Bury 1857 revolt soldier’s skull in India: UK historian

London, April 15

A British historian wants the skull of an Indian soldier who was among those executed after the revolt of 1857 against the East India Company to be repatriated to India and buried where he participated in his last battle.

Dr Kim Wagner, a lecturer in British Imperial History at Queen Mary College in London, believes the time is right for Havildar Alum Bheg, a principle leader of the revolt, to be buried in his country of birth.

His skull had been brought to England by Captain AR Costello, who was on duty when Alum Bheg was executed after the revolt in India. Years later, it was discovered at a pub in the eastern English coastal town of Walmer in Kent.

“His regiment was originally raised at Kanpur, but I want his skull to be buried near the Ravi River, at the border between India and Pakistan, where we know Alum Bheg participated in the Battle of Trimmu Ghat,” said Wagner, the author of The Skull of Alum Bheg: The Life and Death of a Rebel of 1857, which was released recently.

“My focus is simply on returning the remains of Alum Bheg to what was once his homeland so that he can be put to rest — 160 years after he died,” he adds.

In 1963, the new owner of The Lord Clyde pub discovered the skull stowed away in a small storeroom. Inserted in the eye-socket was a handwritten note that briefly outlined the skull’s history. The note revealed that the skull belonged to an Indian soldier named Alum Bheg, who was accused of murdering a family of Scottish missionaries.

He had been captured and ‘blown away from a gun’. Capt Costello, an Irish officer, brought the skull to England as a kind of ‘war trophy’ but how it eventually ended up in the pub in the coastal town of Deal remains unknown. — PTI

‘War Trophy’

• Havildar Alum Bheg’s skull was brought to England by an Irish officer serving with the East India Company as a ‘war trophy’. Years later, it was discovered at a pub in the eastern English coastal town of Walmer in Kent
• Kim Wagner believes the Havildar deserves a final resting place as he was most “likely” falsely accused of murdering a family of Scottish missionaries, for which he was executed