Cawnpore

Cawnpore
Presidency: Bengal
Coordinates:	26.460738°N, 80.333405°E
Altitude:	126 m (413 ft)
Present Day Details
Place Name:	Kanpur
State/Province:	Uttar Pradesh
Country:	India
Transport links
Bombay, Baroda and Central India Railway East Indian Railway Great Indian Peninsula Railway Oudh and Rohilkhand Railway See page Cawnpore Railways and Stations for details

FibiWiki Maps
See our interactive map of this location showing places of interest during the British period
[xxxxx Cawnpore]

Cawnpore was the headquarters of Cawnpore District in the Allahabad Division of United Provinces during the British period.

The city was (and remains) an important railway junction, with the East Indian main trunk line from Calcutta to Delhi meeting spurs from the Bombay, Baroda and Central India, Great Indian Peninsula and Oudh and Rohilkhand Railways.

Military history

Siege of Cawnpore Jun 1857
Cawnpore (Satichaura Ghat)
Cawnpore (Bibigarh)
Recapture of Cawnpore July 1857
Siege of Cawnpore Nov 1857

Spelling Variants

Modern name: Kanpur
Variants: Cawnpore / Cawnpur / Cawnpoor / Caunpoor / Khanpore

Modern name:Bibigarh
Variants: Bibigurh / Bibigahr / Bibighar

FIBIS resources

• Images of Cawnpore
• Photograph: Cawnpore Barracks 1915 FIBIS Gallery collection of photographs of Arthur Cecil Gregory who served in the 5th Bn. East Surrey Regiment in various parts of India during WWI, including Cawnpore
• "Adam Maxwell of Cawnpore-Indigo and Intrigue" by Judith Vandenburgh Green FIBIS Journal Number 25 Spring 2011, pages 25-33
• "William Garnett, the Volunteering Major" by Michael Garnett FIBIS Journal Number 26 Autumn 2011, pages 26-30. For details of how to access this article, see FIBIS Journals

He was on the Bengal Unattached List located at Cawnpore from 1883, where he worked for a time at the Army Boot Factory, rising to Commissary and Honorary Major in 1912. He also played a major role c 1884 in the establishment of the Cawnpore Light Horse and on retirement to England in 1919 held the rank of Company Sergeant Major in this volunteer regiment.

• "The Walsh Family and the Cawnpore Massacre" by Paddy Walsh FIBIS Journal Number 31 (Spring 2014) pages 3-15. For access, see FIBIS Journals

Cemeteries

• BACSA has published the book Cawnpore – its early history and Kacheri Cemetery Guide by Zoë Yalland, 2012. "An engaging history of Cawnpore, with inscriptions on tombs in the old Kacheri cemetery and biographical notes. A new edition of the author’s two books on Kacheri Cemetery which have long been out of print. 150pp, numerous illustrations". See BACSA Books.

BACSA have put the indexes to this cemetery book online and these indexes are free to browse. If an indexed name is of interest then application can be made to BACSA for details of the relevant burial inscription - charges apply for this service.

This cemetery was open 1781-1865 and up to 1846 was known as the Officers’ Burial Ground, as mainly military officers and their families were buried there. It became known as Kacheri Cemetery in 1857. Blunt has some entries under Kachahri Cemetery. Private soldiers were buried at Hiramun-Ku –Purwa (open 1796-1818). The New Cantonment Cemetery was open 1818-1943.

• Monumental Inscriptions from Cawnpur Cantonment Cemetery by Lieut-Colonel W A Gale R.E. from Miscellanea Genealogica Et Heraldica: Fourth Series. At least some of these entries may be found in the FIBIS database: Percy-Smith/Bullock papers: Graves and Monuments
  • Volume 1 1906 Archive.org Page 54, page 114, page 142, page 172, page 216, page 257, page 294. Index of Names (Entire book).
  • Volume 2 1908 Archive.org Page 21, page 61, page 138, page 164. Index of Names (Entire book).
  • The last entry of data in 1908 states "To be continued". However, no further inscriptions have been located in the following Volume 3, so it is likely there are no further records.

Church and cemetery memorial inscriptions

• From Indian Cemeteries website, now archived
  • Inscriptions from All Souls Church, Cawnpore. Includes regimental memorials,
  • All Souls Church Mutiny Memorial in Cawnpore Click on List all monuments.
  • Christian Cemetery in Cawnpore Click on List all monuments.

Education

• Christ Church College, Kanpur. The College began as an S.P.G. [Society for the Propogation of the Gospel] Mission School in the 1840’s. First called Mission School, then Christ Church School, it grew into a College affiliated to the Calcutta University in 1866.
• Girls’High School, (Wikipedia), known as Methodist High School since 1952. Established 1874. It also admitted some boys.

Economy and Business

• William Bradshaw was appointed assistant weaving master at Muir Mills in 1931 and worked there until 1952
• Profile of The British India Corporation (now archived) which was registered as a Limited Company on 24 February 1920, to amalgamate a number of companies, most of which were located in Cawnpore:
  • Cawnpore Woollen Mills Co. (established 1876). Still in existence as a Government of India Company, (along with New Egerton Woollen Mills Co. Ltd., Dhariwal, Punjab. (established 1882)).
  • Cooper Allen & Co. Ltd. proprietors of the largest Army Boot and Equipment Factory in the world – Kanpur (established 1881)
  • North–West Tannery Co. Ltd., Proprietors of the largest and the most up-to-date Tannery in the East – Kanpur (established 1881).
  • Cawnpore Cotton Mills Co. Ltd. (established 1882).
  • Empire Engineering Co. Ltd., Civil, Mechanical, Motor and Constructional Engineers, Contractors and Builders – Kanpur (established 1894).
• The was a Government Harness & Saddlery Works in Cawnpore in existence in 1928. A marking on a bayonet leather scabbard "Ca1928" indicates the scabbard was from this Government works, manufactured in 1928. (Details)

Volunteer Regiments

• Cawnpore Light Horse

External links

• Cawnpore encyclopedia.jrank.org (Online 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica)
• Cawnpore City Imperial Gazetteer of India, Volume 9, page 315.
• Cawnpore map 1909 Imperial Gazetteer of India Volume 26 Atlas
• RAF 322 Maintenance Unit and the Demolition Of SEAC Liberators by J.E.H. Fail. RAF 322 MU Chaberi was located near Cawnpore during World War 2. rquirk.com

Historical books online

• "Scenes in the Mofussil: No I – Cawnpore" page 292, The Asiatic Journal and Monthly Miscellany, Vol 9, New Series, Sept-Dec 1832. Google Books
• Cawnpore page 365 Report of the Commissioners Appointed to Inquire into the Sanitary State of the Army in India : with Abstract of Evidence, and of Reports Received from Indian Military Stations 1864 Archive.org
• District Gazetteers of the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh: Volume XIX Cawnpore by H R Nevill 1909 Archive.org. 2nd file Archive.org