English and Indian historians have devoted considerable research and analysis to the genesis of the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857 but have ignored contemporary British reaction to it, a neglect which this study attempts to satisfy.

Thesis advisor: Prasannan Parthasarathi / This dissertation examines the impact of the 1857 Indian rebellion on the British Empire. The uprising began as a mutiny of troops in the north Indian town of Meerut on May 10, 1857, but quickly widened into a massive civil rebellion. For nearly eighteen months much of northern India was up in arms against British power. While scholars have long known that the 1857 rebellion was an imperial crisis, there has been little analysis of its impact outside Britain and India. My work departs from this historiographical tradition to explore the repercussions of 1857 in Jamaica, Ireland, New Zealand, and the Cape Colony in South Africa. The shockwaves of the uprising were felt immediately in each of these colonies. From Ireland to New Zealand, colonial administrators and Britons organized military, financial, and spiritual assistance for British efforts in India. And, much of this support was offered without mediation by London officials. Even after the rebellion had been suppressed, the violence of 1857 continued to have lasting effect. The fears generated by the uprising transformed how the British understood their relationship with the colonized and gave rise to an imperial policy dependent on the greater exercise of force. In the wake of the rebellion, many colonial officials expressed concern that the events in India might be replicated elsewhere. As colonial conflicts erupted in violence throughout the 1860s, many Britons understood the later crises in light of the 1857 Indian rebellion. In response, colonial officials around the Empire used force to maintain British control and hegemony. By studying four colonial sites, this dissertation moves beyond the traditional core-periphery model and points to the dense connections that knit together the British Empire. This study is also unique in its approach. Rather than examine each case study individually, I adopt an integrated method of analysis. This framework allows me to not only provide insight into the broad impact of the Indian rebellion, but also shed light on the functioning of the British Empire in the nineteenth century. London was not always at the center of activity. In response to 1857, Britons throughout the Empire debated methods of counter insurgency, military recruiting, and colonial governance. Colonial officials actively sought to utilize imperial connections, applying the lessons learned in one region to the problems surfacing in another. Methods of rule in the British Empire were developed neither in one location nor by one individual and the flows of information from one colony to another played a crucial role in shaping imperial policy. / Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2011. / Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences. / Discipline: History.

The year 1957, a year in which I obtained my Master's degree at the University of the Panjab, Lahore, Pakistan, was the centenary of the Indian uprising of 1857. In this year the peoples of India and Pakistan elaborately celebrated the 100th anniversary of what they considered to be the first war of Indo-Pakistan independance. [...]

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This thesis studies the popular character of the revolt of 1857 in Awadh. It argues that in the pre-annexation rural world of Awadh talukdars and peasants had a symbiotic relationship which was destroyed by the first British revenue settlement of 1856-57. The sudden annexation together with the removal of the King from Lucknow and the dispossession and overassessment resulting from the revenue settlement created the basis for disaffection. The sepoys of the army - largely recruited from Awadh - sparked off the revolt but it quickly spread through the countryside. Certain similarities in the way the sepoys sought destruction are emphasized. A detailed study is attempted of the extent of mass participation, especially of talukdars and peasants. Lists are provided of all talukdars of southern Awadh who joined in the rebellion. As distinct from the extant literature on the subject, which emphasize British movements and forms of fighting, the present thesis studies how the rebels fought. It seeks to explore the ways in which the rebellion was organized, of the use that was made of religion as the rallying cry and of the attempts made to restore the traditional world.

