Places of Indian Rebellion of 1857(26)

Mhow is a cantonment in the Indore District in Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located 23 kilometres (14 mi) south of Indore city towards Mumbai on the Mumbai-Agra Road. The town was renamed as Dr Ambedkar Nagar in 2003, by the Government of Madhya Pradesh

History

This cantonment town was founded in 1818 by John Malcolm as a result of the Treaty of Mandsaur between the English and the 'Holkars who were the Maratha Maharajas of Indore. John Malcolm's forces had defeated theHolkars of the Maratha Confederacy at the Battle of Mahidpur in 1818. It was after this battle that the capital of the Holkars shifted from the town of Maheshwar on the banks of the Narmada to Indore.

Mhow used to be the headquarters of the 5th (Mhow) Division of the Southern Command during the British Raj. Today this small town is associated with theIndian Army and with B. R. Ambedkar, a political leader who was born here.

Mhow was a meter gauge railway district headquarter during the British Raj and even after 1947.  The irony is that Mhow still has no broad gauge railway line.

According to Hindu religious texts, Janapav Kuti near Mhow is said to be the birthplace of Parashurama, an avatar of Vishnu.

Etymology

There is total lack of unanimity on how Mhow got its name. One possible source of the name might be the Mahua (Madhuca longifolia) tree, which grows in profusion in the forests around Mhow.

Some articles in popular literature state that MHOW stands for Military Headquarters Of War. However, this is a backronym, and there is no proof to support the theory that the name of the village comes from the acronym. The village near Mhow was called Mhow Gaon in the pre-British era, when English was not used in India. The Cantonment which came up in 1818 came to be known as Mhow Cantt after the name of this village. Sir John Malcolm spelt the name of this town as MOW in his writings. The 1918 edition of Encyclopædia Britannica also mentions 'MAU'. However, the Cantonment was referred to by British officers as Mhow at least as early as the end of 1823 (letter from Lt Edward Squibb to his father in London).

Demography

As of 2001 India census, Mhow had a population of 85,023. Males constitute 54% of the population and females 46%. Mhow has an average literacy rate of 72%, higher than the national average of 59.5%: male literacy is 78%, and female literacy is 65%. In, 12% of the population is under 6 years of age. Hinduism,Islam, Buddhism and Jainism are four major religions in Mhow with 47.0%, 45.0%, 5.0% and 2% of the population following them. And others are 1.0% As its 52.5% of Mhow's population is in the 15–59 years age category. Around 11% of the population is under 6 years of age.

The Indian Army and Mhow

The Army has been here since 1818. Up until World War II, Mhow was the headquarters of the 5th (Mhow) Division of the Southern Army. According to local legend Winston Churchill also spent a few months in Mhow when he was a subaltern serving with his regiment in India (a local shop still boasts of him as its customer). The house on the Mall where he is supposed to have lived has gradually crumbled due to neglect and age. It has been pulled down and a jogger's park has been built on its grounds by the Infantry School, Mhow.

Mhow houses three premier training institutions of the Indian Army -The Infantry School,The Military College of Telecommunication Engineering and The Army War College.

In addition to these institutes, MHOW is where Army Training Command or ARTRAC was born. ARTRAC was based in Mhow from 1991 to 1994, before it shifted to Shimla (Himachal Pradesh). At that time its General Officer Commanding in Chief (GOC-in-C) was Lt. General Shankar Roy Chowdhary who went on to become the Chief of Army Staff (COAS). Its first GOC-in-C was Lt. General A.S. Kalkat who had earlier commanded the Indian Peace Keeping Force (IPKF) in Sri Lanka. ARTRAC was housed in the campus of the present Army School Mhow. This was used as All Arms Wing of MCTE for many decades. It was originally built and used as the BMH (British Military Hospital).

