Edinburgh Castle agrees to replace sign ‘pandering to imperialism’
Text describing British soldiers in 1857 Indian Mutiny as ‘heroes’ to be made more balanced
EDINBURGH Castle will replace a sign describing British soldiers who put down the 1 857 Indian Mutiny as “heroes” after a visitor complained that it “pandered to imperialism”.
The sign explains what happened during the siege of a British garrison in Lucknow, which followed the revolt of 100,000 soldiers in the Bengal army.
Titled “Heroes of Lucknow”, the text describes how British soldiers “fought through rebel ranks to relieve the city”.
However, a visitor to the castle in the Scottish capital said that while the description of the battle was accurate, it portrayed the British victory in an unjustifiably “celebratory” way.
Officials at the tourist attraction have now promised to change the sign, which sits next to the India Cross on the castle’s esplanade, to make it more “accurate and balanced”.
A hero is defined by the Cambridge Dictionary as “a person who is admired for having done something very brave or having achieved something great”.
Twenty-four Victoria Crosses were awarded in a single day at one point during the siege, and the events were celebrated by the public at the time.
But the rebellion i s now a matter of great controversy. Vivek Majumder, 26, a doctor from Marchmont, Edinburgh, noticed the sign last month and said he felt “infuriated”.
“The description of the battle wasn’t inaccurate; it was more how the belligerents were presented I took issue with – in my eyes it was blatant pandering to imperialism,” he said. “It was not the first time I had seen distasteful imperialistic things in Scottish public spaces, but this was the first that painted the British as ‘ heroes’ and that Lucknow was ‘relieved’.”
He said that it was “too celebratory of the British and dismissive of the Indian forces”, adding: “I don’t think Britain’s past should be forgotten, nor its attitudes in the past.”
Dr Majumder emailed a letter of complaint to Historic Environment Scotland, which is responsible for the sign. The public body responded a week later accepting the criticism, promising to alter it. A spokesman said: “We agree the use of the contemporary British description of the regiment as the ‘Heroes of Lucknow’ lacked qualification in the context of the siege and the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
“A fuller context of the siege, including from an Indian perspective, is critical for our visitors to better understand this event.” Dr Majumder said the move was a “step in the right direction” and will go some way to “explaining the past in a neutral light”.
The causes of the Indian Mutiny, which raged across north and central India for more than a year, have long been the subject of historical debate. Dr Crispin Bates, professor of South Asian History at the University of Edinburgh, said: “The crushing of the uprising was seen in Britain as a great victory of British civilisation over violent and barbaric Asiatics – unsurprisingly, Indians see these events very differently.”