Journalism and Illustrations: English Homes in India, 1857.
Artist: Edward Hull, Mutiny of 1857.
During the mutiny of 1857, the massacre of Anglo-Indian women and children was a cause of great resentment among European communities living in British India and the public in England.
Fed by factual and exaggerated reports of gruesome murders, dismemberment, rapes and violations, London had vehemently denounced the perpetrators of the crimes and demanded retribution for the death of kith and kin.
In this war of attribution and revenge, the British press had played a key role in evoking pathos and fostering national solidarity for avenging the unfortunate victims, in places such as Meerut, Delhi and Cawnpore.
One of the common techniques employed by the press to both inform and rally people to this end had been to visually project the helplessness of the victims.
As can be observed in this illustration that was published in the Illustrated Times on the 24th of October, 1857.
What the illustration represents.
Created by the skilled hands of Edward Hull, an English book illustrator, watercolourist and a reputed artist in London’s art circles, the illustration is an artistic representation of the factual massacre of Anglo-Indians inside their homes in 1857.
Its beauty lies in the fact that while it does not exhibit any gore or profanity it yet manages to create a sense of horror and savagery.
In the illustration, the two sinister-looking men, armed with a burning torch and a sword are recognizably Asiatic in dress and appearance. They represent the violent mobs that had attacked Europeans in their homes during the proceedings of the mutiny, in 1857.
The Anglo-Indian woman with an infant at her breast represents the actual helplessness women had experienced during this time. Most had found themselves alone and defenceless against the fury of the perpetrators.
Perhaps the most telling is in the stance of the man standing closest to the woman who can be seen reaching out for a toddler, no more than a year old. A reminder of the slaughter of children of all ages.
Massacre at Meerut, represented in Journalism.
Although the scene that is projected in the illustration occurred in several places of the Bengal Presidency including Delhi, Cawnpore and Meerut. It nonetheless bears a strong resemblance to the massacre that had occurred at Meerut.
On the 10th of May 1857, it was at Meerut where the rebellion had first erupted during the Mohemmadean festival of Ramadan.
European soldiers, civilians and even native Sepoys had been caught off guard by the sudden turn in events, and in the general confusion, several had perished.
The mutiny was started by the Sepoys of the 20th Bengal Native Infantry, who in a moment of panic had turned upon their commanding officers, and set in motion the chain of events that later came to be known as the Sepoy Mutiny of 1857.
In the carnage that had followed, a violent mob of native soldiers and villagers. Some by trade butchers, weavers, farmers, local policemen and convicts had run amok in the civil lines.
They had targeted and slaughtered lone officers, soldiers and vulnerable women and children. In the ritualistic killings that had taken place, one horrific death was that of the pregnant Charolette Chambers (see Farbound.Net story: Death of Charlotte Chambers).
The Illustrated Times was serious Journalism.
Founded by writer and editor Henry Richard Vizetelly in 1855, the Illustrated Times had covered national and international events including the Mutiny of 1857.
The newspaper had come into existence along with several others during a revolution in illustrated journalism in 18th-century London.
Vizetelly had intentionally started the editorial to break the well-established monopoly of the Illustrated London News and for a while was indeed his rival’s most successful competitor.
From his office at Catherine Street in Westminister, London, Vizetelly and his team had not only produced well-written and illustrated editorial content. But sold each edition for a cheap two and a half pence – which had greatly helped in the newspaper’s rapid growth and popularity.
Herbert Ingram, the founder of the rival Illustrated London News, had ultimately purchased the ownership of the Illustrated Times in 1859.
The 2nd October edition.
Hulls’s illustration had appeared as a double spread in the 2nd edition that the Illustrated Times had published in the month of October. In this edition, Vizetelly had placed the illustration at the end of the mutiny section.
Preceding Hull’s illustration had appeared three other drawings. The first one had exhibited a view of Delhi from the Flag tower. The second, of the village of Bulandshahr in Meerut. The third, of the village of Bullour in Cawnpore.
In addition to this was an entire page of editorial text, neatly arranged in three columns. The text was a sober affair of updates related to British India – see Indian Revolt of 1857, Illustrated London times.
While a lengthy paragraph had acquainted readers with Hindi words and their meanings. Other of varying lengths had provided a summary of the latest developments of the mutiny of 1857.
They had informed of the rebellion of the 9th Native Cavalry in Bulandshahar. The Indian Mutiny Relief Fund. Of an Indian prince who had donated some 5,000 rupees. The views of an East India Company Director. Of the notorious Nana Saheb of Bithoor. The exemption of school fees for children of military personnel along with other related news.
The words, neither inflammatory nor belligerent in tone. But a case of matter-of-fact reporting. In fact, even Hull’s illustration had come with no additional explanation other than just a caption.
A single short worded line that simply read: English Homes in India, 1857.
The first known use of women and children in Journalism.
Hull’s illustration, however, wasn’t the first to portray helpless women and children. Nor was it to be the last.
Just two months prior to its publication, the British satirical magazine Punch, The London Charivari, had produced its iconic political cartoon captioned, ‘The British Lion’s Vengeance on the Bengal Tiger’-see Farbound.Net story: Political Animals.
Punch had created the double-spread political cartoon on the eve of a recruitment announcement and to draw attention to the Massacres taking place in British India. Its reception had been so overwhelming that authorities had been fearful public opinion might force them to adopt even more drastic measures.
Which indeed had later been the case.
What the murders had meant to 18th century England.
The crimes against Anglo-Indian women and children had haunted the conscience of England for a very long time.
This can be attested from the fact that even long after the mutiny had been firmly suppressed in 1859, thematic illustrations featuring a helpless woman and child had appeared every now and then.
Their repeated mention in periodicals, journals and fictional novels, not to mention theatricals and even in children’s books is proof again of the deep impact.
Merritt’s explanation.
The reason for this fixation is explained by Rebecca Merritt in the pages of the eleven-part history series, The Mutiny at the Margins: A work of analysis that explores the insurrection of 1857 in great detail.
Quoting Jenny Sharpe, Merritt explains that in the national discourse, British women were seen as the sacred nucleus of the English race. They were the embodiment of all that an Englishman had to protect. Public attacks on British women had thus carried a deep symbolic meaning and was seen as a humiliating violation of the essence of the British nation itself.
The symbolic implications of Indian aggression were most dangerous when violence was directed towards British women and children. Although the more extreme atrocity stories were largely groundless, the interpretation of the mutiny as a crime against British womanhood loomed large in the public imagination. It was considered viciously inappropriate that tender British women should even know of the violence perpetrated in India, let alone fall victim to it
Jenny Sharpe
However, from the latter half of the 18th century and in the years that preceded the World Wars, the murders for England had served as a moral justification for the war crimes, committed by its loyal armies during the suppression of the rebellion.
The greater impact, created by such Journalism.
Besides the local trials, that had witnessed speedy executions on the slightest suspicion or sign of trouble. Regular British soldiers, alongside native regiments of the Bombay and Madras presidencies, and local allies of Gurkhas and Sikhs had slaughtered thousands of native inhabitants regardless of whether they were guilty or not.
As the national historian, R.C. Majumdar put it, “1857 was a war of terror and racial hatred. It was unleashed at Meerut by the Sepoys and the scum of the native population and was matched and superseded in cruelty by the armies loyal to England”.
1857 was perhaps also the first conflict to witness the immense influence of the press on public opinion.
Powerful and factual illustrations such as the one Hull had created to reveal the truth had effectively cemented national solidarity and unity in demanding vengeance -albeit in the end produced triple the amount of carnage.
I F I In 1857 the word Anglo-Indian was used to describe British people living in British India. I
