Sir, Once again the myth of Peccavi appears in your columns, unfortunately illustrated with a picture of Admiral Sir Charles Napier, first cousin of General Sir Charles James (not John) Napier who was actually the conqueror of Sindh (“Steam boat rises from mud”, Mar 5).
Sir Charles was not sent to “quell an uprising” but to maintain order in the province with his small army in the aftermath of the disasters of the First Afghan War. Nor did he originate the Peccavi telegram. On August 29, 1988, your On This Day extract from 1953 explained that Sir Charles Napier’s position as the author of the punning signal “has in recent years been surrendered to Mr Punch”. A later letter (August 24, 1998) tells us that it was the young Catherine Winkworth (hymn writer 1827-78) who had the idea and sent it to Punch where it was published as a factual report.
While this seems to be the accepted position a thorough search has so far failed to locate the Punch quotation. I will gladly send a bottle of good claret to the first person who sends me an authenticated photocopy of the page of Punch on which this appears.
Gerald Napier
Colonel, ret’d
Dunterton, Devon PL19 0QJ