Charles ‘Sally’ Swanston served in the 18th Bengal Lancers for 19 years, from 1888 to 1907. He was awarded the DSO for great bravery during the operations against the Mahsud Waziris in 1901. At a village that was earmarked for punishment, the towers were ordered to be destroyed. An Engineer officer, Captain Seymour Sheppard, and 2 or 3 sappers took explosives to carry out the task but were fired on. One of the sappers was wounded and Sheppard managed to take him to a wall which gave them some protection but was still not a safe place. The commander of the Punjab Field Force ordered the mountain artillery to fire on the towers although this was a less effective way of reducing them and would have increased the danger to the sappers. Captain Swanston, who was DAQMG (Deputy Assistant Quartermaster General.), took it upon himself to rescue Sheppard and his sappers, so, ordering the infantry to give him covering fire, dashed out and brought the party back to safety. He was gazetted, along with Captain Sheppard, for the DSO on 20 Sep 1902.
Charles Oliver Swanston was born at Cuddalore on 8 April 1865. His father was Major-General William Oliver Swanston, an officer in the Madras Army who fought in the Indian Mutiny. His grandfather, Captain Charles Corygorm Swanston, raised 1,000 men for the Poona Auxiliary Horse. He was a great-grandnephew of Lord Nelson as his mother was a granddaughter of Mrs Kitty Matcham. He was educated privately and trained at Sandhurst to be commissioned into the Royal Irish Fusiliers in May 1885. He transferred as a lieutenant into the 18th Bengal Lancers in 1888. He held several staff posts and fought in the Tirah Expedition and the Khyber Field Force of 1898. He was DAAG (Deputy Assistant Adjutant General) on the Somaliland Campaign of 1903-4, and Mentioned in Despatches. After attending Staff College he was promoted to major in 1906 and was in line for an appointment on the Defence Committee at the instigation of Lord Roberts. He was promoted to lieutenant-colonel in 1911 and transferred to the command of 34th Poona Horse. He went with the regiment to France in 1914 and was killed at Neuve Chapelle on 2 November 1914.
