No! This is not a crime thriller a la Agatha Christie’s Murder on the Orient Express, of which the 2nd cinematic version was released recently. But this is as intriguing because the murdered was the Viceroy of India, Lord Mayo! It was a strange coincidence that while the British Empire was glorified as a vast one where the sun never set, the same sun was indirectly responsible for the death of its Viceroy.
It was fate that drew Richard Southwell Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo, also called Lord Naas, the 4th Viceroy of India (1869-1872), to Andaman Islands. He took special interest in the welfare of prisoners of the Penal Settlement there (revived after the 1857 Sepoy Rebellion) and wanted to inspect it. Rated as the kindest Viceroy of all, he was not an armchair officer; he is said to have travelled about 20,000 miles in British India just within his three-year stint as Viceroy,
from 1869 till his death in 1872, for on-the-spot inspections. No mean feat, considering the situation then. And this is exactly what led him to Andamans and to his death there. He had reports of anarchic conditions prevailing in the Penal Settlement there which gave Andamans the notorious name of ‘Kala Pani’ (Black Waters). It was overflowing after the 1857 First War of India’s Independence, ‘Sepoy Mutiny’ as the British chose to describe it, besides with life term criminal convicts.
So he set off on Royal Navy Ship (RNS) Glasgow. As if a premonition, during an onboard conversation about a recent murder of a Calcutta judge, Mayo observed, “I do not believe any precaution will prevail against a determined attempt to assassinate.” And assassinated he was by a determined Pathan despite precautions!
Accompanied by Lady Mayo, high ranking officials and all the paraphernalia of a Viceroy, Lord Mayo reached Andamans on 8th Feb. 1872 morning, to a 21 cannon fire salute – the first ever visit of a Viceroy to the Islands! Ross Island was then the administration headquarters of the Penal Settlement. On landing, he proceeded straight on a day-long inspection of factories, workshops, and barracks of prisoners. In the evening he was led to Mt. Harriet for a relaxed trip.