The Infantry School

The Infantry School is the alma mater of the Indian Infantry which is the spearhead of the Indian Army. It conducts courses related to the infantry for men and officers of the various regiments of the Indian Army. The Commando Wing of this school is in Belgaum, Karnataka. The Army Marksmanship Unit (AMU) which has produced many medal winning shooters for the Army and for India is a part of The Infantry School Mhow. Field Marshal Sam Maneckshaw had served as the first Indian Commandant of this school in the fifties while he was a Brigadier. Present Commandant: Lt Gen AS Nandal, AVSM, SM

Military College of Telecommunication Engineering (MCTE)

The first training institution in Mhow. MCTE was known as the School of Signals till 1967. It is the alma mater of the Corps of Signals. MCTE conducts telecommunications and Information Technology courses for officers, JCOS, NCOs and soldiers of the Indian Army. Officers and men from other countries also attend courses here. It also trains gentlemen cadets for a Bachelors degree in engineering at the Cadets Training Wing (CTW) On completion of their trainging most of these cadets get commissioned into the Indian Army's Corps of Signals however some are also commissioned into other arms. Present Commandant: Lt Gen Rajesh Pant, VSM

The Army War College

The Army War College was known as the College of Combat till a few years ago. The Army War College conducts three courses—the Junior Command (JC) course, the Senior Command (SC) course and the Higher Command (HC) course. The former Chief of Army Staff (COAS) General K. Sundarji was the Commandant of the College of Combat during the early eighties. Present Commandant: Lt Gen P G Kamath AVSM, YSM, SM

Government and politics

Mhow has one seat in the State Legislative Assembly (the Vidhan Sabha). The first elected MLA (Member of Legislative Assembly) was the late Mr.R.C.Jall (Indian National Congress)who belonged to the Parsi community.

Since 2008 the MLA from Mhow is Mr. Kailash Vijayvargiya of the BJP who is also the State Industries Minister in the cabinet of Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chauhan. Previous MLA: Antar Singh Darbar of the Indian National Congress.

Until 2009 Mhow Tehsil was part of the Indore Lok Sabha constituency. Under the delimitation exercise carried out all over the nation Mhow is now in the DharParliamentary constituency though it continues to be in Indore district for administrative purposes. Present Member of Parliament for Mhow is the Dhar MP Gajendra Singh Rajukhedi of the Indian National Congress.

The Temple of Janapav and the rivers Chambal and Gambhir

The river Chambal which flows through the dacoit infested areas of Northern India is said to begin at the hill of Janapav which is in a village named Kuti,around 15 km from Mhow town. On top of the hill of Janapav is a temple and ashram. According to local legend this used to be the ashram of Jamadagni, the father ofParashurama (an Avatar or reincarnation of Vishnu, the Hindu God of sustenance). A mela, or religious fair, is held at Kuti every year on the auspicious day of Kartik Purnima - the first full moon after Diwali, which is also celebrated as Guru Nanak's birthday by the Sikh community - and people from villages far and near come to pray and pay their obeisance. The next day the same mela shifts to the Balaji temple in Badgonda village. The river Gambhir which eventually joins the Kshipra - the river on whose banks the ancient, holy city of Ujjain is built - also begins at the hill of Janapav. From there it flows north towards Mhow.

The demand for a broad gauge railway line

Mhow has been connected to Indore and Khandwa by metre gauge railway lines. On Jan 18 2008, when the Union Cabinet approved the gauge conversion for the Ratlam-Mhow-Khandwa-Akola railway line.(472.64 km). The cost of the gauge conversion would be about Rs.1421.25 crore.

Dr. B.R. Ambedkar and Mhow

Bharat Ratna Dr. B.R. Ambedkar's father Ramji Maloji Sakpal was a Subedar Major—a VCO or Viceroy Commissioned Officer (the equivalent of a JCO)—in a battalion of the British Indian Army's Mahar Regiment. The Mahars are an oppressed caste from Maharashtra state of India and are part of the Dalits or downtrodden and untouchable people of India. Dr. Ambedkar had fought on behalf of the Dalits and is a very honoured figure in India today. He and hundreds of thousands of his followers had converted to Buddhism as they claimed disillusioned with Hinduism. A memorial to Dr. Ambedkar in the shape of a Buddhist stupais being built at a spot where his father's quarters used to be. It is located by the Agra-Mumbai Road and is very near the temple, gurudwara and mosque of the Infantry School Mhow.

