The Post Office of India and Its StoryClarke, Geoffrey
History
The Post Office of India and Its Story
Clarke, Geoffrey
Postal service -- India
3. Exertions were made to establish communication between Cawnpore and
Meerut via Futtehgurh, Bareilly and Moradabad. Mails were forwarded
towards Bareilly, but none issued from or through that station. This
excited much uneasiness for some time, but was explained by the mutiny
of the troops there and at Shajehanpore on the 30th June. Bareilly was,
like Delhi, the scene of the political intrigue, and the suppression of
postal communication was there, as elsewhere, an object of the first
importance with the insurgents.
4. The post offices and mail lines in Oude, generally, became
disorganized about the same time as in Rohilcund, as the troops
mutinied almost simultaneously in both provinces.
5. While the Grand Trunk Road between Cawnpore and Agra was open,
arrangements were made to maintain communication between the Punjab and
Cis-Sutledge States with Agra via Kurnaul Hansie and Jeypore, but the
mutiny of the Hurrianah Battalion and a portion of the 4th Irregular
Cavalry at Hansie and Hissar in the end of May entirely stopped that
line.
6. An attempt was made to open communication with Agra and Meerut via
Muttra and by a line midway between Khoorjah and Secunderabad, but it
had to be abandoned owing to the rebel Wulleedad Khan and his followers
having obtained undisputed possessions of the district of Bulundshahur.
7. But, although Bulundshahur and a large portion of Allyghur were
occupied by the rebel Wulleedad Khan, a line of runners was established
between Meerut and Agra via Gurhmooktesur Ghat, the left bank of the
Ganges, Anoopshahur and Allyghur. Letters of light weight were managed
to be conveyed with tolerable safety by that route, notwithstanding
that large sums were offered for the murder of those caught in the act
of conveying English correspondence.
8. On or about the 5th June the troops at Allahabad, Cawnpore,
Futtehgurh, Hameerpore, Banda Jansie, Lullutpore and Saugor mutinied;
and, in consequence, all the post offices and mail lines in the
Doab and Bundlekund as low down as Mirzapore became disorganized.
Communication between Agra, the Cis-Sutledge States and Calcutta was
then fairly cut off and could not be re-established by the Grand Trunk
Road so long as Delhi remained in the possession of the mutineers. The
route via Multan to Bombay was, however, open and instructions were
given for the mails to and from the N.-W.P., Cis-Sutledge and Punjab
being forwarded via Lahore.
9. Between Agra and Bombay the mail was not interrupted till the mutiny
of the Gwalior Contingent on the 17th June, and since then up to 1st
February, 1858, or a period of seven months and thirteen days, the road
via Gwalior and Indore to Bombay was closed or not practicable and safe
for the mail.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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