1-151-830 - Ann Ronan Picture Library/Heritage-Images

Highlanders capturing the mutineers' guns at Cawnpore, Indian Mutiny, 16 July 1857 (c1895). The Indian Mutiny was an uprising against British rule in India which began in 1857. The mutiny had many underlying causes, but was sparked by the introduction of cartridges which were greased with animal fat. This outraged both Muslim and Hindu soldiers (sepoys), who made up the majority of the Indian army at the time. Although the mutiny was defeated in 1859, it led to the administration of India passing from the East India Company to the Crown. Cawnpore was the scene of a massacre after the city's besieged occupants, including women and children, surrendered to the surrounding mutineers on 27 June 1857. The recapture of Cawnpore and the avenging of the massacre became a primary objective of the British. The city was retaken from the mutineers on 16 July 1857 with brutal reprisals inflicted on the sepoys.