VC action

McMaster was a 23 years old assistant surgeon in the 78th (Highlanders) Regiment of Foot (later The Seaforth Highlanders) during the Indian Mutiny when the following deed took place on 25 September 1857, at the first relief of Lucknow for which he was awarded the VC:

For the intrepidity with which he exposed himself to the fire of the enemy, in bringing in, and attending to, the wounded, on the 25th of September, at Lucknow. (Extract from Field Force Orders of the late Major-General Havelock, dated 17 October 1857.)^[5]

McMaster was presented with his cross by Lieutenant General Henry Somerset in Bombay later that year.^[1] McMaster was awarded one of the eight VCs to the 78th Regiment for the Indian Mutiny. None of the awards to the 78th Regiment and no awards to Medical Officers during the Indian Mutiny were recommended under the ballot method provided in Clause 13 of the Victoria Cross Warrant. ^[6]

Later years

In September 1860 McMaster transferred from the 78th Highlanders to be assistant surgeon of the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons,^[7] moving to the 18th Hussars in June 1864.^[8] Promoted to the rank of staff-surgeon in March 1868,^[9] he returned to the 78th Highlanders in March 1869.^[10] The same year, the 78th were posted to Halifax, Nova Scotia, where McMaster married Eleanor Burmester in June 1870. They had a daughter and son, one born after McMaster's death. In November 1871 the 78th moved to Belfast where, on 22 January 1872, McMaster died of heart disease aged 37. He was buried in Belfast City Cemetery.^[1] There is a memorial to his memory in St. Columb's Cathedral in Derry.

McMaster's widow Eleanor returned to Canada,^[1] where she married Canadian surgeon Campbell Mellis Douglas, who had won the VC in the 1867 Andaman Islands expedition.^[11]