Stirling and India Part 4: 1824 and Major John Alexander Henderson of Westerton, Bridge of Allan.

Welcome to my regular piece of research, the second of two weekly blogs I publish. The Monday newsletter summarises of all the interesting history and archaeological things happening round Stirling and the Friday one discuss my research. These are both free but if you like what I do, you can support the expenses by becoming a paid subscriber. Regardless I hope you enjoy the blog and perhaps you’ll come along to a dig sometime!

oops and here’s something I missed on Monday the latest newsletter of the Scottish Local History Society clish clash

You will remember that earlier last year I began to review some of the connections between Stirling and India? The idea was to link people, events and locations with a focus on burials in Stirling’s Top o’The Town Cemetery. As you’ve seen Part 1 dealt with Scottish soldiers, Part 2 with the wealth clawed from India by us and the civil servants and administrators. Part 3 dealt with the myths that have grown round our own understanding of our ancestor’s roles in India: how can anyone rebel against an illegitimate occupation, it is resistance.

Inevitably this proved far harder than I anticipated, I also struggled with reconciling individual heroism and sacrifice, global real politics and invasion for conquest. The British took over a continent with the help of a variety of local states and lords, if we had not done it the French would’ve. The rolling conquest which moved ever northwards over what is now several countries sparked cycles of resistance and repression, India became less resilient as it was paying for its own occupation and so famines (which had always happened) became worse. These tensions will run through any consideration of Empire and for the other side of the coin I recommend Niall Ferguson’s Empire. Though I think his strongest argument is if we hadn’t done it someone else would’ve and they would be worse, which is loosely supported by Orwell. My own writing across these pieces attempt to note what happened and the connections to Stirling in what I hope is a neutral manner but I fear I will inevitably slide into an anti-Empire tone as inevitably we are all faced with the question of why were we there and was there ever an British Empire Augustinian Just War?….My answer is perhaps but that is for a further blog.

Anyway over the Christmas holidays I was reading through a series of mini biographies of students of the High School and came across Major John Alexander Henderson and a single line…that he was ‘joined in 1824 (and was) engaged in the action at Kolapore’. This of course sounded Indian so peaked my interest. I also read that the Major took over the Westerton Estate and became heavily involved in Bridge of Allan. So here was the subject of my next study.

Our hero from Craig Mair’s excellent book on Bridge of Allan.

John Alexander inherited Westerton House from his his uncle Dr John Henderson in 1844 (changing his name to Henderson) and on his death in 1858 he passed it to his more famous elder brother General Sir James Alexander. John was behind a lot of the developments aimed to turn Bridge of Allan into a fashionable spa town including commissioning Charles Rodger’s book A Week at Bridge of Allan and the wonderful fountain of Ninevah. To this day Westerton and Henderson are familiar names on streets and buildings across Bridge of Allan.

The fountain of Ninevah

Major Henderson is buried in Logie Old Graveyard with a lovely handsome monument and this really a great wee gem.

Major Henderson’s Tomb.

However, to return our tale, John’s career straddled two major insurgencies: first in1824 and then the Kolhapur Revolt of 1844 after which he retired. 1824 saw the start of six years worth of rebellions and risings and more British officers died in these campaigns than in the previous 20 years. Although of course control was eventfully restored.

In 1824 the pattern was depressingly familiar: the Dessai of Kittur had been allied with the British in the Marathas War and had been exempted from tax for a while. The invasions and conquest created created disorder and so the East India Company increased its control. When the Dessai died the Company thought it could appoint an heir and the Company moved in to audit the estate this ended up in an armed clash. The Dessai’s widow Rani Cinnamma emerged as one of the leader’s of the resistance and one of India’s first female leaders in their Wars of Independence.

One of the calls of the resistance was that ‘The English Rule is Over!’. What compounded the scale of the rebellion was the humiliating loss of the British in our invasion of Burma in May 1824. The Top o’The Town Cemetery contains one memorial linked to this campaign: Patrick Forbes of the 47th Regiment of Foot (the same regiment of Marcus Marr Part 1 ) who died of wounds received in action on 1st April 1825 at Pamlang, which was part of the troop surge following the defeat of 1824. His father who is also commemorated here, Major Arthur Forbes led His Majesty’s North Carolina Highlander in the American Revolutionary War, but that is a different story.

Now the first Burmese campaign is worthy of a blog itself but suffice to say that the East India Company was jostling for power with the Burmese Empire. The war lasted 3 years, the causalities included 15,000 European and Indian soldiers and it cost £5-13,000 000 at the time, the equivalent of £400 million to £1.16 billion. It was the most expensive campaign in British Indian history and ultimately led to changes in how the East India Company conducted itself. Worst of all the initial phases of the war through dense jungle resulted in a major strategic defeat which gave impetus to the rebellion in India.

The British troops were led by Sir General Archibald Campbell who had previously fought in the 77th Regiments (perhaps again with Marcus Marr) and had been involved in the campaign against Tipoo Sultan (Part 1 ).

The final note on Major Henderson’s career was Kolapore (Kolhapure) Revolt of 1844. Again this ‘revolt’ followed a familiar pattern, Kolhapure had managed to avoid getting drawn into the conflict with either Britain or its enemies but in 1834 was surprised to have a Regent imposed on it during the minority of its Rajah. The resulting tax changes provoked a short lived revolt which ran from September to December led by Babaji Ahirekar and focussed on hillforts like Panhala, which dates from the 12th century and has a perimeter of 9 miles with 110 lookout posts and is at 845 m above sea level. The fort itself has a long and bloody history and is well worth reading about.

Green Valley of Panhala - Panhala Fort - Wikipedia

So a final note….Major Henderson and his troops were no doubt brave and heroic as were the defenders (Rebels? Freedom Fighters?). I cannot find the final butchers bill and the conflict is no more than a footnote but one that helped Bridge of Allan and Britain prosper.