31. D. B. Diskalker, ‘Foundation of an Observatory at Lucknow’, Journal of the United Provinces Historical Society July 1937 vol. 10, Part 1, pp.10–11.
32. India Political Consultations, 31 October 1856, No. 109, IOR.
33. Foreign Department Political A, May 1871, Nos. 114–17, NAND.
34. Bengal Political Proceedings, March 1881, pp.17–90, IOR.
35. A cotton ‘gin’ (short for ‘engine’) processed raw cotton, thus jinwali kothi is the place where the engine was housed.
36. Foreign Consultations Internal A, June 1888, No. 7, NAND.
37. Foreign Consultations Internal B, August 1886, Nos. 134–6, NAND.
38. Ibid.
38. Foreign Consultations Internal B, July 1886, NAND.
40. The Talpurs were the rulers of Sindh before the state was annexed by the Company in 1843.
41. Foreign Consultations Internal A, July 1886, Nos 51–67. Report from Henry Durand dated 23 July 1885, NAND.
42. Ibid., quoted by the king in his letter of 31 December 1884 to the Governor General, NAND.
43. Foreign Consultations Internal B, June 1888, Nos. 102–3, NAND.
7. A MIMIC KINGDOM
1. New York Times 11 November 1874, ‘A Retired King. The ex-King of Oude at Calcutta. A Royal Pensioner of the British Government—his Mimic Court and State’.
2. Advertisements in The Statesman newspaper from the 1870s.
3. M. Aslam Qureshi, Wajid Ali Shah’s Theatrical Genius (1987), pp.37–8.
4. Ibid., p.32.
5. Foreign Consultations Internal A, May 1888, Nos. 114–22, NAND. The extent and number of staff was not realised until after the king’s death, when they had to be paid off and discharged.
6. Abdul Halim Sharar, Lucknow: The Last Phase of an Oriental Culture (1975), p.74.
7. Information from Shahinshah Mirza, one of the king’s descendants.
8. The Muharram ceremonies conducted today at Mahmudabad, Uttar Pradesh, not only still use marsiyas composed by Wajid ‘Ali Shah, but continue with much of the ritual from nawabi days.
9. The king’s letters to his wives, written from prison, await translation.
10. Foreign Political Consultations, 20 June 1856, No. 455, IOR.
11. Foreign Consultations Political A, March 1869, Nos. 144–6, NAND.
12. India Political Consultations, 21 August 1857, Tables of Salutes; Salutes for Anniversaries and Native Sovereigns and Chiefs, IOR.
13. Op. cit. ref. 10.
14. Ibid. The king’s official correspondence was written in Persian, transmitted through the British agent and a translation made before the original was forwarded. In a letter to a religious official in Bombay, Wajid ‘Ali Shah referred to himself as ‘the centre of wealth’ (sirkar daulat madar), which the governor general noted with ‘surprise and regret’ as being inconsistent with the king’s present position and circumstances. Foreign Consultations Political A, October 1869, Nos. 67–9, NAND.
15. Foreign Consultations General B, May 1869, Nos. 155–6, NAND.
16. Foreign Consultations General B, July 1869, Nos. 220–1, NAND.
17. Foreign Consultations General B, May 1862, Nos. 183–4, NAND.
18. Foreign Consultations Political B, 23 November 1861, Nos. 6–7, NAND.
19. March 1862 Private Papers L/PS/6/520 Coll. 62/3 IOR.
20. Foreign Consultations General A, July 1882, Nos. 93–9, NAND.
21. Rodney Pasley, ‘Send Malcolm!’ The Life of Major-General Sir John Malcolm (1982), p.103.
22. P. J. O. Taylor, A Companion to the ‘Indian Mutiny’ of 1857 (1996), p.34.
23. See the chapter by Rosemary Raza, ‘Picturing Sindh: British representations’ in Pratapaditiya Pal, ed., Sindh: Past Glory, Present Nostalgia, Marg vol. 60, no. 1, pp.120–33.
24. It was John Login’s wife (later Lady Login) who befriended Janab-i ‘Aliyyah while Dr Login was stationed in Lucknow. The two ladies were later to meet again for the last time in London in 1857.
25. In 1882 the king had to get government permission to make a short railway journey, which was agreed, providing he was accompanied by the agent. The governor general added, ‘He must not go to Oude for obvious reasons.’
26. Hansard 8 February 1861, vol. 161, cc208.16.
27. The Pioneer 18 January 1867, under ‘Outstation Gossip’. The newspaper was published from Allahabad, hence the delay in announcing an event after it had taken place.
28. Foreign Consultations Internal A, 5 July 1884, NAND.
29. Ray’s film was based on a short story by the writer Munshi Premchand called ‘Shatranj Ke Khilari’, published in 1924.
30. Foreign Consultations Internal A, July 1886, Nos. 51–67, NAND.
31. Ibid.
32. Foreign Consultations Secret I, July 1886, Nos. 175–7, NAND.
33. The Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, Our Viceregal Life in India—Selections from my Journal 1884–1888 (1889), p.241.
