[These materials on the case of Lt. Kennedy were adapted by GPL, with permission of the author, from the latter's course website, which is no longer available online.]

decorative initial A journalist in Syria publishes an article in the Daily News (10th July 1859) in which he accuses, on the information related to him by a nameless Frenchman, an Anglo-Indian Officer by name of Kenny or Kennedy of having spoken indignantly of the British rule in India. Lieutenant Kennedy of the 2nd Regiment Light Cavalry Bombay Army reads this article months after the publication and in a letter to the editor of the Daily News denies these accusations in toto. His military superiors indicate that his story is satisfactory as far as they are concerned. End's well, all's well, so it seems. Yet unknown to Lieutenant Kennedy, the Consul in Damascus has written a letter to the authorities in England regarding Lieutenant Kennedy's conduct.

The story, for we have yet to make it into a narrative, begins with the active Lieutenant Kennedy of the 2nd Light Regiment of the Bombay Army writing a letter to his Captain claiming the report in the Daily News about his actions and attitude towards British rule in India, to be totally false. It ends with a letter to Mr. Kennedy, Late Lieutenant 2nd Light Cavalry, Bombay. Lieutenant Kennedy has seen his name stricken off the strength of the Bombay Army.


Last modified 8 January 2024