A timeline of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, which began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on the tenth of May 1857 in the town of Meerut, and soon erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the Upper Gangetic plain and Central India.
Events of 1857 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Event | |||
26 February | Sepoys of the 19th Native Infantry at Berhampore refuse rifle practice | |||
29 March | At Barrackpore, in Bengal, Mangal Pandey wounds two British mutiny of 34th Native Infantry | |||
31 March | 19th Native Infantry disbanded | |||
8 April | Pandey hanged at Barrackpore | |||
24 April | Troopers of the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry at Meerut refuse orders to fire greased cartridges | |||
2 May | Unrest at Ambala, 48th Mutiny at Lucknow | |||
6 May | Part of the 34th Native Infantry disbanded at Barrackpore | |||
8 May | Troops of the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry found guilty by court-martial and given severe sentences | |||
10 May | Mutiny and Murders at Meerut, troops head towards Delhi | |||
11 May | Europeans, and Christians slaughtered in Delhi | |||
13 May | Bahadur Shah Zafar proclaimed new Mughal emperor; British disarm the garrison at Lahore | |||
17 May | Delhi Field Force, under George Anson, advances from Ambala | |||
22 May | Peshawar garrison disarmed | |||
20–23 May | Part of 9th Native Infantry mutiny at Agra | |||
27 May | Anson dies of cholera; replaced by Major-General Sir Henry Bernard | |||
30 May | Mutinies at Mathura and Lucknow | |||
31 May | Rohilkhand and Bhurtpore army mutinies | |||
4 June | Jhansi captured by rebels and handed over to Rani of Jhansi | |||
5 June | Cawnpore 2nd Cavalry Mutinies | |||
6 June | Cawnpore siege begins, Mutiny at Allahabad | |||
7 June | Wilson and Bernard meet at Alipore | |||
8 June | Battle of Badli-ki-Serai; Massacre at Jhansi | |||
11 June | Lucknow police rebels; Neill arrives at Allahabad | |||
25 June | Nana Sahib offers terms at Cawnpore | |||
27 June | Satichaura Ghat Massacre at Cawnpore | |||
30 June | British defeat at Chinhat; Lucknow Residency besieged | |||
1 July | Mutiny at Indore | |||
2 July | Arrival of Bakht Khan at Delhi | |||
4 July | Sir Henry Lawrence dies at Lucknow | |||
5 July | General Barnard dies of cholera;Major-General Thomas Reed succeeds as commander of the Delhi Field Force | |||
7 July | Allan attacks Delhi leading to the slaughter of Delhi | |||
12 July | Brigadier-General Sir Henry Havelock defeats rebels at Fatehpur, en-route to Cawnpore | |||
15 July | Allan goes to Barrackpore and assembles a large standing army of nearly 6000 men and prepares for battle | |||
15 July | Havelock defeats rebels at Aong and near Pandu river at Cawnpore. | |||
16 July | Nana Sahib defeated in first battle for Cawnpore | |||
17 July | Sir Archdale Wilson replaces the ailing Reed as commander of the Delhi Field Force | |||
27 July 1857 | Kunwar Singh welcomed pre-planed Dinapore cantonment rebellion army at Arrah | |||
27 July | Ammunition is blocked from reaching citizens instead it is re-routed to Barrackpore | |||
29 July | Havelock's victory at Unnao | |||
30 July | First relief of Arrah fails | |||
31 July | Lord Canning issues his controversial 'Clemency' resolution, by which he advises against the execution of mutineers not convicted of murder | |||
3 August | Siege of Arrah ends after action by Major Vincent Eyre | |||
5 August | Havelock's victory at Bashiratganj | |||
12 August | Battle between Kher Singh and Ayer Dil, near Jagdishpur | |||
13 August | Havelock withdrawal to Cawnpore; Colin Campbell, Anson's successor as Commander-in-Chief of India,arrives at Calcutta | |||
14 August | John Nicholson arrives at Delhi Ridge | |||
16 August | Havelock victory at Bithur | |||
18 August | Rupees 10,000 announced by Patna commissioner E.A. Samuels to apprehend Kunwar Singh | |||
17 August | Captain William Stephen Raikes Hodson defeats a large body of rebel cavalry near Rohtak | |||
4 September | Siege train, proceeding from Punjab, arrives in the British camp outside Delhi | |||
5 September | Suppression of the revolt starts as thousands are slaughtered and Allan moves to Bihar | |||
14 September | Wilson's assault on Delhi begins, Nicholson wounded | |||
15 September | Rebellion of Muzaffarpur announced to accept leadership of Babu Kunwar Singh | |||
19 September | Havelock and Outram marches to Lucknow | |||
20 September | Delhi captured and cleared of rebel troops | |||
