These web pages present contemporary sources in an attempt to sort out the confused story of the massacre of British army officers near the village of Mahua Dabar, south of Basti in northern India, in June 1857, and the subsequent reprisals by the British. Please note that I have not (except for the substitution [N-word]) changed the quoted texts, which very often display 19th-century attitudes and terminology, plus a wide variety of attempts to transliterate local names and other words. However, I have sometimes added my own comments and clarifications [in italics in square brackets].
This supplementary page introduces us to William Peppé of Birdpore, U.P., who led the retaliatory expedition to destroy Mahua Dabar in 1857, and to his family [NB: Source documents rarely place an accent over the final e of Peppé]. The main narrative of the Mahua Dabar massacre can be found here.
[My summary of the summaries] Liz explains that the estate in the mostly wild "terai" on the Nepal border which became known as Birdpore, in the eastern part of the territory ceded to the Bengal government by the Nawab Wazir of Awadh in 1801, was originally granted to Gibbon & Co. (W. Forbes Gibbon, Hugh Gibbon, John Pirrie Gibbon and Calcutta wine-merchant James Cock). Hugh, manager of the estate, was married in 1838 to Delia Claxton, daughter of the late William Claxton, an officer in the East India Company's army (Charles Allen, in his narrative, explains that William had lost his life savings in the 1832 Calcutta financial crash, and died shortly afterwards). They had four children before Hugh died from malaria in 1844, leaving management duties to John. Meanwhile, in another nearby estate, Bealampoor (granted to Messrs. Beale and Sym) two Scottish engineers, brothers William and George Peppé, had been hired to set up a sugar factory. (Charles also notes that a great many people who came to work on the newly-granted estates in the borderland died of what came to be known as "terai fever")
p344-5 [Goruckpoor district]: Population of Birdpoor, in Purgunuh Bansee: 11,715 [3rd largest local population in the district, after Goruckpoor itself, 54,529, and Jungul Punouna, 15,592]
"It must be remembered that, thoughout the greater part of India, the land is already appropriated, and that the Government claims no interest in it beyond the right of levying a fair and reasonable assessment. It is only in districts like Goruckpore and the Deyrah Dhoon, the sub-Himalayan tracts of Kumaon and Gurwhal, and some others similarly circumstances, that the land is at the absolute disposal of the Government, no individual parties being in a position to put forward any claim to a proprietary title; and in those parts, the terms offered to persons inclined to take up lands are, it must be admitted, of the most liberal description."
"OUDH ...
From Lieutenant J.F. MacANDREW, Officiating Secretary to Chief Commissioner, Oudh, dated Lucknow, 29 September 1859.
'SIR,
I have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of your letter, No. 4,920, dated the 12th ultimo, regarding applications for the grant of unoccupied land for the purposes of cultivation, and requesting the Chief Commissioner's opinion on the question of commuting the annual payments stipulated for under the rules, by a single payment.
... I am directed to state that before giving an opinion on a question like this, in which some practical experience is necessary, the Chief Commissioner thought it advisable to ascertain the views of persons who had engaged in the speculation of clearing waste lands, and addresses two of the largest grantees in the Gorruckpoor district, Messrs. Cooke and Peppe. They were both under the impression that the Despatch contemplated selling the fee simple of the land, understanding by that term a rent-free tenure in perpetuity ... Mr Peppe thought that even then it would not be worth a grantee's while to commute, unless he was wealthy, and the terms offered by Government were very favourable ... Both expressed their conviction that no man would agree to a commutation in the sense intended by the Secretary of State, viz., that all the conditions of the rules should remain unaltered.
... The Chief Commissioner quite agrees with them on this point. He cannot see what advantage a grantee can possibly gain by paying up at once, instead of by instalments, all other conditions remaining the same. Men who take leases of waste lands have rarely any ready money, the great recommendation to the enterprise is that the payments are gradual. ...
