1857 INDIAN REBELLION MEERUT INDIA DEATH COLONEL FINNIS 1860 Art Print Engraving

Description: DEATH OF COLONEL FINNIS AT MEERUT Artist: unknown ____________ Engraver: unknown NOTE: The title in the box above is also in the white border below this scene. PRINT DATE: This engraving was printed circa 1860; it is not a modern reproduction in any way. PRINT SIZE: Overall print size is 6 1/4 x 9 inches, actual scene size is 4 7/8 by 7 1/8 inches. PRINT CONDITION: Condition is excellent. Bright and clean. Blank on reverse. Paper is quality woven rag stock paper. SHIPPING: Buyer to pay shipping, domestic orders receive priority mail, international orders receive regular air mail unless otherwise asked for. Full payment details will be in our email after auction close. We pack properly to protect your item! PRINT DESCRIPTION: Meerut is famously associated with the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the British East India Company.[46] The famous slogan "Dilli Chalo" ("Let's march to Delhi!") was first raised here. Meerut cantonment is the place where the rebellion started. The revolt, which catapulted Meerut into international prominence, started in March 1857 at Barrackpore, Bengal. Sepoy Mangal Pandey shot and missed two Europeans, failed to kill himself, and was hanged. By April, the fire of Pandey's Uprising scorched north India and reached Meerut, the second-largest East India Company garrison. Here, Europeans and native sepoys were evenly balanced, with a little more than 2,000 on each side. The European cantonment was separated from the ‘native lines.’ Close by were Sadar Bazar and Lal Kurti Bazar, the latter named after the red uniforms worn by Company soldiers. On 24 April 1857, Meerut's commander, Colonel Carmichael Smyth, paraded 90 Indian sepoys of the Bengal Cavalry, hired mostly from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. He ordered them to fire the new Enfield cartridges: 85 refused. The cartridges were covered with paper that had to be torn off: Muslims believed the paper was greased with pig fat and Hindus, with cow fat. All 85 were stripped of their uniforms, imprisoned for ten years and shackled - this was a major humiliation. The rebels were from the 3rd cavalry: they owned their horses and were the upper-caste elite. If they could be shackled, what could others expect from the Company? On Sunday, 10 May 1857, Kotwal Dhan Singh Gurjar opened the gates of the prison. These soldiers, along with the other imprisoned soldiers, escaped prison and declared themselves free, revolted, attacked and killed several of the British authorities to take the city under their control. This marked the beginning of a widespread revolt across northern India as these soldiers marched towards Delhi. 10 May is still celebrated as a local holiday in Meerut. Meerut: The year was 1857 and it was past 5 pm at Meerut’s Sadar Bazaar. Just like any other day, British men were in the market to buy beer to beat the harsh Meerut heat. Very soon, a large group of Sepoys marched towards the Bazaar, and started beating the British with their bare hands. India’s first War of Independence had begun. “Many people don’t know that Baker’s Street was where the first War of Independence started,” said 76-year-old Atul Kumar, one of the oldest residents of the street in Sadar Bazaar whose family, he claims, has lived on this street for nine generations. News18 spoke to Dr Amit Pathak, a Meerut-based historian and author of ‘1857: A living history’, who has spent years collecting documents, trying to piece together the sequence of events on May 10 that year. May 10 rendered many British men dead. “Not far from Sadar Bazaar is St. John’s Cemetery in Meerut Cantt area. There are hundreds of graves here, most of them from the 19th Century. But there are nine graves here that tell very interesting stories. The date on all these graves is May 10, 1857 – the day of the uprising,” he said. “This is perhaps the most important of all the graves,” said Pathak. Col. John Finnis was the first British Officer to die in the uprising. In the mayhem, Col. Finnis, commandant of the 11th Native Infantry, managed to control men of his unit. He then rode towards the 20th Native Infantry to control them as well. “The sepoys of this other regiment were not ready to listen to his requests and did not pay heed to his commands. When he was returning towards his own regiment, the first shot of the rebellion was fired. It hit Col. Finnis’s horse and he fell down. When two men tried to pick him up, he gave his last order before he, too, was shot. Inform the General – he shouted in his last order,” said Pathak. There are many causes ascribed to the uprising. From 100 years of misrule under the East India Company rule to the deteriorating relationship between officers and troops. But the proverbial match that lit the haystack were the cartridges laced with cow and pig fat, which brought Pathak to the grave of Col. Carmaical Smith. “After the carnage began, the sepoys made their way to Col. Smith’s house and killed him. He was commandant of the 3rd Bengal Light Cavalry. He was the man responsible for the mutiny. On April 24, it was Col. Smith who had organized firing practice and ordered Indian troops to bite the controversial cartridges. When 85 Sepoys refused, they were rounded up at a ground and publically humiliated. For Indian soldiers, humiliation was worse than death. During the uprising, most of the Sepoys’ anger was directed against Col. Smith.” The British response to the uprising was brutal. The British public was, after all, outraged at reports of alleged atrocities against women and children. One such woman was Charlotte Chambers, whose gravestone also finds space at ST. John’s cemetery. So brutal were reports of her death that for Britons, she became a symbol of British sacrifice. “Mrs. Chambers was alone at home when her servants informed her that an enraged mob was making their way to her bungalow,” said Pathak, “They (servants) managed to hide her from the mob. After the mob left, Mrs. Chambers was trying to escape. She ran into a local butcher who hacked her to death with a meat cleaver. This outraged the British so much that Mrs. Chamber’s death became a rallying cry for them. Whenever British officers needed to motivate their troops, they would shout – These are the killers of Mrs. Chambers!” THIS IS AN ACTUAL ENGRAVING PRINTED IN THE 1860s! A GREAT SCENE FROM A BATTLE OR KEY MILITARY EVENT WHICH BEGAN IN MAY 1857 AND IS KNOWN VARIOUSLY AS THE INDIAN MUTINY, THE SEPOY REVOLT, THE INDIAN REBELLION AND THE FIRST WAR OF INDEPENDENCE!

Price: 16.99 USD

Location: New Providence, New Jersey

End Time: 2024-12-11T21:00:31.000Z

Shipping Cost: 7.95 USD