The siege of Arrah took place during the Indian Mutiny. It was the eight-day defence of a fortified outbuilding, occupied by a combination of 18 civilians and 50 members of the Bengal Military Police Battalion, against 2,500 to 3,000 mutinying Bengal Native Infantry sepoys from three regiments and an estimated 8,000 men from irregular forces commanded by Kunwar Singh, the local zamindar or chieftain who controlled the Jagdishpur estate.
Herwald Wake (Taken just after the Mutiny) from A Turning Point in the Indian Mutiny (1910) by Isabel Giberne Sieveking
Koor Sing, "The Rebel of Arrah", and his attendants – From a photograph, from the Illustrated London News (1857)
Ross Mangles rescuing the wounded soldier from Thirty-Eight Years in India. From Juganath to the Himalaya Mountains (1882) by William Tayler
William Fraser McDonell VC
Kunwar Singh, also known as Babu Kunwar Singh was a chief organiser of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 from the Bhojpur region of Bihar. He was originally the ruler of Jagdishpur principality. He led a selected band of armed soldiers against the troops under the command of the British East India Company.
An imaginary illustration of Kunwar Singh in The History of the Indian Empire, c. 1858
Kunwar Singh and his attendants
1966 commemorative stamp