This thesis investigates the relation of the Sikhs to the Indian rebellion of 1857. References to the Sikhs have invariably been made in the histories of the sepoy mutiny, but none of them, not even the celebrated Sepoy War of Sir John Kaye, tackles this problem in detail. As a result, the student of the mutiny at best gets from these histories disjointed, and often inadequately explained, impressions about the role of the Sikhs during the great upheaval. This thesis accordingly sets out to analyze the effects of the sepoy mutiny on the history of the Sikhs. I have examined four main aspects of the problem: (1) the annexation of the Sikh kingdom by the British in 1849 and conditions in the Punjab between annexation and the outbreak of the rebellion of 1857; (2) the actual help given by the Sikhs to the British during the rebellion; (3) the motives of the Sikhs for giving their help; and (4) the rewards of the Sikhs for supporting the British during the crisis of 1857. The Sikhs established their political ascendancy in the Punjab on the ruins of the Mughal empire. During the first two decades of the 19th century most of the twelve misls or confederacies of the Sikhs were conquered and united into one kingdom by Ranjit Singh. However, the timely protection given by the British in 1809 to the Sikh chiefs of the Cis-Sutlej checked Ranjit Singh's expansionist designs beyond the Sutlej River. During his lifetime Ranjit Singh wisely remained on friendly terms with the British, but after his death the factious intrigues of his successors and the Sikh army plunged the Sikh kingdom into hostilities with the British. The defeat of the Sikhs in the wars of 1845-46 and 1848-49 resulted in the annexation of their kingdom by the British. After annexation the British showed moderation in dealing with the Sikhs and did not degrade them to the position of a landless class. Meanwhile the Sikhs, resigned to their fate, quickly adapted themselves to the new institutions which were established in the Punjab between 1849 and 1857. But the indifference of the British toward the interests of the Sikhs, and the Government's policy of extending patronage to Hindustanis, hurt both their feelings and their interests. The rebellion of 1857 provided the Sikhs with a unique opportunity to secure a change of attitudes by the British. They seized that opportunity and gave every help to the British, whose military power they believed was unchallengeable. After the suppression of the mutiny the Sikhs received generous rewards from their rulers. They were also given the one reward that would satisfy them most--British indifference gave way to British interest in their welfare. My investigation of the problem leads me to the conclusion that the outbreak of the sepoy mutiny unexpectedly ushered in brighter days for the Sikhs and laid the foundation for their future growth and strength in the Punjab. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate

In 1857, hostilities broke out against the ‘rule’ of the East India Company (EIC) in northern India.Measures to suppress the hostilities, known as the 'Mutiny', 'Rebellion' or 'War' of 1857', included legislation enacted by the EIC's Government of India criminalising 'rebellion' and 'waging war' and establishing temporary civil and military commissions. From 1857 to 1859, the Government of India tried soldiers and civilians, including the last Mughal Emperor, the King of Delhi Bahadur Shah II, for their conduct during the hostilities. The law and trials have not previously been the subject of study. his thesis assesses the validity, according to the international law of the time, of the trial by military commission of the King of Delhi in 1858. The research and writing of this study is original for no review of the trial according to international law has previously been attempted. (For complete abstract open the document)

Bentinck's attitude towards his responsibilities as Govornor-general was conditioned to an important degree not only by the intellectual outlook he brought with him to India, but also by an emotional factor which originated with his dismissal by the Court of Directors from the Governorship of Madras in 1807. The son of a Whig politician, the third Duke of Portland, Bentinck had been in close touch with the political life of the late Eighteenth and early Nineteenth Centuries. His outlook was moulded, not by his father, but by the more imaginative of the Whigs - in particular by Burke and Charles James Fox, He was acquainted with the modes of thought inspired by Bentham and Adam Smith, both of whom could claim him as a disciple. His political sympathies, therefore, lay with the radicals. He was a doctrinnaire in the sense that he had a philosophical belief in progress, and considered the acceleration or initiation of change to be a primary duty of a statesman Bentinck was not in any way an originator of now ideas. His mind, while receptive to the impuluses of a new age, was not capable of originating or directing any of those impulses, It may be said of him, in fact, that his outlook was based more on scepticism towards conventional or traditional attitudes than on a perception of the spirit of liberalism.

The purpose of this master thesis in history was to examine the use of history of an Indian queen, the Rani Lakshmi Bai of Jhansi. The Rani Lakshmi Bai was born in Banaras and married a king – the Raja of Jhansi. The Rani Lakshmi Bai fought against the British during the first war of independence year 1857-58. Recently, a memorial has been built at her supposed birthplace in Banaras, more than 150 years after her death. This development has raised several questions about the use of history of the Rani Lakshmi Bai. How has the use of history of Rani Lakshmi Bai changed? Why has it become relevant to build a statue of the Rani now and not before? The purpose of this study has been answered with the help of oral history and text analysis. Firstly, this has been done, by examining the knowledge of people from Banaras and Jhansi as well as through their perceived image of the Rani Lakshmi Bai. Twenty people from Banaras and four people from Jhansi have been interviewed. Secondly, the institutional level information has been examined which is presented in educational textbooks and newspapers like the local newspaper Aaj and the national newspapers The Hindu as well as The Times of India. The results show that the level of historical knowledge about the Rani is low, though the love and affection for her are great. The use of history of the Rani Lakshmi Bai has been as a freedom fighter, a role model in different contexts and a symbol, as well as an inspirational source of women empowerment. There is also a political use of the Rani. All these uses of history in combination with the increased economic interest in the neighbourhood of Assi in the city of Banaras made it relevant and possible to build a monument of the Rani Lakshmi Bai in present time.