years. As he and Joanna talk, about
Joanna's family, the Dalai Lama's hopes for the future, politics and religion,
they laugh uproariously. When he takes her hand to lead her across the room for
a photograph, his grip is surprisingly strong. When we leave, he clasps his
hands together in the traditional Tibetan greeting before presenting Joanna with
a white silk Tibetan scarf, a gesture of respect. 'See you again,' he says
seriously.
As Joanna stands quietly in the
courtyard to collect her thoughts, the next VIP guest arrives - a tiny,
white-haired English woman clutching a vase of yellow flowers, which she gives
to the Dalai Lama, telling him that she picked them this morning. He engulfs
her in a bear hug. Later, we see the old lady, who wears a Tibetan chuba,
slowly making her way up the steep path home, past the jewellery stands run by
exiled Tibetan nomads and the Indian shops selling spices and Seven Up.
Over dahl (lentils) and rice in a
simple local restaurant, Joanna says: 'This was a momentous meeting for me. I
never dreamed that it would happen. The Dalai Lama has such a weight of
responsibility, such dignity, and yet such lightness and such joy. In the face
of this, everything about my life in London seems unreal. I would give up my
job if I could to do something for Tibet, for the sake of my grandfather's
love of the country. This is what is real. Acting has always been something I
do; it's not what I am. So much of celebrity is about illusion.
'You know, you think that when you get
older you will have your life sorted out, but that's not been my experience.
You have commitments - I have Stevie (her husband, Stephen Barlow, the
orchestral conductor and composer), who I love more than life itself, my mother
Beatrice, who is in her eighties, my son, my grand-daughter. I'm lucky enough
to have earned enough money not to be under financial pressure, and I turn down
most roles I am offered - sometimes I don't even read the scripts. But there
never seems to be enough time to think, to pause, to stand still, because of
the life we get caught up in. Being here, and meeting His Holiness, puts life
in perspective.'
Joanna and I decide to find Damchoe,
the young nun singled out by the Dalai Lama for her courage. A Tibetan friend
takes us to the small Tibetan-run Gu Chu Sum organisation that provides welfare
for former political prisoners, where she is staying. We sit in the sunshine
with cups of tea and Damchoe joins us. She tells us that she was imprisoned
when she was in her early twenties for peaceful political protest. At Drapchi
prison in Lhasa, as punishment for refusing to sing Chinese national songs, she
and other nuns were forced to stand underneath the burning summer sun all day,
for days. She tells us: 'We all became very weak but the guards would kick us
if we fell to the ground. I suffered from terrible headaches; it was like
someone pushing needles into my head. After one day of standing motionless, I
had a high fever and fell to the ground unconscious. Later I was taken to be
interrogated and tortured with electric batons. A light sparked from the baton
and it felt as if all my inner organs, my heart, lungs and liver, were being
chopped up.' Because she refused to agree that Tibet would never be free,
Damchoe was put in a solitary confinement cell for several months. She was
given one meal of rice with half-cooked vegetables per day and no water. The
cell was pitch-black, and she was not allowed any visitors. 'My family thought
that I had died and they performed the appropriate rituals like the offering of
butter-lamps for me,' Damchoe tells Joanna.
Joanna asks her, 'In prison, did any
of the guards, ever, show you any kindness or sympathy?' The young nun, who has
only just arrived in exile after leaving her family in Tibet, is shy,
overwhelmed with sadness, and can scarcely meet Joanna's eyes as she suddenly
realises the truth of what she is about to say. 'No,' she tells Joanna,
'Never.' When Joanna suddenly and impulsively clutches both her hands in hers,
Damchoe looks up at her and beams, with a sudden flicker of joy at such
spontaneous and unaccustomed human warmth.
I tell Damchoe that Joanna is a
well-known actress in the UK and that she has devoted a lot of her time to the
Tibetan cause. Joanna's eyes are full of tears. 'But compared to this woman,'
she says quietly, 'I am nothing.' Damchoe disagrees. Through our translator,
she says: 'Please tell her that even though she has everything and is happy in
her life, she has travelled a long way to listen to our stories and to share
her own. That is really something.
Joanna Lumley Leads Gurkha Justice Campaign
Joanna Lumley's leadership of the campaign for Gurkha
rights was prompted by an appeal from Gurkha Justice Campaigner Peter Carroll, who was aware of her family links to the
well-known fighting regiment. Joanna's father, Major James Rutherford Lumley,
was a senior army officer with a Gurkha Regiment in India up to the time of
Indian independence in 1947. Lumley is one of Britain's best-loved figureheads
and her no-nonsense attitude appeals to men and women alike. Fronting the
Gurkha Justice Campaign allowed Joanna to pay back her family debt to the
Gurkhas. Gurkha soldier, Tul Bahadur Pun saved her father's life during World
War II.
