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FATEHGARH (FARRUKHABAD) – one of the most tragic events of 1857 mutiny

Volume: 20, No: 07 ; July-2026

Fatehgarh (Farrukhabad) witnessed one of the most tragic violence of 1857 next to the much known incidents in Cawnpore .

Prior to 1857 Fatehgarh being one of the largest British Cantonment was also centre of  of Christian missionary work of the Board of Missions of the Presbyterian Church where bazaar preaching was rife .Not just that nearby was also then an exclusive Christian village named Isaipur .

Remember this was the place where the 10 year old , Duleep Singh ,son of Maharajah Ranjit Singh of the Punjab had been exiled under the care of Mrs. and Dr. Login missionary couple who spared  no efforts to expend the funds of the Punjab prince for missionary works apart from managing to convert him to Christianity here . His wealth was given in many charities to schools and the mission church All Souls Church at nearby Parade Ground .

Then it happened to be the station of the 10th Native Infantry who had returned from Burma in 1855  and was much jeered at by others for having lost it’s religion by crossing the boundaries and thus was called in contempt ” Christian Regiment ” boycotted by other locals .The 10th BNI had previously served in Burma, where crossing the sea caused them to lose their caste. Consequently,  this  was since then creating tension and isolation within the ranks.

The outbreak in Meerut on 14th May 1857 made the station commanders nervous who knew they were sitting on powder keg and  anytime the fuse would be lit . That was on 17th June 1857 when the Christian population  was moved by boats towards  ill fated Cawnpore  but that is a long disastrous tale to be told elsewhere sometime in another post .

When the mayhem started in Fatehgarh there was no stopping several Britishers men , women and children who could not escape in boats were massacred and properties looted and the old church destroyed located as it was to the north-west of the parade ground .

The Parade Ground Massacre at Fatehgarh occurred on July 23, 1857, during the Indian Rebellion. A total of 32 European and native Christian captives—the remaining survivors from the British garrison that defended the Fatehgarh fort—were executed on the cantonment parade ground by rebel forces .

A poignant account by one of the survivors David Churcher  published in the Blackwood’s Magazine in 1864 :

“I may here mention that although this well was known to thousands who were spectators of the foul deed, not a soul brought it to the attention of the authorities when Fatehgarh was reoccupied. The discovery was made quite accidentally by Gavin Jones and myself one evening whilst strolling together and talking about past events.

We happened to meet an old man who I questioned about the massacre, asking him if he knew what became of the bodies of the victims. Hearing me talk in his own gawari, he forgot all caution and told us he could show us where they were buried. Recollecting himself suddenly, however, he became reticent and professed to know nothing of the affair, fearful lest he should be the means of establishing his own misdeeds – for few had escaped being implicated in plunder, or worse, during those days of anarchy. I succeeded in pacifying his alarm, however, after our promising that he would not be mentioned in the matter, he guided us to the spot and showed us the well into which the bodies had been flung. The matter was immediately reported by us to Mr. Power, the magistrate, who had the well examined, and the fragments of several bodies were exhumed in a very advanced stage of decomposition, the ropes with which they had been bound still clinging to their bones.”

In 1863 at the same spot was re-constructed the  All Souls Memorial Church . This beautiful church, consisting of chancel, central and side aisles, with a tower surmounted by a graceful spire, was buils out of funds raised by a tax on the mutinous citizens of Farrukhabad who had sacked and razed the old church in 1857, The churchyard contains the well into which the bodies of the victims of the massacre were thrown by the mutineers. It has now been closed, and above it rises a handsome cross of Agra sand stone.

The garrison at Fatehgarh consisted of the 10th N. I. The inhabitants were largely turbulent Muhammadans. The 10th were supposed to be faithful by their officers ; their faithfulness extended so far that they said that whilst they themselves would not murder their officers, if another corps killed them, “it was not their fault.” As the Lieutenant-Governor wrote “they were faithful in a peculiar way, and masters of the situation.” When some mutineers (Oudh Irregulars) arrived, they received and made much of them. It was then that about 140 Europeans left in boats, who were joined later by four officers of the 10th N. I.

They reported that on parade the sepoys had fired at their officers who had escaped to the fort ; these four had been unable to do so.