Renaming Mhow after Ambedkar and the controversy

Mhow has now been renamed Dr. Ambedkar Nagar in honour of the father of the Indian constitution, who was born here. The renaming has not been without controversy. Many claim that it has been done due to the compulsions of vote bank politics. The new name is used for official purposes and has not been widely accepted. Ambedkar was born in Mhow as his father Subedar Major Ramji Maloji Sakpal - a VCO (Viceroy Commissioned Officer) of the Mahar Regiment - was stationed here. He had nothing to do with Mhow claim opponents of the renaming. They also claim that the name Mhow has a history of its own and is a name which the Indian Army and civilians are deeply attached to. These are also the views of many who say that they have nothing against Ambedkar or the Dalits but are attached to the name Mhow. Opponents of the renaming claim that Porbandar, the birthplace of Mahatma Gandhi, has not been renamed Gandhinagar andJawaharlal Nehru's birthplace Allahabad is still Allahabad and not Nehrunagar hence it is not necessary to rename Mhow after Ambedkar. The Dalits claim that this opposition is mainly due to the ingrained bias that upper castes have against them. The controversy refuses to die.

Places of Indian Rebellion of 1857(25)

Meerut (Hindi: मेरठ, ) is a city in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.  It is an ancient city with settlements dating back to the Indus Valley civilization having been found in and around the area. The city lies 70 km (43 mi) northeast of the national capitalNew Delhi, and 453 km (281 mi) northwest of the state capital, Lucknow. It is the second largest city in the National Capital Region of India (the largest being Delhi), the 16th largest metropolitan area and 25^th largest city in India.  It ranked 292 in 2006 and 242 in 2010 in the list of largest cities and urban areas in the world.  The city covers an area of about 172 km² (66 sq mi) while the total area is 198 km² (76 sq mi), third largest in Uttar Pradesh after Kanpur and Lucknow . It has the 2^nd largest army cantonment in the country.  The city is one of the largest producers of sports goods, and the largest producer of musical instruments in India. It is also the largest producers of bicycle rickshaw in world.  The city is also an education hub in western Uttar Pradesh.

 Etymology

The city may have derived its name from Maya Rashtra, the capital of the kingdom of Mayasura, Mandodari's father and Ravana's father-in-law. This name may have mutated to Mairashtra, Mai-dant-ka-khera, Mairaath and eventually Meerut. 

According to another version Maya, a distinguished architect, got from king Yudhisthira the land on which the city of Meerut now stands and he called this place Mayrashtra, a name which in course of time became shortened to Meerut. Tradition has it that the district formed part of the dominions of Mahipal, Gurjar king of Indraprashta, and the word Meerut is associated with his name. 

History 

                  Meerut also contained a Harappan settlement known as Alamgirpur. It was also the easternmost settlement of the Indus valley civilisation. Meerut had been a centre of Buddhism in the period ofMauryan Emperor Ashoka (r. 273 BC to 232 BC.), and remains of Buddhist structures were found near the Jama Masjid in the present day city.  The Ashoka Pillar, at Delhi ridge, next to the ‘Bara Hindu Rao Hospital’, near Delhi University, was carried to Delhi from Meerut, by Firuz Shah Tughluq (r. 1351–1388);  it was later damaged in a 1713 explosion, and restored in 1867. 

After the archaeological excavations at ‘Vidura-ka-tila’, a collection of several mounds named after Vidura, in 1950–52, a site 37 km (23 miles) north-east of Meerut, it was concluded to be remains of the ancient city of Hastinapur, the capital of Kauravas and Pandavas of Mahabharata, which was washed away by Ganges floods.