The Gurkha Regiments have fought for the British for
nearly 200 years and over 50,000 Gurkha soldiers have been killed while
serving. Joanna Lumley breathed life into the Gurkha Justice Campaign with her
outspoken comments on retired Gurkha rights to live in the United Kingdom.
It
is unsurprising that Joanna Lumley has such affection for the Gurkhas, India
and the East as she was born in Srinagar, Kashmir in May 1946. Her family have
strong links with the Middle East and the Far East, and her grandfather was a
prominent banker in India. The link to India was so strong that Lumley has
stated that her parents "often conversed in Hindustani".
After
India gained independence, Joanna's family moved to Hong Kong and Malaya.
Joanna's memories of Asia are tinged with love and respect for the country and
people and she obviously absorbed a great deal from her upbringing. To Lumley, the East was a magical and happy place with "hot dusty roads, monsoons,
flowers that blossom and die in a night, trees that grow four feet in a
week". Joanna seems to have taken on board much of the Hindu reverence for
animals herself. Her mother taught her that "every living creature
deserves love and respect and that belief is at the centre of Joanna's
philosophy".
Joanna Lumley was eight years old when she left the East
and the family relocated to Britain. She freely admits that she spent her
formative years in the Far East and states: "Once your senses have been
exposed to the Far East you yearn for the night noise of the Tropics".
Joanna Lumley's leadership of the Gurkha Justice Campaign
helped publicise the plight of many of the Gurkhas who had fought for Britain
prior to 1997 and were denied any right to live in the United Kingdom. She
stated that the Gurkhas had suffered a great wrong and that refusal to allow
former members of Gurkha regiments to settle in Britain was "a national
shame that has stained us all". Within a few weeks of launching an online
petition, 250,000 people had pledged support for the Gurkhas. On 21 May 2009
the British Government announced that all Gurkhas who had served four years or
more in the British Army would be allowed to settle in Britain.
Actress
Joanna Lumley photographed with former Lieutenant Tul Bahadur Pun, VC.
They are among hundreds who are fighting for Gurkhas who retired
before 1997 to be allowed to live on in Britain.
Joanna Lumley is patron and supporter of a number of
charities, including Tree Aid and Venture Trust Nepal. On a visit to Nepal in
July 2009, she was cheered and labelled a "Daughter of Nepal" by fans
and Gurkha supporters at the airport.
Sources: T
Ewbank and S Hildred, Joanna Lumley, ISBN 978-0-233-00290-3; Gurkha
Justice Organisation; IMDb: the Internet Movie
Database.
Major James Rutherford Lumley, MC
With
his floppy hat pulled down over his eyes, wearing only a thin vest and with a
rifle in the crook of his right arm, Major James Lumley looks as though he has
been through a living hell. The battle for Mogaung in northern Burma in June
1944 was one of the fiercest and most brutal in the entire campaign against the
Japanese in the Far East during World War II. The Major - father of
actress Joanna Lumley - had been in the thick of the fighting.
Courage:
Major James Lumley (right) in the jungle in 1944, where he fought in the battle
for Mogaung. The men of 3rd Battalion of the 6th Gurkha Rifles
fought in the ferocious heat and stifling humidity after marching more than 160
miles through the almost impenetrable jungle. The battle was to cost more than 100
lives, and see two men awarded the Victoria Cross for their quite exceptional bravery.
It is the battle that Gurkhas now fighting to live in
Britain after their retirement look back on with most pride when they remember
their contribution to General Slim's 14th Army in Burma between 1942 and 1945.
One of Mogaung's veterans, Rifleman Tul Bahadur Pun, 87, was among hundreds of
Gurkhas who gathered outside the High Court in London to fight their
cause. Pun has himself been awarded a settlement visa, but only after a
high-profile campaign - and his case is an exception. And supporting him was
the 62-year-old Absolutely Fabulous star Lumley, who simply described him as a
hero.
Rifleman
Pun was awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions in June 1944, as was his
company commander Captain Michael Allmand, who paid for his bravery with his
life in the sweltering paddy fields around Mogaung, protected by 5,000 Japanese
soldiers. But Joanna Lumley's father was a hero, too, along with every single
man who fought for three days and nights to capture that vital town not far
from the Indian border.
It was early in May in 1944 when the 3rd Battalion set
out from their base to march through dense tropical jungle commanded by
Lieutenant Colonel Freddie Shaw, with Major 'Jimmy' Lumley as his
second-in-command. Some of these men were the famous 'Chindits', who prided
themselves on being mavericks and well capable of taking on the Japanese in
their own jungles. They wore scruffy vests and sported the famous wide-brimmed
hats that Gurkhas still wear today.