These boats came under a heavy fire at Khoosumkhor. Shortly after some 40 went up to a fort of Hardeo Bakhsh’s at Dharampur. The rest went on down the river. Meantime Mr. Probyn and two of the four officers returned to Fatehgarh. They found that the regiment had mutinied : they had fired on their officers and insisted on the treasure being taken from the fort to their lines. They had been pacified with two months’ pay in advance and a promise of six month’s hatta ; and they were then pronounced faithful and staunch. Mr. Probyn returned to Dharampur. Everybody there was dissatisfied with the place : and on a letter being received from Colonel Smith, all but Mr. Probyn and family and Mr. Edwards of Budaun, returned to the Fort. The Sitapur mutineers arrived two or three days later and on the 18th, the 10th mutinied. The Nawab was put on the gaddi ; and the siege of the fort began. The fort was not defensible : there were only two guns, and a few model guns not mounted on the walls, the fort was out of repair and there was little ammunition. For nine days it was bravely defended, Colonel Tucker being among the slain. He was shot through a loop hole whilst looking out to see the effect of his last shot. On the 3rd July the fort was evacuated, and the party went o5 in boats, fired on most of the way. At Singirampur one boat grounded : a heavy fire was opened, and the passengers jumped overboard ; they WW all killed or taken prisoners except three. Others were also killed in another of the boats. They eventually reached Cawnpore only to be there murdered by the Nana.

Of those that left on the 4th June, those that did not branch off to Dharampur were made prisoners, taken to Cawnpore and there murdered.

The following list shows all the inhabitants of Fatehgarh and where and how they were murdered : —

Killed in the Fort : — Colonel Tucker, Mr. J. M. Jones, Conductor Ahern.

Killed at Singirampur : — One Miss Goldie ; Mr. Ebertson and child ; Major Phillott ; Lieutenant Simpson ; Lieutenant and Mrs. Fitzgerald and child ; Miss Thompson ; Ensign Eckford ; Mr. T. H. Churcher ; Mr. Sutherland and one daughter, Mr, and Mrs. Jones and family ; Mrs, Fisher and child ; Conductor Rohan : Sergeant Redman and family : Mr. Anderson and mother.

Died of wounds at Khurar : Major Robertson.

Killed near Bithur : Major Munro.

Drowned near Bithur : Mr. Lowis,

Taken prisoners and shot down with grape :Mrs. J. M. Jones and child, Mrs. Sutherland, one daughter and son ; Dhonkal Prasad and family.

1857 — VICTIMS of the MUTINY. AT THE MEMORIAL WELL  Inscription : Erected by the Government, North-Western Provinces, to the memory of the Christian residents of Futtehghur in the year of Our Lord 1857, who perished in the troubles of that period. The bodies of some lie in the well beneath ; of others the resting place is unknown ; yet not one of them is forgotten before God, The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Right SIDE — Colonel and Mrs. Goldie and three daughters; Mr. and Mrs. Thornhill, C.S., two children and Nancy Lang, servant ; Revd. Mr. and Mrs, Fisher and child; Doctor and Mrs. Heathcoto and two children ; Lieutenant and Mrs. Moncktou, B.E., and child, Miss Start. Merchants : — Mr, and Mrs, Sutherland, two daughters and one boy ; Mr. and Mrs. Ives and daughter ; Sergt, and Mrs. Roach and two children ; Mr. and Mrs. Gibson and two children. Missionaries : — Mr. and Mrs. Campbell and two children ; Mr, and Mrs, Johnston ; Mr. and Mrs. Macmuen ; Mr. and Mrs. Freeman. Mr. and Mrs. Palmer, Deputy Magistrate, and nine children, Miss Finlay ; Mr. and Mrs. Kew and family, Post-Master ; Miss Kew ; Mr. and Mrs. Sheils, Schoolmaster, and two children.

Back — 10th Native Infantry :— Col. and Mrs. Smith; Major Mnnro ; Major Phillott ; Captain Phillimore ; Lieutenant Simpson ; Lieutenant and Mrs. Fitzgerald and child; Lieutenant Swetenham; Lieut. Henderson ; Ensign Eckford ; Ensign Byrne ; Mr. Wrixen (Senior) ; Mr. Wrixen (Junior) ; Sergeant Redman, wife and two children ; Captain Vibart, 2nd Cavalry ; Sergeant Best, wife and three children. Pensioners : — Mr. and Mrs. Bosco ; Mr. Faulkner and family ; Mr. Alexander ; Mr. and Mrs. Cuise ; Mr. and Mrs. Elliott and five children ; two Misses Rays ; Mr. and Mrs. Joyce and four children ; Mr. and Mrs. R. Brierly and one child ; Mr. and Mrs. I. Brierly and two children, Dhonkal Pei-shad and family.

