Evangelicals Now
<< September 1996 >>

Way to Glory - The Biography of General Henry Havelock

Way to Glory: the biography of General Henry Havelock
By John Pollock
Christian Focus Publications
304 pages. £6.99
ISBN 185 792 245 X

Unlike General Gordon, whose biography John Pollock completed in 1993, Havelock was an eminent Victorian whose reputation did not suffer at the hands of Lytton Strachey. If his name is not well-known today, it is beyond question that his fame after the relief of Lucknow was prolific.
Havelock's statue stands next to Nelson's Column in Trafalgar Square, and most towns and cities in England have a street or gardens named after him. When news of his death reached England, Queen Victoria stated that she felt she had lost a brother (although she had never met him!) In New York and Boston flags flew at half-mast on government buildings and on shipping.
John Pollock's vivid narrative will encourage and instruct the modern reader. Havelock was brought to a vital faith through a brother officer on the troopship to India as he explained with power the purpose of Christ's death on the cross. This transforming experience drove Havelock into seeking to win his soldiers for Christ - a form of service which drew ostracism upon himself and his young wife, the daughter of a missionary. Mr. Pollock portrays a character who grew proportionally - spiritually, domestically and professionally - and whose ambition was 'to put down the vile calumny that a Christian cannot be a meritorious soldier'. The degree of Havelock's success can be measured by Lord Hardinge's tribute: 'every inch a soldier, and every inch a Christian'.
The climax focuses on the relief of Cawnpore and Lucknow. Havelock's rebellious son wins the Victoria Cross and is then converted as he witnesses his father's consistency of life in operational command under appalling conditions. The moving account concludes with the General dying in his son's arms, but in Christian fellowship.
John Pollock's biographies are invariably meticulously researched, godly and well-earthed. Way to Glory is no exception. It is probably the most inspiring biography of a British evangelical Christian officer that has ever been written. It can be recommended without reserve.

Brigadier Ian Dobbie