Agra

Agra in 1857

The headquarters of the North-Western Provinces were at Agra. The city, situated on the right bank of the Yamuna, one hundred and thirty miles from Delhi but the province itself, extended over an area of more than one hundred and twenty-five thousand miles, stretching along the valley of the Upper Ganges from the Kurumnassa on the South-East to the Sub-Himalayas and the borders of Punjab in the North West. In no part of India was the population as dense as in this province; in 1857, it was the home of over 33 million inhabitants.

North Western Provinces and Oudh in 1857

Agra would not play a prominent part in the events of 1857 unless it was to bring together the strangest set of individuals the EICo had to offer and to cover itself in some ingloriousness. Men of action would redefine boredom, stuffy officials as dusty in their personalities as their ledgers, ladies with attitudes and those without anything, fleeing civilians and a long list of harassed judges, collectors and magistrates, military men – some with little wisdom and others with too much and everything wrapped up in a veil of respectability and preservation of status and rank.
The siege of Agra was not like Lucknow and would not produce heroes; it was not doomed like Cawnpore, and it lacked Delhi’s daring do. There are very few accounts of the siege, probably because there wasn’t much to write about. It was, however, marked with “divided counsels and constant bickerings between those in authority, resulting in an appearance of weakness and indecision, together with a partial failure to grasp the true situation, combined to render the annals of Agra..an inglorious record.” (H.R Nevill, Agra, A Gazetteer, 1905, Allahabad Government Press). A more apt description of the siege of Agra would be hard to find.

Agra from May until October 1857

Agra- Civilisation and Mutiny: A Short History of Agra
– Deliberate Inaction: what happened and everything that did not
Muttra Rises: the events at Mathura and the doings of Mark Thornhill
Vague Anticipations: Agra in June and July, including the uprising and the battle which brought on the siege.
Man Singh’s Garden: the only action by the Agra force, in August 1857
Thornhill Returns – the wild ride of Mark Thornhill to Mathura and back again
Life in Agra Fort – siege life
Fleeting Intelligence I: Agra until October 1857
Fleeting Intelligence II: covering the march of the Delhi Force in September to Bulandshahr and on to Agra
Fleeting Intelligence III: The Battle for Agra
The Seven VCs of Bulandshahr
Saving Lieutenant Glubb: Agra in October and the VC of Conductor Miller at Fatehpur Sikri