On 13 August 1860 during the march on the Taku Forts, a party of Sikh sappers and some laborers transporting their column's rum rations was captured by a force of Tartar cavalry. Among them was Private John Moyse of the 3rd (East Kent) Regiment ...

The next day the prisoners were brought before a local mandarin and were ordered to kow-tow, under penalty of torture or execution if they didn't comply. Private Moyse alone refused and was savagely beaten and then beheaded, his body afterwards thrown on a dungheap. He was, ironically, his regiment's only casualty in the fighting.

The cause of his refusal has been a subject of much dispute. The popular story was that it was on the grounds that it would disgrace his country. Contemporary reports, however, have him saying that "...he would not prostrate himself before any Chinaman alive." His stubborness is not surprising because he had a history of insubordination and willfulness while in the service.