‘The Rise and Fall of the City of Lucknow’, lecture delivered by Rosie Llewellyn-Jones
Lucknow enjoyed a short but spectacular rise after the Nawabs of Avadh made it their capital. Celebrated as a city of palaces, shrines and extraordinary European-inspired architecture, the arts of dance, music, drama, poetry, painting and silverware flourished under its immensely wealthy rulers. This cultural splendour ended when the East India Company annexed Avadh and the Indian Mutiny erupted. The city was occupied by rebel sepoys and Lucknow became famed throughout the Empire for the defence of the British Residency by its garrison of soldiers and civilians, its reliefs by Havelock and Outram and its eventual fall to the British, which reduced sectors of the city to rubble.
Dr Rosie Llewellyn-Jones MBE is a renowned historian of colonial India. Her many books include Lucknow 1857 (2022); The Last King in India: Wajid Ali Shah; The Uprising of 1857; A Fatal Friendship: The Nawabs, the British and the City of Lucknow; and, most recently, Empire Building: The Construction of British India, 1690-1860.
This online lecture is presented by The British India Historical Trust. Lectures are recorded and will be available online for two weeks for those unable to attend and those in different time zones. For more information and to book tickets, please visit: https://www.britishinindia.org.uk/2024-25-zoom-lectures