Major
James Lumley in smarter attire
The Gurkhas had been ordered north to bring pressure on
the Japanese fighting U.S. forces - but the monsoon had broken, and the march
took a terrible toll as they cut their way through the jungle with their kukri
knives. Not only did they have to fight off a string of attacks from Japanese
soldiers, intent on ambushing them, but they were also stricken by every kind
of tropical disease. As the regimental history puts it: “Conditions were
appalling, malaria and typhus were rife.” By the end of May, when the
Gurkhas were within ten miles of Mogaung, they were ordered to 'take' the town.
The original fighting force of 3,500 men that had left
their camp had been reduced to just 550 - and just 230 surviving Gurkhas were
fit to fight. What is more, intelligence from the 14th Army suggested the town
was held by approximately 4,000 Japanese soldiers. The Gurkhas reached the
outskirts of Mogaung on June 9, and two days later Capt. Michael Allmand led
his platoon in an attack on the vital Pin Hmi road bridge - about a
quarter of a mile east of the town's railway station - and the
route to the strategically important Red House, where the Japanese had their
headquarters. It was no easy task. The approach to the bridge was very
narrow as the road was banked up - and the low-lying land on either side was
swampy and covered in jungle. To make matters worse, the Japanese were dug in
along the banks of the road, and in the jungle with machine-guns and rifles.
As Allmand's platoon came within 20 yards of the bridge,
the enemy opened heavy and accurate fire, inflicting severe casualties and
forcing his men to seek cover. Undeterred, Allmand charged on, hurling grenades
at the enemy and killing three Japanese with his kukri. Inspired by their
platoon commander, his surviving men captured the bridge. Two days later,
Allmand led another assault further along the road into Mogaung. This time he
dashed 30 yards through marshy ground in spite of intense Japanese machine-gun
fire, killing a number of enemy gunners and then leading his men on to the
ridge of high ground on the edge of town. Heroic though Capt. Allmand was in
those battles, it was, nevertheless, the final attack on the town nearly two
weeks later, on June 23, that was to become the stuff of legend.
By this time Allmand was suffering from trench foot,
which made it difficult for him to walk. But even so, he moved forward alone
through deep mud and shell holes to charge a Japanese machine-gun nest
single-handed. Tragically, he was wounded as he did so and died that night.
Allmand was awarded a posthumous Victoria Cross for his actions.
The citation said: "Captain Allmand was commanding the leading platoon of a
Company of the 6th Gurkha Rifles in Burma on 11th June, 1944, when the
Battalion was ordered to attack the Pin Hmi Road Bridge. The enemy had already
succeeded in holding up our advance at this point for twenty-four hours. The
approach to the bridge was very narrow as the road was banked up and the
low-lying land on either side was swampy and densely covered in jungle. The
Japanese, who were dug in along the banks of the road and in the jungle with
machine guns and small arms, were putting up the most desperate resistance. As
the platoon come within twenty yards of the Bridge, the enemy opened heavy and
accurate fire, inflicting severe casualties and forcing the men to seek cover.
Captain Allmand, however, with the utmost gallantry charged on by himself,
hurling grenades into the enemy gun positions and killing three Japanese
himself with his kukrie.
Inspired by the splendid example of their
platoon commander the surviving men followed him and captured their objective.
Two days later Captain Allmand, owing to casualties among the officers, took
over command of the Company and, dashing thirty yards ahead of it through long
grass and marshy ground, swept by machine-gun fire, personally killed a number
of enemy machine gunners and successfully led his men onto the ridge of high
ground that they had been ordered to seize. Once again on June 23rd in the final attack on the Railway Bridge at Mogaung, Captain Allmand, although
suffering from trench-foot, which made it difficult for him to walk, moved
forward alone through deep mud and shell-holes and charged a Japanese machine
gun nest single-handed, but he was mortally wounded and died shortly
afterwards.
The superb gallantry, outstanding leadership and protracted
heroism of this very brave officer were a wonderful example to the whole
Battalion and in the highest traditions of his regiment."
But Allmand's was not the only Victoria Cross that day,
for his bravery inspired the men around him. Just before dawn on that fatal
June day, as Allmand was fighting on another part of the battlefield,
21-year-old Rifleman Pun was a member of one of two platoons ordered to attack
the Red House itself. As they did so, they encountered a ferocious Japanese
attack. The crossfire massacred the two platoons. Only Pun, his section
commander and one other man were left alive. The section commander immediately
led them in a charge on the Red House but he was badly wounded almost
immediately after getting to his feet. Unflinching, Rifleman Pun and his
remaining companion continued the charge, although his companion, too, was
wounded within seconds. Pun seized his companion's Bren gun, and - firing from
the hip - charged on the heavily protected Red House alone, in the face of what
the regimental history later described as: 'The most shattering concentration
of automatic fire directed straight at him.'
