at Cambridge, & he comes from a family of wealthy landowners—silk, I believe. Still, he is Indian, & we represent the Raj, & no good can come of their association at this volatile time
.
The flap amongst the sepoys revolves around some new cartridges for their rifles. Apparently, the grease on them is profane, cow fat or pig fat, or so they believe. Whether the grease is profane or not, religion is no thing to trifle with in this land of many gods
.
1947
I heaved the record book open near the center and checked the date—1855—then leafed through pages of church trivia until I came to 1856. I read endless lists of births, christenings, and deaths, a note about a parishioner suffering from consumption, details of the acquisition of new rattan chairs for the Club, and a description of a swanky ball at the Viceregal Lodge.
I turned the page and saw a heading penned in graceful calligraphy—
New Arrivals, January to June, 1856
. The list included dates, names of officials and family members, military personnel with their ranks, and halfway down the page,
May 1856, Miss Adela Winfield, Companion to Miss Felicity Chadwick
. No more doubt. It was my Adela in the graveyard.
I flipped through the book to January 1857. Ordinary parish business followed a dismissive remark about malcontent sepoys. In March, an entry fairly seethed on the page, the handwriting an angry scrawl.
March 1857
More rubbish about those damnable cartridges being a plot to corrupt their faith. General Anson says he will never give in to their beastly prejudices. Hear, hear
.
That sounded pretty bloody-minded for a cleric, but Reverend Locke had said that records were often kept by anyone willing to take the time. Whoever took the time to record the mutiny seemed to speak for the majority.
April 1857
Mutiny ! A sepoy in Barrackpore, one Mangal Pandey, actually shot & wounded a British officer. The community is outraged. This cannot stand
.
April 1857
Pandey has been hanged, but there have been protests
.
May 1857
Disaster in Meerut. Sepoys have slain the entire Christian population! Now they ride for Delhi to enlist the Moghul Emperor in their cause. Bahadur Shah Zafar will never give his blessing to these malcontents. He is too shrewd a fellow to defy the Crown. He will put them down for us
.
May 1857
Bahadur Shah Zafar has given the sepoys shelter in his palace. Surely he was coerced. In any case, it is war
.
June 1857
The sepoys have taken the Red Fort in Delhi. British citizens, women & children included, roam the countryside seeking shelter. It is a bloody rebellion, but the Indians are calling it a War of Independence
.
Thus far, we in Simla have been spared, but there have been ominous incidents, gatherings that approach the character of mobs. The mood is threatening, & we venture out of our homes infrequently. We watch our servants for signs of subversion. Even some of the children carry sticks, which they brandish with an air of menace. God help us
.
June 1857
The Tytlers are safe in Karnal, God knows how, but Vibart is missing. The Clarke family was slaughtered in their home, but Morely could not describe the scene. Mrs Clarke was far advanced in her pregnancy
.
July 1857
Kanpur! Our women & children dismembered & thrown down a well! Unspeakable. God curse their black souls. They will pay. One hundred of theirs will die for every one of ours. Wagentrieber has called for annihilation. Canning has asked for restraint & has been dubbed “Clemency Canning.” He is roundly ignored. It is agreed that we must avenge Kanpur in a way that sends a clear message. Never again!
Strangely, the next pages listed only births and deaths, a wedding, and a cricket match with multiple exclamation points after one of the scores. It read,
“Cracking match!”
It seemed that rebellious sepoys, however troublesome, were not taken as a serious threat to the Empire; they were, after all, only employees. I saw one more mention of consumption, and
.
The flap amongst the sepoys revolves around some new cartridges for their rifles. Apparently, the grease on them is profane, cow fat or pig fat, or so they believe. Whether the grease is profane or not, religion is no thing to trifle with in this land of many gods
.
1947
I heaved the record book open near the center and checked the date—1855—then leafed through pages of church trivia until I came to 1856. I read endless lists of births, christenings, and deaths, a note about a parishioner suffering from consumption, details of the acquisition of new rattan chairs for the Club, and a description of a swanky ball at the Viceregal Lodge.
I turned the page and saw a heading penned in graceful calligraphy—
New Arrivals, January to June, 1856
. The list included dates, names of officials and family members, military personnel with their ranks, and halfway down the page,
May 1856, Miss Adela Winfield, Companion to Miss Felicity Chadwick
. No more doubt. It was my Adela in the graveyard.
I flipped through the book to January 1857. Ordinary parish business followed a dismissive remark about malcontent sepoys. In March, an entry fairly seethed on the page, the handwriting an angry scrawl.
March 1857
More rubbish about those damnable cartridges being a plot to corrupt their faith. General Anson says he will never give in to their beastly prejudices. Hear, hear
.
That sounded pretty bloody-minded for a cleric, but Reverend Locke had said that records were often kept by anyone willing to take the time. Whoever took the time to record the mutiny seemed to speak for the majority.
April 1857
Mutiny ! A sepoy in Barrackpore, one Mangal Pandey, actually shot & wounded a British officer. The community is outraged. This cannot stand
.
April 1857
Pandey has been hanged, but there have been protests
.
May 1857
Disaster in Meerut. Sepoys have slain the entire Christian population! Now they ride for Delhi to enlist the Moghul Emperor in their cause. Bahadur Shah Zafar will never give his blessing to these malcontents. He is too shrewd a fellow to defy the Crown. He will put them down for us
.
May 1857
Bahadur Shah Zafar has given the sepoys shelter in his palace. Surely he was coerced. In any case, it is war
.
June 1857
The sepoys have taken the Red Fort in Delhi. British citizens, women & children included, roam the countryside seeking shelter. It is a bloody rebellion, but the Indians are calling it a War of Independence
.
Thus far, we in Simla have been spared, but there have been ominous incidents, gatherings that approach the character of mobs. The mood is threatening, & we venture out of our homes infrequently. We watch our servants for signs of subversion. Even some of the children carry sticks, which they brandish with an air of menace. God help us
.
June 1857
The Tytlers are safe in Karnal, God knows how, but Vibart is missing. The Clarke family was slaughtered in their home, but Morely could not describe the scene. Mrs Clarke was far advanced in her pregnancy
.
July 1857
Kanpur! Our women & children dismembered & thrown down a well! Unspeakable. God curse their black souls. They will pay. One hundred of theirs will die for every one of ours. Wagentrieber has called for annihilation. Canning has asked for restraint & has been dubbed “Clemency Canning.” He is roundly ignored. It is agreed that we must avenge Kanpur in a way that sends a clear message. Never again!
Strangely, the next pages listed only births and deaths, a wedding, and a cricket match with multiple exclamation points after one of the scores. It read,
“Cracking match!”
It seemed that rebellious sepoys, however troublesome, were not taken as a serious threat to the Empire; they were, after all, only employees. I saw one more mention of consumption, and
Similar Books
