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| William Stephen Raikes Hodson;s death. Getty Images |
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| Hodson arresting the last mogul ruler Bahadur Shah Zafar, alamy |
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| William Hodson. Find A Grave com |
The Indian mutiny had been on since 1857 for some time and numerous towns in northern India were under the grip of mayhem, murder and riot. It showed people's loss of patience and their anger against the unjust British rulers. The rebels - mostly Indian soldiers and civilians, in large number, marched into Delhi and finally took control over it. There they met Bahadur Shah Zafar, the Mogul ruler to lead the rebellion to oust the British as he was a good man and liked both by the Hindus and Muslims. Bahadur Shah was the titular ruler of Delhi under the protection of the E.I.C's military and was getting yearly allowance from the government. What was once a big Mogul kingdom, over a long period of time, became as small as a town. After long deliberations, Bahadur half-heatedly agreed to lead the rebellion as he himself was a victim of British's diabolical and dishonest policies. It was quite natural the young Mogul princes joined the foray and led the rebels around Delhi. Soon an unsavory incident happened for which Bahadur Shah took the brunt. The rebels caught 52 British officers hiding in the palace in fear of being caught by the rebels. The rebels never expected that they would encounter the British within the four walls of the huge palace. Overwhelmed with vigilante justice, with out mercy they killed them in retaliation against their unjust rule and killing spree on innocent people and this happened on the palace premises despite protest from Bahadur Shah.
This massacre of the British within the prescient of Mogul palace took the rulers off guard and caused repulsion among the EIC officials. They wrongly concluded that this bizarre incident had happened with the knowledge of Bahadur Shah under whose leadership the uprising was taking shape. The British were now after Bahadur Shah who was camping with his sons and the rebels just outside Delhi at Humayun's Tomb.
William Hodson, a military officer was unpopular among the natives because he treated the last Mogul ruler and others shabbily. As far as the British were concerned, he was a daring officer and a celebrated person. It is believed that Col. Hodson, resolved to capture the Mogul ruler and his sons, finally got permission from Colonel (later General) Archdale Wilson to ride into the enemy's camp with his men to capture the ruler and others. Without any protest, the ruler, 6000 mutineers and others laid down their arms, symbolic of surrender. There was no untoward incident whatsoever. Nor were there any protests from the natives.
As a sign of surrender, the Emperor handed over his arms, including two amazing swords, one with the name ‘Nadir Shah’ and the other with the seal of Jahangir engraved upon it. Hodson later presented them to Queen Victoria as war trophy. Now, they are part of Queen's collections in London.
As for the sons and grandsons of the Mogul ruler, the princes were against unconditional surrender ordered by Hodson. They suspected something fishy about Hodson's move and categorically wanted guarantee for the safety of their lives. Finally, the army collected the arms from a huge gathering of mutineers there and the princes were later taken to Delhi on a bullock cart with escorts, supposedly for further interrogation.
Near the city gate before entering Delhi, suddenly Hodson ordered the three princes to get off the cart and remove their top garments in the presence of a huge gathering around them. No sooner had their signet rings, turquoise arm-bands and bejeweled swords been removed, than in a flash, without any scruples, Hodson took a carbine from one of his troopers and shot them dead. A cold blooded murder had been committed right before the people who stood there frozen. Hodson had the bodies of three Mogul princes displayed in front of a Kotwali as a warning to the future rebels. It was a crass and dirty display of military power and arrogance and thus Hodson took the credit (rather discredit) of felling the last Mogul ruler Bahadur Shah's legal heirs to the throne.
Young princes Mirza Mughal and Mirza Khizr Sultan and his grandson Mirza Abu Bakr lost their lives in their young age, fighting against the British. In broad day light, they were murdered in cold blood without any inquiry or interrogation. Over night, Hodson, a well- trained and abled military cum civilian officer became an assassin. The gate near the place where they were killed is still called the Khooni Darwaza or 'Bloody Gate'.
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| Hodson's grave, Lucknow. Wikipedia |
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| Lucknow, India Hodson's tomb. ranasafvi.com |
Above image: Hodson's grave, Lucknow, UP, India. Here lie the mortal remains of a notorious man who shot dead Bahadur Shah Zafar's two sons and his grand son in cold blood and "arrested" Bahadur Shah Zafar the last Mughal King of India. He put an end to the Mogul dynasty in India. He was shot dead in Lucknow by a "mutineer" . He fought with death in Kothi Hayat Baksh, now the residence of Governor of UP. After death on 11 March 1858 he was buried the next day in the garden of La Martiniere College. Lucknow, Together with Harry Burnett Lumsden, he takes the credit by being jointly responsible for the introduction of the khaki uniform or drab, which many be considered as a precursor of modern camouflage uniform...................
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| William Hodson.Tornos India |
Hodson's service record clearly showed him in bad light. He had often behaved in an arbitrary fashion before, which was not a good trait of a well-experienced, talented military cum civilian officer. This led to his removal from civil duties by the then Governor General of India, Lord Dalhousie. His erratic action and execution of three young heirs of the old Mogul ruler near kotwali in Delhi invited lots of criticism. Frederick Roberts, 1st Earl Roberts, then a junior officer serving in the Delhi campaign,considered it a "blot" William W. Ireland, it is believed, called into question the urgency of his actions. However, in parliamentary speeches made on 14 April 1859, the Prime Minister Earl of Derby, and the Minister for India Lord General Hugh Gough paid glowing tribute to Stanley who recaptured Delhi from the rebels in 1858. In his dual role of cavalry leader and intelligence officer, Hodson played a large part in the recapture of Delhi from the rebels.
Hodson's widow received a posthumous award from Her Majesty Queen Victoria in the form of an apartment at Hampton Court Palace "in consideration of the distinguished service of her late husband in India".
Apart from the dissenting voices from other members of the military, there were also a few politicians who condemned the killing and felt the killing of Mughal princes by Hodson had been 'dishonorable'.
On March 11, 1858, when he and his men stormed Begum Kothi's palace, Hodson was shot dead by the rebel and he fell on the ground, uttering the last words, "I hope I have done my duty". Hodson's grave is in La Martiniere College in Lucknow city, Uttar Pradesh. On the evening of 12 March 1858, his body was buried in the garden of La Martiniere, Lucknow. The memorial bears the inscription "Here lies all that could die of William Stephen Raikes Hodson"
The paradox is 'it was from the Mogul ruler the British got a chance to hold their firm foot in India in 1600s as mercantile traders and generations later, the same British, now rulers of land, made the Mogul rulers bow before them. In a fitting finale to show their gratitude to them, the British Bobs, now masters of the land, mercilessly uprooted the last young legal heirs of the last Mogul ruler. In the annals of 19th century British-India history, it is the most despicable and nauseating act on the part of the colonial rulers under the E. I. C. They all possessed the traits of Devil from the Deep Sea. General Hugh Gough said of this devilish officer:
"A finer or more gallant soldier never breathed. He had the true instincts of a leader of men; as a cavalry soldier he was perfection; a strong seat, a perfect swordsman, quick and intelligent"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Stephen_Raikes_Hodson
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