Ethel Grimwood

Grimwood was born in Mathura in 1867. Her first language was said to be Hindustani. Her mother was Margaret Emma Boisragon (born Gerrard) who in 1864 had left her husband Major-General Theodore Boisragon, CB, A. M. to live with Charles William Moore, a judge in Bengal.[1] The subsequent divorce was a scandal at the time. Ethel Moore was left with an elder half brother Alan Maxwell Boisragon in addition to younger sisters. She and her sisters were educated at Hove in England by Mary Ann Moulson. She married Frank St Clair Grimwood in 1887. He had been accepted at the bar in London before he accepted a position in the Indian civil service.

In 1890 Frank Grimwood became the political agent in Imphal in Manipur on the British Empires north-west border. He lived there with Ethel Grimwood and they were friendly with the local rulers, notably the ruler's eight sons and especially Tikendrajit.[1] He was their best friend there, he played polo with her husband and because he could speak Hindistani they could have a conversation. Neither Ethel or her husband could speak the local language although Frank persevered with lessons.[2] On 21 September 1890, prince Kulachandra Singh led his brothers in a revolt against reigning Maharaja Surchandra who had taken power after Maharajah Chandrakirti died. However Surchandra appealed to the Viceroy of India, Lord Lansdowne, who dispatched 400 Gurkhas under the inexperienced James Wallace Quinton to arrest the conspirators.[3]

On 22 March 1891, Quinton reached Imphal, where his request for the surrender of Tikendrajit and the abdication of Maharajah Kulachandra, was declined. The following night, British troops launched a raid, civilians were killed, and they were surrounded by Manipuri troops. Quinton then held talks with Kulachandra, but Frank Grimwood was speared to death.[1] Quinton was detained and beheaded along with other British officers on 24 March 1891.[4] The British who were besieged in the residency were, led by two junior officers, into a disorganised retreat.[1]

On 27/28 March 1891, Colonel Charles James William Grant lead a punitive force from Tamu, Burma to assist. Grant was awarded the Victoria Cross.[5]

On 13 August, after a trial, Jubraj Tikendrajit and General Thangal were publicly hanged on the polo field. Three others would later be hanged in the prison.[4]

On 22 September 1891 the five year old Meidingngu Churachand became the new nominal head of state of Manipur.

Ethel had been the only woman in the retreat from the residency. She returned to England and she was lionised as a heroine of the "Manipur Disaster". Queen Victoria sought her advice as she thought that the British appeared treacherous in their behaviour in Manipur. She wanted to give the Victoria Cross or the Crown of India to Grimwood but she was persuaded to use a lesser award.[6] Grimwood received a Red Cross Medal even though the medal was for nursing and Grimwood was not a nurse. Grimwood assured the Queen that she did not hold Tikendrajit responsible for her husband's death, but she felt that he had committed other crimes.[6] Grimwood was given £1,000 in addition to a collection and money to cover her losses during the fighting. As a widow she was given a pension of £140 per year. She wrote her biography, "My Three Years in Manipur and Escape from the Recent Mutiny", by November[2] which sold well. It is unclear now as to her actual contribution, but a hero was required and Ethel became that hero.[1]

She went on to marry again in 1895. Her new husband Andrew Cornwall Miller owned a paper mill in Surrey but by 1899 he had emigrated to America. He returned in 1903 when she was in court trying to recover money she had invested in a business with Madame Hugh Barry. She appears to have mortgaged her pension to invest in the business venture which failed. She and her husband went to Clackamas in Oregon but her husband returned to the UK without her.[1]

Grimwood died in Portland, Oregon, having changed her name to Evelyn.[1]