End of Mutiny [15min]

Officially the Indian Mutiny ended in 1859. The rebellion rattled the British Establishment and surprised the British public, most of which thought the Raj was invincible. The main consequence of the uprising was the removal of the last responsibilities in India of the East India Company and the taking over of the sub-continent by The Crown. "This Sceptred Isle: Empire" is a narrative history of the British Empire from Ireland in the 12th century to the independence of India in the 20th, told in 90 programmes written by historian Christopher Lee and narrated by actor Juliet Stevenson. (You may listen again online to the five most recent episodes of "Empire".)

This was an era of great change for the British. During less than twenty years they had needed to cope with the Irish famine, the revival of the Chartists, two wars against the Sikhs, revolutions in Austria, France, Germany and Italy, fighting in southern Africa, two years of the Crimea War, the Arrow War in China and now the sepoy rebellion.

When Palmerston's administration fell to the Liberals in February 1858, there were three India Bills left on the floor of the House. An early correction to the inefficiencies of the Raj was the restructuring of the army and the way the subcontinent was administered. Yet the British army still appeared as an army of occupation. Moreover, there were few resources for reconstruction even though a decisive plan to do just that was quickly enacted through the efficient inquiry chaired by Major General Jonathan Peel, brother of the late Prime Minister.

Should there have been a proper all India mutiny (which the 1857 had not been) then the British may well have been on the run from India. In 1858 it was the army that would remind India that the British had ultimate power.

India was a huge area to cover for a British command system used to operating as a much smaller territorial unit. India had five natural divisions: the east coast, the west coast, the Indus valley and the Ganges valley and the outer territories of Burma, the Straits of Singapore and of course, Ceylon. Also, the north west frontier army guarded against the ever expected invasion from Afghanistan. The British still believed that the Russians had designs on India and that they would come through Afghanistan.