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Empire and locality: a global dimension to the 1857 Indian Uprising*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 February 2010

Marina Carter  and
Crispin Bates
Marina Carter
Affiliation:
Centre for South Asian Studies and School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, William Robertson Building, 50 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JY, UK E-mail: Marina.Carter@ed.ac.uk or Crispin.Bates@ed.ac.uk
Crispin Bates
Affiliation:
Centre for South Asian Studies and School of History, Classics and Archaeology, University of Edinburgh, William Robertson Building, 50 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JY, UK E-mail: Marina.Carter@ed.ac.uk or Crispin.Bates@ed.ac.uk
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Abstract

The Indian Uprising of 1857–59, during which thousands of Indian soldiers serving in the British army mutinied, joined by many civilians, led to the identification of a vast number of ‘rebels’ and discussions as to the most appropriate means of punishing them. The wholesale transportation of insurgents was considered a likely scenario in the charged atmosphere of late 1857. The uprising coincided with dramatic increases in the world market price for sugar, prompting British colonial producers to extend cultivation of cane and their political agents to suggest that the need for further plantation labour be met from among the likely Indian convict transportees. The empire-wide response to the events in India during 1857–59 is assessed in this article as an interesting case study of both reactions to a sensationalist news story and the manner in which British officials, keen to exploit the outcome of the revolt and to manipulate the labour market to the advantage of their respective colonies, competed with and contradicted one another. At the same time, the authors contend that arguably the more interesting aspects of the relationship between the Indian Uprising and the surge in numbers migrating to the sugar colonies were either neglected or carefully ignored by policy makers and commentators alike at the time, and have scarcely been investigated by historians since. The article suggests that many individuals who participated in the insurgency in India did indeed make their way overseas, quietly ignored, and only mentioned in subsequent decades when ‘scares’ about mutineer sepoys in their midst were raised in the colonial press as explanation for strikes and labour agitations on colonial sugar estates.

Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Global History , Volume 5 , Issue 1 , March 2010 , pp. 51 - 73
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2010

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References

1 See Jenny Sharpe, Allegories of empire: the figure of woman in the colonial text, Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press, 1993; and Don Randall, ‘Autumn 1857: the making of the Indian “Mutiny”’, Victorian Literature and Culture, 31, 1, 2003, p. 9.

2 See, for example, Gautam Chakravarty, The Indian Mutiny and the British imagination, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005; Alex Padamsee, Representations of Indian Muslims in British colonial discourse, Basingstoke: Palgrave MacMillan, 2005; Daniel J. Rycroft, Representing rebellion: visual aspects of counter-insurgency in colonial India, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, 2006. Among collections published to coincide with the 150th anniversary are Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, ed., Rethinking 1857, New Delhi: Orient Longman, 2007; and a special edition of Economic and Political Weekly.

3 David Cannadine, Ornamentalism, London: Penguin, 2001, iv.

4 Dipesh Chakrabarty, Provincializing Europe: postcolonial thought and historical difference, Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 2000, pp 3–23.

5 P. Putnis, ‘The Indian insurgency of 1857 as a global media event’, in IAMCR 25th Conference Proceedings, Canberra: Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra, 2007, pp. 185–90.

6 Peter Hopkirk, The Great Game: the struggle for empire in central Asia, New York: Kodansha International, 1992; Natalie Isser, The second empire and the press. a study of government-inspired brochures on French foreign policy in their propaganda milieu, The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff, 1974.

7 The National Archives, Colonial Office (henceforth TNA CO) 48/383, Grey to Henry Labouchere, 7 August 1857.

8 Jill Bender, ‘Sir George Grey and the 1857 Indian Rebellion: the unmaking and making of an imperial career’, in Crispin Bates and Marina Carter, eds., Mutiny at the margins: global perspectives on 1857, Delhi: Sage, forthcoming.

9 See Edward Gibbon Wakefield, A view of the art of colonisation, in letters between a statesman and a colonist, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1849. Wakefield influenced the thinking of Jeremy Bentham and J. S. Mill with his ideas of ‘systematic colonization’, and was read and commented on by Marx. These theories have been discussed and critiqued in H. J. M. Johnston, British emigration policy 1815–1830: shovelling out paupers, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1972; and W. P. Morrell, British colonial policy in the age of Peel and Russell, Oxford: The Clarendon Press, 1930, pp. 154–5.

