GILLESPIE. General Rollo Gillespie, an officer of the British army who served in the West I ndies,the East Indies, and the Eastern Archipelago. On the occasion of the Vellore mutiny of 1806, he was in command of Arcot, and Sir John Fan court was in command of Vellore. They were very intimate, having been quartered together at St. Domingo. Gillespie had been invited to dine and sleep at the quarters of Sir John Fancourt, on the very night the mutiny occurred (3 A.M. 10th July), so little was their suspicion of the fidelity of the sepoys. Just as he was about to start on the morning of the 9th July, public despatches were put into his hands, which- com pelled hint to defer his journey ; but at daybreak on the 10th July he mounted his horse to gallop over to Vellore in time for breakfast, and was scarcely in his saddle when tidings arrived of the massacre. 4 troop of the 19th Dragoons was at the time ready for parade. Gillespie ordered them to get ready for the rescue of their countrymen. The 16 miles were soon covered ; Gillespie had outstripped his escort, and was attracted by the sound of musketry to a lofty gateway and bastion, where the remnant of the 13ritish still stood at bay, their last cartridge almost expended, when Sergeant Brodie, who had known Gillespie at St. Domingo, saw a horseman spurring across the plain, and, turning round to his comrades, said, If Colonel Gillespie be alive, here he is at the head of the 19th Dragoons ; and God Almighty has sent him from the West Indies to save our lives in the East! ' A rope, made of soldiers' belts knotted together, was let down the ramparts, and Gillespie dragged up amidst a shower of balls.
The dragoons with their galloper guns (light field pieces used by cavalry regiments in those days) blew open the gates ; a British ' huzza ' was heard, accompanied by the rattling of horses' footsteps over the drawbridge,' and the mutineers were chaxged. Some 300 or 400 were cut to pieces, many were taken prisoners, and others escaped by dropping from the walls. Fancourt only lived to see the ensign of Mysore cut down, and the British standard once more float on the ramparts of Vellore. He died that afternoon, having been shot down by sotne sepoys -when trying to join Brodie's main guard. Lady Fancourt and her two children escaped, through the faithfulness of their servants and the timely arrival of Gillespie. The members of Tipu's family who were the chief instigators of the mutiny, were removed to Calcutta. Colonel Gillespie next went through active service in the subjugation of the Spice Islands. The last scene iu which he acted was the Gurkha war. He was shot through the heart on the 31st October 1814, while waving his hat and leading his men on to the first fortified position he met at Kalunga, in Nepal.