Until 1831, Ludlow Castle had been the home of Samuel Ludlow, the Residency Surgeon. The building then became the Residency, and was the site of a battery employed by British troops during the Indian rebellion of 1857 to successfully breach the Kashmiri Gate bastion and thereafter to retake the city. After 1857—in the first few decades of the British Raj—Ludlow Castle remained the home of the Chief Commissioner; Delhi Territory, however, had become a part of the Punjab Province. Among the building's many guests during this period was the former US President Ulysses S. Grant.
During the late 19th century and much of the first half of the 20th, the building housed the Delhi Club. Staying there in 1916 was the wedding party of Jawaharlal Nehru. After India's independence in 1947, the Ludlow Castle building was turned into a high school. The building was demolished in the 1960s to make room for the expansion of the school, now the Government Model Senior Secondary School. The neighbourhood and the transit stop in Delhi, however, continue to be known as "Ludlow Castle."
Ink and colours sketch made more than a decade after Samuel Ludlow and his family had left Delhi showing Ludlow Castle being used as the Delhi Residency, with waiting carriage, camels, elephants, and Skinner's Horse.
Samuel Ludlow had the house constructed sometime after he moved to Delhi in 1813, its name, "Ludlow Castle," a play on words on his surname, the building's turret, its decorative crenelations, and the 11th-century Ludlow Castle, Shropshire. During his time in Delhi, Ludlow was promoted from Assistant Surgeon in the East India Company, Bengal Presidency medical establishment, to full Surgeon in 1817, and to Presidency Surgeon. In 1831, he was promoted to Superintending Surgeon and transferred out of Delhi.
From 1832 to 1857, Ludlow Castle was the home of the British Resident to the Mughal Court in Delhi. Among the Residents who lived in Ludlow Castle were William Fraser (1832–1835), Sir Thomas Theophilus Metcalfe (1835–1853) and Simon Fraser (1853–1857).[1]
A map of the Siege of Delhi, 1857, showing the location of battery number 2 at Ludlow Castle.Ludlow Castle, which had been damaged during the Indian rebellion of 1857, being repaired after the British retook Delhi in September 1857.Photograph of Ludlow Castle taken in 1858 by Robert and Harriet Tytler showing some more repairs undertaken.
The siege train, consisting of fifteen 24-pounder guns, twenty 18-pounder guns and twenty-five heavy mortars and howitzers,[2] with almost 600 ammunition carts, arrived on 6 September. Wilson's chief Engineer Officer, Richard Baird Smith, had drawn up a plan to breach the city walls and make an assault.[citation needed]
As a preliminary step, on 6 September the British constructed "Reid's Battery", or the "Sammy House Battery", of two 24-pounder and four 9-pounder guns, near the southern end of the ridge, to silence the guns on the Mori Bastion. Under cover of Reid's Battery, on 7 September the first siege battery proper was established, 700 yards (640m) from the Mori Bastion. Four of its guns engaged the artillery on the Kashmir Bastion, while six guns and a heavy mortar demolished the Mori Bastion. After a long duel, it silenced the rebels' guns on the Mori Bastion. The direction of this attack also deceived the rebels that the storming attempt would be made from the east, rather than the north.[citation needed]
A second battery, consisting of nine 24-pounder guns, two 18-pounder guns and seven 8-inch mortars, was set up near Ludlow Castle and opened fire against the Kashmir Bastion on 11 September. A third battery of six 18-pounder guns was set up near the old Custom House less than 200 yards (180m) from the city walls, and opened fire against the Water Bastion near the Yamuna next day. A fourth battery of ten heavy mortars was set up in cover near the Khudsia Bagh. Because the element of surprise had been lost, the Indian sappers and pioneers who carried out much of the work of constructing the second and third batteries and moving the guns into position suffered heavy casualties (over 300), but the batteries quickly made breaches in the bastions and walls.[citation needed]
The opening of this phase of the siege seems to have coincided with the exhaustion of the ammunition the rebels had captured from the magazine, as the rebel fire became suddenly much less effective. By this time also, the rebels had become depressed through lack of supplies and money, and by defeatist rumours which were spread by agents and spies organised by William Hodson.[citation needed]
After the rebellion
A later 1858 photograph (taken by Felice Beato) shows the repairs completed.Photograph from Christmas 1878 showing Delhi Commissioner G. Gordon Young and his wife sitting in their carriage in the driveway of Ludlow Castle. A little over a month later they would host former U.S. president Ulysses S. Grant there.