10 For a fuller discussion of the role of the Indian government in emigration, see Basedo Mangru, Benevolent neutrality: Indian government policy and labour migration to British Guiana, 1854–1884, London: Hansib, 1987. For temporary suspensions of migration, see Marina Carter, Servants, sirdars and settlers in Mauritius, 1834–1874, New Delhi: Oxford University Press, p. 199.

11 See, for instance, George Grierson’s ‘Colonial emigration from India’, in British Library, India Office Records (henceforth IOR) V/27/820/35, George A. Grierson, ‘Report on colonial emigration from the presidency’, p. 15.

12 IOR P/188/58, J. Neville Warren, ‘Memorandum as to native infantry regiments and Indian Railways’, enclosed in H. B. E. Frere, Commissioner in Scinde, to Lord Elphinstone, Governor of Bombay, 9 September 1857.

13 These are now known as the Kuria Muria group, and comprise five rocky islands in the Arabian Sea, located off the south coast of Oman.

14 Frere to Elphinstone, 9 September 1857.

15 IOR P/188/58, ‘Minute by the Governor’, 6 October 1857.

16 TNA CO 318/216, Henry Light to Henry Labouchere, 15 September 1857. Light remarked that his attention to the question had been sparked by a letter published ‘in a Demerara newspaper Royal Gazette of the beginning of August’. This was no doubt the letter of ‘Guianensis’ that is discussed below.

17 See for example IOR E/4/849, ‘Correspondence respecting transportation to West Indies of persons connected with mutiny’, London, 19 January 1858.

18 TNA CO 885/1, Memorandum of P. E. Wodehouse, London, 28 August 1857.

19 IOR F/4/2720196886, ‘Transport of mutineers to Andaman Islands and counter-proposals, 1856–8’, enclosing letter of John Hutt, Oriental Club, 26 November 1857. For other versions of the same letter see IOR E/4/849, ‘India & Bengal despatches Public Department’, 2 December 1857.

20 IOR IPP 188/49, John Hutt to Governor General in Council, London, 26 November 1857.

21 Argus, 5 September 1857.

22 Bender, ‘Sir George Grey; Donovan Williams, ‘The Indian Mutiny of 1857 and the Cape Colony’, Historia, 32, 1, May 1987, pp. 55–69, and 32, 2, September 1987, pp. 56–67.

23 Peter Putnis, ‘The Indian Uprising of 1857 as a global media event’, unpublished paper for International Association for Media and Communication Research 25th conference, Cairo, July 2006.

24 Cape Argus, 8 and 26 August 1857, as quoted in Bender, ‘Sir George Grey’.

25 Williams, ‘The Indian Mutiny’, p. 67.

26 NA Public Record Office (henceforth PRO) 30/12/9, Grey to Viscount Canning, 4 February and 3 March 1858.

27 IOR P/188/49, Grey to Canning, 11 November 1857.

28 Williams, ‘The Indian Mutiny’, p. 69.

29 The Times, 20 October 1857, quoted in Bender ‘Sir George Grey’.

30 Correspondence between Van Renen and Rawson W. Rawson, Colonial Secretary, Cape Govt, as printed in the Cape Argus, 9 September 1857.

31 TNA CO 111/317, Henry Cave to William Walker, London, 16 October 1857.

32 See, for example, TNA CO 260/91, Governor Hincks’ despatch of 21 April 1858, enclosing a letter from the West India Committee, London, 16 October 1857.

33 Reports about the mutiny began to appear in the West Indies press in June 1857. Useful summaries of the debates that ensued are provided by Geoge K. Alapatt, ‘The sepoy mutiny of 1857: Indian indentured labour and plantation politics in British Guiana’, Journal of Indian History, 59, 1981, pp. 295–314; and J. C. Jha, ‘The Indian mutiny-cum-revolt of 1857 and Trinidad’, Indian Studies Past & Present, 13, 4, 1972, pp. 419–30.

34 TNA CO 111/317, Walker to Labouchere, 9 December 1857, enclosing ‘Minute of Governor and Minutes of the Proceedings of the Honorable the Court of Policy of the colony of British Guiana combined with the Financial Representatives of the Inhabitants of the said Colony at its Extraordinary Assembly held at the Guiana Public Buildings, Georgetown, Demerara, Thursday 26 Nov 1857’. See also TNA CO 318/216, despatches of 12 November and 19 December 1857.

35 TNA CO 260/91, despatches from the Governor, St Vincent, 8 March and 7 May 1858.

36 TNA CO 318/220, despatches of 23 June and 8 July 1858, discussing a request for mutineers received from the Governor of Jamaica; TNA CO 318/218, 1858 Memorial from Agricultural and Horticultural Society of Grenada.