The cost of felling the trees and grubbing up the brushwood is very heavy. Cultivators must be attracted by liberal advances and very low rents, and if sickness breaks out, which it usually does in a newly cleared tract, all will take to flight. It is a well-known fact that not one European grantee out of 20 has succeeded. Those who have ultimately prospered were often heavy losers at first, or bought out the first possessors, who were ruined. This was Mr. Cooke's case. The very largest settler in Goruckpoor was ruined by clearing the forest too fast; he cut down the tall timber before he had made sufficient arrangements for bringing the land under the plough, and the consequence was that an impenetrable brushwood sprung up, which it would have cost him a fortune to clear.
At this point, if you have not done so already, you should visit the page about William Peppés part in the war of 1857-9
p105: [list of assistant magistrates to be invested with the powers of a subordinate magistrate] "GORUCKPORE DIVISION ... Mr. W. Peppe, Goruckpore dist., ... Tuppa Puchwara, circle V." [Puchwara, aka Pachwara, about 15km north-west of Gorakhpur, includes the settlement now known as Peppeganj]
"MARRIAGES
On the 12th inst., at the National Scottish Church, London, by the Rev. J. Cumming, D.D., T.F. PEPPE, Esq., of H.M.'s Bengal U.C. Service, to JESSIE BRAIDWOOD, youngest daughter of the late James Braidwood, Esq., Superintendent, London Fire Brigade."
GYMNASIUM, OLD ABERDEEN.
The following Pupils were found to stand in the First Rank of Merit in their respective Classes at the close of the Term ending 20th June.
...
DRAWING CLASSES- MR. CLELAND.
...
JUNIOR SECTION- ELEMENTARY DRAWING.
[7 pupils listed, including:] George Peppe
(26 Mar 1858)
[Patents for inventions] "... to George Tosco Peppé, of 68, Brittannia-terrace, City-road, in the county of Middlesex, Engineer, and Louis Goodman, of 285, Oxford-street, in the same county, Linen Draper, for the invention of 'improvements in the construction and arrangement of time keepers.' "
(20 Jan 1860)
[Patents for inventions] "... to George Tosco Peppé, of Peak Hill, Sydenham, for the invention of 'improvements in apparatus for keeping time.' "
(6 Apr 1860)
[Patents for inventions] "... to George Tosco Peppé, of No. 8, Peak Hill, Sydenham, in the county of Kent, for the invention of 'improvements in the manufacture of thin sheet lead coated with tin.'"
(6 Jul 1860)
[Provisional protection for inventions] "... to George Tosco Peppé, of Sydenham, in the county of Kent, for the invention of 'improvements in apparatus for keeping time, for weighing letters and other matters, and for levelling.' "
(6 Nov 1860)
[Mr. Peppé gives notice of his intention to proceed with his application for full patent protection for the last-mentioned]
(9 Jan 1863)
[G.T. Peppé's patent on an invention for keeping time (see 20 Jan 1860) becomes void due to non-payment of Stamp Duty]
(3 Apr 1863)
[G.T. Peppé's patent on an invention for the manufacture of sheet lead (see 6 Apr 1860) becomes void due to non-payment of Stamp Duty]
(3 Jul 1863)
[G.T. Peppé's patent on an invention for weighing letters etc. (see 6 Jul 1860) becomes void due to non-payment of Stamp Duty]
DEATHS ...
On the 4th inst., at Southwark, London, GEORGE FOSCO PEPPE, engineer, aged 43. ..."
[repeated in issue of 30 Mar 1864 as "GEORGE TOSCO PEPPE"]
GYMNASIUM, OLD ABERDEEN.
The following Pupils were found to stand in the First Rank of Merit in their respective Classes at the close of the Term ending 21st June.
...
DRAWING CLASSES- MR. CLELAND.
...
JUNIOR DIVISION- ELEMENTARY DRAWING.
[10 pupils listed, including:] William Peppe
Table VI, p8: Pergunnah Ourangabad Nuggur: Households 21,772; Population 125,193
Pergunnah Munsoornuggur Bustee: Households 26,259; Population 151,695
Table VII, p7: Population of Birdpore Grant, in Pergunnah Bansie: 13,671 [5th largest local population in the district]
"AGRA EXHIBITION
PRIZE LIST> ...
