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Chapter 2 – The Territories under the Lieutenant-Governor of the North-Western Provinces

The Banaras division

The North-West

The North-Western Provinces received the name of the “North-West,” not because they formed the actual north-west boundary of British India, but because, when the Bengal Presidency was divided in 1833, they constituted the north-western portion of that Presidency. At that time the Panjab and Oudh were still independent. But after the conquest of the Panjab in 1849-60 the territories between Bihar and Dehli retained the name which had been bestowed upon them in previous times, though, strictly speaking, that name was no longer applicable. The territory still officially retains the designation of the “North-West Provinces.”

Divisions and districts

In 1857, the several divisions of the North-West were classified as follows. There were the Banaras division, comprising, besides the city which gave it its name, the districts of Mirzapur, Jaunpur, Gorakhpur, Ghazipur, and Azamgarh; the Allahabad division, with the districts, Allahabad, Fathpur, Kanhpur, Bandah, and Hamipur; the Agra division, containing the districts, Agra, Mathura, Mainpuri, Itawah; the Bareli division, comprising the districts, Bareli, Shahjahanpur, Muradabad, Bijnaur, and Budaon; the Mirath division, with the districts Mirath, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Bolandshahr, Dehra Dun, and Aligarh; the Dehli division, comprising the imperial city, and the districts, Gurgaon, Hisar, Paniput, and Rohtak. I propose now to relate the events which occurred in these several divisions and districts, except so far as they may have been told in the previous volumes, in the order in which I have placed them.

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District of Banaras

To begin, then, with the Banaras division. The Commissioner was Mr. H. C. Tucker, the judge was Mr. Frederick Gubbins, the magistrate and collector was Mr. F. M. Lind, his deputy or assistant, Archibald. Pollock: another assistant was Mr. Jenkinson. There were others in subordinate positions, but, at this distance of time, it is difficult to ascertain the names of those who were temporarily located in a great station.

Statistics of District of Banaras

The district of Banaras has an area of 998 square miles, and a population of, in round numbers, 900,000. It is bounded to the north by Ghazipur and Jaunpur; to the west and south by Mirzapur; and to the east by the Shahabad district of western Bihar. Its chief towns are Banaras and Ramnagar, the latter the residence of the Rajah, about two miles above Banaras. The population of the city is of a very fluctuating character. Being a holy city, the headquarters of Hinduism, it attracts, at certain seasons, pilgrims from all parts of the country. A population, then, which normally might be reckoned at about 200,000, was often considerably higher.

Mr. H. C. Tucker

In the second volume of this history, Sir John Kaye has given a glowing description of the character of the Commissioner, Mr. H. C. Tucker. Mr. Tucker was, in every sense of the term, a good man, but his nature was but ill-adapted to deal with a crisis such as that which was coming upon Banaras in the early days of 1857. Readers who will refer to that chapter37, will find that even his panegyrist is constrained to avow that Mr. Tucker’s policy was a policy of absolute inaction. He would have met death as calmly and heroically as the most gallant soldier that ever lived, but he would not, by any act of his, have given even the appearance of provoking an attack. Fortunately the other civilians, Messrs. Gubbins, Lind, Pollock, and Jenkinson, were men of a different type, fully impressed with the necessity of doing all that men could do to meet, and, by precautionary measures, by measures involving, it might be, the taking of an offensive attitude, of averting the dangers which threatened. the Englishmen and the Englishwomen who were practically to be defended by their exertions, or lost by their supineness. The defence of the city and the civil station passed, then, really into their hands, and,

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by the measures they took, and which are fully recorded in the chapter referred to in a footnote, they saved it till the arrival of General Neill relieved them from their most pressing danger.

It is no part of my scheme to describe again scenes which have been narrated at length in other parts of this history. But I wish to record a few words regarding the noble men to whose determination and firmness Banaras was saved from pillage, and the Europeans living there from slaughter, in 1857.

Mr. Frederick Gubbins

Prominent among these is Mr. Frederick Gubbins. It was my good fortune to know Mr. Gubbins well. I was with him on the occasion referred to by Sir John Kaye38, when “by a grand display of energy in a local crisis,” he acquired “an immense ascendancy over the minds of the people.” It was indeed an occasion which not every man would have met so calmly and so decidedly. The people of Banaras, angered by the enforcement of a regulation which was not pleasing to them, had risen upon Mr. Gubbins whilst he was visiting the city unattended, save by an orderly – had driven him from it with stones and brickbats, and had then shut their shops defiantly, declaring they should not be re-opened until the obnoxious regulations were repealed. Mr. Gubbins, who was then magistrate, gave them forty-eight hours for consideration, made meanwhile his plans, and then entering the city attended by one or two friends and some native orderlies, went from shop to shop, directing the owner, as he stopped before each, to take down the shutters. The hours given for reflection had done something; the calm and resolute manner of the magistrate did the rest. The shopkeepers obeyed his orders. They recognised in Mr. Gubbins a man whom they must obey, and thenceforth they obeyed him.

I have never known a braver man than Mr. Gubbins. For nearly four years I was in the habit of seeing him daily, and I never knew him flinch from any duty or from any responsibility. His manner was the calmly resolute manner of the man who knows what his duty is, and does it without pomp or bluster. He would have made a splendid soldier. His self-possession never deserted him. He could think and reason clearly when all around him might have lost their heads. He was never at fault. He always did well what he felt he could do at all.

Fitly associated with Mr. Gubbins was the magistrate, Mr. F. N. Lind.

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Mr. F. N. Lind

Tall of stature, resolute in character, brave, clear-sighted, and ever ready for action, Mr. Lind was an invaluable coadjutor to such a man. How, acting together, they prevented the retreat of the military to Chanar, and thus saved the situation, has been told in a previous page39. Full justice has never been rendered to this excellent public servant. It is certain that to his exertions and those of Mr. Gubbins it was due that the most important city between Agra and Calcutta was maintained until the arrival of Neill conjured the danger for the time. .

Mr. Archibald Pollock

Mr. Archibald Pollock, the youngest son of the Field-Marshal who, as general, had retrieved in 1841, the reputation of our arms in Afghanistan, was in all respects worthy of his lineage. He was a good civil officer, firm, resolute, and capable of any self-sacrifice in the cause of duty. He continued to render excellent service for many years after the mutiny had been suppressed, and when he died some ten years ago, India mourned the loss of one of the best officials of whom the Civil Service could boast.

Mr. E. G. Jenkinson

Mr. E. G. Jenkinson was inferior to none of these. He was then very young, with light hair and a pleasant face, full of energy, zeal, and daring. He was always on horseback, and was almost always doing something which endeared him to the community. On one occasion when a carriage was conveying Mr. Gubbins and two companions to the treasury to take possession of the moneys deposited there, the roar of guns, indicating the outbreak of mutiny at the military cantonment close by, was heard. The carriage proceeded on its way in the direction of the sound. At length it approached a bridge which it was necessary to cross.

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Jenkinson, who was riding, noticed that some rebels located in the vicinity were about to take the opportunity of discharging their guns at the inmates of the carriage. With characteristic gallantry he dashed forward and interposed his person between the carriage and the assassins. Fortunately the aim taken did not prove true. In other ways he rendered yeoman’s service, maintaining the communications with Allahabad, and raising levies to repress the revolted Rajputs in the Azamgarh and Jaunpur districts. If Gubbins and Lind were the heads who planned and directed all the operations, Pollock and Jenkinson were the hands to carry out their suggestions and orders. Never were there two more willing and able coadjutors. They were noble specimens of their service and of their countrymen. Of the four who contributed so much to the safety of the Banaras division, Pollock, as I have said, has gone to his last home. Frederick Gubbins, made a Companion of the Bath for his services, lives in a foreign land. Lind died in 1887. Jenkinson, after an honourable service in India, retired. He was subsequently employed as police under-secretary in Ireland, and for the good services he rendered was made a Knight-Commander of the Bath. He still lives.

