Ross Lowis Mangles VC (14 April 1833 – 28 February 1905) was a British administrator in India and the recipient of the

Victoria Cross The Victoria Cross (VC) is the highest and most prestigious award of the British honours system. It is awarded for valour "in the presence of the enemy" to members of the British Armed Forces and may be awarded posthumously. It was previously ...

, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

and Commonwealth forces. Mangles is one of only five civilians to be awarded the Victoria Cross.

Biography

Early life

Mangles was the son of Ross Donnelly Mangles, sometime chairman of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

. He was educated at

Windlesham House School Windlesham House School is an independent boarding and day school for boys and girls aged 4 to 13 on the South Downs, in Pulborough, West Sussex, England. It was founded in 1837 by Charles Robert Malden and was the first boys' preparatory schoo ...

, Brighton (1842–43), Bath Grammar School and

East India Company College The East India Company College, or East India College, was an educational establishment situated at Hailey, Hertfordshire, nineteen miles north of London, founded in 1806 to train "writers" (administrators) for the Honourable East India Company ( ...

(1851–52). He took up a place in the Bengal Civil Service in 1853.

Victoria Cross

He was 24 years old, and a

civilian Civilians under international humanitarian law are "persons who are not members of the armed forces" and they are not " combatants if they carry arms openly and respect the laws and customs of war". It is slightly different from a non-combatant ...

in the Bengal Civil Service during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place at

Arrah Arrah (also transliterated as Ara) is a city and a municipal corporation in Bhojpur district (formerly known as Shahabad district) in the Indian state of Bihar. It is the headquarters of Bhojpur district, located near the confluence of the G ...

for which he was awarded the VC: His Victoria Cross is displayed at the

National Army Museum The National Army Museum is the British Army's central museum. It is located in the Chelsea district of central London, adjacent to the Royal Hospital Chelsea, the home of the " Chelsea Pensioners". The museum is a non-departmental public bo ...

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, England.

Subsequent life and career

Mangles held various positions in India, including those Judicial Commissioner of Mysore, Secretary to the Government of Bengal, and member of the Board of Revenue of the Lower Provinces. He retired from Indian service in 1883, having completed thirty years' service, and returned to England, where he was a justice of the peace for Surrey. He died at his residence, The Lodge,

Pirbright Pirbright ( ) is a village in Surrey, England. Pirbright is in the borough of Guildford and has a civil parish council covering the traditional boundaries of the area. Pirbright contains one buffered sub-locality, Stanford Common near the nati ...

, Surrey, on 28 February 1905. Ross Mangles VC Grave

He is buried in

Brookwood Cemetery Brookwood Cemetery, also known as the London Necropolis, is a burial ground in Brookwood, Surrey, England. It is the largest cemetery in the United Kingdom and one of the largest in Europe. The cemetery is listed a Grade I site in the Regi ...

. On the north wall of St Michael and All Angels Church,

is a brass memorial to Mangles. The oaks on the plaque represent England, his native land; the palms are for India, scene of his life's work; his passion for growing roses after his retirement is also commemorated.Julia Douëti
Welcome to St Michael and All Angels Church, Pirbright

Family

Mangles married in 1860 Henrietta Molyneux, youngest daughter of

James More Molyneux James More Molyneux (c. 1723–1759), was a British politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1754 and 1759. Molyneux was the son of Sir More Molyneux of Loseley Park and his wife Cassandra Cornwallis, daughter of Thomas Cornwallis of ...

, of

Loseley Park Loseley Park is a large Tudor manor house with later additions and modifications south-west of Guildford, Surrey, England, in Artington close to the hamlet of Littleton. The estate was acquired by the direct ancestors of the current owners, t ...

, Surrey.

References

External links

Location of grave and VC medal
''(Brookwood Cemetery)''

''(Known holders of the Victoria Cross commemorated in Brookwood Cemetery)''

Welcome to St Michael and All Angels Church, Pirbright
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mangles, Ross Lowis British recipients of the Victoria Cross English justices of the peace 1833 births 1905 deaths Indian Rebellion of 1857 recipients of the Victoria Cross Burials at Brookwood Cemetery People educated at Windlesham House School British East India Company civil servants Indian Civil Service (British India) officers