46. W. Peppe, Esq., Bustee. Best collection of 51 kinds of rice. 1st Class medal + Rs. 50"
"AGRA EXHIBITION
PRIZE LIST> ...
10. Best general collection of woods. W. Peppe, Esq., Bustee. Honorable mention."
[Both W. & G. Peppe played cricket, initially for the Aberdeen Gymnasium, and W.P. later for other teams such as Chanonry House and Aberdeenshire]
p60: [on cricket at the University of Aberdeen] "There was no University Eleven in the summers, though one or two of our number used to play for the County. Pirie was an excellent bowler and Peppé a most useful bat."
"The following pasengers proceeded by the P. and O. Co.'s s.s. Ellora, Captain O. Fraser, to Aden and Suez, on Monday:-
... For Venice.- [23 passengers inc.:] W. Peppe ...
"SOUTHAMPTON MAIL STEAM SHIPPING
PENINSULAR AND ORIENTAL COMPANY. ...
The Nizam, Captain A.E. Barlow, for Gibraltar, Malta, and Alexandria ...
Among the passengers who proceed from Suez (via Brindisi and Venice) by the corresponding steamer are [numerous, including:] Mr. W. Peppe, jun., Mr. G. Peppe
"MR. PEPPE'S IRRIGATION WORKS.- The Famine Commission which lately perambulated Gorruckpore and Bustee reported a favorable state of things towards the westward, due to the irrigation works of Messrs. Bridgeman and Peppe. We understand that the subject of utilizing the streams running from the Terai was considered by the late Lieutenant-Governor, N.W.P., and some correspondence ensued. But the Irrigation Department could not spare an officer for the survey at the time. The project will now be taken up again by the Public Works Department, but no design of the kind can be hurriedly matured, or afford labor to people requiring immediate employment on relief works. Meanwhile, it may be observed that had Mr. Peppe waited for the visit of the recent commission, and consulted the convenience of the Public Works Department, things might have been as bad towards the west as they are represented to be towards the east. But drought was sore upon the land, and famine was imminent, although perhaps unknown at Simla in 1864, when Mr. Peppe, in consultation with the vilagers who lived around him, succeeded in damming the Siswah Nullah, a stream twenty feet wide, and the Mirwee River, about fifty. The result we give in Mr. Peppe's own words:- 'I believe I saved about 15,000 beegahs [around 37.5 sq. km. if the Patna customary bigha is being referred to; much more if the Nepalese version was preferred in that border region] of rice in that one season. And again in 1866, when the rains made a long break in August, I was able to flood lands seven miles distant from the bund, and had thousands of beegahs planted out, that otherwise would have remained waste: but the great benefit to be derived from these bunds is in September and October. In many former years a great portion of the jurhun (transplanted rice) crops was lost for want of a single shower, but now, having a constant supply of water, I consider myself safe from such misfortunes. It also enables the people to irrigate their rubbee (spring) crop- a thing that was not dreamt of three or four years ago. Now every one irrigates, and the difference in the crops proves the benefit.'
Mr. Peppe made no effort in that year of impending distress to construct escapes. He endeavoured only to raise the level of the water in two streams running through his estate, and in the course of a week, with from 600 to 1,000 villagers, unaided by the Government or the P.W. [Public Works] Department, he had dammed the Siswah and a strip of low ground about 150 yards in width, and had dug a canal about six feet wide and from three to four feet deep through some high lands that had to be pierced before the water could be distributed over the rice fields. We must again allow Mr. Peppe to speak for himself. We quote from a memorandum circulated in 1868:- 'After having done so much we found that the water was still rising and threatening to burst the bund. To prevent this and get more water, I dug another canal parallel with the first, but leaving a small bank between, so as not to interfere with the running water. When this was done I had a body of water ten feet wide and from one to two feet deep running night and day. All the fields close at hand were soon flooded, which gave god heart to those at a distance who now commenced to get water down to their fields. After digging a canal three miles long six feet wide and from two to three deep, we got the water into the channel of a small stream that runs for a long distance through my principal rice fields, and once into that there was no more difficulty in that direction: fields at a distance of twelve miles from the bund were saved by the Siswah water that year. Altogether I believe I saved about 15,000 beegahs of rice in that one season.'
