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9 Mar 58 Julius Camp Dalkoosha Mother ______________________________________________________________________________________________

Camp Dalkoosha. Nr Lucknow

9th March /58

My dear Mother

I have just heard from my Agent at Calcutta that the ‘Ava’* has gone down with all her mails. I think there were two letters on board for you – one written from Madras & one from Calcutta just before I left. I hope the latter was not lost as it contained all my researches after Peter’s letters & the reason why he got none before he left, which was that he left before the majority of them arrived & they have all followed him to Shanghai.

The Martiniere* is to be assaulted today. We are not in it as we are so weak. There will be some hard work & a good deal of blood shed. We are on trenches every other day (24 hours). The old game – only a considerable difference in our enemy. They have been putting round shot into our Camp in number. One killed a draft bullock belonging to my baggage cart yesterday. No Englishmen have been hit, but several native camp followers.

I shall be ruined if any more mail steamers break down. The Ava contained my application to the P&O Company through my Agent & also a letter to Cox telling him to give over all money received in my name to the Agent. It will be take about 3 months to get an answer to both. In the meantime I get no more pay until May.

I am going to send this by Bombay for a change to see whether it will arrive or not. Of course there is no news here. Sir James Outram has crossed with 8,000 men & is at them on the other side, while we remain in status quo, with the exception of occasionally getting up another battery. It is 5 days now since I was in Camp for more than an hour or so. So hard is the work, not only fighting but Picket & guards no end.

Hope all are well.

With best love from yr. affect. Son

J D Laurie

* 'Ava’ – The P&O’s SS Ava, wrecked 15 miles north of Trincomalee, Ceylon, on 16th February 1858 while on passage from Calcutta to Suez. Some of the mails were subsequently salvaged

* The Martiniere – A school in Lucknow established by Claude Martin (1735 – 1800) a French soldier first employed by the French Compagnie des Indes, subsequently by the British East India Company. La Martiniere is the only school in the world to have been awarded a battle honour (Defence of Lucknow) for the part the staff and pupils played in the defence of the Residency in 1857. The school continues to thrive in the 21st century, proudly maintaining the best of its pre-independence standards