The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form of a mutiny of sepoys of the company's army in the garrison town of Meerut, 40 mi (64 km) northeast of Delhi. It then erupted into other mutinies and civilian rebellions chiefly in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, though incidents of revolt also occurred farther north and east. The rebellion posed a military threat to British power in that region, and was contained only with the rebels' defeat in Gwalior on 20 June 1858. On 1 November 1858, the British granted amnesty to all rebels not involved in murder, though they did not declare the hostilities to have formally ended until 8 July 1859.
India in 1765 and 1805, showing East India Company-governed territories in pink
India in 1837 and 1857, showing East India Company-governed territories in pink
Two sepoy officers; a private sepoy, 1820s
Charles Canning, the Governor-General of India during the rebellion.
Charles Canning, 1st Earl Canning
Charles Canning, 1st Earl Canning,, also known as the Viscount Canning and Clemency Canning, was a British statesman and Governor-General of India during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and the first Viceroy of India after the transfer of power from the East India Company to the Crown of Queen Victoria in 1858 after the rebellion was crushed.
Portrait by John Jabez Edwin Mayall, c. 1855
Daguerreotype, c. 1845
At Simla with his wife and Lord Clyde, Commander-in-Chief, 1860
India, 1860