A recent acquisition, this book is a reprint of an original publication of around 1900 as best as I can tell, there being no information in the book on the original publication details. The book is an unedited rendition of the authors diary over a two year period and covers his service during the Mutiny. The author arrived in India only a few months before the Mutiny started as a newly qualified doctor aged just 22 in the service of "John Company".
As the diary is unedited there is little context unless the reader has a reasonable understanding of the main events of the Mutiny. That said it still makes fascinating reading with great detail on the military operations not only in the vicinity of the author but also elsewhere in India. Detailed lists of units and their commanders are frequently included together with officer casualty lists. Strangely the author makes only a single one line entry in the whole diary detailing his medical activities, "spent all day dressing wounds and amputating." As a doctor it is assumed that he did not participate in any actual fighting as there is no mention whatsoever of any such activity.
As a stand alone book it will have limited appeal but as a source of reference to a student of the Mutiny this is an excellent addition to any library and in that sense is highly recommended.
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