Difficulties, how surmounted

It happened that a great scarcity of food came, in 1857, to add to the difficulties of the situation. But no difficulties were too great for the noble-hearted men whose names I have mentioned. How Messrs. Gubbins and Lind took measures to meet all emergencies; how they constantly patrolled the streets, and exercised their influence with the dealers in grain to procure an abatement in prices; how they persuaded the Commissioner to authorise the sale of grain to the Sipahis at a price lower than that prevailing in the markets, the Government bearing the loss caused by the difference, his been told in the second volume. It has been told also how. the Mint, a central building, was fixed upon as the place to which all the residents should resort in the event of an outbreak; how it was to a certain extent fortified, and placed under an European guard.

Wise precautions initiated by Gubbins and Lind

The watchful care of Messrs. Gubbins and Lind did not stop there. Looking at the events which had happened at Kanhpur, they felt that no place of refuge could be secure which did not actually touch the river. They pressed, then, upon the military authorities the advisability of fortifying the high ground on the bank of the river, at the

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point where the ferry crosses to the opposite bank during the rainy season – and where the bridge of boats was fixed during the drier periods of the year – the point known as Rajghat. To assist them, and lighten the financial burden of such a work, they offered the labour of the convicts in the gaols. The sanction of the Government was obtained, though not until much pressure had been exercised, to the scheme, and in a very short time there was seen standing on the site of an old Hindu castle, and commanding the approaches to Banaras by river and by land, a fortification irregular but strong, quite capable of maintaining the point, now become the most important point, in the line between Calcutta and Allahabad.

Surat Singh

Prominent amongst the other members of the community of Banaras who rendered splendid service during those troublous times, was Surat Singh, a Sikh gentleman of good family, who was detained by the Government at Banaras on political grounds. Surat Singh, though exiled from his own country, was loyal and more than loyal to the nation which had annexed that country. He had imbibed a very great admiration for the character of Mr. Gubbins. Quiet and unostentatious in manner, he had been supplied by nature with a calm resolution which made him equal to any emergency. however pressing. Prior to the outbreak of the mutiny of the native troops in the cantonment adjoining the city, he had shown his goodwill by the exercise of his influence with those of his own countrymen, who formed one of the regiments there located, and in calm and judicious counsel. At length the day came when he was to be tried. On the 4th of June, the attempt made to disarm the Sipahis culminated in mutiny40. The civilians and the other non-combatants knew that the crisis was upon them, and they had assembled to await its result on the roof of the Treasury over which there was then a guard composed only of Sikhs. Amongst them was Surat Singh, calm and cheerful as it was his wont to be. He had been standing by the side of Mr. Gubbins. Suddenly he left him. Almost immediately after he had left, the sound of firing from the - direction of cantonments proved that the game had begun in earnest. The sound had scarcely reached the ears of the assembled party, when Surat Singh returned bearing in his hand a double-barrelled gun. The firing still continued.

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A few minutes later, and it was announced that the Sikh guard over the Treasury had received information that their countrymen were being slaughtered, and that they were displaying symptoms which might possibly terminate in action. Immediately Surat Singh went amongst them. He had in his hand the life of the Englishmen on the roof. One hostile exhortation from him, and the massacre would have commenced. But he spoke words of a different bearing. He found the Sikhs indeed excited, questioning one another whether the hour had not arrived when they should take advantage of their position. But Surat Singh quickly calmed them. He pointed out to them that the conflict then proceeding in the cantonment must have been unpremeditated, or the Europeans on the roof would not have placed themselves in their power; that he was quite sure -of the good faith of the English, and that he intended to stand by them. These and similar arguments had the effect of calming the apprehensions of the guard, and the danger was stayed.

The good services of Surat Singh did not stop there. After the mutiny had been suppressed in the manner described in the second volume, he took up his abode in the house of Mr. Gubbins, and, in those thousand and one ways, in which a loyal native can, in times of suspicion amongst his own countrymen, render unequalled service to the paramount power, gave himself, heart and soul, to the cause of order. After the suppression of the mutiny, the Government bestowed upon him a title and a reward.

Rao Devnarain Singh

Another loyal native of Banaras was the Rao, Devnarain Singh. He was loyal from the first whisper of disaffection, and placed all his influence, which was great, at the disposal of the Government: After the disbanding of the native troops, he, too, came to live in Mr. Gubbins’s house, and aided greatly in the task, still a difficult one, of maintaining order in the city. I say, still a difficult one, because, although immediate danger from the Sipahis on the spot had passed away, the districts around Banaras were surging with revolt. For a very long time afterwards, Azamgarh, Jaunpur, and western Bihar, continued to be overrun with rebels, and at one time the city of Banaras itself was in very great danger41. Under such circumstances, the aid rendered by Rao Devnarain Singh was invaluable.

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He was specially useful in procuring trustworthy agents who ferreted out the counsels of the rebels; watched the movements of disaffected men within the city, and the intrigues of the landowners without, and thus gave Mr. Gubbins the information upon which he was able to act with vigour and success. To the very last he was a tower of strength.

The Rajah of Banaras

In a less marked manner, but not less sincerely, did the Rajah of Banaras cast in his lot with the British who had established his family in the position he had inherited. He was constitutionally a timid man, but his heart was in the right place, and he never for a moment flinched from the loyal course he laid down for himself from the first moment.

Pandit Gokal Chand

Pandit Gokal Chand, a Brahman of the highest caste and possessing considerable influence, rendered excellent service by the support he gave to the British cause.

Mr. F. C. Chapman

Of the Englishmen, some indigo planters, some traders, who lived at Banaras or in its vicinity, were many who behaved with zeal and daring Of these not one was more prominent than Mr. F. C. Chapman, an indigo planter. His energy in scouring the country could not be surpassed. Jenkinson placed at his disposal some of the native levies which he raised, and the name of F. C. Chapman, as the leader of these, became a terror to the disaffected. In the month of June or July Chapman was sent to Calcutta in charge of a powerful native whom he had made prisoner, and who was believed to be a man of importance. He was received with effusion by. Lord Canning, who, in response to his wishes, appointed him second in command to Major Richardson in the corps of Yeomanry Cavalry, the formation of which Chapman was the first to suggest. With this corps Chapman continued to render good service.

I must now pass on to the second. district in the Banaras division, the district of Mirzapur.

Mirzapur

The district of Mirzapur has an area of 5224 square miles, and a population, now considerably in excess of a million, but, in 1857, just short of it. It is bounded to the north by the districts of Banaras and Jaunpur; to the east by those of Shahabad and Lohardaga; to the south by one of the small states in Chutia Nagpur, known as the Sarguja state; to the west by the Allahabad district and the state of Rewah. It is crossed by the Vindhya and Kaimur ranges, and

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is watered by the Ganges, the Son, and the Karmnasa. Its chief towns are Mirzapur, and Chanar, the latter guarded by the famous historical fortress of the same name.

The town, Mirzapur, is situated on the Ganges fifty-six miles from Allahabad, and twenty-seven from Banaras. The fortress of Chanar, situate on a rock commanding the Gauges, is sixteen miles to the south-west of Banaras. It had been used in times then recent as a state prison, and not ten years had passed since the Rani of Lahor, the mother of Maharajah Dhulip Singh, confined there as a state prisoner, hid managed to elude the vigilance of her guards, and to escape.

Civil officers at Mirzapur

The civil officers at Mirzapur, in 1857, were Mr. Lean, the judge; Mr. St. George Tucker, the magistrate and collector; and Mr. Balmain, his assistant; Mr. Moore, the joint magistrate. The troops consisted of a wing of the Sikh regiment of Firuzpur, but the mutiny had shown its earliest symptoms when the station received the unwelcome visit of the 47th Regiment Native Infantry, then on its way from Prome to Allahabad. This regiment was commanded by Colonel Pott.