For many years in the second half of the 19th century, Ludlow Castle was the home of the Commissioner of Delhi, who often hosted visiting dignitaries there. From 5 to 9 February 1870, Prince Alfred, the second son of Queen Victoria and the then Duke of Edinburgh, was the guest of the Commissioner of Delhi, Col. McNeile, in Ludlow Castle.[3] After arriving in Delhi in the late afternoon, and after an early dinner, the prince was taken on a tour of Old Delhi.[3] Accompanying surgeon Joseph Fayrer recorded the evening enthusiastically:
The Duke was in the howdah with Colonel McNeile. ... The road to the Lahore Gate was beautifully illuminated with coloured lamps hanging from the trees; the effect was excellent, and free from the formality of continuous lines of light. There were triumphal arches in the Chandney Chowk and Dureeba, and up to the front of the steps of the Jumma Musjid was one continuous blaze of Bengal lights and other forms of illumination. The streets, and every house-top, window and balcony were crowded; numbers preceding the elephants, joining the European soldiers in loud hurrahs, made a most exciting scene. Dismounting at the foot of the Jumma Musjid, the Duke, with many ladies and gentlemen, witnessed a grand displayof fireworks from the platform of the mosque. They then returned to Ludlow Castle.[3]
In February 1879,[4]Ulysses S. Grant, on a tour of India, after two terms as US President, was a guest of the then commissioner of Delhi, G. Gordon Young, in Ludlow Castle.[5] After being received at the Delhi Railway Station, Mr. and Mrs. Grant were driven to Ludlow Castle, while the rest of the party found lodgings in nearby hotels.[5] For the next few days, Grant and party visited historic monuments in the city, including the Red Fort, the Qutub Minar and the Jama Masjid.[5] Accompanying General Grant was the American journalist John Russell Young, whose experience of the Jama Masjid was more sober:
This mosque even now is one of the noblest buildings in India. It stands in the center of the city, built upon a rock. In the ancient time there were four streets that converged upon the mosque, leading into various parts of the town. But as the mosque was used during the mutiny as a fort, all the space in front of it has been cleared for military purposes, and the space between the mosque and the palace that was formerly densely peopled is now an open plain, where troops may maneuver and cannon may fire. Nothing is more important in the civilization of India by the English than that the cannon should have range.[6]
Twentieth century
A soccer goalpost formed the foreground of a photograph of Ludlow Castle, Delhi, taken on May 10, 1957. Some ten years earlier, after India's independence, the building had been converted to a school. The building was to be torn down in the 1960s to make room for the expansion of the school, now the Government Model Senior Secondary School.
According to Manmohini Zutshi Sahgal, in 1916, the wedding party of Jawaharlal Nehru, later the first prime minister of independent India, stayed at Ludlow Castle (then the Delhi Club) during their Delhi sojourn.[7]
Ludlow Castle, Delhi, was demolished in the 1960s and in its place now stands the Government Model Senior Secondary School.[7] The neighbourhood and transit stop in Delhi, however, continue to be known as "Ludlow Castle".
See also
Raj Niwas, Delhi, the later residence of the Chief Commissioner of Delhi and now the Lieutenant Governor of Delhi
Notes and references
↑ "Chapter II: Delhi". Punjab Gazetteers, 1883, bound in 10 volumes: Gazetteer of the Delhi District. Calcutta: Calcutta Central Press. 1883. pp.34–59. Retrieved 26 September 2011.
Hurst Castle is an artillery fort established by Henry VIII on the Hurst Spit in Hampshire, England, between 1541 and 1544. It formed part of the king's Device Forts coastal protection programme against invasion from France and the Holy Roman Empire, and defended the western entrance to the Solent waterway. The early castle had a central keep and three bastions, and in 1547 was equipped with 26 guns. It was expensive to operate due to its size, but it formed one of the most powerful forts along the coast. During the English Civil War of the 1640s, Hurst was held by Parliament and was used briefly to detain King Charles I before his execution in 1649. It continued in use during the 18th century but fell into disrepair, the spit being frequented by smugglers.
The Western Heights of Dover is a series of forts and ditches in Dover, England. They were created in the 18th and 19th centuries to augment the existing defences and protect the key port of Dover from both seaward and landward attack; by the start of the 20th century Dover Western Heights was collectively reputed to be the 'strongest and most elaborate' fortification in the country. The Army finally withdrew from the Heights in 1956–61; they are now a local nature reserve.
William George Drummond Stewart, VC was a British Army officer and a recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces.
Pendennis Castle is an artillery fort constructed by Henry VIII near Falmouth, Cornwall, England between 1540 and 1542. It formed part of the King's Device programme to protect against invasion from France and the Holy Roman Empire, and defended the Carrick Roads waterway at the mouth of the River Fal. The original, circular keep and gun platform was expanded at the end of the century to cope with the increasing Spanish threat, with a ring of extensive stone ramparts and bastions built around the older castle. Pendennis saw service during the English Civil War, when it was held by the Royalists, and was only taken by Parliament after a long siege in 1646. It survived the interregnum and Charles II renovated the fortress after his restoration to the throne in 1660.
Major-General Sir John Coke of the 10th Regiment Bengal Native Infantry was a soldier of the East India Company Army, who raised in 1849 the 1st Regiment of Punjab Infantry, renamed in 1903 55th Coke's Rifles. Major-General Coke received the Delhi medal and clasp, and was made Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath. He was Justice of the Peace and Deputy Lieutenant for the county of Herefordshire, and was High Sheriff of Herefordshire for 1879.
