Massacre of Benares
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Massacre of Benares is the name given to the minor and unsuccessful insurrection of Wazir Ali Khan, deposed Nawab of Awadh, at Benares in northern India in 1799, in which five British East India Company officials and civilians were murdered. Wazir Ali's uprising resulted in his imprisonment for the remainder of his life.[1]
Oudh State, the Kingdom of Oudh, or Awadh, was a princely state in the Awadh region of north-central India during the British Raj, occupying the plain of the Ganges and immediately south and west of Nepal. Its capital was Lucknow, one of the richest of the northern Indian cities. The British Resident in Lucknow, up until July 1796, was George Frederick Cherry; the role of the Resident was to gather intelligence and, to the extent possible, shape events such that they favoured the interests of the East India Company. Cherry excelled as a spy-master and was inevitably associated with, or interested in, the intrigues of the Nawab's court and state, to the extent that he was withdrawn to Benares in 1796 for his own safety having made sufficient enemies locally.[2]
By September 1797, when Oudh's ruler, Asaf-ud-Daula, died, it was a vassal state to the British in the form of the East India Company, which more directly controlled all Indian territory surrounding Oudh.[3] The British, under the Governor-Generalship of Sir John Shore, felt themselves 'compelled' to take a hand in the succession, the choice appearing to rest between Wazir Ali Khan, the adopted son of Asaf-ud-Daula, or his uncle, Saadat Ali Khan II, half-brother of Asaf-ud-Daula and lineal descendant of Shuja-ud-Daula, the Nawab preceding Asaf-ud-Daula. Initially satisfying themselves that Wazir Ali was the heir apparent, the British selected him as Nawab; but quickly came to regret their decision when it became plain that the 17-year old Ali did not intend to co-operate with British wishes. Notably, he demoted and isolated Zehseen Ali Khan, a minister who under Asaf-ud-Daula was identified as being sympathetic to the British; and he acted in a threatening fashion when Shore visited Lucknow.[4]
Conveniently, within the first months of his reign, Almas Ali Khan, perhaps the second ranking individual in Oudh came forwards making allegations against Wazir Ali Khan; that there was something improper about his adoption - his mother having been bought by Asaf-ud-Daula - and that he was profligate and calculated to ruin the country. Almas Ali expressed apprehension - presumably to John Lumsden, Cherry's replacement - lest the Governor-General hear all of the details of Wazir Ali's conduct, and suggested that British troops, allied with the Begum, Asaf-ud-Daula's mother, would be sufficient to depose Wazir Ali. The British considered the matter and found that as both Almas Ali Khan and the Begum admitted the spurious claim of Wazir Ali, there could be 'no shadow of a pretext for objecting to the claim of Saadat Ali Khan on the grounds of right.[5]
The East India Company concluded a treaty with Saadat Ali Khan - probably on very uneven terms, Saadat being in no position to negotiate terms - under which he would be elevated. On 21 January 1798 Saadat Ali Khan entered Lucknow with the Governor-General and an escort of British troops, where he was invested as Nawab by the Begum - under considerable duress from the Governor-General, who made it clear that if she refused, she would be undermined by him choosing another to perform the role. With little support from the court, which looked largely to the begum, and the antipathy of the British, it was clear to Wazir Ali that he lacked the means to resist, and so entered into an agreement to take a pension of a lac and a half, and retire to Benares, a town on the southern border of Oudh.
