"British Deserters Who Went Over to the Enemy" Topic

I used to think that British deserters fighting for her enemies were the thing of historical fiction or Hollywood, but I recently read in William Dalrymple's "The Last Mughal" the following: "One other rebel who distinguished himself at this time was Sergeant Gordon, the English convert to Islam who had been brought by the sepoys from Shahjahanpur. According to Sa'id Mubarak Shah, Gordon "laid and fired the guns against the the English batteries. The shot struck fair and true and so delighted the sepoys that they presented nazrs to the sergeant, who replied "it is too late, I can do nothing now. If you had acted on my advice at the commencement, the British batteries could not have advanced a foot. Now that matters are hopeless you want me to stop their further progress. It is impossible, but I will die among you." There is also Kimball (or Kimble) Bent, an American serving in the British army in New Zealand in the 1860's who deserted and was then captured by the Maori and later became their armorer. Perhaps he doesn't count as he was an American ;). Are there any other instances of renegade British soldiers during the Victorian colonial wars?

Unlikely to be very many; the language barriers would be difficult to overcome.

Dagwood, also the racial enmity. That's what so surprised me about Sergeant Gordon, as the Indian Mutiny basically turned into a race war after the killing of British civilians by the mutineers.

Yes, racial enmity works both ways. White soldiers would be unlikely to desert to opponents they felt were "inferior"; and peoples such as Zulus, Pathans, etc., weren't exactly well known for their welcoming nature to their opponents !!

I certainly hope that Sgt Gordon was hung.

Well, they do say he was very popular with the local ladies, Neli.