Edward James Seppings was born in India on 26 May 1826. He was the son of John Milligan Seppings and Marianne Matthews. He joined the 11th Bengal Light Cavalry c1845, which was the reconstituted 2nd Light Cavalry and re-named 2nd BLC in 1850.
Captain Seppings was murdered by mutineers at Cawnpore on 27th June 1857. His wife, Jessie (neé Turnbull), and their 3 infant sons were also murdered on 15 July 1857. Seppings and his family suffered in the siege of Cawnpore after the mutiny broke out on 4 June 1857. They negotiated a safe passage down the Ganges but the mutineers fired on the boat. He and his wife were wounded and taken back to Cawnpore where the men and women were separated. Captain Seppings (known to fellow officers as Padre) read prayers as the men were executed by firing squad on 27 June. Those who did not die of shot wounds were finished off with the sword. His family were kept in horrendous conditions for three weeks, but as the relief force approached they were butchered and thrown down a well in the presence of a large crowd. It is believed that the children, aged 5, 2 and newborn, were alive when they were thrown down the well.
