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Today we're going all the way back to 1891, and almost to the ends of the earth,
to the Princely state of Manipur, part of the British Raj. We're going to talk about
one of the smallest and least understood of the conflicts of the British Victorian era,
and meet an unlikely heroine who deserves to be remembered.
In 1858, following the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the rulership of India was passed from
the British East India Company directly to the British Crown. This was called the British Raj,
or the British rule. The Raj was administered two different ways, parts of India were directly
administered by the United Kingdom and those were called British India. But there were also
several small states that were nominally under the control of indigenous rulers under the
Paramountcy of Great Britain, and those were called the Princely States. The two together
were called the Indian Empire and they were under the rule of Her Majesty Queen Victoria,
who in 1876, added to her numerous titles, the title Empress of India.
Our story takes place in one of the Princely States, the tiny state of Manipur on the far
east side of India. To the west is the province of Assam, part of British India, and to the east
is Burma. at this time also part of the British Empire. Now these princely states are under the
suzerainty of the British crown, and what that means is that while they have local rulers,
the British Crown controls their foreign policy, and their relationship with the rest of India.
But in practice, Britain quite often intervened in their domestic affairs, especially if they thought
it impacted the Empire. And you can imagine what the local rulers thought of that relationship.
Manipur had been a British protectorate since 1824, when the British had helped
them resist invasions from nearby Burma. It was generally a good relationship,
Manipur had provided troops to the British in the several expeditions to pacify Burma,
that eventually made it part of the Empire. Manipur was about twenty-two
thousand square kilometers, had about 467 villages including the capital of Imphal,
a population of about a quarter million, and in 1890 was ruled by the Maharaja Shurachandra.
Every princely state had a local political officer who represented the interests of the
crown. As this was the local representative of the Empire they were usually called the
Resident and the place they stayed was called the Residency, and in 1890 the Resident for the
better part of the last three years in Manipur was this man Frank Sinclair Grimwood, who was by all
accounts a dedicated and talented public servant. Grimwood lived in the residency with his wife,
the young and pretty Ethel st. Clair Grimwood. Life could not have been easy for an English
woman living in Manipur, she was literally the only European woman in the entire country,
and she did describe it as being somewhat monotonous. But she seemed to make the best of
it working to improve the residences gardens and enjoying the local exotic pets. She had monkeys,
she had otters and even a bear that at one point became so troublesome that it had to
be released into the jungle. Both Grimwood sought to learn the Manipur language,
they had a strong and friendly relationship with the Maharaja and the Royal Family and
they both seemed to enjoy a legitimate affection for the country and its people.
“Manipur was a pretty place, more beautiful than many of the show places of the world. Beautiful
and it's habitable parts but more beautiful in those tracks covered with forest jungle,
where the foot of man seldom treads.” Ethel st. Clare Grimwood 1891.
Trouble came in 1890, when fights among the royal family led to an open coup. The Maharaja
Shurachandra abdicated his throne and fled the country. This shouldn't have been a problem for
Great Britain, it was an internal affair of the Manipurties and Frank Grimwood wasn't worried,
he had a good relationship with all of the Royals including the new Maharajah. But politics is
rarely simple. The old Maharaja appealed to the Viceroy of India, trying to get his throne back.
And the Grimwood's knew there would be trouble when they got news that JW Quinton, Frank's boss
and the High Commissioner of India was headed to Manipur and bringing with him 400 soldiers.
The Viceroy's decision sounded strange, as the old Maharaja had abdicated England decided
that it would not support returning him to the throne, they would support the new Maharaja. But
they decided they had to do something, and so the Viceroy decided that they would bring troops and
arrest one of the other princes who was thought to be the leader of the rebellion. Now England
might have been thinking they were supporting stability but in the eyes of the Manipuri, this
was England stepping on their internal affairs and trying to take control of their country,
and they did not take kindly to the idea of troops showing up to arrest the new crown
prince of the realm. Events escalated quickly, the attempt to arrest the Prince turned into a
fight and in all the shooting several Manipuri civilians were killed. Then the British were
in trouble because they were greatly outnumbered and soon the Residency came under fire by cannon,
which ironically had been given to the Manipuri by the British years earlier. Quinton figured out
that his position was untenable and so he sent a note to the Maharaja asking for a counsel of
peace and so Quinton, along with Frank Grimwood and the commander of the British troops Lieutenant
Colonel Charles Skeen and two other officers went to the palace to talk to the Maharaja.
When the officers hadn't returned from the palace after several hours it became clear to Ethel
Grimwood that something must have gone wrong. And then when the Residency again came under attack,
it was clear that there was not going to be a peace and that the surviving soldiers were
going to have to try to escape to British India. But with the senior officers missing the regiment
was in disarray, and it seems that the person who rose to the occasion, was Ethel Grimwood.
Understand that Ethel Grimwood is just 24 years old, she's hardly eaten or slept in two days,
she spent the last day in her own basement trying to help the surgeon treat wounded soldiers,
something that would be horrifying for someone with no nurses training. Her husband is missing,
and she's being asked to leave her only home with all of her worldly possessions in it while under
artillery fire there wasn't even time to prepare, and yet she was the only person there who had any
knowledge the local geography, the local language or had any hope of leading these 400 soldiers to
safety. They had little food, could find very little clean water, she hadn't had time to grab
boots so her house shoes fell apart and she spent most of the trip barefoot. Because they are being
pursued by the Manipuri army they had to avoid the roads and in the trackless jungle they would have
been lost were it not for her knowledge of the local landmarks. But two days later the little
group managed to make it to another regiment and safety. Only later did they find out a horrible
truth: the five officers who had gone to the palace, whom they assumed had been arrested,
had actually been executed. And after her heroic journey now Ethel Grimwood was a widow.
Even while in mourning Ethel was celebrated throughout the Empire. She travelled to London
where Queen Victoria awarded her a medal, the Royal Red Cross. Newspapers heralded
her the heroine of Manipur, the very symbol of grace and courage under fire.
“And though it is not our vocation in life to be soldiers and to fight for our country
yet when occasion offers. I have little doubt that the women of England have that in them,
which would enable them to come out of any dilemma as
nobly and honorably as the men.” Ethel St. Claire Grimwood, 1891
In the end it was another sad story of empire. Quinton's miscalculation had painted both he
and the Maharaja into a corner with fatal consequences for Quentin, but it didn't
exactly work out for Manipur. In response, England raised a huge army, conquered Manipur,
killed or arrested the entire royal family and placed a five-year-old boy on the throne, in
what is still described in England as a mutiny and in India as a fight for freedom. But around that
sad story, the courage of one person stands out, Ethel St Claire Grimwood, the heroine of manipur
I'm the History Guy. I hope you enjoyed this edition of my series, five minutes of history,
short snippets of forgotten history five to ten minutes long. If you enjoyed this five
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