In the eleventh century AD, the south-west part of the district was ruled by Har Dat, the Dor Raja ofBulandshahr who built a fort, which was long known for its strength and finds mention in Ain-i-Akbari. He was later defeated by Mahmud Ghazni in 1018. A prominent local landmark, the Jama Masjid, dates from this period and is said to have been built by Mahmud's vizir. Shortly after its capture the city was regained by the local Hindu Raja and part of his fortifications, built for the city’s defence, survived until recent times. The first big invasion on the city came later in 1192 AD, fromMohammad Ghori, when his general Qutb-ud-din Aybak attacked the city, and a much worse fate lay ahead for the district, which came with the invasion of Timur in 1398, during which theRajputs offered a tough resistance at the fort of Loni, where he fought the Sultan of Delhi, Muhammad Tughlaq. But, eventually they were all defeated and all the 1,00,000 prisoners his army had taken in since his invasion of India were massacred, according to Timur’s own accounts in Tuzk-e-Taimuri.  Thereafter he went on to attack Delhi, where he again massacred the local population, and returned to attack Meerut town, then ruled by an Afghan chief, Ilias, and took the city in two days, leading to widespread devastation, before heading north once again. 

After that Meerut was ruled by Jats & then Marathas from whome it was taken by the British.  During the rule of Mughal Emperor, Akbar the Great (r. 1556–1605), there was a mint for copper coins here. 

Meerut is famously associated with the Indian Rebellion of 1857 against the British East India Company.The famous slogan "Dilli Chalo" ("Let's march to Delhi!") was first raised here. Meerut cantonment is the place where the rebellion started when Hindu and Muslim soldiers were given rifle cartridges rumoured to have a coating made of animal fat. The bullet wrapping was to be opened by mouth before use, which affected the religious sensibilities of both Muslims and Hindus as the fat used was alleged to be derived from lard and tallow; cows are held sacred by Hindus and Muslims consider the pig unclean. Meerut soldiers set fire to the bungalows of the English.
The city and district also suffered from communal (Hindu-Sikh) riots in 1984  and (Hindu-Muslim) riots in 1982 and in 1987, during which the Hashimpura massacre took place, in May 1987, when personnel of the Provincial Armed Constabulary (PAC) allegedly shot dead 42 Muslims, the trial of the case is still pending.  In 2006, a fire at a consumer electronics "Brand India" fair in Victoria Park Stadium killed over 100 people. But, according to some unofficial sources,  the number of affected people is pegged at more than 200.

Meerut was also the venue of the controversial Meerut Conspiracy Case in March 1929, in which several trade unionists, including three Englishmen, were arrested for organising Indian-rail strike. This immediately caught attention back in England, inspired the 1932 play titled Meerut Prisoners, by Manchester street theatre group, the 'Red Megaphones', highlighting the detrimental effects of colonisation and industrialisation  In the 1940s, Meerut cinemas had a "Don't Move" policy during playing of the British national anthem. 

Mythology

• Meerut was founded as Mayarashtra (lit. Maya's country) by Maya, who was the father of Mandodari, Ravana's wife in the Ramayana.  Meerut was the capital of Maya. Thus the city is also known as 'Ravan Ki Sasural' literally meaning Ravana's wife's home.
• In the Ramayana, Shravan Kumar carried his feeble parents on his shoulders to all the pilgrimage sites in India, but it is believed that when he passed through Meerut, he put down his parents for a while to get rest and water. It was here that Lord Rama's father, King Dasharatha, mistook Shravan Kumar for a deer and shot him with an arrow by accident. Shravan Kumar's parents declared that the king's own first son would abandon him when he needed him the most.

Geography

Meerut lies between 28°57’ to 29°02’N latitude and 77°40’ to 77°45’E longitude in the Indo-Gangetic plains of India.  It is bound on the north by Muzaffarnagar, in the south by Bulandshahr while Ghaziabad and Baghpat districts form the southern and western limits.  The river Ganga forms the eastern boundary and separates the district from Moradabad and Bijnor.  The Hindon forms the western boundary and separates the district from Baghpat. The ground is not rocky and there are no mountains. The soil is composed of pleistocene and sub-recent alluvial sediments transported and deposited by river action from the Himalayan region. These alluvial deposits are unconsolidated.  Lithologically, sediments consist of clay, silt and fine to coarse sand. Land is very fertile for growing crops, especially wheat, sugarcane and vegetables. The city lies between the plains of the Ganges and Yamuna.

