Hello Maureen, Further to your Email-we have the Army Record of William Wilks which states that on "16th December 1874 he was discharged to Pension at Ranikhet,India".He died in Darjeeling on 18th December 1894 and was buried in the Military Cemetery at Jalapahar, Darjeeling. We have no dates as to the"Special Services" in which William Wilks was involved.My father did mention he might have been commissioned by the British Government to go with a Mr Paul, who was the Commissioner for Darjeeling,into Lhasa Tibet in disguise to trace the whereabouts of Sir Ashley Eden,who was being held prisoner there.They were betrayed and imprisoned but managed to escape and return to India. I don't know whether this escapade occurred while William was in the Army or after he was discharged. I would love to know exactly what happened. Look forward to hearing from you. Regards Eileen : maureen.evers@bigpond.com > To: india@rootsweb.com > Date: Wed, 8 Dec 2010 08:26:31 +1100 > Subject: [INDIA] William Wilks/British Dignitary held in Lhasa. > > Hello List > Previous correspondence has been under the title Fatehgarh and the mutiny by > F. R Cosens; 1 edition; First publish... > > Eileen has indicated that William Wilks was a private in the 13th Foot at > the time of the Mutiny. Has she checked out British Army records, in > particular soldiers discharge records available on Find My Past? > > The FIBIS Fibiwiki page British Army has details > http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=British_Army > > The FIBIS Fibiwiki page 13th Regiment of Foot has a history of the Regiment > to 1867 > http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=13th_Regiment_of_Foot > > Eileen does not indicate whether William Wilks was still in the Army when he > went to Lhasa and what possible date range applies > The FIBIS Fibiwiki page Tibet http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=Tibet > has details of a book "Britain and Tibet 1765-1947: A Select Annotated > Bibliography" which may possibly refer to the British Dignitary held in > Lhasa. > Another possibility which may refer to the British Dignitary, is a book > mentioned on the FIBIS Fibiwiki page "People in the North West and nearby > countries" > http://wiki.fibis.org/index.php?title=People_in_the_North_West_and_nearby_co > untries > called Tournament of Shadows > Cheers > Maureen (Sydney) > > -----Original Message----- > From: india-bounces@rootsweb.com [mailto:india-bounces@rootsweb.com] On > Behalf Of Robert Goodlad > Sent: Tuesday, 7 December 2010 10:51 AM > To: india@rootsweb.com > Subject: Re: [INDIA] Fatehgarh and the mutiny by F. R Cosens; 1 edition; > First publish... > > > Dear Tim, > Thank you so much for your Email.You were quite right in thinking that my > asking for information was more of a general nature. William Wilks did > fight in the Indian Mutiny and was awarded the Mutiny Medal, his Number was > 2975 , the top one you mentioned. He was present at Balwah 17th to 25th > April 1858. At the capture of Fort Nugger 29th April 1858.Present at the > action at Almora 9th June 1858 and present at the action at Toolsepore 23rd > December 1858. The reason I got in touch with you was hoping that you might > be able to help me. William Wilks was given a very large mansion in > Jalapahar,. Darjeeling 'For some special services rendered to the British > Government'. My father, unfortunately he is not alive anymore, always told > us that William went in disguise into Lhasa, Tibet to rescue a British > Dignitary who was being held prisoner there. They were betrayed and > imprisioned but managed to escape and all of them returned to India'.I have > tried to find out anything about ! > this incident but have had no luck. So when I read your Email, I thought > 'give it a try you never know' . I hope you don't mind. Keeping my fingers > crossed. Looking forward to your reply. Eileen > > > > > > ===== India Mailing List ===== > > Families in British India Society: http://www.fibis.org > > > Archives for this list can be found at: > http://listsearches.rootsweb.com/cgi-bin/listsearch.pl?list=INDIA > and at: http://archiver.rootsweb.com/th/index/INDIA > > > > > > ------------------------------- > To unsubscribe from the list, please send an email to INDIA-request@rootsweb.com with the word 'unsubscribe' without the quotes in the subject and the body of the message