Remember Cawnpore

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Remember Cawnpore became a British battle cry on 17 July 1857 after officers discovered the bodies of British women and children in a well at Kanpur, India, following the Siege of Cawnpore during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.[1][2]

Origins

The well at Kanpur (1858)

On 17 July 1857 the term 'remember Cawnpore' was coined upon the discovery by General Havelock's forces of bodies of British women and children in a well at Kanpur, India, following the Siege of Cawnpore during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.[3][4][5]

Use

The phrase was widely used by British troops from mid-July until the end of the rebellion, being shouted as a rallying cry and painted on walls.[3][6]

'Remember Cawnpore' became the title of the third episode of the British TV series The British Empire (1972).[7][8]

References

  1. Dalrymple, William (2009). The Last Mughal: The Fall of Delhi, 1857. A&C Black. p. 412. ISBN 978-1-4088-0688-3.
  2. Chrystal, Paul (2024). "The siege of Cawnpore 1857". The Seaforth Highlanders: Aiding the King, 1881-1961. Yorkshire: Pen and Sword Military. p. 59. ISBN 978-1-3990-5204-7.
  3. Pender, Sebastian Raj (2022). "2. Forget Cawnpore!: Commemorating the mutiny, 1857-1877". The 1857 Indian Uprising and the Politics of Commemoration. Cambridge University Press. pp. 35–36. ISBN 978-1-316-51133-6.
  4. Heathorn, Stephen J. (December 2007). "Angel of Empire: The Cawnpore Memorial Well as a British Site of Imperial Remembrance". Journal of Colonialism and Colonial History. 8 (3). doi:10.1353/cch.2008.0009.
  5. Richards, D. S. (2007). Cawnpore & Lucknow: A Tale of Two Sieges- Indian Mutiny. South Yorkshire: Pen and Sword. p. 134. ISBN 1-84415-516-1.
  6. Parry, D. H. (1898). Britain's Roll of Glory: Or the Victoria Cross : Its Heroes and Their Valor : from Personal Accounts, Official Records, and Regimental Tradition. Cassell. p. 111.
  7. Fleming, N. C. (1 March 2010). "Echoes of Britannia: Television History, Empire and the Critical Public Sphere". Contemporary British History. 24 (1): 1–22. doi:10.1080/13619460903565192. ISSN 1361-9462.
  8. "BBC and "British Empire" series (Hansard, 6 July 1972)". api.parliament.uk. Retrieved 14 June 2026.

Further reading