very difficult to quarrel with anyone so imperturbably good tempered, and so thoroughly a gentleman". Anson's appointment as C-in-C coincided with the beginning of the period of tension and disaffection leading up to the outbreak of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. On 23 March 1857 Anson told a parade of Indian officers of the Bengal Army that rumors that the government would interfere with their religious beliefs and caste were completely false. He called on the officers to satisfy the sepoys under their command that this was the case. Anson himself reported a week later that the greased cartridge issue was simply a pretext for protest, adding that "the sepoys have been pampered - and have grown insolent beyond bearing". He did however order the postponement of target practice at musketry depots; which would have involved the actual biting of cartridges and was accordingly the immediate cause of distrust amongst the soldiers. While Anson appears to have realised the seriousness of the situation and to have ordered an analysis of the cartridge wrappings in question, he left the training centre at Ambala without taking more decisive action. "Redress and inquiry were both inconvenient so the headquarters' camp marched to Simla" commented the British Instructor of Musketry, left at the depot in the midst of swirling discontent amongst the sepoys there. On 12 May Anson and his staff were at Simla when the news of the outbreak of the mutiny at Meerut and Delhi reached him. He immediately ordered that European troops take possession of the various arsenals in the Punjab but delayed his own departure for the centre of rebellion while logistical problems were resolved. Anson finally left Ambala for Delhi on 23 May at the head of three regiments of British troops and some sepoy units that he considered reliable. His intention was to join with the Meerut Brigade and press on to retake Delhi. However, Anson died of cholera four days into the march, at the age of 59. He was buried in Kurnaul (now Karnal). His body was later exhumed and taken back to England to be buried in Kensal Green cemetery. Character In spite of his personal charm Anson did not enjoy much professional respect amongst his fellow officers in Bengal. A staff colonel commented immediately after his sudden death that the sepoys had "a great hatred for him, honestly thinking that he was commissioned to