Lucknow Residency

"The Relief of Lucknow (Jessie's Dream)"

'On December 10th 1857 a curious report appeared in the Jersey Times. The report pertained to the events in far away Lucknow, India. The report told of a highland lass, Jessie Brown. The fiancée or wife of a subaltern, she had indefatigably cared for and cheered the beleaguered British contingent in Lucknow throughout the tortuous summer.

Her ministrations and her good cheer had kept the men fighting even when despair seemed normal. All this however, was simply background. What the report focused on was a dream Jessie had had. It was a dream that saved the British in Lucknow.

It was in this uncertain light of battle that readers of the Jersey Times first read of Jessie’s dream. It was reported that in the final days of the siege, exhausted from the months of toil and poor food, Jessie Brown had finally fallen victim to a vicious fever.

Her illness sapped the British morale even further and the fighters began to give into despair and contemplate surrendering to the Hindustanis. Yet, just as they were about to act on their despair, Jessie screamed out “Dinna ‘ye hear it?” The surprised soldiers hadn’t heard anything and were surprised. But in her fevered delirium Jessie continued to insist that she had heard bagpipes.

Though none else heard it, the troops took heart and decided to continue fighting. The next day, Havelock led the 78th Highlanders into Lucknow and relieved the siege. Had it not been for Jessie’s miraculous premonitory dream, the British would have given up and Havelock’s efforts would have been in vain.'

Artist - Frederick Trevelyan Goodall, 1858.