Henry Christopher Wise - All Saints' church - Leek Wootton, Warwickshire - Specific Veteran Memorials on Waymarking.com

Memorial plaque in All Saints' church, Leek Wootton, to Capt. Henry Christopher Wise of H.M.40th 2nd Somerset Regiment who died of wounds received during the Eureka Rebellion, Ballarat, 1854.

The plaque reads:
Sacred
to the memory
of
HENRY CHRISTOPHER WISE Esq.
Captain in
H.M.40th 2nd Somerset Regiment,
eldest son of
HENRY CHRISTOPHER & HARRIETT WISE,
of Woodcote,
who died on the 21st December 1854,
aged 25,
at Ballarat, Victoria, South Australia,
of wounds received
on the 3rd of the same month,
while gallantly leading his company
to the assault of the
rebel stockade at Eureka, Ballarat.
This tablet is erected by the
officers of the 40th regiment.

"Henry Christopher Wise was the eldest son of Henry Christopher and Henrietta Wise of Woodcote, England.
Goldfields Involvement, 1854

Captain Henry Wise was with the 40th Regiment that came up from Geelong. "On 27 November in Melbourne two officers and 50 men of the 40th Regiment proceeded by the one o'clock steamer to Geelong, to reinforce the detachment there to 100. Their orders were to proceed to Ballarat at once." They marched through the diggings with muskets loaded and bayonets fixed. This was a full show of force by the military. "They were hooted by the populace, and stones were thrown at them.....Soon after Lieut Gardyne with the mounted troops from Melbourne and Gisborne reached the Camp, and met with the same reception....Lieut Hall, with the mounted men from Castlemaine, and the police from Sawpit Gully arrived without molestation, having come by Creswick's Creek."

Henry Christopher Wise, Captain of the 40th Regiment, and only 26 years of age, died eighteen days the Eureka Stockade battle and is interred at the Ballaarat Old Cemetery. In eyewitness accounts he is portrayed as gallantly leading his command in the attack on the Stockade and being shot in the leg. He continued his assault and was then fatally wounded. Colonel Edward Macarthur, Deputy Adjutant General, issued a General Order on 22 December 1854 - "The Major General has deep regret in announcing to the Troops within the Australian Command, the Death, at Ballaarat Camp, yesterday morning, the 21st Instant, of Captain Henry Christopher Wise of the 40th Regiment. He died from the effect of Wounds received on the 3rd Instant, while bravely leading his Company, in storming the "Eureka" Stockade, which a numerous band of Foreign Anarchists and Armed Ruffians had converted into a stronghold. His name will long be held in Honour by the Troops, whose good fortune it was to bear testimony to his gallantry; and Sir Robert Nickle has heartfelt satisfaction, in recording in General Orders, the Name of an Officer, who has thus worthily distinguished himself. His Remains are to be buried with the Honours due to his rank in the Graveyard at Ballaarat Gold Fields, beside those of the three other meritorious Soldiers which lie there interred." There is a general order no. 169 re the death at the battle of Eureka Stockade of Captain Henry Christopher Wise in the holdings of the Public Record Office Victoria."

SOURCE and further reading - (visit link)

More about the Eureka Rebellion - (visit link)

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