The mutiny of the 10th of May at Mirath affected every station in India, especially those in the North-Western provinces. Mirzapur was no exception to the rule. The slightest occurrence sufficed to cause alarm. The result was the display of watchfulness and a desire to meet promptly any sudden emergency on the part of the Englishmen stationed there. Mirzapur passed unscathed through the trying days of May, and it was only when on the 7th of the following month, when a wing of the 47th Native Infantry arrived, that the Magistrate, Mr. St. George Tucker, felt the imminence of the danger

Arrival of the 47th N.I.

By that time it had come to be understood that whilst a station unguarded, or guarded by Europeans or Sikhs, might escape an outbreak, the presence of a regiment of native infantry demanded constant and unwearying care and caution. Mr. Tucker was thoroughly alive to the danger of the situation, and he was fortunate in finding in Colonel Pott, the commanding officer of the new arrivals, a gentleman absolutely free from the prejudice in favour of his own men which affected the action of so many native infantry officers. The difficulty was how to remove the evil without causing the very commotion it was sought to avoid. It was necessary to act promptly, to assume responsibility, to cast regulations to the winds. Colonel Pott was equal to the occasion. He decided to give furlough

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to the majority of the men of his wing, retaining a certain number only, whom he believed could be trusted.

Prudent conduct of Colonel Pott

Taking possession of the magazine, he threw into the river all the spare cartridges; and the nipples of the spare muskets, thus rendering the weapons useless. On the 8th some of the treasure was despatched. with the Sikhs to Allahabad: on the day following, the rest of it was placed on board a river-steamer and despatched to Banaras. Notwithstanding these heroic measures, which had the effect of removing all temptation to outbreak, many of the residents got frightened, and made for Chanar.

St. George Tucker

St. George Tucker, in charge of the district, was a worthy comrade of Gubbins and Lind of Banaras. On the 10th, a small party of Sipahis of the 50th Native Infantry arrived from Nagod, bringing with them a prisoner. Tucker, believing from the demeanour of these men that he could employ them usefully, marched with them a few miles on their return journey, and attacked and chastised some marauders who had plundered the property of the East India railway. A few days later he was able to accomplish much more. The inhabitants of a village called Gaura, situate on the right bank of the Ganges, near the borders of the Allahabad district, had been particularly given to outbreak and plunder.

Energy of St. George Tucker

Tucker took advantage of the arrival of a small detachment of the Madras Fusiliers to march against this village with that detachment, and the loyal men of the 47th Native Infantry. Whilst he made this movement, the Deputy Magistrate, Mr. P. Walker, made a simultaneous march along the lower part of the same district.

He clears the right bank of the Ganges

The result was the occupation of Gaura, the capture of some of the leaders of the outbreak, and the pacification of the district on the right bank of the Ganges. The Rajputs on the left bank, however, still continued contumacious. There were a number of townships which acknowledged as their chief a relative of the descendant of that Rajah of Banaras, who had been dispossessed by Warren Hastings, and were in open insurrection.

Dangers on the left bank

Their chief, taking the title of Rajah of Bhudoi, appointed agents to collect the revenue, enrolled a force, plundered those of his neighbours who refused to acknowledge him, and closed the grand trunk road to the English. Against this man and his companions, Mr. Moore, the joint magistrate of Mirzapur, and who had charge of the

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estates of the Rajah of Banaras, was making head as best he could. It happened that by a fortunate chance, one of his agents managed to secure the person of the rebel chief and one of his accomplices. These, caught red-handed in the act of rebellion, were tried by court-martial, condemned and hanged.

A reward offered for the head of Moore

This act of summary justice, far from intimidating rebels, incited them to defiance. The widow of the late chief offered a reward of 300 rupees to the man who would bring her the head of Moore. Moore was brought to trial in effigy before a panchayat42, condemned to death, and measures were directed to apprehend him, and execute the sentence. It happened that, on the 4th July, Moore arrived at the indigo factory of Pali, bringing with him some rebels whom he had captured. There he was suddenly attacked by the followers of the widow of the chief of Bhudoi. Moore defended himself vigorously, and, believing that a counterattack would have its effect, sallied forth accompanied by the two managers of the factory, and some of his men, and charged the besiegers.

Moore is captured and slain

These, however, were too numerous, and after a desperate fight, Moore and the two managers were captured. They were immediately put to death. Moore’s head was severed from his body, and carried to the widow, who paid for it the reward she had offered. The same day, a party of the 64th, led by Lieutenant Woodhouse, arrived on the spot, but the rebels had already left.

The rebels are chased from the district

They were joined the day following by St. George Tucker, with some of the 47th Native Infantry, and by F. C. Chapman, the planter I have already spoken of under the head of Banaras. These pursued the rebels. They had, however, to be content with driving them out of the district, for the insurgents were too agile in their movements, and knew the country too well to be caught. The district was momentarily pacified, and continued quiet for about a month.

Arrival and defeat of the Danapur Sipahis

On the 11th August, however, the disturbances were renewed. In a previous page of this history I have told how Vincent Eyre43 had, on the 3rd August, relieved Arah, and how the rebel Sipahis, after their defeat,

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had disappeared from the vicinity of the beleaguered house. The district of Shahabad, of which Arah is the chief station, adjoins the district of Mirzapur, and into this Sipahis, to the number of about fifteen hundred, repaired, after the rough handling which Eyre had given them. From the 11th to the 20th August they plundered the richer villages; then, on the last-named day, they set out for the station of Mirzapur, But the delays they had made had given time to a party of the 5th Fusiliers, about three hundred strong, to arrive. These encountered the rebels about seventeen miles from Mirzapur, and totally defeated them. They fled, then, into the Allahabad district, and ultimately made their way into Oudh.

Mutineers from Chutia Nagpur arrive

But the district was not yet safe. I have shown how, on its southern side, the district touches one of the smaller districts of Chutia Nagpur, then, and for many months afterwards, in a state of open rebellion. It was natural that occasional irruptions should take place from this quarter. Of these, one occurred on the 14th July; another, headed by Kunwar Singh himself, on the 8th September. The rebels, however, merely passed through, doing comparatively little damage. The southern part of the district was then transferred to the charge of Mr. F. 0. Mayne, an officer of great energy and resolution, and he, by strenuous efforts, succeeded in keeping that part of the grand trunk road which bordered his charge, open for traffic and the passage of troops. The district continued, however, more or less disturbed up to the period when the last rebel had laid down his arms. The fact of the close vicinity to the Shahabad district, and the presence there of Kunwar Singh, and after his death, of his brother, Amar Singh, rendered it impossible that it should be otherwise.

Energy of St. George Tucker, of Walker, of Elliott, of Mayne

It may be added that, to the very last, Mr. St. George Tucker continued to display the energy and foresight which characterised his proceedings at the earlier stage; that he was ably supported by his uncovenanted assistant, the Walker already spoken of; and by a young civilian, then recently arrived in the country, Mr. C. A. Elliott, who distinguished himself on more than one occasion; that he received valuable support throughout from the Rajah of Kantit and his brother, whilst the enmity of the Rajah of Singrauli added to his difficulties. It was most creditable that a district so important, liable to incursions on at least two sides by rebels, should have been sustained with means

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so inadequate, and the credit of having produced such a result is due to the three officers I have just named; and, associated with them, to Mr. F. O. Mayne.

Jaunpur

The next district of which I would speak is Jaunpur. The town, very famous in the Muhammadan period of Indian history, lies thirty-six miles from Banaras, and eighty-three from Faizabad in Oudh. In the district, as in all the districts of the North-West Provinces, the system introduced unsparingly by the late Mr. Thomason, the system of ruling an eastern people by cut-and-dried western ideas, a system already described as to its working for evil in a previous volume44, was in full force. It had produced there more than usual dissatisfaction, for Jaunpur had been a most important district, the seat even of a Government, and there were settled there many noble and ancient families. Under the hard and fast rule of Mr. Thomason, many of these had been dispossessed in favour of men without lineage or consideration. They remained, however, in the district, daily witnesses of the wrongs they had suffered. It will easily be understood that, when there arose signs of a general uprising against the foreigner, these men sympathised rather with their dispossessed brethren across the Oudh frontier, to which they were contiguous, than with the ruling power. How, acting with these, and with the revolted landowners of Azamgarh and Shahabad, they fought to the very last, has been told in the preceding volumes.

