Rebels and the Raj
Images of the revolt
Explain how images shaped public feeling.
Pictures of the revolt took sides. British paintings and cartoons shaped how people in Britain remembered it.
- Thomas Jones Barker's painting 'Relief of Lucknow' (1859) celebrates the British commanders Campbell, Outram and Havelock as heroes who saved the besieged British.
- 'In Memoriam' and the picture of 'Miss Wheeler' bravely defending herself showed English women as innocent victims or as heroines, while the rebels were shown as savage and demonised.
Other images demanded vengeance. A Punch cartoon showed 'Justice', a stern female figure with sword and shield, trampling rebels. Another showed a British lion attacking a Bengal tiger. The public execution of rebels, blown from cannons or hanged, was staged as terror, to frighten others.
When the Governor-General, Canning, called for clemency (mercy), Punch mocked him in a cartoon.
In Indian nationalist memory, the revolt was celebrated as the 'First War of Independence'. The Rani of Jhansi became a symbol of courage, shown as a warrior riding into battle with sword in hand. Pictures took sides.
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