LUCKNOW RESIDENCY " Here lays the son of Empire who tried to do his duty"

Not every time  do I show  an interest in the history classes but when it comes to the wars of Independence I am struck by a wave of enthusiasm .Since when I was a child I was from the patriotic lot  , the one who is always interested in knowing about the country .It is a fact that in my early days I was strange enough to think that I will join the army and die for the nation because that was an act of valor , and that there was nothing greater than dying a martyr .Well , even today I do agree with that , but  for a girl of five to talk like that can be perfectly termed  as strange .As for the Residency ,  though it is in my own city and has nationwide recognition , yet was unknown to me until recent past .Now that is called being unaware !

                         The saga of the siege of 'The Residency' will go down in the history of India as a brave effort done by handful of Men, women and children to thaw the efforts of mutineers.

                        The Residency is actually a group of buildings that were built in 1800 A.D by Nawab Saadat Ali Khan, the Nawab of the then Oudh . It was constructed in order to serve as the residence for the British Resident General who was a representative in the court of Nawab. The year 1857 will always be mentioned in the chronicles of history because of its dramatic sequence of events. The year saw the Sepoy Mutiny, which is also sometimes referred as 'The First War of Indian Independence'. Lucknow also became one of the seats of that uprising. The Residency became one of the most talked about battlement during the siege of Lucknow. The mutineers laid the siege on The Residency in early June that year. Nearly all the Europeans who resided in the city of Awadh took shelter in Residency. It is said that as many as 3500 people sought shelter during the siege. The siege continued for more than 140 days. The residence of the palace held together during the continuous shelling that lasted for a month. The canon balls withered the walls of residency but the palace held miraculously. Sir Henry Lawrence who bore the responsibility 3500 human lives undertook the defense and counter initiative. The brave-heart fell on the last days of siege. The reinforcement force rescued the palace after 5 months.

                            The redbrick ruins , still holding the scars of the canons are now peaceful and have developed as a tourist spot .There is brooding silence of the ruins makes one expect  that the the ghosts of the dead to suddenly materialize and flit across the rooms. The cemetery at the nearby ruined church has the graves of 2000 men, women and children, including that of Sir Henry Lawrence who died defending the empire. There is a weathered epitaph near the grave of Sir Lawrence that reads " Here lays the son of Empire who tried to do his duty"