Civil officers at Jaunpur

In 1857, the judge of Jaunpur was Mr. B. J. Taylor; the magistrate was Mr. H. Fane; the joint-magistrate was Mr. Cuppage. But when the events of the 10th of May took place at Mirath, I rather think Mr. Taylor was absent. The troops consisted of a detachment a the Sikh regiment of Lodiana, the head-quarters of which 1 were at Banaras, under the command of Lieutenant Mara.

The story of the occurrences at Jaunpur of the 5th of June has been told in a previous page45. It will suffice here to say that nowhere in India was the overthrow of the British authority more sudden and more complete. Those who had lost their estates under our rule, writes Mr. Taylor, who made a special report to the Government on the occurrences in this division, “thought this a good time to regain them; those who had not, thought they could make a little profit by plundering their

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weaker neighbours; the bolder spirits thought to secure more brilliant advantages by intercourse with the rebel powers in Oudh;” and in this state they remained till the arrival of the Gurkhas on September 8th, restored a semblance of authority to the British Government. Then, a change was inaugurated in the personnel of the district.

Mr. F. M. Lind

Mr. Jenkinson

Mr. F. M. Lind, of whose high qualities and great services I have spoken when dealing with the Banaras district, became magistrate, and Mr. E.G. Jenkinson, already favourably mentioned in connection with the same district, his immediate subordinate.

Mr. Patrick Carnegy

Acting with them, as deputy collector, was Mr. P. Carnegy, well known at a later period for the valuable services46 he rendered. when serving with the force under General Franks. The campaign that followed the arrival of the Gurkhas has been told in different detail in the fourth volume of this work.

renders splendid service

But it has not yet been sufficiently narrated how, in that campaign, Lind, and Jenkinson, and Carnegy, performed the duties of soldiers in addition to their own; how, as the Commissioner reported to the Government, they exhibited great gallantry in the field, and were most indefatigable in the performance - of their duties. The same high official reported likewise the names of other Europeans, who, not in the service of the Government, contributed greatly by their zeal and energy to the restoration of order.

The Waleskis

Of such were the brothers Waleski, who, he reported, out of pure loyalty, accompanied the authorities on their return to Jaunpur, and then shared the whole of the subsequent campaign.

The loyal natives

Of the loyal natives, he specially mentions, Hingan Lal, who, during the outbreak in June, sheltered the European officers at the risk of his own life, and continued to act loyally to the end; Madhu Singh, Zamindar of Bisharatpur, who gave shelter to a considerable party of planters, and subsequently evinced on every occasion, zeal and energy in the cause of his masters; Rajah Sheo Ghulam Dubé, the chief of the Dubé clan, who watched over the interests of the English after the events of this 5th of June, and, who subsequently exerted himself on their behalf; Rajah Mahesh Narain, who, on the re-occupation of Jaunpur by Mr. Lind and his comrades, and the troops who accompanied them,

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brought all his matchlockmen to the fore, and rendered excellent service. There were others of an inferior rank or power. But Pandit Krishn Singh, who fought for his alien masters, and, though beaten in the field, returned to render what service he could, must not be forgotten.

Venables and Dunn

Of Messrs. Venables and Dunn, whose exertions, and whose services were unsurpassed and unsurpassable, I shall write fully under the head of the district with which they were more particularly associated, the district of Azamgarh.

I have dealt at so great length in the fourth volume with the military events in the Jaunpur district, that I should only be guilty of repetition if I were to dwell further on the subject here. My object in this volume is to place on record the deeds performed, under very difficult circumstances, by men who, though not soldiers, displayed presence of mind, readiness of resource; courage of the highest order, and that carelessness of responsibility, which, in difficult times, is the truest test of a really great man. These qualities were displayed to the full in the Jaunpur district by the gentlemen whose names I have mentioned. The district, and the neighbouring district of Azamgarh, continued in a state of unquiet during the first six months of 1858, nor could it be said to be thoroughly secure until after the death of Kunwar Singh, recorded in the fourth volume47.

The next district in the order arranged at the commencement of this chapter is the district of Gorakhpur. To that district I now pass on.

Position and extent of Gorakhpur

The district called, after the chief town within its borders, Gorakhpur, is bounded to the north by Nipal; to the east and south-east by the district of Saran; to the south by Azamgarh; and to the south-west and west by the kingdom of Oudh. It covers an area of 7346 square miles, and possessed, in 1857, a population somewhat exceeding three millions.

Mr. Wynyard

Mr. Paterson

Mr. Bird

In 1857, the judge of Gorakhpur was Mr. William Wynyard, already mentioned in these pages48; the magistrate and collector was Mr. Paterson; the joint-magistrate was Mr. Bird. In such times as were those of 1857, the lead taken was independent of the actual position and rank of the officer. The strongest man invariably came to the front. Sometimes, as at Patna, that strongest

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man was the senior in position. At other times, as at Banaras, the second in rank quietly took into his hands the direction of affairs. At Gorakhpur, the senior in position was essentially a man of action. Mr. William Wynyard, therefore, was at once recognised as the man to direct and to execute the plans which might be necessary for the preservation of British authority within the district.

Wynyard, seeing the approach of storm, takes responsibility

William Wynyard joined to great activity of body and a love of field sports, a nature that knew not fear, a mind well stored, and a thorough acquaintance with the character of the natives of his district. He had noted early in 1857, the tendency of affairs, but, his station being some distance off the main line of postal communication between Bengal and the North-West Provinces, he did not hear of the mutiny at Mirath till a full week after it had occurred, the 17th of May. It happened that Mr. Paterson, the magistrate, was just on the point of quitting the station on leave of absence, for which he had applied and which had been granted.

To retain Mr. Paterson

In the presence of the crisis then impending, and which he saw could not fail to bear with particular severity upon a place so near the Oudh frontier as was Gorakhpur, Wynyard took it upon himself to delay Paterson’s departure. I mention this fact not because in itself it was of great importance, but because it produced from the Commissioner of the division a reply which indicated a belief common to almost all the high officials in India.

Mr. Tucker’s opinion regarding the duration of the mutiny

Mr. Tucker thanked Wynyard for his action in having delayed Mr. Paterson’s departure “till he has heard of the annihilation of the rebels.” It was evidently not thought that the delay would be long!

The troops at Gorakhpur

The troops of Gorakhpur consisted of two companies 17th regiment Native Infantry and a small detachment 12th Irregular Cavalry. The head-quarters of the former were at Azamgarh, of the latter at Sigauli. Very few days after the news reached him of the mutiny, Wynyard received information that the 17th Native Infantry could not be depended upon. The 12th Irregulars bore then a good character, and their commanding officer, Major Holmes, whose name was a household word in the army, was known to trust them implicitly. But, even granting that they were loyal, their numbers were few, and Wynyard felt that it would be necessary for him to look elsewhere for sure support.

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Wynyard receives from the Commissioner powers

Happily, at this conjuncture, the commissioner, Mr. Tucker, placed Wynyard in civil charge of the district, moment, that Banaras was shaky, recommending him to act boldly and on his own judgment, and giving him authority to assume any amount of responsibility, civil or military. The way thus made plain to him, Wynyard proceeded to act.

which he uses Judiciously

He enlisted recruits for the gaol and other local guards; he caused similar enlistments to be made in the districts; he wrote to the well-affected native landowners and to the European planters, authorising them to enlist well-affected natives for the Government service; he appointed a place of rendezvous in case of attack; and he despatched a hundred and twenty-five of the 17th Native Infantry and a detachment, thirty-four men, of the 12th Irregulars to Banaras in charge of treasure. This still left him burdened with one hundred and twenty Sipahis and sixty Sawars.

