THE RISE AND FALL OF THE CITY OF LUCKNOW

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 who has lectured widely in Britain, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, France and the USA. Her many books include Lucknow 1857, 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 talk will be recorded and available online for a fortnight for those in different time zones or unable to attend. Links will be emailed to all ticket-holders.

General Admission: £5.00

Please contact the organiser if you would like to attend the lecture but are experiencing financial hardship. Or if you have any queries.