Left side. — Colonel and Mrs. Tucker and three children. Miss Tucker and Miss Humphreys ; Mr. and Mrs. Lowis, C.S., and two children ; Major and Mrs. Robertson, child and Miss Thompson ; Doctor and Mrs. Maltby, Mr. E. James, Assistant Opium Agent. Indigo planters : — Mr. T. H. Churcher ; !Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Jones and child ; Mr and Mrs. Maclean. General Clothing Agency : — Mr. and Mrs. Jones, brother-in-law and four children ; Conductor and Mrs. Ahem ; Conductor and Mrs. Rohan and nine children ; Mr. Anderson and mother ; Mr. and Mi’s. Madden and family ; Mr. Finlay and family ; Mr. and Mrs. Cawood and two children; Mr. and Mrs. Macklin, Head-Clerk, Collector’s office, and eight children ; Mrs. Shepherd and family ; Mr. and Mrs. Catania, Inspector of Post offices ; Mr. Macdonald and family ; Mr. Bellington.

Memorial church at  Futtehgarh or Futteygurh, India, 1864. ‘Futteygurh is a station in the North-Western Provinces of India, distant about eighty miles from Cawnpore, and, like Cawnpore in the time of the Sepoy mutiny of 1857, it fell into the hands of the rebels, when nearly every European in the station was slaughtered. The bodies of many of our unfortunate countrymen were thrown into a well, over which a monument has been erected by the Government of the North-Western Provinces. The church, represented by our Engraving, is built within a stone’s cast of the well, and forms one of the most conspicuous objects at the station. This church was consecrated on Sunday, Feb. 15, 1863, by the Lord Bishop of Calcutta. It received the name of All Souls’ Church, by which it was designed to keep in memory the circumstance of its erection and the memory of those victims of the massacre of 1857 whose bodies lie so near the church. It holds about 300 people, and has the advantage of being contiguous to the soldiers’ barracks. The present Chaplain is the Rev. B. Templeman, late of Pembroke College, Oxford’. From “Illustrated London News”, 1864.

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FATEHGARH (FARRUKHABAD) – one of the most tragic events of 1857 mutiny

Fatehgarh (Farrukhabad) witnessed one of the most tragic violence of 1857 next to the much known incidents in Cawnpore .

Prior to 1857 Fatehgarh being one of the largest British Cantonment was also centre of  of Christian missionary work of the Board of Missions of the Presbyterian Church where bazaar preaching was rife .Not just that nearby was also then an exclusive Christian village named Isaipur .

Remember this was the place where the 10 year old , Duleep Singh ,son of Maharajah Ranjit Singh of the Punjab had been exiled under the care of Mrs. and Dr. Login missionary couple who spared  no efforts to expend the funds of the Punjab prince for missionary works apart from managing to convert him to Christianity here . His wealth was given in many charities to schools and the mission church All Souls Church at nearby Parade Ground .

Then it happened to be the station of the 10th Native Infantry who had returned from Burma in 1855  and was much jeered at by others for having lost it’s religion by crossing the boundaries and thus was called in contempt ” Christian Regiment ” boycotted by other locals .The 10th BNI had previously served in Burma, where crossing the sea caused them to lose their caste. Consequently,  this  was since then creating tension and isolation within the ranks.

The outbreak in Meerut on 14th May 1857 made the station commanders nervous who knew they were sitting on powder keg and  anytime the fuse would be lit . That was on 17th June 1857 when the Christian population  was moved by boats towards  ill fated Cawnpore  but that is a long disastrous tale to be told elsewhere sometime in another post .

When the mayhem started in Fatehgarh there was no stopping several Britishers men , women and children who could not escape in boats were massacred and properties looted and the old church destroyed located as it was to the north-west of the parade ground .

The Parade Ground Massacre at Fatehgarh occurred on July 23, 1857, during the Indian Rebellion. A total of 32 European and native Christian captives—the remaining survivors from the British garrison that defended the Fatehgarh fort—were executed on the cantonment parade ground by rebel forces .

A poignant account by one of the survivors David Churcher  published in the Blackwood’s Magazine in 1864 :

“I may here mention that although this well was known to thousands who were spectators of the foul deed, not a soul brought it to the attention of the authorities when Fatehgarh was reoccupied. The discovery was made quite accidentally by Gavin Jones and myself one evening whilst strolling together and talking about past events.