Continued arrival of bad tidings

From that day forth for a long time to follow every post brought bad tidings from outside. One day it was the mutiny at Firuzpur, the next the outbreak at Lakhnao, then those at Nimach and Nasithbad. But the news received on the 5th of June was still more ominous for Gorakhpur. It told of the mutiny at Azamgarh of the 17th Native Infantry, a detachment of which regiment was, as we have seen, on duty at Gorakhpur.

Steel addresses the men of the 17th Native Infantry

That detachment was commanded by Captain Steel, an excellent officer. He at once paraded his men, Paterson having disposed the cavalry and local levies so as to attack them if they should mutiny. Steel then addressed them, apparently with effect. They displayed no outward sign of discontent. But this apparent loyalty lasted only for the day.

who, nevertheless, refuse to obey his orders

The very next morning Steel endeavoured to march the Sipahis to Azamgarh, but they refused to obey his orders, and one of them, whom the rest were evidently disposed to follow, was heard to declare that the money in the treasury should. not leave the station without a fight.

The prisoners attempt to break out, but are baffled

The day following, the 7th of June, the prisoners attempted to break out from the gaol, but they were baffled by the gaol-guard, energetically led

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by Mr. Bird, the joint magistrate, and Mr. Desmazures, an indigo-planter. Eight of the prisoners were killed in the attempt, and ten or twelve were wounded. That night the Sipahis, apparently, resolved to join their comrades. They seized empty carts, and with these marched, armed, the following morning, towards the treasury. Their purpose was evident. They had determined to go, but not without the money.

Another attempt at mutiny is checked

In this crisis; Steel and Wynyard, who, from the verandah of the former’s bungalow, saw them approaching, went out to meet and to harangue them. Their arguments were effective, for the Sipahis returned to their lines. Still business was at a standstill. Everyone felt that one day, sooner or later, the trial would come. There seemed no means of averting it.

Major Ramsay offers to send a reinforcement of Gurkhas

Next morning, however, Wynyard received from Major, afterwards Major-General the Honourable Sir Henry, Ramsay, the British Resident at the court of Khatmandu, a letter, in which he promised to send him two hundred Gurkhas from Palpa, just across the border. This was cheering news. With the aid of that number of trustworthy troops, it seemed possible still to maintain the district.

The Sipahis in the district mutiny

But the following day showed that events were marching too fast for the Gurkhas. I have already told how, towards the end of May, Wynyard had sent money to Azamgarh escorted by a hundred and twenty-five of the 17th Native Infantry and thirty-four men of the 12th Irregulars. On the morning of, the 11th, the Irregulars returned, telling how, after leaving Azamgarh, the Sipahis had mutinied and had seized the money; how the Ghazipur district was in revolt, and how the loyalty of Bihar depended upon the power of the Commissioner of Patna to maintain order in that turbulent city.

Great and successful measures adopted by Wynyard

Nevertheless, Wynyard did not lose heart. Trusting to the 12th Irregulars, whose loyalty had, up to that time, been proof against seduction, he sent detachments to Azamgarh, to Basti, and to other parts of the district, under his own officers or European residents, to restore order. And he succeeded. He proclaimed martial law in the district, suspended the ordinary forms of trial, and showed a zeal, an energy, and a resolution which had an extremely deterring effect upon the disaffected. They

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argued that no man would act with such boldness unless he had resources of which they knew nothing.

The commissioner attempts to prevent the coming of the Gurkhas

And yet, all this time, Wynyard had not only no resources, but his superior officer was doing his best to deprive him of those whose timely arrival would still have saved the district. Mr. Tucker, the Commissioner of Banaras, wrote at this crisis to tell him that no troops could be spared from that city. This was true, and was probably anticipated. But what was not anticipated, what in its result was fatal to many European lives, was the fact that at the same time Mr. Tucker was exerting all his efforts to prevent the arrival of the Gurkhas, whose number was now swollen to three thousand, in British territory. To accept the aid of Jang Bahadur was, in Mr. Tucker’s opinion, an evil; but surely it was a lesser evil than that involved in the occupation of British territory by rebels! Yet that was, as the result proved, the only alternative.

Fugitives from Oudh arrive

On the 17th and on the 19th fugitives from Oudh arrived in Gorakhpur. On the 20th, Wynyard sent off all the ladies in the station – the wives of the clerks, who at the last moment refused to leave, excepted – to Banaras under an escort of twenty-five men of the 12th Irregulars, seventy men belonging to the Rajah of Banaras, and accompanied by six officers and a sergeant who had escaped from Oudh. This party reached Azamgarh in safety; but the districts were swarming with rebels; all the landowners were up. The road to Banaras was unsafe, and the party diverted their course to Ghazipur.

Two hundred Gurkhas reach Gorakhpur

On the 25th, the two hundred Gurkhas originally promised by Ramsay arrived from Palpa. It must have been a satisfaction to Wynyard thus to have saved for seven weeks a district on the borders of revolted Oudh, contiguous to other districts in which the torch of mutiny had been lighted, and whose landowners had followed with light hearts the example set them by the Sipahis. If, in the presence of adverse circumstances which he saw rising around him, Wynyard could not feel very sanguine as to the immediate future; at least he had grounds for hope.

The one thing requisite to pacify the district

It needed but a decisive blow struck at some rebel centre to pacify the district, and it always seemed possible that any day might bring the good news.

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Wynyard receives an autograph letter of thanks and commendation from the Governor-General

It was encouraging to Wynyard at such a crisis that he should feel that his conduct had been approved not only by his local superior, but by the Governor-General. Mr. Tucker, just at this time, wrote him a letter fully approving of his arrangements and of the manner in which he had carried them out, and on the 28th of June Lord Canning sent him an autograph letter expressive of his gratitude for the excellent service which, in conjunction with Mr. Paterson, Mr. Wynyard had rendered at Gorakhpur, and concluding with a hope that he might be still able to hold his ground; “if not,” wrote Lord Canning, “have no scruple as to retiring in time. You have long ago saved your honour.”

Despite the arrival of news

It was known on the 25th of July that more Gurkhas were approaching. The districts, however, were greatly disturbed. During the preceding three weeks many untoward events had happened. The slaughter of Kanhpur had become known; the mutinies at Gwaliar and Bareli; the Azamgarh district had been the scene of warfare, marked by the splendid gallantry of Venables and Dunn. The only counterbalancing news was that of the victories obtained by Havelock over the rebels and of his arrival at Kanhpur.

Wynyard maintains his hold on the district

But Wynyard still kept his hold on the district; the Nipal army was near, and having accomplished so much Wynyard was still hopeful that he might accomplish more.

News of the mutiny of the 12th Irregular Cavalry arrives

But on the 28th of July the fatal news of the mutiny of the 12th Irregulars at Sigauli, of the murder of Holmes and his noble wife, and of the doctor, and the intelligence that the regiment was marching on Gorakhpur reached him.

The Gurkhas march in

Instantly he sent off an express to the first division of Gurkhas to push on. They pushed on and arrived that evening.

The arrival of the Gurkhas produced a double effect. It saved the lives of the Europeans, but it necessitated the evacuation of Gorakhpur.

The colonel of the Nipal troops imposes the necessity of abandoning Gorakhpur

How this was so is capable of easy explanation. The Gurkhas were under orders to march, by way of Azamgarh, for Allahabad At that time Azamgarh had again fallen into the hands of the rebels. The officer commanding the Gurkhas, Colonel Pahlawan Singh, declined to leave a detachment at Gorakhpur, or in any way to divide

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his forces. Information had been received from English sources that the 12th Irregulars, red with the blood of their own officers, were marching on Gorakhpur. For the few English officials to remain there after the Gurkhas should have left it, and to meet alone the 12th Irregulars, accompanied by all the rabble of the districts, seemed indeed to be madness utterly wanting in method.

