Mutiny at Meerut

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Mutiny at Meerut
Part of Indian Mutiny
Date: 10 May 1857
Location: Meerut
Presidency: Bengal
Co-ordinates: 28.991462°N 77.7032636°E
Result: Sepoy uprising
Combatants
60th Rifles (1,000)
6th Dragoon Guards (600)
One troop of Horse Artillery
Artillery Recruits (500)
3rd Bengal Light Cavalry
11th Bengal Native Infantry
20th Bengal Native Infantry
Commanders
Strength
Casualties

This event was part of the Indian Mutiny

Synopsis

85 troopers of the 3rd Light Cavalry refused to accept their cartridges, were court martialled, sentenced and sent to the common jail in Meerut. The following day sepoys of the 11th & 20th Native Infantry stormed the jail and released the troopers and 1200 other prisoners. Colonel Finnis of the 11th BNI was shot on the parade ground, the bungalows of the European officers were set on fire and many of their families murdered. The 2,200 European troops were not used to oppose the mutineers who marched away to join the regiments in Delhi. Major-General W.H.Hewitt was removed from his command of the Meerut Division.

European Casualties

A few mentioned in records

3rd Bengal Light Cavalry

  • Lieutenant C I E Macnabb
  • Veterinary Surgeon Phillips
  • Veterinary Surgeon Dawson

11th Bengal Native Infantry

  • Lt-Colonel J Finnis

20th Bengal Native Infantry

  • Captain J H Taylor
  • Captain & Mrs D Macdonald
  • Lieutenant D Henderson
  • Lieutenant W Pattle

Horse Artillery

  • Gunner Donohoe
  • Gunner Conolly
  • Gunner Benson
  • Gunner Cairns

60th Rifles

  • Corporal & Mrs Mortimer
  • Corporal & Mrs Edwardes
  • Corporal & Mrs Fitzpatrick

Bengal Sappers and Miners

  • Captain Fraser


  • Mrs Chambers
  • Mrs Dawson and two children
  • Mrs Courtenay and two children
  • Mr V Tregear, Educational Service
  • Pensioner McKinley
  • Pensioner Blanco
  • Mr Newland, Photographer
  • Sergeant & Mrs Law and two children
  • Sergeant & Mrs McPhee
  • Sergeant & Mrs Binglee
  • Sergeant & Mrs Grant
  • Sergeant & Mrs Brooks

Riding Master Langdale's child

External links

Historical books online

Recommended Reading

The following books are reviewed in FIBIS Military Reading List

  • The Last Mughal: the Fall of a Dynasty, Delhi, 1857 by William Dalrymple. (London: Bloomsbury, 2006). Available online, refer above.
  • The Indian Mutiny 1857 by David Saul (London: Viking, 2002)
  • The Indian Mutiny 1857-58 by Gregory Fremont-Barnes (Oxford: Osprey, 2007.)
  • The Great Uprising in India 1857-58 by Rosie Llewellyn-Jones.(Woodbridge: Boydell Press, 2007) )