Meerut Cantonment
Soldiers from the cantonment have actively participated in the Battle of Ypres, both the 1st and 2nd Battles of El Alamein, France, Burma Campaign, the Indo-Pak Wars, Bangladesh Liberation War and Kargil War. Its battalions and officers have shown great courage and have got many honours.

Meerut Cantonment was established by the British East India Company in 1803 after the Battle of Laswari. It is the second largest cantonment of India both in land area (3568.06 hectares) and population (90521 people as per 2001 census). The Revolt of 1857 started from “Kali Paltan" in Meerut Cantonment and Indian soldiers stationed here actively participated in the rebellian. The cantonment surrounds the city from 3 sides - from Pallavpuram to Sainik Vihar to Ganga Nagar. It is well connected with the rest of country by roads as well as by rail. The Delhi Niti Paas Road (State Highway No. 45) passes through Meerut Cantonment. 

It has been the regimental centre of Punjab Regiment Corps of Signals, Jat Regiment, Sikh Regiment, Dogra Regiment in the past.

Development
Delhi-Meerut expressway is expected to be completed by 2013, although there have been several delays to this plan over the past decade.  The Upper Ganga Canal Expressway is also under development. GAIL is also establishing its plant in Meerut and Muradnagar to supply cooking gas within the city. A five star hotel, in Greenwood City, at Baghpat road bypass crossing and a three star hotel at Delhi road near Rithani are under construction. 

Meerut is the 63rd-fastest-growing urban area in the world. It is the 14th fastest developing city in India. A new report by U.S. financial services firm Morgan Stanley, "AlphaWise City Vibrancy Index: A Guide to India’s Urbanization" gave Meerut the 5th spot on the "vibrancy" index, ahead of Delhi and Mumbai.  Meerut ranked second on both the financial penetration index, which measures things like the presence of ATMs and bank branches, and on the consumption index, indicating the city’s transformation into an urban town. While the city ranked in the bottom 10 in job creations, the report suggests that overall there are plenty of signs of "potential for urbanisation," including future employment opportunities.  The infrastructure segment of Meerut is currently going through a boom phase with many new projects coming up in and around the city.  There are many new buildings, shopping complexes, malls, roads, flyovers and apartments coming up.

Demographics
Meerut City is the headquarters of Meerut district which, according to the 2011 census, has a population of around 3.4 million. Males constitute 53.06% of the population and females 46.94%. The percentage decadal growth in 2001-2011 stands at 15.92%. The sex ratio in Meerut is 885, lower than the state average of 908; while the child sex ratio is 850, lower than the state average of 899. 14.16% of the population is under 6 years of age. The district has a density of 1347 persons/km ². The overall literacy rate is 74.80%, higher than the state average of 69.72%. 

As of 2009, Meerut has a crime rate of 208.6, higher than the state average of 88.4 and the national average of 181.4. 

According to the 2001 census, the city ranked 6th in terms of population density  in Uttar Pradesh. The city also ranked 2nd in terms of population in NCR.  Males constituted 53.43% of the population and females 46.56%. The city had an average literacy rate of 65.96%, higher than the national average of 64.8% and the state average of 57.36%.  Male literacy was 76.31%, and female literacy was 54.12%.  16.66% of the population was under 6 years of age.  Meerut has one of the largest Muslim populations among the cities of India (close to 32.5%).  It is the largest Muslim city in Uttar Pradesh. The city had a sex ratio of 871, lower than the state average of 898 and the national average of 933. According to the 1991 census, Meerut district consisted of 1,025 villages  with a population of around 2.4 million. This does not include the population of Baghpat district which was formed in 1998. 

Culture

Most traditional Indian festivals, including Holi, Dussehra, Diwali, Eid among others are celebrated with fervor in the city. Notably, a fair by the name of Nauchandi Fair is held two weeks after Holi every year.  The fair, which started in 1672,  continues for about 15 days and is attended by lakhs of people. It includes events such as poetry recitations in Hindi, Urdu, Punjabi etc. 

