248 REMINISCENCES OF SONEPORE. 



horse is still alive. Hermes went home too, but died of 

 stroke in the Red Sea. Mrs. Turnbull was passionately fond 

 of dumb animals and ' The Hermitage ' was a regular mena- 

 gerie squirrels, dogs, birds, monkeys, were collected by her 

 in numbers and very tenderly cared for, while the stables were 

 always full of thoroughbreds, mostly Arabs. 



" Among the Colonel's best Arabs was Hermit, a flea-bitten 

 grey ; he ran second to Rocket for the Calcutta Derby of 1860, 

 but he ran the same horse a dead heat in the Great Welter ; 

 he won the Calcutta Stakes, two miles, beating the Australian 

 Ellerton in 3mins. 51 sees. He got beaten by two lengths in 

 the Trades Cup in 1862 by the English mare Voltege, who 

 ran the two miles in 3mins. 46secs. Opal was another of the 

 Colonel's Arabs that was a very handsome horse. Mrs. Turn- 

 bull took him to England in 1862 and he took first prize in the 

 Arab class at the Islington Show. Starlight, late Mangosteen, 

 was a beautiful bay, which he won in a raffle of the old 

 Sheik's. 



" General Turnbull died at the ripe age of 75 at his 

 residence at Southwick, near Brighton, called ' The Hermit- 

 age ' after his old bungalow at Alipore. His official record 

 which is taken from The Statesman is as follows : 



" c Montagu James Turnbull joined the yth Bengal Cavalry 

 as a cornet in 1836, and was promoted Lieutenant in 1841. 

 He first saw active service with his regiment in Sir Charles 

 Napier's famous desert campaigns in Sind in 1844-45, when 

 that general endeavoured to settle the turbulent frontier of 

 the province he had recently conquered. He was senior 

 lieutenant in his regiment when the news arrived of the 

 murder of Mr. Vans Agnew and Lieutenant Anderson at 

 Mooltan in 1848. One of the forces at once organised to 

 operate against the Sikhs was formed in Sind and placed 

 under the command of Colonel Hugh Wheeler of the 48th 

 Bengal Native Infantry, better known as the unfortunate Sir 



