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Historical writing on the 1857 uprising has long gone beyond the clash
of perspectives between Indian nationalist historians, for whom the
revolt was the first war of independence, and apologists for empire for
whom it was primarily an army mutiny. lt was not the first such in the
East India Company's army, but the first that seriously threatened
British control of its relentlessly expanding Indian territories. The
search for what Disraeli called 'adequate causes' of the revolt began as
soon as the news travelled - always some weeks behind the events
themselves. Taking part in the search - or the heart-searching - were
politicians and imperial administrators, the media, the non-government
institutions - notably the Christian missionaries who had spread under
imperial protection and who claimed a voice in policy making.
This volume is one in a series of seven, of which four have so far been
published, arising out of a major research project, in which historians
from Britain, India and the United States explore contemporary and
later accounts of the revolt, either revisiting established interpretations
or writing from the point of view of 'ordinary' people who were caught
up in the events, 'at the margins'. The editors advise that each volume
is to be read 'in the light of the others' and this reviewer has only seen
the volume under review. However the volumes and each of the
chapters within them can stand alone. They include hitherto ignored or
unregarded first - hand accounts, analysed in distinctly contemporary
ways , with gendered, national Scots or Irish, religious denominational,
class and occupational perspectives.
Rebecca Merritt traces the evolution of press and public perceptions of
the Uprising. Initially she sees a common need of the press in Britain
to construct a grand ideological narrative which would underpin a
commitment to maintain British rule. This gives way later to more
fragmented accounts. Responsibility or blame is shifted among people
and institutions for whom a British imperial role was justified on
mutually contradictory grounds. Salahuddin Malik dissects popular
British interpretations, and in particular the 'Muslim conspiracy'
theories once dominant as explanations of the revolt. Andrea Major
analyses the debate about religious influences on the revolt. Was it a
reaction to excess missionary zeal or a punishment for lack of support
by the East India Company for Christian evangelisation? She cites the
view that post-1857 there was a 'feminisation' of missionary activity,
educational and medical missionary activity taking priority over
'muscular Christian' evangelisation.
The debate had implications for other parts of the empire especially
Jamaica, the Caribbean and Southern Africa, for whom the Indian revolt
called into question the real strength of imperial control. Esther
Breitenbach examines Scottish Presbyterian opinion because their
missionary activity was in areas largely unaffected by the revolt - the
lesson was 'business as usual'. There was little discussion of the unrest
or its causes which might have cast doubt on the value of missionary
work. The Scottish missionary Alexander Duff. whose account of The
Indian rebellion: Its ca uses and results was widely read, acknowledged
that there was general hostility among Indians to the British, and he
agreed with Disraeli's view that the Uprising had not just been a
military revolt. But in contrast to Disraeli he used this as an argument
for renewed active Christianisation.
Caroline Lewis analyses the writing , public and private , of two women
missionaries, Jane Goodenough (who had been held captive with other
European and Indian Christians in Agra Fort), and Mary Weitbrecht,
the wife of a missionary and a celebrated propagandist for the
missionary cause. Caroline Lewis sees contrasting gender perspectives.
One stresses the courage of the manly male missionary in the face of
danger and hardship. The other presents the female missionary as an
independent agent. Lewis notes in Jane Goodenough's letters from
captivity a differentiation of the attitudes of missionaries towards
Indians from those of the general European community. In a welcome
defiance of post-modern critical sensitivities, several chapters have
Indian scholars writing about British views, as well as British about
Indian.
imperialism, including Irish and Scottish differentiation of their own
patriotism from that of the British - a counter to the view that the revolt
consolidated ideas of British national identity. Michael H. Fisher writes
on 'being Indian' in Britain in 1857. There was a substantial number of
poor south Asians or Indians living in Britain at the time, whose
presence has often been overlooked and their views ignored. Sarmistha
De looks at marginalised 'lower class' Europeans, including sailors
recruited to reinforce European elements in the Indian army. Ira
Bhattacharya writes on the experience of 'subaltern' British men and
women in 1857 who had little or no stake in the ideology of empire.
Rosie Llewellyn-Jones writes on the predicament of marginalised
groups both Indian and British, of Indian Christians, mixed race
communities, civilians and soldiers' widows, and the many thousands
of Indians who were working for the British at the time of the Uprising.
In a concluding chapter Jill Bender writes on the career of Sir George
Grey, Governor of Cape Colony in 1857 and his initiative in sending
relief to India without specific orders. Colonial Office policy-making
was highly centralised and Grey's actions were not welcomed by
officials in London, but they had an important influence on subsequent
thinking on imperial governance. Altogether this book is a stimulating
and scholarly work of enjoyable variety.
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