The siege of Lucknow was the prolonged defence of the British Residency within the city of Lucknow from rebel sepoys during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After two successive relief attempts had reached the city, the defenders and civilians were evacuated from the Residency, which was then abandoned.
House Island is a private island in Portland Harbor in Casco Bay, Maine, United States. It is part of the City of Portland. The island is accessible only by boat. Public access is prohibited, except for an on-request tour sanctioned by the island's owners. House Island includes three buildings on the east side and Fort Scammell on the west side. The buildings are used as vacation rentals and other summer residences. The island's name derives from the site of an early European house, believed that built by Capt. Christopher Levett, an English explorer of the region.
The Nelson Mandela Artillery Regiment is a reserve artillery regiment of the South African Army and part of the South African Army Artillery Formation.
The siege of Delhi was a decisive conflict of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. The rebellion against the authority of the East India Company was widespread through much of Northern India, but was essentially sparked by the mass uprising by the sepoys of the Bengal Army, which the company had itself raised in its Bengal Presidency. Seeking a symbol around which to rally, the first sepoys to rebel sought to reinstate the power of the Mughal Empire, which had ruled much of the Indian subcontinent in the previous centuries. Lacking overall direction, many who subsequently rebelled also flocked to Delhi.
The Capture of Lucknow was a battle of Indian rebellion of 1857. The British recaptured the city of Lucknow which they had abandoned in the previous winter after the relief of a besieged garrison in the Residency, and destroyed the organised resistance by the rebels in the Kingdom of Awadh.
A Coehorn is a lightweight mortar originally designed by Dutch military engineer Menno van Coehoorn.
The siege of Fort William took place in the Scottish Highlands during the 1745 Jacobite Rising, from 20 March to 3 April 1746.
Fort Independence is a granite bastion fort that provided harbor defenses for Boston, Massachusetts, located on Castle Island. Fort Independence is one of the oldest continuously fortified sites of English origin in the United States. The first primitive fortification was called "The Castle", placed on the site in 1634. It was rebuilt twice, then replaced around 1692 with a more substantial structure known as Castle William. It was abandoned by the British during the American Revolution, but the Americans renamed it Fort Adams and then Fort Independence. The existing granite fort was constructed between 1833 and 1851. Today it is preserved as a state park and fires occasional ceremonial salutes. Fort Independence was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970.
The Battle of Badli-ki-Serai was fought early in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, or First War of Indian Independence as it has since been termed in Indian histories of the events. A British and Gurkha force defeated a force of sepoys who had rebelled against the British East India Company. The British victory enabled them to besiege and ultimately capture Delhi.
The Jama Mosque is a 17th-century congregational mosque located in the historic core of Agra, Uttar Pradesh. It was built by Jahanara Begum, the eldest daughter of Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, during the latter's reign. It is the principal mosque in the city of Agra, and lies close to Agra Fort.
The Gates of Delhi were city gates at various medieval townships around Delhi, built under dynastic rulers in the period that could be dated from the 8th century to the 20th century. They are the gates in:
Samuel Ludlow was a British surgeon in the East India Company medical establishment, serving in the Bengal Presidency in British India during the first half of the 19th century. Ludlow spent many years at the Delhi Residency, the headquarters of the British Resident to the Mughal Court in Delhi. The Resident's Office was created some time after 1803, when the British acquired Delhi, which soon became the Delhi Territory within the Ceded and Conquered Provinces, a part of the Bengal Presidency.
Firoz Shah palace complex (Hisar-e-Firoza) is an archaeological complex located in modern-day Hisar, in the Haryana state of India, built by Firoz Shah Tughlaq of the Delhi Sultanate in 1354 AD. It is maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India.
The Gibraltar peninsula, located at the far southern end of Iberia, has great strategic importance as a result of its position by the Strait of Gibraltar where the Mediterranean Sea meets the Atlantic Ocean. It has repeatedly been contested between European and North African powers and has endured fourteen sieges since it was first settled in the 11th century. The peninsula's occupants – Moors, Spanish, and British – have built successive layers of fortifications and defences including walls, bastions, casemates, gun batteries, magazines, tunnels and galleries. At their peak in 1865, the fortifications housed around 681 guns mounted in 110 batteries and positions, guarding all land and sea approaches to Gibraltar. The fortifications continued to be in military use until as late as the 1970s and by the time tunnelling ceased in the late 1960s, over 34 miles (55 km) of galleries had been dug in an area of only 2.6 square miles (6.7 km2).
The siege of Buda took place at Buda castle, part of the twin capital cities of the Kingdom of Hungary. The Hungarian revolutionary army was led by General Artúr Görgei during the Hungarian War of Independence. Part of the Spring Campaign, the siege began on 4 May 1849, ending with the Hungarian capture of the castle by assault on 21 May.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
