Timeline of the Indian Mutiny

Here is a rough timeline. I'll amend it, and add comments, as I go along:

Feb 25th, 1857. Incident (mutiny?) at Berhampore involving 19th Regiment Native Infantry.
March 29, 1857. Mangal Pandey mutinies.
April 8, 1857. Mangal Pandey hanged.
May 1857. Eighty five soldiers refuse cartridges in a parade.
May 9, 1857. The soldiers are sentenced to hard labor and fettered in front of the entire regiment.
May 10, 1857. The Meerut soldiers of the 3rd Light Cavalry revolt to rescue the eighty-five. Soon the entire cantonment of Meerut mutinied.
May 11, 1857. Mutineers arrive in Delhi.
May 19, 1857. Mutiny in Moradabad.
May 30, 1857. Mutiny in Lucknow. Quelled.
May 31, 1857. Mutiny in Bareilly.
May 31, 1857. Mutiny in Shahjehanpore.
June 3, 1857. Mutiny at Azimgarh.
June 4, 1857. Mutiny at Sitapur.
June 4, 1857. Mutiny at Benaras.
June 6, 1857. Nana Saheb controls Kanpur. Siege starts.
June 8, 1857. Mutiny at Faizabad.
June 28, 1857. Kanpur seige ends with the massacre of European population.
June 30, 1857. British troops, families withdraw into the Residency at Lucknow.
July 25, 1857. Revolt at Dinapore (Patna).
Sep 14, 1857. Storming of Kashmiri Gate by the British.
Sep 21, 1857. Bahadur Shah Zafar is taken prisoner. The Mughal Empire ends after 388 years.
December 10, 1857. Kanpur recaptured by the British.
January 8, 1858. Jung Bahadur’s Gurkhas join the British.
March 21, 1858. Lucknow is recaptured by the British.
April 2, 1858. Jhansi recaptured.
May 1, 1858. Death of Koer Singh, Rebel commander in Bihar.
May 7, 1858. Bareilly falls.
June 14, 1858. Rohilcund is in British hands.
June 27, 1858. Gwalior falls.
August 2, 1858. East India Bill given Royal Assent. East India Company rule ends.
August 8, 1858. Faizabad relieved.
October 5, 1858. Defeat of the rebels at Miranganj, Oudh.
October 7, 1858. Action at Sundeela, Oudh.
November 1, 1858. Royal Proclamation read all over India.
November 4, 1858. Battle at Rampore Kussiah.
November 9, 1858. Defeat of the rebels at Mehunde, Oudh.
November 11, 1858. Occupation of Amethi.
November 15, 1858. Occupation of Shankerpur. (Beni Mahdoo escapes.)
November 19, 1858. Occupation of Rai Bareilly.
November 24, 1858. Battle at Doun-de-khara.
November 7, 1862. Death of Bahadur Shah Zafar in Rangoon.

The Raj: See How They Died

You have to feel sorry for some of these Raj rulers. Stuck in an unhealthy climate, harried by mosquitos that seemed to leave the locals alone, felled by cholera and other strange tropical diseases, they had to be tough. I've walked through so many Raj cemeteries in India and Burma and so many of them died young, quite sad in its own way. Here I am flipping through the Register of European Deaths and Burials for Burma. Published by BACSA, flipping through is quite instructive. A few random entries:

"Died in 1928 of illness from the delayed effects of an un-healed wound." (Maymyo). Un-healed wound?

"In loving memory of Edward, infant son of Mr. and Mrs. Stephen Moss of Shwegyin." (Maymyo). Poor baby. And, it certainly is odd that the Moss's identify themselves as being from Shwegyin.

"GLENDINNING The Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Ltd. Joined the Corporation in about 1881. Died of Cholera in 1882. Presumed buried in Prome." (Prome Cemetery) Didn't take long for the East to get him! And, apparently the poor man's body is still awol.

And, what about this poor guy:
"OREN The Bombay Burmah Trading Corporation Ltd. Joined the corporation in about 1882/82. A Swede or Norwegian. Killed by dacoits. No further details." (Paungde cemetery) Nationality unknown, details of death unknown. Presumably there are Orens out there who have no idea that they have an ancestor who was killed by dacoits in far away Burma.

"Sacred to the memory of Captain John Swinton Browne, deeply regretted, who departed this life, aged 29 on the 5th of May 1834. ... said to have died of bilious fever." If that doesn't signify that the poor man's doctor had no clue what disease he was dealing with, nothing will.

"In loving memory of the infant son of Captain & Mrs F.L. Orman, 10th Gurkha Rifles, Born Maymyo 19th April 1908 died Maymyo 23rd April 1908." (Maymyo) The poor kid. I wouldn't want anyone to undergo childbirth in Burma today and one can only imagine the odds of survival in 1908.

Why, you might ask, this macabre passtime. I was looking for some information on half a headstone that I found in Maymyo (Pwin u Lwin) when I was there a few months ago. If I read this headstone correctly, a hefty chunk of the family of the Wingate's perished at around the same time and curiousity as to what killed them got the better of me. Unfortunately, this headstone is missing from the register.

.....also of John Bruce
Who died at Maymyo on the 16th July 1900
aged 10 months
Infant children of
John Bruce and Isabel Wingate

BACSA publishes registers recording known deaths and burials on the Indian Sub-Continent and in Burma.

The Ruling Caste

I've been reading The Ruling Caste by David Gilmour. Gilmour describes the lives and times of the Civil Servants who ran India in the 19th century. The book is dry, very dry, but there are many interesting tidbits in it. In the discussion on famine, for example, Gilmour writes "Whatever shortcomings the Government may have had, famine duty brought out the best in the ICS." The impression being that the Civil Servants did a great job during the famine. The reality is that the civil service was the government and they did a singularly bad job in dealing with famines, each one being worse in its effects than the previous ones. Famines in India were largely a phenomenon confined to the British era, few before and few since.

Elsewhere, he gives revenue figures (p.109).
"At the end of the 19th century it [Land Revenue] produced some 210 million rupees, while Customs, Excise, and Stamps brought in 140 million, the Salt Tax yielded 75 million, and the sale of opium 40 million."
Interesting. Let's see:
1. Of the Rs. 465 million in revenue, 16% came from taxing one essential item, salt. That explains the salt march!
2. 45% came from property taxes. Given that the zaminari system was in full flourish, the brunt of this must have been passed on to the share-croppers and ryots. No wonder there were so many famines, these guys were broke!
3. The less said about the 40 million (8.6%) from opium the better.

It gets more interesting, let's see how the money was spent:
"The chief items of expenditure were the Army, which accounted for nearly half the total (244 million rupees), followed by the administration (140 million) and public works (68 million)."
O.K. So, the Raj collected Rs. 465 million in revenue and spent Rs. 244 million on the army. 52.5% of the money collected taxing the Indian people was spent on subjugating them. A mere 14% was spent on public works.

Now, I know that the Raj was in the business of enriching the Brits, but this is ridiculous. How can anyone pretend that the Raj was a good thing when half the revenue from taxes was spent on what was essentially a police force, and a disproportionate chunk of the revenue was from the impoverished people!

(Note: The salt tax reminds me of a very interesting book I read a few years ago. The Great Hedge of India by Roy Moxham. A must read if you can find a copy.)