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'The Last Mughal: the Fall of a Dynasty, 1857'

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'The Last Mughal: the Fall of a Dynasty, 1857' lecture 18/4/07 11:20 Page 1 ‘The Last Mughal: the fall of a dynasty, 1857’ An Evening Talk and Book Signing by the author William Dalrymple at The Rifles 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: Delhi, 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 Gurkha 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 Mutiny (Sepoy Revolt) at Meerut on 10 May 1857 and of the subsequent siege and recapture of Delhi, the capital city of the old Mughal Empire and focal point for the assembly of large numbers of mutineers hailing the King of Delhi as their leader.With the British hold on India 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 Punjab, 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, Pakistan and Afghanistan, the 82 year-old Zafar was king in name only. When, in 1857, Zafar gave his blessing to a rebellion among the East India Company's Indian troops, it transformed the army mutiny into the largest uprising the British Empire ever had to face.The Siege of Delhi 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 Guides Infantry, now a part of the Pakistan Army.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 Franklin Templeton Investments offers one of the most comprehensive lines of investment strategies in the world.As the holding company for six distinct and separate asset management houses, they offer solutions under the Franklin Global Advisers, Templeton,Franklin Templeton Real Estate Advisors, Franklin Templeton Fixed Income, Darby, and Mutual Series names. Each investment house maintains its own successful approach to asset management under its individual brand, and enables them to provide their clients with a strategy that best satisfies their needs.Their sole business is asset management, and they remain one of the largest independent quoted investment managers in the world.With offices in New York, San Mateo, Fort Lauderdale, Chennai, Mumbai, Hong Kong, London, Melbourne, Tokyo, Toronto, and many other cities, they offer their clients access to more than 400 investment professionals worldwide and manage over £282 billion in assets (as at 31 December 2006). Franklin Templeton is an associated member of the Financial Services Authority. www.franklintempletoninstitutional.com.
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