With
the sun coming up behind him, making him a perfect target for the enemy, he ran
across more than 30 yards of open ground, often ankle-deep in mud, running
through shell holes and jumping over fallen trees. But he still managed to
reach the Red House and take on the Japanese soldiers inside. Pun killed three
of them, put five more to flight and captured two light machine-guns and a
great deal of ammunition. Still not finished, he proceeded to give accurate
supporting fire from the bunker to the men of the 3/6th Gurkhas who had been
following behind. It was an act of such exceptional bravery that it was
to win him the second Victoria Cross awarded that day.
War Office, 9th November, 1944
The KING has been graciously pleased to approve the award of the
VICTORIA CROSS to: — No. 10119 Rifleman
Tulbahadur Pun, 6th Gurkha Rifles, Indian Army.
In Burma on
June 23rd, 1944, a Battalion - of the i6th Gurkha Rifles was ordered to attack
the Railway Bridge at Mogaung. Immediately, the attack developed the enemy
opened concentrated and sustained crossfire at close range from a position
known as the Red House and from a strong bunker position two hundred yards to
the left of it. So intense was this crossfire that both the leading platoons
of " B " Company, one of which was Rifleman Tulbahadur Pun's, were
pinned to the ground and the whole of his Section was wiped out with the
exception of himself, the Section Commander and one 6ther man. The Section
Commander immediately led the remaining two men in a charge on the Red House
but was at once badly wounded. Rifleman Tulbahadur Pun and his remaining
companion continued the charge, but the latter too was immediately badly
wounded. Rifleman Tulbahadur Pun then seized the Bren Gun and firing from the
hip as he went, continued the charge on this heavily bunkered position alone,
in the face of the most shattering concentration of automatic fire, directed
straight at him. With the dawn coming up behind him, he presented a perfect
target to the Japanese. He had to move for thirty yards over open ground, ankle-deep in mud, -through shell holes and over fallen trees. Despite these
overwhelming odds, he reached the Red House and closed with the Japanese
occupants. He killed three and put five more to flight and captured two light
machine guns and much ammunition. He then gave accurate supporting fire from
the bunker to the remainder of his platoon which enabled them to reach their
objective. His outstanding courage and superb gallantry in the face of odds
which meant almost certain death were most inspiring to all ranks and were
beyond praise.
— Supplement
to the London Gazette, 7 November 1944 (dated 9 November 1944)
But it wasn't the end of the fighting in Mogaung. The
fierce battle for the town continued for the rest of the day, coming to an end
only shortly after dusk. The following morning, a cautious advance into the
town found the Japanese had abandoned it. It was the first main town in Burma
to be recaptured by the British, but it came at a terrible price. Some 126
British and Gurkha officers and men lost their lives, with a further seven
missing and never accounted for. It also saw the award of three Military
Crosses, two Distinguished Service Orders, and 12 Military Medals. The Gurkhas
stayed on in Mogaung as a garrison until July 5, before marching a further 50
miles to a safe jungle airstrip, to be flown back to India. But while they were
there, they took the opportunity of hoisting the Union Jack on a large pagoda -
the most prominent building left standing.
The battle took its toll on every man who survived, as is
so evident from that single, haunting photograph of Major Jimmy Lumley standing
in the ruins of the town talking to Lt Col Freddie Shaw and their legendary
commanding officer, Brigadier 'Mad Mike' Calvert of the Chindits.
Small
wonder then that Lumley's daughter Joanna should say this week of Rifleman Pun,
who fought alongside her father: 'Ever since I was a small child this man has
been my hero.'
The memory of the battle for Mogaung was to remain with
Major Lumley throughout his life, and he was present when the Viceroy of India,
Field Marshal Lord Wavell awarded the Victoria Cross to his friend Pun in a
ceremony in Delhi, India, in March 1945. The following year, Joanna Lumley was
born in Kashmir, while her father was still serving with the Gurkhas. He'd
married Thya Rose Weir in 1941, also the daughter of an Army officer, in 1941,
but after Indian independence in 1947, the Major brought his family back to
Britain to settle down in Kent. It's hardly a surprise, therefore, that Joanna
Lumley insists that her late father, who died in the late Eighties, would have
been 'overwhelmed with shame and fury' at the Gurkhas' treatment at the hands of
the British Government in denying those who retired before 1997 the right to
settle in this country.
Author’s Note: Lieutenant Tul Bahadur Pun, VC,
passed on at Myagdi, in Nepal, on 20th April 2011.