Mr. Peppe, later in the same year, dammed the Mirwee River. In after years he managed to construct serviceable escapes, and in this year of scarcity the country affected by his operations earns the well-deserved applause of a Government commission. But if one Englishman [sic], with the aid of from six hundred to a thousand villagers, can in a week construct a stream so as to save 15,000 beegahs of rice in one season, surely Government, with an army of officials and an unlimited command of money, should be able to save an entire crop. We see what the people can do if properly counselled and led, but there are three difficulties which, as a rule, prevent them from saving themselves in time of drought by means of irrigation. They are without leadership or unnanimity, or the power to compensate those whose land is submerged when the level of a stream is raised. There is scarcely a stream in the country the water of which might not be controlled by simple earther embankments and dams, and the latter, if properly constructed, would not be washed away in the rains. Kahars dam many little streams in Oudh, and perhaps elsewhere, for fishing purposes, and these dams are never washed away. But even if they were, it would be worth while to incur some risk for the sake of securing the coming rice crop against failure in the distressed districts."
"CIVIL FURLOUGHS.- The undermentioned gentlemen obtained leave (in Dec.) to Europe, on furlough and medical certificate ...
Mr. T.F. Peppe, Behar Opium Agency, for one month. ..."
"MARRIAGES ...
PEPPE - JOHNSON.- At Hazaribagh, Dec. 26, George T. Peppe to Alice G. Johnson, daughter of E.T.S. Johnson, dep. supt. of Revenue Survey.
p761: "BIRDPUR, a village in tappa Ghos of Parganah and tahsil Bansi, stands beside the unmetalled road from Basti and Bansi to Nepal, 57 miles north-north-east of the former town. Not far west of the village runs a little watercourse called the Mekra, an affluent of the Jamwar, and not far south a second unnetalled road crosses that first mentioned. In 1847 the inhabitants were returned as numbering over 7,500, in 1853 as over 11,700, in 1865 as over 13,600, and in 1872 as over 17,500. But in each case these startling results were obtained by confusing the village with its enclosing forest grant.
The village has a branch dispensary and an European dwelling-house belonging to Mr. Peppé. He and others are lessees of the forest-grant just mentioned, whereof Birdpur is the headquarters. Leased in 1810 to Messrs W. Gibbon and J. Clock, this grant has an area of 29,316 acres, or nearly 46 square miles. It has now beel almost cleared of forest, and when the lease expires, in 1890, will probably boast but few trees save those of its fruit-groves. On the estate, in the neighbourhood of Birdpur itself, are some fine private irrigation channels.
Birdpur was named after Mr. R.M. Bird, perhaps the most famous revenue official of these provinces, who in 1828 became first commissioner of the Gorakhpur division."
"Marriages ...
Aug 21, at All Saints' Church, Langport, William Claxton Peppe, of Birdpore, near Goruckpoor, N.W. Provinces, India, to Sophia Rosalie, eldest daughter of Major W.J. Hill, 2nd V.B.P.A. Somerset L.I., Eastdon, Langport."
IN MEMORIAM.- A very handsome memorial window has been recently presented to All Saints' church by Mr. W. Claxton Peppé, in memory of his wife. ... The inscription at the base is as folows:- "In memory of Sophia Rosalie, the dear wife of W. Claxton Peppé, and daughter of W.J. Hill, Esq., of Langport, who died at Gorukhpur, N.W.P. India, on the 25th May, 1887, aged 24 years."
p5: "DEATHS ...
PEPPE- On board the s.s. 'Peshawur,' in the Red Sea, on the 19th July, William Peppe, of the Birdpore estate, Gorakhpur, aged 66 years."
"DEATHS ...