21 September | William Hodson captures Bahadur Shah | |||
22 September | Hodson executes Mughal princes | |||
23 September | Nicholson dies of wounds | |||
25 September | First relief of Lucknow | |||
10 October | Agra mutineers defeated | |||
9 November | Kavanagh escapes from Lucknow | |||
14–17 November | Second relief of Lucknow by Campbell | |||
19 November | Women and children evacuated from Lucknow | |||
22 November | British withdraw from Lucknow | |||
24 November | Havelock dies of dysentery | |||
26–28 November | Windham defeated at second battle of Cawnpore | |||
29 November | Campbell reaches Cawnpore to join Windham | |||
6 December | Tatya Tope defeated at second battle of Cawnpore | |||
Sources: www.britishempire.co.uk and Saul David, The Indian Mutiny |
Events of 1858 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Event | |||
6 January | Campbell reoccupies Fategarh | |||
16 January | Hugh Rose begins campaign in central India | |||
February | Campbell opens separate campaign for reconquest of Oudh | |||
3 February | Rose relieves Saugor after a seven-month siege | |||
2 March | Campbell returns to Lucknow | |||
21 March | Last rebels removed from Lucknow | |||
1 April | Dividing his force, Rose defeats a numerically superior army under Tatya Tope on the river Betwa | |||
3 April | Jhansi captured and sacked | |||
15 April | Walpole defeated at Ruiya | |||
23 April | Rose enters Kalpi | |||
5 May | Campbell victory at Bareilly | |||
7 May | Rose defeats large force under Tatya Topi and the Rani of Jhansi at Kutch | |||
22 May | Rose wins at Kalpi;end of operations in Rohilkhand; start of guerrilla warfare | |||
28 May | Rao Sahib, Tatya Topi, the Rani of Jhansi and the Nawab of Banda enter Gwalior State with the remnants of their force and seize Gwalior on 1 June | |||
5 June | Death of the Maulvi | |||
12 June | James Hope Grant wins at Nawabganj in the final decisive battle in Oudh | |||
17 June | Battle of Kotah-ki-Serai, death of Rani of Jhansi | |||
19 June | Battle of Gwalior | |||
2 August | Queen Victoria approves bill transferring administration of India from the East India Company to the Crown | |||
1 November | Royal Proclamation replacing East India Company with the British Indian government and offering unconditional pardon to all not involved in murder or the protection of murderers | |||
Source: www.britishempire.co.uk |
Events of 1859 | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Date | Event | |||
4 January | Various Oudh leaders, including Nana Sahib, forced into the Nepal Terai by Hope Grant | |||
7 January | Operations in Oudh declared officially over. | |||
29 March | Bahadur Shah found guilty | |||
7 April | Tatya Tope betrayed to the British, | |||
18 April | Tatya Tope executed at shivpuri. | |||
8 July | Peace officially declared. [1] [2] | |||
Source: www.britishempire.co.uk |
Fremont-Barnes, Gregory (2007). The Indian Mutiny 1857-58 . Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84603-209-7.
Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people to oppose, change, or remove superiors or their orders. The term is commonly used for insubordination by members of the military against an officer or superior, but it can also sometimes mean any type of rebellion against any force. Mutiny does not necessarily need to refer to a military force and can describe a political, economic, or power structure in which subordinates defy superiors.
Lakshmibai Newalkar, the Rani of Jhansi or Jhansi ki Rani widely known as Rani Lakshmibai, was the Maharani consort of the princely state of Jhansi in the Maratha Empire from 1843 to 1853 by marriage to Maharaja Gangadhar Rao Newalkar. She was one of the leading figures in the Indian Rebellion of 1857, who became a national hero and symbol of resistance to the British rule in India for Indian nationalists.
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the company's army in the garrison town of Meerut, 40 miles (64 km) northeast of Delhi. It then erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions chiefly in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, though incidents of revolt also occurred farther north and east. The rebellion posed a military threat to British power in that region, and was contained only with the rebels' defeat in Gwalior on 20 June 1858. On 1 November 1858, the British granted amnesty to all rebels not involved in murder, though they did not declare the hostilities to have formally ended until 8 July 1859.