Troops at Gorakhpur are disarmed

Two or three days were left for Wynyard and his colleagues to consider the course to be adopted. These days were well employed. On the 1st of August the men of the detachment 17th Native Infantry were peaceably disarmed. The few men of the 12th Irregulars were less successfully dealt with. These men gave up their arms, it is true, to their own commandant, Risaldar Muhammad Bakhsh; but they had scarcely done so when some of them made a rush at the arms, recovered them, mounted their horses, and galloped off. They were pursued by their own comrades under Captain Warren; six of them were killed, one was wounded and died of his wounds. The eighty-three loyal men remained staunch to the end49.

Mr. Wynyard and all the officials but one quit Gorakhpur

The news which arrived two days later of the defeat of Captain Dunbar’s detachment near Arah, and the receipt the following day of a letter containing Mr. Tucker’s approval of a retirement upon Azamgarh and Jaunpur, decided Mr. Wynyard and the other gentlemen of the district to accompany the Gurkhas. The district was no longer tenable. “Have no scruples,” Lord Canning had written, “in retiring in time – you have long ago saved your honour.” Mr. Wynyard and his companions then, on the 13th of August, made over charge of the district to the loyal landowners, and rode that evening into the Gurkha camp.

The official who remained

One, and one only, remained behind. This was the assistant magistrate, Mr. Bird. Mr. Bird was a great sportsman, affected the society of natives, and believed he could trust them. He, therefore, declined to accompany his countrymen. He soon had reason to repent it. Gorakhpur, after the departure of the Gurkhas, was contested for by the zamindars of the neighbourhood, and Muhammad

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Husen, calling himself the Nazim, from Oudh. Eventually the latter took possession of the place. But before this happened one of the zamindars, the Rajah of Gopalpur, entered the town and released the prisoners.

Insulted

One of these, a man whom Bird himself had committed for forgery, forced his way into the presence of his old committing officer, and seated himself on the table. The native guards declined to remove him. Bird then wrote to his European comrades for assistance, but it could not be given. The Gurkha commandant declined to send a man.

And forced to flee for his life, with a price on his head

After four or five days of stirring adventure, going about with his life in his hand, Bird eventually escaped into the jungle. Muhammad Husen, who had by that time occupied Gorakhpur, with a offered a reward of five thousand rupees for his head, and whilst he despatched two hundred men to cut him off, sent as many more on his track. But Bird, a sportsman who knew thoroughly the bye-ways of the jungle, succeeded in baffling both, and in reaching Betiah, in the Champaran district, eighty-two miles from Gorakhpur, in safety.

The Gurkha force meanwhile, proceeds to Azamgarh

Meanwhile the Gurkha force, accompanied by Wynyard and his comrades, marched towards Azamgarh. On the 20th of August they repulsed a spirited attack made upon their camp by the rebels at Gagha. On the 21st the force crossed the Ghaghra river and marched without further interruption on Azamgarh which was reached on the 27th. Mr. Wynyard was then nominated chief civil officer of the Azamgarh district. On the 4th September left Azamgarh to recover Jaunpur. How both districts were fought for and maintained has been told in a previous volume50.

The state of Gorakhpur immediately upon the departure of the English officials fully justified that departure.

The maintenance of Gorakhpur for three months redounds to the credit of Wynyard and the other officials

In few parts of India did the districts become more infested with men thirsting for European blood than in the districts bordering on Oudh. To have maintained Gorakhpur for three months without assistance, in the presence of disaffected Sipahis, and surrounded by turbulent landowners, was a feat worthy of the highest praise – a feat which testified

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to the courage, the tact, the judgment of those by whom it was accomplished, and which redounded greatly to their honour.

who are, nevertheless left unrewarded

But, notwithstanding Lord Canning’s emphatic declaration in this respect, notwithstanding the services subsequently rendered, Mr. Wynyard and his companions were not admitted within the favoured circle of official approbation. The more necessary is it, then, that admiration should be accorded to them by their countrymen.

Ghazipur

The next district in the order in which I have placed the districts of the Banaras division is the district of Ghazipur. In that district. in 1857, Mr. Trevor Plowden was the judge; Mr. A. Ross the magistrate and collector.; Mr. J. R. Best his deputy. The native regiment at the station was the 65th Regiment, but recently returned from Burmah.

Mr. A. Ross

Mr. Ross was a strong man. The district, like all the districts in the North-West Provinces, had been much disturbed by the application to it of Mr. Thomason’s system, and many of the dispossessed landowners had, prior even to the event of the 10th of May at Mirath, displayed turbulent symptoms. The treasury was full, and its contents were, apparently, at the mercy of the Sipahis of the 65th. But the 65th, I have said, had but just returned from Burmah, and to that country the emissaries of the Maulavi, and the fiery spirits who had directed the plans for the corruption of the native army, had not penetrated.

Reasons for the quiescence of the 65th Native Infantry

The quiescent attitude of the men of that 65th Native regiment gave Mr. Ross, who at once took the lead at Ghazipur, the one thing he required, viz., time. He utilised that time to the best advantage, and, according to the opinion of no mean judge, Mr. Frederick Gubbins, “his prudence and firmness as magistrate had a great effect in preserving the peace of the district.”

Effect of the Azamgarh mutiny

May passed over without serious disturbance. But when the troops at Azamgarh mutinied, and the fugitives from that station came pouring into Ghazipur, but forty-four miles distant, on the 5th -and 6th of June, the real difficulties began. The district rose almost as one man. Even in the station itself order was with difficulty maintained, for, to use the language of the official report, “the police were helpless, and robberies were perpetrated to the very door of the

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Court House itself.” Had the 65th risen at this moment, Ghazipur must have been lost. But the men of that regiment had openly declared that so long as the regiments stationed at Danapur should remain quiet they would continue to do their duty. Mr. Ross displayed under these circumstances combined judgment and daring. He shipped the contents of the treasury on board a river steamer, and despatched it to Banaras; and, proclaiming martial law; stimulated the military authorities to employ their men to restore order in the district. His measures-so far succeeded that by the 16th June a great improvement was manifest.

Quiet is maintained in June

Doubtless the vigorous action of General Neill at Banaras and Allahabad was not without its effect on many of the more timid of the evil-disposed, for the month of June passed by and Ghazipur remained quiet. Another cause which contributed to this result in the following month was the arrival, in succession, of river-steamers carrying troops to the north-west.

and in July

The presence of these troops off the ghat greatly impressed the natives, and their report of what they had seen penetrated into the interior. Occasionally some of these were landed, and, in the beginning of July, a company of the 78th Highlanders was ordered to remain for the protection of the station. These men did good service.

Mr. Bax

On the 7th July Mr. Bax, a district magistrate, accompanied a handful of these and some native horsemen to protect a threatened indigo factory, and to burn a recalcitrant village. This service was well performed, and produced a good effect. On the 14th, however, came a rumour that Kunwar Singh, chief of Jagdispur, angered at the action of the Government51 which had beggared him, was preparing to take forcible measures for the retention of his hereditary possessions. On the 27th, news arrived of the successful revolt of the three native regiments at Danapur on the 25th, and of their march towards Arah. To the residents of Ghazipur it was incomprehensible why the Sipahis of the 65th did not then rise. The term fixed by themselves to the rendering of allegiance to their foreign masters had arrived, and they made no sign.

Vincent Eyre

Fortunate that it was so, for had the 65th risen, Eyre could not have attempted to relieve Arah. Doubly fortunate, too, that that daring leader reached Ghazipur before the

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news had arrived there of Dunbar’s disaster. How Eyre arrived there on the 29th, and how he at once took prompt measures to attempt, with an inferior force, a task in which Dunbar had failed with a larger, has been told at length in a previous volume52.

