The outcome was the
Vellore Revolt of 1806.

The objective conditions
for a last ditch fight existed on the eve of the revolt. The sepoys in the
British Indian army nursed a strong sense of resentment over low salary and
poor prospects of promotion.

· The English army
officers’ scant respect for the social and religious sentiments of the Indian
sepoys also angered them.

 · The state of
peasantry from which class the sepoys had been recruited also bothered them
much.

· With new
experiments in land tenures causing unsettled conditions and famine breaking
out in 1805 many of the sepoys’ families were in dire economic straits. The
most opportune situation come with the sons and the family members of Tipu
being interned in Vellore Fort.

· The trigger for
the revolt came in the form of a new military regulation notified by the
Commander-in Chief Sir John Cradock.

· According to the
new regulations, the Indian soldiers were asked not to wear caste marks or ear
rings when in uniform.

· They were to be
cleanly shaven on the chin and maintain uniformity about how their moustache
looked.

· The new turban
added fuel to fire. The most objectionable addition was the leather cockade
made of animal skin.

· The sepoys gave
enough forewarning by refusing to wear the new turban. Yet the Company
administration did not take heed. Outbreak of the Revolt

· On 10 July 1806,
in the early hours, guns were booming and the Indian sepoys of the 1st and 23rd
regiments raised their standard of revolt. Colonel Fancourt, who commanded the
garrison, was the first victim.

· Colonel MeKerras
of the 23rd regiment was killed next. Major Armstrong who was passing the Fort
heard the sound of firing. When he stopped to enquire he was showered with
bullets.

· About a dozen
other officers were killed within an hour or so. Among them Lt. Elly and Lt.
Popham belonged to His Majesty’s battalion. Gillespie’s Brutality

 · Major Cootes, who
was outside the Fort, informed Colonel Gillespie, the cavalry commandant in
Arcot.

· Gillespie reached
the fort along with a squadron of cavalry under the command of Captain Young at
9.00 am.

· In the meantime,
the rebels proclaimed Fateh Hyder, Tipu’s eldest son, as their new ruler and
hoisted the tiger flag of Mysore sultans in the Fort. But the uprising was
swiftly crushed by Col. Gillespie, who threw to winds all war ethics.

· In the course of
suppression, according to an eyewitness account, eight hundred soldiers were
found dead in the fort alone.

· Six hundred
soldiers were kept in confinement in Tiruchirappalli and Vellore awaiting
Inquiry. Consequences of Revolt

· Six of the rebels
convicted by the Court of Enquiry were blown from the guns; five were shot
dead; eight hanged. Tipu’s sons were ordered to be sent to Calcutta.

· The officers and
men engaged in the suppression of the revolt were rewarded with prize money and
promotion. Col. Gillespie was given 7,000 pagodas.

· However, the
commander–in chief Sir John Cradock, the Adjutant General Agnew and Governor
William Bentinck were held responsible for the revolt, removed from their
office, and recalled to England.

· The military
regulations were treated as withdrawn.