Fugitive British officers and their families attacked by mutineers

This engraving depicts British officers, a woman and a child facing the rebel soldiers while escaping during the revolt of 1857-58.

The revolt of 1857 was a crucial moment in India’s colonial past and the first widespread and semi-structured form of rebellion against the rule of the British East India company. It was widespread across Northern and Central India and culminated in many decades of resentment and dissatisfaction with British rule and its policies. 

This illustration appeared in Charles Ball’s book The History of the Indian Mutiny, which was published in parts in 1858 and 1859. The book depicts several fictional and theatrical scenes, particularly in relation to British officers’ operations in Kanpur and other North Indian cantonments.

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