34. Foreign Consultations Internal B, October 1887, Nos. 47–56, NAND.
35. The Statesman 15 September 1887.
36. Foreign Consultations Internal B, October 1887, Nos. 47–56, NAND.
37. The Statesman 23 September 1887.
38. Foreign Consultations Internal A, May 1888, No. 44, NAND.
39. Foreign Consultations Secret I, July 1886, Nos. 175–7, NAND.
40. Foreign Consultations Internal A, May 1888, No. 44, NAND.
41. Ibid.
42. Ibid.
43. Foreign Consultations Internal B, November 1887, Nos. 89–91, NAND.
44. Foreign Consultations Internal B, June 1888, Nos. 136–40, NAND.
45. Foreign Consultations Internal A, May 1888, No. 44, letter dated 22 March 1888, NAND.
46. Foreign Consultations Internal B, 8 May 1888, Nos. 398–9, NAND. A substantial number of items eventually found their way to libraries in Aligarh and Patna.
47. The Lucknow Museum was at this date housed in the Lal Barahdari, where the kings’ coronations had taken place.
48. Foreign Consultations Internal B, February 1889, Nos. 112–20, NAND.
49. Ibid.
50. Foreign Consultations Secret I, July 1886, Nos. 175–7, NAND.
51. Foreign Consultations Internal B, December 1887, Nos. 200–3, NAND.
52. Ibid.
53. Foreign Consultations Internal A, May 1888, Nos. 114–22, NAND.
54. Foreign Consultations Internal A, May 1888, Nos. 114–22, NAND.
55. Ibid.
56. Ibid.
57. Marchioness of Dufferin and Ava, Our Viceregal Life in India—Selections from my Journal 1884–1888 (1889), p.241.
58. Foreign Consultations Internal B, June 1890, Nos. 73/121, NAND.
59. Ibid.
CONCLUSION
1. Calcutta did not suffer bombing by the Japanese until 1942, when central parts of the city were hit, and the docks at Kidderpore, towards Garden Reach, were targeted.
2. See the author’s article ‘Delhi: Short-lived Capital of the Raj’, History Today December 2011 vol. 61 issue 12.
3. Described as a non-political titular position of authority.
4. I am indebted to Dr S. A. Sadiq, a direct descendant of the king, for this information.
5. See the author’s chapter ‘Lucknow and European Society’ in India’s Fabled City: The Art of Courtly Lucknow by Stephen Markel et al.
6. See the recent book by Caroline Keen, Princely India and the British: Political Development and the Operation of Empire (2012), for a detailed analysis of post-1858 relationships between government and the princes.
7. A footnote, literally, to history came on 15 August 1947, the day of India’s independence from Britain, when Prince Yusuf Mirza Bahadur, a direct descendant of the king through Prince Hamid ‘Ali, was chosen by members of the former royal family to become ‘King of Oudh’; he was symbolically crowned at Lucknow.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
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INDEX
Abdul Subh
an, escapes jail, 116–117
African slaves, servants and soldiers 12, 15, 76, 90, 134, 137, 141, 171; female soldiers 90; (see also Diyanat ud-Daulah)
Afsar-ul-Malik, prince, 235, 237, 276–277, 279
Ahmad ‘Ali Khan, (Chhote Miyan) architect, photographer, 57, 128; looted negatives, 292 n2
Akhtar Mahal, official wife of king, 128, 143, 222–223, 224, 260; refuses to sign affadavit, 157
‘Ali Naqi Khan, 103, 106, 108, 113, 114, 223, 224; acts as king’s deputy, 99; appointed chief minister 74–75, 76, 79, 80; arrested in Lucknow 23–24; commands regiments, 90; illness in jail 119; Lucknow house looted, 171; of Mughal descent, 131
‘Ali Riza Khan, Police superintendent, Lucknow, 69
Allen’s Indian Mail, newspaper, 184
Amin-ud-daulah (see Imdad Husain Khan)
Amir ‘Ali, sunni maulawi, 111–112
Amir ‘Ali Khan Bahadur, king’s manager, 159, 181, 182, 185–186, 197–198, 216, 222; criticism of, 226–227; death of, 242; member of menagerie committee, 217, 219; negotiates loan for rebuilding 201; scheme for new school, 231
Amjad ‘Ali Shah, king, 14, 15, 60, 133, 229; death of, 66, 67, 73; last marriage 142–3
Anglo-Burmese wars, 82, 98, 104, 252
Anglo-Sikh wars 68, 81, 82
Asaf-ud-daulah, nawab, 56, 59, 212, 242
Asman Jah, prince, 236
Awadh (see also Oude); annexation of, 16, 30, 114–115, 255, 277–278; army of, 89–91, 110; crown jewels, of, 146–147; description of, 62–63; government departments before annexation 63–66; land revenue, 63, 64, 90, 91–92; treaties, see under East India Company
Ayodhya, 110, 111
Babu Dwarkanath Mitter, lawyer, 182
Babu Ramprasad Roy, official, 169
Baghdad, 67, 87
Baji Rao II, Maratha peshwa, 250–251
Baqar Ali, munshi, 19
Basant, Spring festival, 55–56
Bengal Legislative Council, 275
Bengal Nagpur Railway, 272
Biermann, Adolph, curator, 206–207
Bird, Captain Robert Wilberforce, king’s agent, 20–21, 23, 25, 35, 71, 79; acting Resident 96; advice to king, 106; author Dacoitee in Excelsis, 37; friendship with Brandon, 28; joins royal party 31–32; public speeches, 32, 47; sent to Agra, 92
Birjis Qadr, king’s son by Hazrat Mahal, 5, 123, 124; birth 133; descendants 273
Brandon, John Rose, king’s agent, 27–28, 31, 35, 43, 47, 101, 112; Canning’s comments on, 28; holds press conference 33
Last King in India: Wajid Ali Shah Page 33