37 TNA CO 318/216, A. Elborough to Labouchere, 1 December 1857.

38 TNA CO 295/196, Governor Keate to Labouchere, 6 November 1857, no. 113, enclosing ‘Report, Chairman of Standing Committee on immigration’.

39 Royal Gazette, British Guiana, 8 August 1857, Letter of Guianensis.

40 TNA CO 260/91, enclosure in despatch of 7 May 1858.

41 The Creole, British Guiana, 14 September 1857, Editorial; The Colonist, 21, 26, and 30 October 1857, exchange of letters.

42 Commercial Gazette, 26 March 1858, Editorial; Le Cernéen, 31 March 1858, Editorial.

43 This article was reproduced in the Commercial Gazette, 16 September 1858.

44 Cape Argus, 24 March 1858. The full text of this correspondence is reproduced in Crispin Bates and Marina Carter, eds., Source Book of 1857, New Delhi: Sage, forthcoming.

45 The Straits Settlements was the name by which Singapore and adjacent territories, such as Penang, were then known. Penang –in present-day Malaysia – was also known at this time as Prince of Wales Island.

46 As reported by the Singapore correspondent of the Daily News, 20 August 1857.

47 IOR P/188/49, Governor, Straits Settlements to Secretary to Govt of India, 26 November 1857, enclosing ‘The memorial of the undersigned merchants and other inhabitants of Singapore’.

48 IOR E/4/852, Minute by the Governor, Straits Settlements, 6 October 1857.

49 Ibid. See also NA PRO 30/29/21/7, Leveson-Gower Papers, including a petition of October 1857 from the European inhabitants of Singapore asking for direct British rule in place of the East India Company.

50 IOR P/188/50, Governor, Straits Settlements, letters of 17 December 1857 and 11 February 1858.

51 Ibid., enclosure from Lt. G. T. Hilliard, Superintendent of Convicts to Resident Councillor, Prince of Wales Island, 14 December 1857.

52 TNA CO 318/216, Court of Directors, East India Company to India Board, 17 December 1857.

53 TNA CO 318/216, India Board to Secretary of State for the Colonies, 19 December 1857, and reply, 4 January 1858.

54 Port of Spain Gazette, 14 October 1857, Editorial; Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute, Royal Society Archives, Letter of Charles Telfair, Mahé, Seychelles, 3 July 1858.

55 IOR P/188/56, J. W. Dalrymple to W. Grey, 28 November 1858.

56 IOR P/188/56, Minute of Canning, 15 March 1856.

57 IOR P/188/49, Secretary to Govt of Bengal to Secretary to Govt of India, 2 November 1857, enclosing letter of F. J. Mouat to Secretary to Govt of Bengal, 24 October 1857.

58 IOR P/188/49, Secretary to the Govt of India to Governor, Straits Settlements, 23 December 1857.

59 IOR P/188/49, Telegraphic message to Secretary to Govt of Bombay, 12 January 1858.

60 IOR F/4/2720, Beadon to Hutt, 21 January 1858.

61 IOR F/4/2724 197966, ‘Disposal of men of disarmed native regiments, March–May 1858’, Extract of military letter from Fort William, 17 May 1858, no 80; Minute by the Hon. J. Douin, President in Council, 9 March 1858.

62 IOR F/4/2724 197966, Minutes of the Hon. J. P. Grant, 13 March 1858, and the Hon. B. Peacock, 2 April 1858.

63 Ibid., Minute of J. P. Grant, 5 April 1858.

64 See for example Satadru Sen, ‘Contexts, representation and the colonized convict: Maulana Thanesari in the Andaman Islands’ Crime, History & Societies, 8, 2, 2004, pp. 117–39; and Clare Anderson, The Indian Uprising of 1857–8: prisons, prisoners and rebellion, London: Anthem Press, 2007. Anderson states (p. 144) that ‘In total during the 18 month period from March 1858 to October 1859, the government shipped 3,697 convicts to the [Andaman] Islands, including dozens of men convicted of jail-breaking’. But these may or may not all have been mutineers. Details of those sent to Penang and Singapore are discussed elsewhere in this article.

65 IOR F/4/2720 196886, ‘Transport of mutineers to Andaman Islands and counter-proposals, 1856–8’.

66 IOR E/4/854, ‘Transport of mutineers to western Australia and West Indies or any colonies’, letter dated 10 March 1858.

