Transcript

of

Colonel Timins [Obituary]

Transactions of the Devonshire Association, 1875, Vol VII, p. 63.

Prepared by Michael Steer

George Timins was born at Newton Flotman, Norfolk on 1 February 1809. He was the son of George Timins of Liverpool, a Commander in the Royal Navy and his wife Mary (nee Sayer). He was the nephew of John Timins of the East India Company Naval Service, the Commander of the Royal George East Indiaman. George Timins was baptized at St. Anne’s in Liverpool on 13 August 1809. He entered the service of the Honorable East India Company as a Cadet in 1824, was commissioned as an Ensign on 25 January 1825, and arrived in India on 12 June 1825. He first posting was for detached duty with the 16th Bengal Native Infantry until later in 1825 when he was appointed an Ensign with the 34th Bengal Native Infantry, the regiment he would serve with until his retirement. He was promoted to Lieutenant on 7 April 1828. In October of 1842, Captain George Timins married Jane Sandys, the eldest daughter of Lieut. General Frederick Sandys of the Bengal Staff Corps. Timins was promoted to Captain in January of 1845, and was appointed Commandant of the United Malwa Contingent on 15 December 1845. There are numerous contemporaneous accounts of Major Timins’experiences during the mutiny of the Malwa Contingent. Following the conclusion of the Mutiny, the United Malwa Contingent, like most of the Bengal regiments which had mutinied,was officially disbanded. Major Timins returned to duty with the 34th BNI. He was promoted Lieutenant Colonel on 5 March 1859. Timins was promoted to Honorary Colonel on 31 December 1861, and retired the same day. His Indian Mutiny medal, officially impressed to him as Major and Commandant of the United Malwa Contingent, was the only medal he received during his thirty-one years of service. Colonel George Timins died at his residence in Newstead, Torquay on the 2nd of March, 1875. He was 66 years old. The article, from a copy of a rare and much sought-after journal can be downloaded from the Internet Archive. Google has sponsored the digitisation of books from several libraries. These books, on which copyright has expired, are available for free educational and research use, both as individual books and as full collections to aid researchers.

Colonel Timins joined the Association at Bideford in 1870, and was present at every subsequent annual meeting until his decease. For many years of his life he was engaged in active service in the Indian army, and on his retirement he took up his residence at Torquay. In 1864 he became a member of the Torquay Natural History Society, and from that time continued to manifest an invariable and lively interest in its welfare, having served on its Committee for several years, and filled the office of Vice-President in 1869-70. He was also a leading member of the Sub-Committee, charged, with the arrangements for the annual conversazione of that society, and by his zeal and judgment, as well as by his geniality, contributed very largely to the acknowledged success which has attended those pleasant assemblies. He was one of those named by the Council of this Association to be invited to be a Vice-President in 1876. He died at Torquay, March 2nd, 1875.