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The '''Banda and Kirwee Prize Money''' was the subject of a long case in the British Admiralty Court during the 1860s. It concerned the [[prize|distribution of booty ]] captured by the Saugor and Nerbudda field force during the [[Central India Campaign]] of the [[Indian Mutiny]]. After nine years, the case was settled and the money finally distributed amongst the soldiers involved in its capture.
==Capture of the booty==
In 1858, the Saugor and Nerbudda field force (also called the Madras column) under Major-General George Cornish Whitlock were sent to [[BundelkhandBundelkund]] to engage in the relief of various towns in the region. After defeating a force of 7000 outside [[Banda]], they entered the town and therein took a large amount of loot from the palace. When the British troops marched on nearby [[Kirwee]], its Prime Minister, Radho Govind, fled to the hills with a rebel force and Narrain Rao, the chief of the town, surrendered to Whitlock. Once again a large amont of money and jewels were found in the palace.
==The court case==
Although any booty theoretically was the property of the Crown, in practice the spoils of war were shared amongst those who had captured it. In this case, it had been proposed by various officers that the money captured by Whitlock's men be combined with that captured by forces under General's Rose and Roberts and distributed evenly, including shares for other officers who claimed to have co-operated in the related actions.
Rose's booty totalled £49,000 and Robert's, £18,200, whereas the amount captured by Whitlock was valued at a huge £700,000. Unsurprisingly, Whitlock and his men were not in favour of splitting the money and the Admiralty Court had to settle the matter. A case costing over £60,000 ensued. In March1867, 1867 a judgement was reached and the claims of almost all the officers were disallowed (with the exception of that of Colonel Keatinge , who had commanded a part of the force that had seen no action at Banda or Kirwee and that of Lord Clyde, the Commander-in-Chief).
==Payout==
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Two further payouts were made, raising the total of an individual's prize. A Private, for instance, recieved received a final total of £75 (or 750rs if awarded in India).
These figures can be viewed in a modern context on the National Archive's [http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/currency/ currency converter].
*Prize and Batta Rolls Miscellaneous: Banda and Kirwee '''IOR/L/MIL/5/330-350''' (1862-1884) contains various papers, correspondance and judgements.
Many other interestings interesting items can be found by searching [[Access to Archives]].
==External links==
*[http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=hlMBAAAAQAAJ ''Prize money; or, the right of Major-General Whitlock, KCB, and his troops to the Banda and Kirwee booty''] - Whitlock (1862) makes clear his claim on the prize money. Includes an acocunt of events.
*[http://www.archerfamily.org.uk/bio/whitlock_gc.html Biography of GC Whitlock] - Jeremy Archer's excellent page on the affair.
*[http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/browse.jsp?id=t18691025-918&div=t18691025-918 Old Bailey online] - the case of a soldier who attempted to assume another soldier's identity and claim a second share of the prize.[[Category:Central India Campaign|Banda and Kirwee Prize Money]]
[[Category:Indian Mutiny]]
[[Category:Prize and Batta]]