Peppe- July 19, on board P. and O. SS Peshawur, in the Red Sea, after three days' fever, William Peppe, of Birdpore, Basti, India, N.W.P., aged 67"
"George Tosco Peppé; 1848, 16 July - 1893, 21 August; Amateur, India
Son of George Tosco Peppé (1820-1864) and Isabel, née Ewing (she died in childbirth in 1848); grandson of George Peppé (c.1767-1837), Baptist Minister, and Janet, née Thomson (c.1796-1864). He was brought up by his grandfather and sent to sea aet.12 with his uncle Captain John Pye. Educated Chanonry House School, Aberdeen; sent out to his uncle Thomas Fraser Peppé (qv) in India in 1866. employed in indigo, tea and estate management with Court of Wards; married 26 Dec 1877, at Hazarebagh, Alice Grace (daughter of G.T.S. Johnson of the Survey Department) by whom he had three children. He was manager of the Raja of Chota Nagpur’s estates at the time of his death from meningitis. He is buried at Ranchi. He was sent by Colonel Edward Tuite Dalton to Keonjhar to photograph Juang tribesmen; several of these photographs were reproduced as lithographs in Dalton’s Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal (Calcutta, 1872). ‘Col Dalton sent Tosco on a photographic expedition to take portraits of some of the wild tribes living far away to the south in Keonjin in Cuttack, who wear nothing but leaves instead of clothes and Dalton wants photos for illustrating his book’ (letter from T.F. Peppé to William Peppé).
[Family information; Dalton; IOR/N/1/232/f.130]"
p141: PEPPÉ, WILLIAM CLAXTON.
Born 1st February, 1852, at Birdpore. Son of William Peppé, Landed Proprietor there. Educated at the Gymnasium, Old Aberdeen. Two years, 1867-69, in the Class (Mathematics, Natural Philosophy, and Natural History), and two at Edinburgh University. B.Sc. (Engineering), Edinburgh, 1873. Agent of the Birdpore, Alidapore, and Bheloungie Estates, situated in the Basti District of the North West Provinces. In 1898 excavated very successfully a Buddhist 'stupa' on the Birdpore Estate. This work proved of the highest value to Eastern Archaeology ... For his services in the matter Peppé received the thanks of the Royal Asiatic Society. Married 2nd October, 1890. Retired 1904.
Address- Westwood, Welshpool, Montgomeryshire.
BUDDHIST RELICS DISCOVERED.
... CALCUTTA, Dec 17.
The King of Siam is sending an Envoy to India to receive the relics of Buddha discovered some time ago on the Nepaul Frontier, which were offered to his Majesty by the Indian Government. The King, who gratefully acepted the offer, has agreed to distribute portions of the relics among the Buddhists of Burma and Ceylon from Bangkok.
DESCRIPTION OF THE RELICS.
It will probably be remembered that in January last a well-preserved stupa was opened at the village of Pipra-hwa on the Nepaul Frontier in the Basti distict of the North-West Provinces. This village was in the Birdpur grant, a large property owned by Mr. William C. Peppé and his brother. Inside the building was found a large stone coffer, crystal and steatite vases, bone and ash relics, fragments of lime, plaster, and wooden vessels, and a large quantity of jewels and ornaments placed in two vases in honour of the relics. A careful list was at once made of all the articles, and Mr. Peppé generously offered to place them at the disposal of the Government.
The special interest of the discovery lies in the fact that the relics in honour of which the stupa was erected appear to be those of Gautama Buddha Sakya Muni himself, and may be the actual share of the relics taken by the Sakyas of Kapilavastir at the time of the cremation of Gautama Buddha. ...
The relics, being a matter of such intense interest to the Buddhist world, were offered by the Indian Government to the King of Siam, who is the only existing Buddhist monarch, with a proviso that he would not object to offer a portion of the relics to the Buddhists of Burma and Ceylon ..."
Memorials for the Peppe family of Ranchi and Chota Nagpur, Jharkhand, from Thomas Fraser Peppe onward, are at St. Paul's Cathedral in Ranchi; see bacsa.indigotree.co.uk
More online sources of general information on the Peppé family, their estate at Birdpur, and the discovery of important relics of the Buddha by William's son:
The Piprahwa Project, the Piprahwa jewels and a family tree site
The Centre of South Asian Studies at the University of Cambridge has a few items relating to the Peppé family (in Small Collections Box 18), including an account of William's activities against the rebellion, written by his daughter.
Don't forget there is also a page about Mahua Dabar after the war of 1857-9