Charles John Canning, 1st Earl Canning,, also known as the Viscount Canning and Clemency Canning, was a British statesman and Governor-General of India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the first Viceroy of India after the transfer of power from the East India Company to the Crown of Queen Victoria in 1858 after the rebellion was crushed.
Events in the year 1857 in India.
Mangal Pandey was an Indian soldier who played a key role in the events taking place just before the outbreak of the Indian rebellion of 1857. He was a sepoy (infantryman) in the 34th Bengal Native Infantry (BNI) regiment of the British East India Company. In 1984, the Indian government issued a postage stamp to remember him. His life and actions have also been portrayed in several cinematic productions.
Begum Hazrat Mahal, also known as the Begum of Awadh, was the second wife of Nawab of Awadh Wajid Ali Shah, and the regent of Awadh in 1857–1858. She is known for the leading role she had in the rebellion against the British East India Company during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Azimullah Khan Yusufzai also known as Dewan Azimullah Khan and Krantidoot, was the ideological leader of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. He was initially appointed Secretary, and later Prime Minister to Maratha Peshwa Nana Saheb II.
General Bakht Khan (1797–1859) was the commander-in-chief of the Indian rebel forces in the city of Delhi during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the East India Company.
The Indian Mutiny Medal was a campaign medal approved in August 1858, for officers and men of British and Indian units who served in operations in suppression of the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Ajnala is a town, near Amritsar city and a nagar panchayat in Amritsar district in the state of Punjab, India. Kalian Wala Khuh, a martyrs place, is a tourist destination.
The 101st Regiment of Foot (Royal Bengal Fusiliers) was an infantry regiment of the Bengal Army and British Army that existed from 1652 to 1881. The regiment was raised in India in 1652 by the East India Company as the company's first non-native infantry regiment. Over the following two centuries, the regiment was involved in nearly all of the East India Company's conflicts which consolidated British rule over India. The Royal Bengal Fusiliers was transferred to the command of the British Army in 1862 following the Indian Mutiny of 1857 and the end of Company rule in India. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 104th Regiment of Foot (Bengal Fusiliers) to form the Royal Munster Fusiliers in 1881.
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 Indian Rebellion of 1857 has been variously termed as a war of independence, a rebellion, and a mutiny. Several Indian writers, who consider it as a part of the Indian independence movement that ultimately led to the country's independence in 1947, have termed it as "The First War of Independence", the "great revolution", the "great rebellion", and the "Indian freedom struggle". Several British writers, who view it as a military disturbance, have termed it as "sepoy revolt", "sepoy war", "Indian rebellion", and the "great revolt". Since the 19th century, a section of British writers have challenged the choice of the word "mutiny" to describe the events.
Eric Thomas Stokes (1924–1981) was a historian of South Asia, especially early-modern and colonial India, and of the British Empire. Stokes was the second holder of Smuts Professorship of the History of the British Commonwealth at the University of Cambridge.
Dhan Singh Gurjar, also known as Dhunna Singh, was the Indian Kotwal of Meerut, who participated in the 1857 rebellion and led initial actions against the British East India Company in that city.
The Vellore mutiny, or Vellore Revolution, occurred on 10 July 1806 and was the first instance of a large-scale and violent mutiny by Indian sepoys against the East India Company, predating the Indian Rebellion of 1857 by half a century. The revolt, which took place in the Indian city of Vellore, lasted one full day, during which mutineers seized the Vellore Fort and killed or wounded 200 British troops. The mutiny was subdued by cavalry and artillery from Arcot. Total deaths amongst the mutineers were approximately 350; with summary executions of about 100 during the suppression of the outbreak, followed by the formal court-martial of smaller numbers.
The Bengal Native Infantry was part of the organisation of the East India Company's Bengal Army before the Indian rebellion of 1857.
Ahmadullah Shah famous as the Maulvi of Faizabad, was a famous freedom fighter and leader of the Indian Rebellion of 1857. Maulavi Ahmadullah Shah was known as the lighthouse of the rebellion in the Awadh region. British officers like George Bruce Malleson and Thomas Seaton made mentions about the courage, valour, personal and organizational capabilities of Ahmadullah. G. B. Malleson mentions Ahmadullah repeatedly in the History of Indian Mutiny, a book written in 6 volumes covering Indian revolt of 1857. Thomas Seaton describes Ahmadullah Shah as:
A man of great abilities, of undaunted courage, of stern determination, and by far the best soldier among the rebels.