Avadh During the Revolt of 1857: The Heart of the Rebellion
- Deep Dive Storyteller
- Jun 6
- 4 min read
Updated: Jun 9
Lucknow, Hardoi, and the fight to reclaim a region in revolt.
Of all the regions involved in the Revolt of 1857, none held the same symbolic or strategic weight as Avadh. The province was the homeland of a majority of the rebel sepoys. It was also the site of Lucknow, India’s largest city under a native ruler at the time, and capital of the deposed Nawabs.
When the uprising began, it was to Lucknow that rebels from across the Gangetic plain gravitated. What followed was one of the most protracted and fiercely contested episodes of the 1857 conflict.
From Rebellion to Siege - Lucknow, Avadh During the Revolt of 1857
Lucknow became the epicentre of resistance in Avadh. The city was led by Begum Hazrat Mahal, acting as regent for her son Birjis Qadr, and supported by rebel leaders like Maulavi Ahmadullah Shah and the taluqdars of the region. Rebel forces from nearby divisions, Varanasi, Allahabad, Rohilkhand, pledged loyalty to the Lucknow court and vowed to defend it.
Key Timeline:
May 1, 1857: The 7th Oudh Irregular Infantry refused to accept the greased cartridge.
May 23: British Commissioner Sir Henry Lawrence began fortifying the Lucknow Residency and called in pensioned sepoys and artillerymen to bolster its defences.
May 30 (Id-ul-Fitr): Widespread rebellion across Oudh.
The major towns around Lucknow, Sitapur, Faizabad, Sultanpur, and others, fell in the following days. By June 4, British control in the province had largely collapsed.
The Battle of Chinhat and the Siege Begins
On June 30, British forces led by Lawrence marched to confront rebel forces near Chinhat, now the site of the Lucknow High Court. The British were defeated and forced to retreat, losing 589 men in four hours. The rebels, led by Barkat Ahmed, included detachments from the 22nd BNI, irregular cavalry, and taluqdar militias.
Following the defeat, the Residency was besieged.
Siege duration: 148 days
Survivors: Of the 2,990 originally entrenched, 1,920 survived.
During the siege, rebel forces dug 20 underground mines, while the British countered with 21 counter-mines and constructed over 3,200 feet of underground galleries.
Multiple assaults were launched on the Residency, but it held out.
September 25: The first relief by Generals Havelock and Outram. They lost over 300 men and could not evacuate the civilians.
November 19: General Colin Campbell reached Lucknow. The Residency was evacuated - this marked the second and final relief.
The Battle of Sikandarbagh
On 16 November, British forces reached Sikandarbagh, a fortified garden that served as the outer line of defence for the city. Around 2,500 defenders held out under intense bombardment before being overwhelmed in close combat.
Lord Robert Napier later wrote:
“Inch by inch they were forced back… where they lay in a heap as high as my head, a heaving, surging mass of dead and dying… It was a sickening sight.”
The battle cost the British over 100 men, but 24 Victoria Crosses were awarded, the highest number ever given in a single day.
Retaking Lucknow
In April 1858, British forces launched their final assault on the city. Under General Colin Campbell, supported by Outram, Napier, Walpole, and the Gurkhas under Jung Bahadur Rana of Nepal, a force of over 70,000 swept through Lucknow. The city fell in three days.
Large-scale looting and reprisals followed, a familiar pattern after each British military success during the rebellion.
Hardoi: A Strategic Corridor
Lying between Rohilkhand and Lucknow, the Hardoi-Fatehgarh belt was a key route for military movement. It was also a zone of prolonged conflict.
The first uprising in the region began in Sandila Tahsil, led by local figures like Bakhshi Har Prasad. As the British garrison fled, taluqdars including Chaudhari Hashmat Ali joined the rebellion. The region stayed under rebel control until May 1858, despite multiple British attempts to recapture it.
Fort Ruia and the Resistance of Raja Narpati Singh
One of the lesser-known but most significant resistances came from Raja Narpati Singh, based at Fort Ruia, 200 km northwest of Lucknow. His fort, protected by thick jungle and high ramparts, became a rare site of British military defeat.
Timeline:
June 1857: Narpati Singh attacked the British at Mallawan.
15 April 1858: Fort Ruia was attacked by a British division under General Walpole.
Despite being heavily outnumbered, Singh’s forces held their ground.
British casualties included:
46 of 120 men from the 4th Punjab Rifles
55 men from the 42nd Foot
Officers including Colonel Adrian Hope and Captain Willoughby
Although Narpati Singh’s forces eventually withdrew that night, their stand marked one of the few British military defeats in the region.
Raja Jai Lal and the Last Trials
One of the key rebel figures later tried and executed was Raja Jai Lal, who had established a parallel administration, maintained a prison for captured Christians, and liaised directly with Begum Hazrat Mahal. He was hanged in Lucknow in September 1859.
His properties were confiscated, while loyalists were rewarded. His younger brothers - Raghubar Dayal and Beni Madho - survived, holding government bonds worth over ₹2 lakh.
Conclusion
Avadh during the Revolt of 1857 was not a “theatre of battle” - it was the heart of the rebellion. From organized leadership in Lucknow to local defiance in Hardoi and Ruia, the region saw multiple layers of resistance: political, military, and symbolic.
For the British, recapturing Avadh was critical - not only for logistical control but also to reassert imperial authority in a region where memory, legitimacy, and emotion ran deep.
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