The 65th are disarmed

His triumph did more than effect the relief of the Arah garrison. Amongst the many important measures which it rendered possible was the disarming of the 65th at Ghazipur. This was effected the first week of August without bloodshed.

Good effect of Mr. A. Ross’s exertions

From that time until the incursion of Kunwar Singh into the Azamgarh district in March 1858, order was maintained, thanks to the incessant exertions of Mr. Ross and of Mr. Bax, in the Glnizipur district. “Mr. Ross had the satisfaction,” writes Mr. H. G. Keene53, “ (in which he stood almost, alone amongst his colleagues at that time) of being able to carry on his duties in comparative tranquillity. A part of those duties was, however, of an extraordinary character and exceptional usefulness, namely, the collection of stores, supplies, and carriage for the European troops constantly hurrying westward. These modest labours deserved, perhaps, more recognition than they have hitherto received.”

The district remains disordered till October 1858

The result of Kunwar Singh’s incursion into the Azamgarh district has been told at length in the fourth volume54. There, also, it has been related how the retreat of the Jagdispur chieftain led him into and across the Ghazipur district. This action completely demoralised the eastern portion of that district. Discontented chiefs, discontented landowners, discontented villagers, turned out to swell the army of the retreating chief. To them he owed in a great measure, that he was able to deceive his pursuers as to the exact point at which he would cross the Ganges. In the operations conducted by Brigadier Douglas in the Ghazipur district, Mr. Bax and Mr. Leslie Probyn rendered signal service. Their task of reorganization began after the British troops had followed Kunwar Singh into Shahabad. That task was difficult, but it was accomplished, and by the end of October order was completely restored.

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Azamgarh

The last district to be mentioned is Azamgarh. This district has an area of 2147 square miles, and had, in 1857, a population of nearly a million and a half. It is bounded to the north by the Ghaghra, to the south by the Ghazipur district, to the west by Oudh and the Jaunpur district. Its vicinity to Oudh, and the Thomasonian policy of the Government of the North-West Provinces, had made it one of the most disaffected districts in India.

Mr. Astell

Mr. Horne

Mr. Venables

Mr. Dunn

Azamgarh was held, in the early part of 857, by the headquarters of the 17th Native Infantry, commanded by Major Burroughs, and a detail of native artillery. The civil officers were – Mr. Henry Astell, the judge; Mr. Horne, the magistrate and collector. There were likewise the indigo-planters, Messrs. Venables and Dunn, and uncovenanted servants of the Government, such as Messrs. Legge, Dodsworth, Niblett, and others.

An account of the rising at Azamgarh on the 3rd of June, caused by an attempt to remove the moneys in the local treasury to Banaras, has been given in the second volume55 of this history. But, connected as the events which succeeded the rising were with the actions of two men who were amongst the noblest characters produced by the great mutiny, I mean Messrs., Venables and Dunn, I think it necessary to enter more into detail than was required in a mere military narrative. The true story of the events at Azamgarh was first told in the Red Pamphlet56. Mr. H. G. Keene has also related it in his very interesting book57, and it is given in the official records. It is only necessary here to state that, on the outbreak of the mutiny, the civil officers and some of the planters and other Europeans abandoned the station and fled into Ghazipur. At the moment they could scarcely do otherwise. Many, however, of the less prominent Europeans and Eurasians were unable to get away.

Mr. Niblett

Ali Bakhsh

Amongst these was Mr. Niblett, head clerk to the Collector. This gentleman found refuge air att. on the night of the 2nd in the house of a loyal Muhammadan, his colleague in the Collector’s office, Ali Bakhsh by name, and was by him sheltered till the 16th. Nor was this, as will be seen, the only way in which this loyal man rendered excellent service to his foreign masters.

Amongst the indigo-planters who had quitted the district to

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proceed to Ghazipur for safety were Messrs. Venables and Dunn.

Venables and Dunn propose to re-occupy Azamgarh

They had had no more power than the civilians and the officers of the 17th Native Infantry to resist the first mutinous onslaught of a native regiment in full mutiny. But, on counting noses at Ghazipur, it was discovered that some planters and some clerks had been left behind. These men were in danger of their lives, if indeed they had escaped. The first thought which occurred to Messrs. Venables and Dunn was that at all hazards an attempt must be made to search for and rescue these men. They communicated with Mr. A. Ross, the energetic magistrate of Ghazipur. who approved the idea, and offered them a few native constables, mounted, to accompany them.

Astell and Horne refuse

The civilians who had quitted Azamgarh were, however, less willing to share with the two indigo- planters the risk of returning They declared that without the sanction of the Commissioner of the division they would not budge. A message was instantly despatched to obtain the Commissioner’s sanction. Had the Commissioner been Mr. Gubbins or Mr. Lind, there can be no doubt as to the answer which would have been returned.

Mr. H. T. Tucker supports them in their refusal

But the Commissioner was Mr. H. T. Tucker, and that gentleman sent back the very extraordinary reply that whilst he did not object to the return to the district of Messrs. Venables and Dunn, the civilians were on no account to risk their lives.

Splendid conduct of Venables and Dunn

The two planters set out, then, the next day with the few mounted constables Mr. Ross had given them. Venables, being the more prominent man of the two, though, as Mr. Keene justly states, “in no degree the superior in moral qualities,” for they both bore the stamp of Nature’s nobility, directed his course to his estate near Burl Ghat, strengthened his force by adding to it some of his tenantry, then searched the villages near Azamgarh for any refugees who might be lurking in them, and succeeded in finding some. He then marched on Azamgarh, induced, by his daring action, the men of the 13th Irregular Cavalry, who held the place, to abandon it, and then took possession of and held it.

Courage and ability of Ali Bakhsh

His labours, alike in recovering and holding it, were and greatly facilitated by the action of All Bakhsh, the loyal clerk in the Collector’s office above referred to. This man, who seems to have possessed a

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genius superior to his station, had so contrived, during the fourteen days the place had been held by the rebels, as to baffle every attempt made by the revolters to form a native administration, and that, apparently, without exciting suspicion. He had even done more. He had formed a Committee of Public Safety, and had managed to convey to the Commissioner at Banaras daily reports of his proceedings. The arrival of the two indigo-planters and their following was cordially welcomed by this man, who continued to render the most excellent service58.

Disordered state of the district

Azamgarh, “abandoned by all its official guardians and administrators” – to use the true and emphatic language of Mr. Keene – “was dependent on the courage and vigilance of a few planters and subordinate employes.” Truly may the same writer exclaim, “it was no sinecure.” The Rajputs, the men who had lost their estates, the disaffected, the scheming, had risen all over the district. “The police,” wrote Mr. Taylor, in his official narrative of the events at Azamgarh, “helpless with terror, the Provisional Council unable to rule even the neighbouring villages, had not dared to cope with these audacious plunderers, and Mr. Venables soon found that he must try his power against them in the field, or be forced to save his own life by again abandoning the station.” The first of these -courses was that which was most congenial to Mr. Venables and his companions. Fortunately, from the cause I have stated in a previous page of this chapter, the 65th Native Infantry had remained loyal, and a hundred and fifty Sipahis of that regiment had been placed at the disposal of Mr. Venables. With these, seventy-five mounted constables, and an old gun, this gentleman took the field against the rebels. At first their numbers prevailed. Five hundred of them attacked and stormed the police-station at Azamgarh in broad daylight, and released their friends who had been confined there.

First ill-success

Still Venables persevered. On the 16th July, having obtained an additional number of Sipahis, he attacked the Rajputs of the Palwar clan, who were then threatening

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Azamgarh, at Koilsa. But the Sipahis, half-hearted in the cause, or possibly secretly hostile, failed him at the decisive moment, and he had to fall back, followed by the rebels, on the station. Had the rebels pushed on with anything like vigour, it would have gone hard with Venables. They moved, however, with a caution which testified to the respect with which he had inspired them, and on the 18th they were still two marches distant from the station.

