In this series of posts, we follow the fortunes and misfortunes of this mostly overlooked area of British India, from its early history to its first encounters with the East India Company, the annexation and early administration, all the way to the mutiny of 1857.
The independent province of Sindh was annexed by the British through a series of nasty treaties that duped the rulers and conned the people. Even after promising to keep it a sovereign province, the British once again went back on their word and turned Sindh into a division of the Bombay Presidency.
Subsequently, the first two administrators, Charles Napier and Robert Pringle, did little to improve the conditions of the people of Sindh; Napier imposed military rule, and Pringle attempted to introduce civil rule but with hardly any results. In 1851, a new man took over the administration of Sindh – Bartle Frere. Although Frere is better known for his disastrous tenure in the Cape Colony in South Africa, which led to not only his public censure but the complete ruin of his career, he served India for 40 years, and his most rousing success would be Sindh.
Mutiny Reflections 