'Kotah after the assault, one of the street barricades - I make acquaintance with the "Romance of War"', 1858

Pen and ink and watercolour sketch by John North Crealock (1836-1895), 95th (Derbyshire) Regiment of Foot, 1858, from 'Vol. VIII, Central India 1858 with the 95th Reg J N Crealock 1858 India', a sketchbook of watercolours, pen and ink and pencil drawings.

Crealock, mounted on a horse, surveys the harrowing scenes inside a stormed town in India during the Indian Mutiny (1857-1857).

The fortified town of of Kotah (now Kota in Rajasthan) on the River Chambal was besieged by the British in 1858 during the Indian Mutiny (1857-1859). The rebels put up a stiff resistance and the besiegers suffered terribly from the intense heat but Kotah was eventually taken by storm and comprehensively looted.

J N Crealock was an accomplished artist and diarist who served in some of the key conflicts of the Victorian period. He was born in Devon in 1836 and educated at Rugby School. With a purchased commission he joined the 95th (Derbyshire) Regiment of Foot in 1854 and attended the musketry school at Hythe in Kent.

Crealock was posted with the 95th to South Africa in 1857 but the regiment was redirected to India where a mutiny in the Bengal Army was swiftly spreading across the country. Once in India the 95th formed part of the Rajputana Field Force, sent into action to counter rebel forces around Gwalior. The 95th marched 3,000 miles across central India, helping to capture Gwalior, Kotah, Pouree and Rowa. Crealock was Mentioned in Despatches three times and wounded in action.

Crealock served as Inspector of Musketry in Bombay from 1860 to 1862 and was Aide-de-Camp to Lieutenant General William Rose Mansfield from 1862-1864. He remained in India until 1869, attending staff college, following which he served in Ireland, again as Aide-de-Camp to Mansfield. After a period at Aldershot Crealock was posted to South Africa, serving in the 9th Cape Frontier War (1877-1878) and the Zulu War (1879), as Military Secretary the Lord Chelmsford. Crealock went on to serve in Egypt and Burma.