We happened to meet an old man who I questioned about the massacre, asking him if he knew what became of the bodies of the victims. Hearing me talk in his own gawari, he forgot all caution and told us he could show us where they were buried. Recollecting himself suddenly, however, he became reticent and professed to know nothing of the affair, fearful lest he should be the means of establishing his own misdeeds – for few had escaped being implicated in plunder, or worse, during those days of anarchy. I succeeded in pacifying his alarm, however, after our promising that he would not be mentioned in the matter, he guided us to the spot and showed us the well into which the bodies had been flung. The matter was immediately reported by us to Mr. Power, the magistrate, who had the well examined, and the fragments of several bodies were exhumed in a very advanced stage of decomposition, the ropes with which they had been bound still clinging to their bones.”

In 1863 at the same spot was re-constructed the  All Souls Memorial Church . This beautiful church, consisting of chancel, central and side aisles, with a tower surmounted by a graceful spire, was buils out of funds raised by a tax on the mutinous citizens of Farrukhabad who had sacked and razed the old church in 1857, The churchyard contains the well into which the bodies of the victims of the massacre were thrown by the mutineers. It has now been closed, and above it rises a handsome cross of Agra sand stone.

The garrison at Fatehgarh consisted of the 10th N. I. The inhabitants were largely turbulent Muhammadans. The 10th were supposed to be faithful by their officers ; their faithfulness extended so far that they said that whilst they themselves would not murder their officers, if another corps killed them, “it was not their fault.” As the Lieutenant-Governor wrote “they were faithful in a peculiar way, and masters of the situation.” When some mutineers (Oudh Irregulars) arrived, they received and made much of them. It was then that about 140 Europeans left in boats, who were joined later by four officers of the 10th N. I.

They reported that on parade the sepoys had fired at their officers who had escaped to the fort ; these four had been unable to do so.

These boats came under a heavy fire at Khoosumkhor. Shortly after some 40 went up to a fort of Hardeo Bakhsh’s at Dharampur. The rest went on down the river. Meantime Mr. Probyn and two of the four officers returned to Fatehgarh. They found that the regiment had mutinied : they had fired on their officers and insisted on the treasure being taken from the fort to their lines. They had been pacified with two months’ pay in advance and a promise of six month’s hatta ; and they were then pronounced faithful and staunch. Mr. Probyn returned to Dharampur. Everybody there was dissatisfied with the place : and on a letter being received from Colonel Smith, all but Mr. Probyn and family and Mr. Edwards of Budaun, returned to the Fort. The Sitapur mutineers arrived two or three days later and on the 18th, the 10th mutinied. The Nawab was put on the gaddi ; and the siege of the fort began. The fort was not defensible : there were only two guns, and a few model guns not mounted on the walls, the fort was out of repair and there was little ammunition. For nine days it was bravely defended, Colonel Tucker being among the slain. He was shot through a loop hole whilst looking out to see the effect of his last shot. On the 3rd July the fort was evacuated, and the party went o5 in boats, fired on most of the way. At Singirampur one boat grounded : a heavy fire was opened, and the passengers jumped overboard ; they WW all killed or taken prisoners except three. Others were also killed in another of the boats. They eventually reached Cawnpore only to be there murdered by the Nana.

Of those that left on the 4th June, those that did not branch off to Dharampur were made prisoners, taken to Cawnpore and there murdered.

The following list shows all the inhabitants of Fatehgarh and where and how they were murdered : —

Killed in the Fort : — Colonel Tucker, Mr. J. M. Jones, Conductor Ahern.

Killed at Singirampur : — One Miss Goldie ; Mr. Ebertson and child ; Major Phillott ; Lieutenant Simpson ; Lieutenant and Mrs. Fitzgerald and child ; Miss Thompson ; Ensign Eckford ; Mr. T. H. Churcher ; Mr. Sutherland and one daughter, Mr, and Mrs. Jones and family ; Mrs, Fisher and child ; Conductor Rohan : Sergeant Redman and family : Mr. Anderson and mother.

Died of wounds at Khurar : Major Robertson.

Killed near Bithur : Major Munro.

Drowned near Bithur : Mr. Lowis,

Taken prisoners and shot down with grape :Mrs. J. M. Jones and child, Mrs. Sutherland, one daughter and son ; Dhonkal Prasad and family.

