lecture 18/4/07 11:20 Page 1

‘: the fall of a dynasty, 1857’ An Evening Talk and Book Signing by the author William Dalrymple at Officers' London Club 56 Davies Street, London W1K 5HR (Close to Bond Street Tube Station) Wednesday 4th July, 2007 – 6.00 p.m.

Doors open at 6.00 p.m. Lecture starts at 6.45 p.m. Tickets £20 per head (£17.50 for Friends of The Royal Green Jackets Museum) Ticket price includes a glass (or two) of wine plus canapés before the Lecture

Tickets must be booked in advance through: Major Ken Gray, Curator,The Royal Green Jackets Museum, Peninsula Barracks, Romsey Road Winchester, Hampshire SO23 8TS Tel:01962 828 549 Fax: 01962 828 500 email: [email protected] Make cheques payable to ‘Royal Green Jackets Museum Trust’

‘Rifles and Kukris: , 1857’ by Lieutenant-General Sir Christopher Wallace will be on sale and the author present to sign copies purchased Also available from The Royal Green Jackets Museum or The Museum Peninsula Barracks,Winchester, Hants S023 8TS Tel:01962 828 549 or 01962 842 832 respectively £20 but pre-publication price of only £16 for orders received by 25 May 2007 Postage and packing £3.50

An Exhibition ‘Delhi, 1857’ is also being mounted jointly by The Royal Green Jackets and Gurkha museums. Winchester 17 August - 16 September 2007 lecture 18/4/07 11:20 Page 2

‘The Last Mughal: the fall of a dynasty, 1857’

An Evening Talk by the author,William Dalrymple

This year (2007) sees the commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of the outbreak of the Indian ( Revolt) at on 10 May 1857 and of the subsequent and recapture of Delhi, the capital city of the old and focal point for the assembly of large numbers of mutineers hailing the King of Delhi as their leader.With the British hold on threatened, a small British force, including loyal Indian and Nepalese soldiers, advanced on Delhi.There, they heroically defended the ridge that overlooked the city from repeated attacks and, after receiving reinforcements from the , stormed the city on 14 September 1857, completing its recapture six days later. By any measure the assault on a city defended by a force at least four times as great was an extraordinary feat of arms, with 20% of the British force (1,170) killed or wounded in less than 24 hours.The stakes were high. Success was crucial.Thereafter the Mutiny was doomed to fail, with British rule in India prevailing for a further 90 years.

Bahadur Shab Zafar II, the last Mughal Emperor, presided over one of the greatest cultural renaissances of Indian history but while his Mughal ancestors had controlled most of India, and Afghanistan, the 82 year-old Zafar was king in name only. When, in 1857, Zafar gave his blessing to a rebellion among the 's Indian troops, it transformed the army mutiny into the largest uprising the ever had to face.The was the Raj's Stalingrad: a fight to the death between two powers, neither of whom could retreat and it reduced Zafar to an anonymous grave in a prison in Rangoon and his beloved Delhi to a battered, empty ruin.

William Dalrymple's powerful retelling of the last days of the great Mughal capital is shaped from groundbreaking material: previously untranslated Urdu and Persian manuscripts that include eyewitness accounts and the records of the Delhi courts, police and administration during the Siege.

His lecture will provide context to the actions of six of the regiments that took part, namely: the 52nd Light Infantry, 1st/60th Rifles and 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiment, all antecedent regiments of The Rifles (the new Regiment formed on 1 February,2007); the Sirmoor Battalion of Goorkhas, an antecedent regiment of The Royal Gurkha Rifles; the Kemaoon Battalion, later the 3rd Gurkha Rifles, now a part of the Indian Army; and the , now a part of the .Their story is told in a book to be published on 1 July entitled Rifles and Kukris: Delhi, 1857 by Lieutenant-General Sir Christopher Wallace, who will introduce William Dalrymple.

All those interested in what happened at Delhi in 1857 and in the actions of these regiments should not hesitate to attend this talk, with all proceeds benefiting The Royal Green Jackets and The Gurkha museums.

The evening’s event is generously sponsored by

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