Arrival of reinforcements, Davies, Simson, Catania

On that very day there arrived Messrs. Davies and Simson, of the Civil Service, accompanied by ten officers detailed to join the force despatched by Jang Bahadur from Nipal: by twenty-five sawars of the 12th Irregular Cavalry, and by a levy of loyal natives commanded by a gentleman called Catania. Venables then sent back the bulk of his unreliable Sipahis to Ghazipur, and, with a portion of the levies that remained, marched out to seek the rebels, leaving Simson and Catania’s men in the station for the protection of the public offices.

Venables is forced to retreat

But on this, the third occasion, he was equally unsuccessful. He found the rebels so, strongly posted that with his inferior force it would have been madness to attack them. The rebels, noting his hesitation, and divining the cause, became then the assailants. Venables, unwilling to risk the fate of Azamgarh on the result of a pitched battle, in which he had but a small chance of success, began an orderly retreat, covering a retrograde movement with his few horsemen and his one gun. These rendered yeoman’s service. Constant discharges of grape from the gun kept the rebels at bay, whilst the horsemen, splendidly led by Venables and Dunn, made charge after charge on the advancing foe. He was thus enabled to re-enter Azamgarh without much loss, except, indeed, that of prestige. But prestige is a living and very powerful factor amongst Asiatics.

but his gallantry

Knowing this, and ignorant at the moment of the full extent of the damage inflicted upon the rebels by the continued discharges of his one gun and his repeated cavalry combats, estimating it and the effect produced far below the actualities, Venables and his English comrades debated that evening as to the propriety of retiring on Ghazipur. At this improvised council-of-war the theory that such a council never fights strongly asserted itself. But three voices, it is stated, were raised in favour of maintaining the position, and those were the voices of Venables, of James Simson, and of Charles Havelock59.

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makes the retreat equal to a victory

But, the next morning, before any action had been taken, it was discovered that the rebel losses had been severe enough to cool their ardour. In that well-conducted retreat two hundred and fifty of them had succumbed to the grape shot or the sword, and the remainder had retreated, disheartened, to their villages.

Mr. H. C.. Tucker orders the evacuation of Azamgarh

This retreat completely disposed of the question debated by the council-of-war. But a few days later another misfortune, not in itself so immediately serious, but rendered more so by the manner in which it was treated by the Commissioner of the division, Mr. H. C.. Tucker, came to disturb their minds. On the evening of the 25th of July the 12th Irregular Cavalry, stationed at Sigauli, mutinied, and murdered their noble commanding officer and his wife. Noon of the same day had witnessed the mutiny, caused by the most culpable mismanagement, of the three Sipahi regiments stationed at Danapur60. The news of the first-mentioned of these events reached Azamgarh on the 28th; of the second on the 29th of July. With the second item of news came a letter from Mr. Tucker, authorising the evacuation of Azamgarh. “Under the circumstances, such a letter was tantamount to an order, and it was treated as such. The men who had so bravely fought for the retention of British authority in the district quitted the place on the 30th, accompanied, on this occasion, by the clerks and other Europeans and Eurasians, and by the loyal natives, and after some difficulty reached Ghazipur. Behind them they left chaos.

Fidelity of native officials

All the police-stations but two, and all the sub-stations but two, were deserted in consequence of their departure. The two sub-stations were those of Nagra61 and Muhammadabad, and these were loyally held by the native officials, Asghar Ali and Muhammad Taki, both Muhammadans.

Subsequent story of Azamgarh

I have now brought down the story of Azamgarh to the point where it re-enters into the military history of the suppression of the Mutiny. How the Nipalese reached Gorakhpur at the end of July, and disarmed the Sipahis there on the 1st of August; how they re-occupied Azamgarh on the 13th of that month, has been told in the fourth volume.

Page 68

Pollock, Hercules Ross

In the interval between this period and the incursion of Kunwar Singh, Mr. Archibald Pollock assumed charge of the district, and, aided by Mr. Hercules Ross, likewise of the Civil Service, an officer of signal merit, succeeded, by heroic exertion, in maintaining order. Amongst other achievements, he completely broke, by his energetic measures, the mutinous spirit of the Palwar clan. Then came the occupation of Kunwar Singh, and the splendid achievement of Lord Mark Kerr, also related in the fourth volume. In that volume, too, I have recorded the untimely death of the heroic Venables, and have given in full the tribute rendered to his memory by Lord Canning. Mr. Dunn survived the Mutiny, and, I am informed, still lives.

Equal praise due to Venables and Dunn

In gallantry, in resolution, in devotion to the best interests of his country, Mr. Dunn fell in no way short of Mr. Venables. If his name did not come before the public so prominently, it was because, in circumstances of great danger, the man whose character is the strongest will always take the lead. Venables was a born leader of men. Dunn, in no way his inferior in other respects, was an unrivalled right-hand man. He was to Venables what Berthier was to Napoleon. The services he rendered were great. His reward lay in the approval of his own conscience, and in the gratitude and esteem of those whom he served. He was the companion of Venables in all his exploits. It is only proper, therefore, that in the tribute paid by history to the splendid achievements of the one, the name of the other should be equally associated.

The district quieted

After the relief of Azamgarh by Lord Mark Kerr, that place remained in the permanent occupation of the British. Then followed the expulsion of Kunwar Singh, and his retreat across the Ganges. That having been accomplished, order was speedily restored, not again to be disturbed.

Footnotes

37. Vol. II. pages 149–62

38. Vol. II. page 151.

39. Vol. II., page 152 and note. With reference to that note I may be allowed to state that the report of Mr. Tayler referred to by the author, and quoted by him, is absolutely correct. The Commissioner implied his approval of the plan suggested by Colonel Gordon to retreat on Chanar. It was then that Mr. Gubbins, backed by Mr. Lind, used the words mentioned in the text: “I will go on my knees to you not to leave Banaras.” Mr. H. G. Keene, C.I.E., who has gone over the same ground, supports this view. In his interesting book, Fifty-Seven, he thus writes: “Mr. Lind, strongly dissenting” (from the view of a retreat on Chanar) “refused to stir from his post without the decision of a council; and when the council met, and Mr. Tucker, the Commissioner, seemed almost inclined to give way, Lind and Gubbins used the strongest arguments against the movement.” He then relates the passionate appeal of Gubbins given in the text.

40. Vol. II. pages 162–65.

41. Vol. IV. pages 310–44.

42. Panchayat, a court of arbitration, so called because originally it consisted of five members. In course of time the numbers have been indefinitely increased.

43. Vol. III. pages 66–67.

44. Vol. V. pages 61–4.

45. Vol. II. pages 178, 179.

46. Vol. IV. page 238.

47. Page 336.

48. Vol. IV. page 223.

49. These men did good service in the mutiny, and marched with Havelock and Carom to the relief of Lakhnao. The Risaldar, Muhammad Bakhsh, was made extra aide-de-Cutup to the Governor-General.

50. Vol. IV. pages 318 and following.

51. Vol. III. page 50, and note.

52. Vol. III. pages 60–7.

53. Fifty-seven. By Henry George Keene, C.I.E., M.R.A.S. London: W. H. Allen and Co.

54. Pages 317 to 334.

55. Pages 160–2.

56. Pages 81–5.

57. Fifty-seven.

58. Mr. Keene tells us that All Bakhsh was rewarded by promotion. I am confident that my readers will echo the sentiment expressed by that able writer and excellent administrator, that “his name deserves to be recorded perpetually as that of a true hero and faithful servant of an alien Government whose salt he had eaten.”

59. Afterwards killed in action at Tigra. Vol. IV. pages 329–30.

60. Vide vol. III. pages 42–7.

61. Nagra is forty-five miles east of Azamgarh on the road to Chapra; Muhammadabad is some twenty miles from Negro.

This collection transcribed by Chris Gage
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