1857 — VICTIMS of the MUTINY. AT THE MEMORIAL WELL  Inscription : Erected by the Government, North-Western Provinces, to the memory of the Christian residents of Futtehghur in the year of Our Lord 1857, who perished in the troubles of that period. The bodies of some lie in the well beneath ; of others the resting place is unknown ; yet not one of them is forgotten before God, The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them and shall lead them unto living waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.

Right SIDE — Colonel and Mrs. Goldie and three daughters; Mr. and Mrs. Thornhill, C.S., two children and Nancy Lang, servant ; Revd. Mr. and Mrs, Fisher and child; Doctor and Mrs. Heathcoto and two children ; Lieutenant and Mrs. Moncktou, B.E., and child, Miss Start. Merchants : — Mr, and Mrs, Sutherland, two daughters and one boy ; Mr. and Mrs. Ives and daughter ; Sergt, and Mrs. Roach and two children ; Mr. and Mrs. Gibson and two children. Missionaries : — Mr. and Mrs. Campbell and two children ; Mr, and Mrs, Johnston ; Mr. and Mrs. Macmuen ; Mr. and Mrs. Freeman. Mr. and Mrs. Palmer, Deputy Magistrate, and nine children, Miss Finlay ; Mr. and Mrs. Kew and family, Post-Master ; Miss Kew ; Mr. and Mrs. Sheils, Schoolmaster, and two children.

Back — 10th Native Infantry :— Col. and Mrs. Smith; Major Mnnro ; Major Phillott ; Captain Phillimore ; Lieutenant Simpson ; Lieutenant and Mrs. Fitzgerald and child; Lieutenant Swetenham; Lieut. Henderson ; Ensign Eckford ; Ensign Byrne ; Mr. Wrixen (Senior) ; Mr. Wrixen (Junior) ; Sergeant Redman, wife and two children ; Captain Vibart, 2nd Cavalry ; Sergeant Best, wife and three children. Pensioners : — Mr. and Mrs. Bosco ; Mr. Faulkner and family ; Mr. Alexander ; Mr. and Mrs. Cuise ; Mr. and Mrs. Elliott and five children ; two Misses Rays ; Mr. and Mrs. Joyce and four children ; Mr. and Mrs. R. Brierly and one child ; Mr. and Mrs. I. Brierly and two children, Dhonkal Pei-shad and family.

Left side. — Colonel and Mrs. Tucker and three children. Miss Tucker and Miss Humphreys ; Mr. and Mrs. Lowis, C.S., and two children ; Major and Mrs. Robertson, child and Miss Thompson ; Doctor and Mrs. Maltby, Mr. E. James, Assistant Opium Agent. Indigo planters : — Mr. T. H. Churcher ; !Mr. and Mrs. J. M. Jones and child ; Mr and Mrs. Maclean. General Clothing Agency : — Mr. and Mrs. Jones, brother-in-law and four children ; Conductor and Mrs. Ahem ; Conductor and Mrs. Rohan and nine children ; Mr. Anderson and mother ; Mr. and Mi’s. Madden and family ; Mr. Finlay and family ; Mr. and Mrs. Cawood and two children; Mr. and Mrs. Macklin, Head-Clerk, Collector’s office, and eight children ; Mrs. Shepherd and family ; Mr. and Mrs. Catania, Inspector of Post offices ; Mr. Macdonald and family ; Mr. Bellington.

Memorial church at  Futtehgarh or Futteygurh, India, 1864. ‘Futteygurh is a station in the North-Western Provinces of India, distant about eighty miles from Cawnpore, and, like Cawnpore in the time of the Sepoy mutiny of 1857, it fell into the hands of the rebels, when nearly every European in the station was slaughtered. The bodies of many of our unfortunate countrymen were thrown into a well, over which a monument has been erected by the Government of the North-Western Provinces. The church, represented by our Engraving, is built within a stone’s cast of the well, and forms one of the most conspicuous objects at the station. This church was consecrated on Sunday, Feb. 15, 1863, by the Lord Bishop of Calcutta. It received the name of All Souls’ Church, by which it was designed to keep in memory the circumstance of its erection and the memory of those victims of the massacre of 1857 whose bodies lie so near the church. It holds about 300 people, and has the advantage of being contiguous to the soldiers’ barracks. The present Chaplain is the Rev. B. Templeman, late of Pembroke College, Oxford’. From “Illustrated London News”, 1864.