Meerut is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Meerut Diocese, which covers the districts of Meerut, Muzaffarnagar, Saharanpur, Dehradun, Haridwar, Moradabad, Rampur, Jyotiba Phule Nagar, Ghaziabad, Baghpat and Dhampur Tehsil of Bijnor district

Education

                          Meerut is an education hub of Western Uttar Pradesh with four universities, approx. 50 engineering colleges, 23 management colleges, seven pharmacy colleges, four colleges offering hotel management, one college offering fashion design, over 150 academic colleges and over 50 schools. The city is home to Chaudhary Charan Singh University (formerly Meerut University), Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel University of Agriculture and Technology, Swami Vivekanand Subharti University and Shobhit University. The city has one government-run engineering college, Sir Chhotu Ram Institute of Engineering and Technology, which is a constituent college of Chaudhary Charan Singh University. The Indian Film and Television Institute is located at the western bypass of the city. The city has two medical colleges: Subharti Medical College and Lala Lajpat Rai Memorial Medical College. The city has many madrasahs which provide religious education as well as modern education with computer learning. The city also has coaching institutions for preparing students for entrance exams of engineering and medical fields. By the attempts of local jewelers and Zila Udyog Kendra, a jewel and gem training centre will soon be established in the city. 

 

Places of Indian Rebellion of 1857(24)

Ludlow Castle, Delhi was a building located in the Civil Lines in Delhi, India, which for a time during East India Company rule in first half of the 19th century served as the Residency of the British political agent to the Mughal Court, and as the headquarters of the Commissioner of the Delhi Territorywithin the North-Western Provinces.

Until 1831 Ludlow Castle had been the home of Samuel Ludlow, the Residency Surgeon. The building then became the Residency itself, and was later the site of a battery employed by British troops during the Indian rebellion of 1857 to successfully breach the Kashmiri Gate bastion and thereafter to retake the city. After 1857—in the first few decades of the British Raj—Ludlow Castle remained the home of the Chief Commissioner; Delhi Territory, however, had now become a part of the Punjab Province. Among its many guests during this period was the former US President Ulysses S. Grant.

During the late 19th century and much of the first half of the 20th, the building housed the Delhi Club. Sojourning there in 1916 was wedding party ofJawaharlal Nehru. After India's independence in 1947, the Ludlow Castle building was turned into a high school. It was demolished in the 1960s to make room for the expansion of the school, now the Government Model Senior Secondary School. The neighbourhood and the transit stop in Delhi, however, continue to be known as "Ludlow Castle."

Home and Delhi Residency

 

                                   

 From 1832 to 1857, Ludlow Castle was the home of the British Resident to the Mughal Court in Delhi. Among the Residents who lived in Ludlow Castle were William Fraser (1832–1835), Sir Thomas Theophilus Metcalfe (1835–1853) and Simon Fraser (1853–1857).

Samuel Ludlow had the house constructed sometime after he moved to Delhi in 1813, its name, "Ludlow Castle," a play on words on his surname, the building's turret, its decorative crennelations, and the 11th-century Ludlow Castle, Shropshire. During his time in Delhi, Ludlow was promoted from Assistant Surgeon in the East India Company, Bengal Presidency medical establishment, to full Surgeon in 1817, and to Presidency Surgeon. In 1831, he was promoted to Superintending Surgeon and transferred out of Delhi.

Siege of Delhi

                          

As a preliminary step, on 6 September the British constructed "Reid's Battery", or the "Sammy House Battery", of two 24-pounder and four 9-pounder guns, near the southern end of the ridge, to silence the guns on the Mori Bastion. Under cover of Reid's Battery, on 7 September the first siege battery proper was established, 700 yards (640 m) from the Mori Bastion. Four of its guns engaged the artillery on the Kashmir Bastion, while six guns and a heavy mortar demolished the Mori Bastion. After a long duel, it silenced the rebels' guns on the Mori Bastion. The direction of this attack also deceived the rebels that the storming attempt would be made from the east, rather than the north.

