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{{short description|VC recipient and engineer}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Infobox military person
|name= James John McLeod Innes
|honorific_suffix=
|birth_date={{birth date|df=y|1830|2|5}}
|death_date={{death date and age|df=y|1907|12|13|1830|2|5}}
|birth_place=[[Bhagalpur]], British India
|death_place=[[Cambridge]], England
|placeofburial=[[Cambridge City Cemetery]], Cambridge
|image=VCJamesJohnMcLeodInnes.jpg
|image_size=175
|caption=
|nickname=
|allegiance={{flag|United Kingdom}}
|serviceyears=
|rank=[[Lieutenant General]]
|branch=
{{plainlist|
*[[Bengal Army]]
*{{army|United Kingdom}}
}}
|commands=
|unit=
{{plainlist|
*[[Bengal Engineers]]
*[[Royal Engineers]]
}}
|battles=[[Indian Mutiny]]
|awards=
{{plainlist|
*[[Victoria Cross]]
*[[Order of the Bath]]
}}
|laterwork=Author
}}
Lieutenant General '''James John McLeod Innes''' {{post-nominals|country=GBR|VC|CB}} (5 February 1830 – 13 December 1907) was a [[Scotland|Scottish]] recipient of the [[Victoria Cross]], the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to [[United Kingdom|British]] and [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] forces.

Born in [[British India]] to Scottish parents, Innes was educated privately, then at [[Edinburgh University]] and at [[Addiscombe Military Seminary]], [[military academy]] of the [[East India Company]] where he was awarded the [[Pollock Medal]]. He was commissioned into the [[Bengal Engineers]] in 1848 and, after further training, he arrived in India in November 1850. When the [[Indian Mutiny]] began in May 1857 he was at [[Lucknow]], where he helped to defend the city throughout its [[Siege of Lucknow|siege]].<ref name="DNB">{{cite DNB12|wstitle=Innes, James John McLeod|last=Vetch|first=Robert Hamilton|authorlink=Robert Hamilton Vetch|volume=2}}</ref> After the evacuation of Lucknow in November 1897, he served in military operations in [[Oudh State]].<ref name="DNB"/>

Innes was a 28 year old [[lieutenant]] in the Bengal Engineers, [[Bengal Army]] during the [[Indian Mutiny]] on 23 February 1858 at [[Sultanpur, Uttar Pradesh|Sultanpore]], [[India]], where he was awarded Victoria Cross for the following deed:
{{blockquote|Bengal Engineers, Lieutenant John James M'Leod Innes

Date of Act of Bravery, 23rd February, 1858

At the action at Sultanpore, Lieutenant Innes, far in advance of the leading skirmishers, was the first to secure a gun which the enemy were abandoning. Retiring from this, they rallied round another gun further back, from which the shot would, in another instant have ploughed through our advancing columns, when Lieutenant Innes rode up, unsupported, shot the gunner who was about to apply the match, and, remaining undaunted at his post, the mark for a hundred [[matchlock]] men, who were sheltered in some adjoining huts, kept the Artillerymen at bay, until assistance reached him. (Letter from Major-General [[Thomas Harte Franks]], [[K.C.B.]], of 12th March, 1858.)<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=22212|page=5518|date=24 December 1858}}</ref>}}
For his work in the Mutiny, he was also [[mentioned in dispatches]] three times and received the [[Brevet (military)|brevet rank]] of major.<ref name="DNB"/>

After the Mutiny campaign Innes continued to serve in India, with the [[Royal Engineers]] (Bengal). After holding a number of military and civil engineering posts, he was finally promoted to major-general in 1885.<ref name="DNB"/> In March 1886 he retired with the honorary rank of lieutenant-general,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=25579|page=1900|date=20 April 1886}}</ref> after which he wrote a number of books, mostly relating to the history of the Indian Mutiny.<ref name="DNB"/> In June 1907, on the fiftieth anniversary of the Mutiny, Innes became a [[Companion of the Order of the Bath]] (CB), military division.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28034|page=4431|supp=y|date=25 June 1907}}</ref> He died on 13 December 1907 aged 77 at his home in Cambridge.<ref name="DNB"/>

His Victoria Cross is displayed in the [[Royal Engineers Museum]] at [[Chatham, Kent|Chatham]], [[England]].<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.victoriacross.org.uk/cocambri.htm |title=Known Graves of Holders of the Victoria Cross in: Cambridge |website=victoriacross.org |accessdate=11 January 2022}}</ref>

==Works==
* {{cite book|title=Lucknow and Oude in the Mutiny a Narrative and a Study|year=1896 |publisher=A.D.Innes & Co|oclc=29087493}}
* ''The Sepoy Revolt'', Ad. Innes & Co (1 January 1897), ASIN:B0028SZ7UK
* {{cite book|title=Sir Henry Lawrence: The Pacificator|series=[[Rulers of India series]]|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.261313|year=1898|publisher=Clarendon Press|oclc=1243683218}}
* ''The Life and Times of General Sir James Browne RE KCB KCSI (Buster Browne)'', John Murray; (1 January 1905) ASIN:B001Q4DNMQ

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*[[Monuments to Courage]] (David Harvey, 1999)
*[[The Register of the Victoria Cross]] (This England, 1997)
*[[The Sapper VCs]] (Gerald Napier, 1998)

==External links==
{{Sister project links| wikt=no | commons=James John McLeod Innes | b=no | n=no | q=no | s=Author:James John McLeod Innes | v=no | voy=no | species=no | d=no}}
*[http://victoriacross.moonfruit.com/james-j-m-innes-vc/4587150735 Biography of Innes] Comprehensive Guide to the VC & GC
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20060810230716/http://www.remuseum.org.uk/rem_his_vc.htm#1i#1i Royal Engineers Museum] Sappers VCs
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20041028140700/http://www.homeusers.prestel.co.uk/stewart/cambridg.htm Location of grave and VC medal] ''(Cambridgeshire)''
*{{Find a Grave|8026647}}
*[https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/34106 Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry]

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Innes, James John Mcleod}}
[[Category:British recipients of the Victoria Cross]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:1830 births]]
[[Category:1907 deaths]]
[[Category:Military personnel of British India]]
[[Category:Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross]]
[[Category:British Army lieutenant generals]]
[[Category:Royal Engineers officers]]
[[Category:British biographers]]
[[Category:British military writers]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Alumni of Addiscombe Military Seminary]]
[[Category:Bengal Engineers officers]]
[[Category:Burials at the Cambridge City Cemetery]]

James John McLeod Innes - Revision history

Bot at 03:21, 1 October 2022