67 IOR P/188/56, Board of Directors of East India Company, London, 18 May 1858.

68 IOR E/4/851, India Political Dept, 18 May 1858, ‘Papers concerning effect of Mutiny, in enhancing value of Andaman Islands as convict settlement’.

69 The Creole, 16 September 1857, letter to the Editor from ‘A Briton’; Port of Spain Gazette, 17 April 1858, incorporating the article in the Bengal Hurkaru entitled ‘Banishment of mutineers’. The confirmation of rumours surrounding the decision to send transportees to the Andaman islands did not reach the West Indies until around September 1858. See The Sentinel, Trinidad, 9 September 1858.

70 Port of Spain Gazette, 23 January 1858, Editorial.

71 ‘Disposal of men of disarmed native regiments’; and Minute by the Hon. J. Douin. See also IOR P/188/56, Secretary to Govt of Bengal to Secretary to Govt of India, 23 July 1859, enclosing letter of Commissioner of Patna Division to Secretary to Govt of Bengal, 2 July 1859.

72 IOR/BEP/15/77, Guthrie, Chairman of the Mauritius Association to Henry Labouchere, 10 June 1857. The editor of the Port of Spain Gazette had also spotted the opportunity to employ both the ‘Santhals and misguided sepoys’: Port of Spain Gazette, 14 October 1857, Editorial.

73 TNA CO 885/1, Memorandum of Philip Wodehouse, London, 28 August 1857. A letter appeared in the press in Mauritius in January 1858, from a person signing himself ‘Delta’, that remarked upon the probable impending famine in northern India and speculating on the possibility of procuring such sufferers for emigration purposes: Commercial Gazette, 20 January 1858.

74 IOR/P/188/59, Letter from Secretary to Govt of Bengal, 3 June 1859.

75 IOR/P/188/60, Secy to Govt of India to Secy to Govt of Bengal, 9 September 1859; Secy to Govt of Bengal to Secy to Govt of India, 29 October 1859.

76 For example, in 1858, the appointment of Captain Ogilvie as a stipendiary magistrate in one of the northern sugar-planting districts of Mauritius was announced. He was described as ‘a distinguished engineer officer who was wounded at the siege of Lucknow. Has a thorough knowledge of Indian character and language’ (Commercial Gazette, 6 September 1858).

77 TNA CO 167/387, J. M. Higginson to Labouchere, 30 July 1857, confidential. See also IOR P/188/49, Minute of J. M. Higginson, 27 July 1857.

78 The Colonist, British Guiana, 15 March 1858.

79 TNA CO 111/319 1858, Governor Walker despatch, 24 March 1858.

80 TNA CO 386/95, Murdoch to Rogers, 6 February, 24 June, and 24 July 1863.

81 IOR J/206/64, Petition of Kuchun Sing, 10 May 1861.

82 IOR J/206/64, S. Wauchope, Commissioner of Police, Calcutta, to W. S. Seton Karr, Secy to Govt of Bengal, no. 190, 5 March 1861.

83 IOR P/188/62, ‘Abstract of the correspondence regarding convict family emigration to Port Blair, in the Andamans’.

84 IOR/P/2057, Major D. G. Pitcher, Judge, Small Cause Court, Lucknow to Secy to Govt of NWP & Oudh, 17 June 1882, p. 87.

85 Royal Gazette, British Guiana, 8 August 1857, Letter of Guianensis.

86 Cape Argus, 9 September 1857, Letter of Van Renen.

87 The Creole, British Guiana, 26 October 1857, Letter of ‘An Inhabitant’.

88 Port of Spain Gazette, 14 October 1857, Editorial.

89 The Colonist, reproduced in Port of Spain Gazette, 30 December 1857.

90 Le Cernéen, 31 March 1858, Editorial.

91 The Creole, British Guiana, 17 November 1857, Letter by ‘Not A Sepoy’.

92 The Creole, British Guiana, 16 March 1858, Quietus, ‘The coolie sepoys’. This newspaper represented the interests of the ex-slave population and consequently viewed Indian immigrants as rivals to the existing Creole labour force: see Alapatt, ‘Sepoy mutiny’, p. 303.

93 The Weekly Penny, 9 October 1869, ‘Immigrant outbreaks’.

94 New Era, Trinidad, 3 April 1871, ‘Protection’.

95 See, for example, reports on the Essequibo riots in The Colonist, British Guiana, 1–10 October 1872.

96 Several examples were reported in TNA CO 167/261, Neave Report, July 1845.

97 Many instances are recounted in IOR V/27/820/35, George A. Grierson, ‘Report on colonial emigration from the Bengal presidency’.