The siege train, consisting of fifteen 24-pounder guns, twenty 18-pounder guns and twenty-five heavy mortars and howitzers,  with almost 600 ammunition carts, arrived on 6 September. Wilson's chief Engineer Officer, Richard Baird Smith, had drawn up a plan to breach the city walls and make an assault.

A second battery, consisting of nine 24-pounder guns, two 18-pounder guns and seven 8-inch mortars, was set up near Ludlow Castle and opened fire against the Kashmir Bastion on 11 September. A third battery of six 18-pounder guns was set up near the old Custom House less than 200 yards (180 m) from the city walls, and opened fire against the Water Bastion near the Yamuna next day. A fourth battery of ten heavy mortars was set up in cover near the Khudsia Bagh. Because the element of surprise had been lost, the Indian sappers and pioneers who carried out much of the work of constructing the second and third batteries and moving the guns into position suffered heavy casualties (over 300), but the batteries quickly made breaches in the bastions and walls.

The opening of this phase of the siege seems to have coincided with the exhaustion of the ammunition the rebels had captured from the magazine, as the rebel fire became suddenly much less effective. By this time also, the rebels had become depressed through lack of supplies and money, and by defeatist rumours which were spread by agents and spies organised by William Hodson.

After the rebellion

                          The Duke was in the howdah with Colonel McNeile. ... The road to the Lahore Gate was beautifully illuminated with coloured lamps hanging from the trees; the effect was excellent, and free from the formality of continuous lines of light. There were triumphal arches in the Chandney Chowkand Dureeba, and up to the front of the steps of the Jumma Musjid was one continuous blaze of Bengal lights and other forms of illumination. The streets, and every house-top, window and balcony were crowded; numbers preceding the elephants, joining the European soldiers in loud hurrahs, made a most exciting scene. Dismounting at the foot of the Jumma Musjid, the Duke, with many ladies and gentlemen, witnessed a grand displayof fireworks from the platform of the mosque. They then returned to Ludlow Castle.

For many years in the second half of the 19th century, Ludlow Castle was the home of the Commissioner of Delhi, who often hosted visiting dignitaries there. From February 5 to 9, 1870, Prince Alfred, the second son of Queen Victoria and the then Duke of Edinburgh, was the guest of the Commissioner of Delhi, Col. McNeile, in Ludlow Castle.  After arriving in Delhi in the late afternoon, and after an early dinner, the prince was taken on a tour of Old Delhi.  Accompanying surgeon Joseph Fayrer recorded the evening enthusiastically:

In February 1879, Ulysses S. Grant, on a tour of India, after two terms as US President, was a guest of the then commissioner of Delhi, G. Gordon Young, in Ludlow Castle.  After being received at the Delhi Railway Station, Mr. and Mrs. Grant were driven to Ludlow Castle, while the rest of the party found lodgings in nearby hotels. For the next few days, Grant and party visited historic monuments in the city, including the Red Fort, theQutub Minar and the Jama Masjid.  Accompanying General Grant was the American journalist John Russell Young, whose experience of the Jama Masjid was more sober:

This mosque even now is one of the noblest buildings in India. It stands in the center of the city, built upon a rock. In the ancient time there were four streets that converged upon the mosque, leading into various parts of the town. But as the mosque was used during the mutiny as a fort, all the space in front of it has been cleared for military purposes, and the space between the mosque and the palace that was formerly densely peopled is now an open plain, where troops may maneuver and cannon may fire. Nothing is more important in the civilization of India by the English than that the cannon should have range. 

Twentieth Century

                          Ludlow Castle, Delhi, was demolished in the 1960s and in its place now stands the Government Model Senior Secondary School.

 The neighbourhood and transit stop in Delhi, however, continue to be known as "Ludlow Castle".

According to Manmohini Zutshi Sahgal, in 1916, the wedding party of Jawaharlal Nehru, later the first prime minister of independent India, stayed at Ludlow Castle (then the Delhi Club) during their Delhi sojourn.