The Kanpur Memorial Well, formerly known as the Cawnpore Memorial and the Bibighar Memorial, is a monument located within the grounds of the Memorial Church within the military cantonment of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. It was completed in 1863 in remembrance of the British women and children who were buried in the Kanpur well following the Siege of Cawnpore during the Indian Rebellion of 1857. After British forces regained control of the city, a simple monument was first built over the well connected to the killings. In 1860 a more complex monument was commissioned to produce the structure made up of an angel sculptured by Carlo Marochetti, and an eight sided stone screen with Gothic arches designed by Henry Yule. The surrounding ground was transformed into the Cawnpore Memorial Garden. After India's independence, the memorial was moved away from the site of the well to the Memorial Church in Kanpur, where it exists in a rearranged form, and the garden was renamed Nana Rao Park. A sandstone circle remains at the garden well site, looked over by a statue of Tatya Tope.
Background In the aftermath of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the British Empire commemorated its military losses through a range of measures, including the construction of memorials. On 15 July 1857, after the Siege of Cawnpore during the Indian Rebellion, over 125 British women and children were detained in a house known as Bibi Ghar, at the order of Nana Saheb. They were subsequently killed and thrown into the adjacent well. Upon discovery of the well by General Havelock's forces, it was decided by them to leave the bodies there and cover them with soil, before boarding it over and then fencing it off.
Site The Kanpur Memorial Well Monument is located within the grounds of the Memorial Church within the military cantonment of Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh, India.
Architecture The entire monument, consisting of an angel, cross, stone screen, stepped platform, and accompanying tombs are surrounded by an ornamental railing and are aligned with the church and designed to appear as an outdoor extension of the church building. The memorial is surrounded by a decorative fence and accessed through the original gateway, which carries a biblical inscription on one side and a reference to the British Government’s patronage on the other.
Planning The idea and design of an angel statue came from Charlotte Canning, who visioned an "angel of the resurrection". Following Lady Canning's death in 1860, her husband Charles Canning took on the project of arranging the memorial and commissioned it to the sculpture Carlo Marochetti, who executed Canning's wish and proposed a marble angel, though holding two palm branches rather than Canning's one. Henry Yule was recruited to design the stone screen and surround of the well. These were completed by Indian stone-cutters from Allahabad.
Angel The marble angel stands leaning against a cross, with its wings drooping behind it and its arms crossed over its chest, holding two palm branches. It faces down to the right and is erected on a platform of steps. The cross stands above a plaque referring to "those who fell in 1857".
Stone screen and platform The stone screen serves as a backdrop to the angel figure, which stands on a stepped pedestal. The steps extend outwards to meet the screen at both ends, forming a shallow, stage-like composition. The enclosure also contains the gravestones, crosses, and other memorials that were relocated from the two cemeteries beside the Well Monument.
History
Efforts to commemorate the British lives lost in the Bibighar massacre began shortly after the British recapture of Kanpur in 1857. Proposals for a permanent memorial were put forward in September of that year, and on 21 November soldiers of the 32nd Regiment erected a simple wooden cross near the well where the body remains had been discovered. In December 1857, John Walter Sherer, magistrate of Kanpur, suggested that a chapel be constructed on the site as a lasting tribute to the dead. Sketches prepared by Henry Yule, a friend of the Cannings, in 1857 reveal several early design concepts, including a raised enclosure around the well, a central cross, kneeling angelic figures, and a variety of canopy structures. Early discussions on the topic involved Edward Clive Bayley, whose wife Emily Bayley later recalled that her friend Lady Canning was of the opinion that "hope of the Resurrection is the only thought [that] can calm the sorrow or give any comfort" to those affected by the massacre, and therefore her design took the form of "the angel of the resurrection". Other proposed plans included "the figure of a woman leaning against a cross pierced by a sword, with bodies of dead children at her feet", and one of a statue of a "Britannia figure". In 1860, Lord Canning disclosed the final plan. By 1861 the garden was taking shape, and the assembly of Yule's stone screen and plinth had begun under the supervision of Commissioner of Allahabad, C. B. Thornhill, who lost several family members during the rebellion. The Cannings funded the statue of the angel, whilst the revenue for the garden and Well was raised by charging Kanpur's residents. The memorial received its consecration by the Bishop of Calcutta, George Cotton, on 11 February 1863, in the presence of Lord Elgin.
Description The Memorial Well stood behind two tombs that were constructed for the memory of the women and children of the 1st Company, 6th Battery, Bengal Artillary and the 32nd Regiment. These tombs were enclosed within a small cemetery.
Garden
When originally constructed, the Well monument, angel, and cemetery were all enclosed within a 30 acre landscaped garden, and guarded by a British soldier. A sign at the front gate quoted "no dogs allowed on the ground". Straight paths on every side led to the garden centre where the memorial stood. The complete garden was enclosed by iron railings, and the memorial was hidden from view from adjoing roads. Indians were not allowed inside the screened enclosure.
Memorial entrance
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