Episode 166
10 May 1857 Meerut was home to the beginnings of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, which saw widespread revolt against the rule of the British East India Company. Due to the rebellion, publication of The Mofussilite was temporarily halted, but the newspaper, according to author Alex Tickell, was ‘supremely dismissive of Liberal opinion in Britain’ and of the rebellion itself.The rebellion was brought to an end when the rebels were defeated at Gwalior on 20 June 1858. The governance of India was handed over to the British crown, marking the beginning of the British Raj. It is estimated that over 800,000 Indians died as a result of the rebellion, from the disease and the famines which both preceded and followed it.
