Frederick Wilson Howson was a Quartermaster Sergeant at the Ramandroog convalescent home. He was the son of Richard Wilson Howson and was born in St Pancras, London, probably in 1838. His father was a woodturner and Frederick is shown in the 1851 census as a wood carver’s lad. He enlisted in the 3/60 in 1855 and was sent to India two years later. He served in various places in India and Burma, but when the regiment left, he stayed in India. He had by then married Rebecca and had seven children. In 1871 he was transferred to the Unattached List and posted to Ramandroog where he was the hospital sergeant. For some reason, he was transferred to the 1/21 in 1874. After Frederick’s death in 1878, Rebecca married Henry Brownsell. They moved to Wellington, near Ootacamund in southern Mysore, where the family lived for the next fifty years.

Many thanks to Michael Howson, Frederick’s great-grandson, for this information