Nicholson Monument

[fatman17]

A Greek-styled building on GT Road opposite to Nicholson’s monument. It was also built in memory of John Nicholson.


The not so-frequently-visited Nicholson’s monument

Shiraz Hassan



Around 40km from Islamabad on the Rawalpindi-Peshawar section of G.T. Road near Margalla Pass, there stands a monument built in memory of a British army commander.

Brigadier-General John Nicholson (1822-57) was considered as one of the finest officers of the Victorian era. Built in 1868, the approximately 40 feet tower, Nicholson’s Obelisk, is located on top of a hill and can be seen from a distance. It is considered as one of the most important landmarks of the colonial period in the region. John Nicholson was born on December 11, 1822, in Lisburn, Northern Ireland.

During his services for the British East India Army, he distinguished himself in four wars. He participated in his first combat action in the first Afghan War (1839-42). During the First Anglo-Sikh War (1845-46), he was wounded in an attack on the Margalla Pass, where the Obelisk in his memory now stands.

After the Second Anglo-Sikh War (1848-49), Nicholson was appointed the deputy commissioner of Bannu. Nicholson was also known as “Hero of Delhi” for his role and planning during what the British called Indian mutiny of 1857.

Leading the assault on Delhi, he was critically injured and died nine days later on September 23, 1857, at the age of 34, and was buried in Delhi. The interesting fact about the monument is that it is located next to the old G.T. Road. It is said that Alexander the Great also passed through the same route. A staircase leads towards the monument at the top.

There is a door in the monument, more than 10 feet high from the base of the tower, which is apparently kept locked. The area around the monument shows that this place is not frequently visited by tourists.

John Nicholson is mentioned in several literary works, including Rudyard Kipling’s novel ‘Kim’ in which a native veteran of the Great Uprising of 1857 sings a “song of Nikal Seyn before Delhi”.

A signboard near the old GT Road mentioning the ancient route of the road.

A room was built at the base of Nicholson’s monument which is more than 10 feet high. Iron stairs have been placed there to reach the door which is mostly locked.

A motorcyclist passes through the old GT Road. This road was the original GT Road, and is now preserved as a heritage place.

A view of the 40 feet tall monument. / The plaque inside the room at Nicholson’s monument reads as “This column is erected by friends, British and Nativ to the memory of Brigadier General Jogn Nicholson, taking a hero’s part in four great wars for the defence of British India. Cabul 1840, First Siekh War 1845, Second Seikh War 1848, Sepoy Mutiny 1857”. — Photos by the writer
Published in Dawn, November 16th , 2014

 

[fatman17]

A signboard near the old GT Road mentioning the ancient route of the road

Source: Nicholson Monument

 

[fatman17]

A room was built at the base of Nicholson’s monument which is more than 10 feet high. Iron stairs have been placed there to reach the door which is mostly locked

Source: Nicholson Monument

 

[fatman17]

A motorcyclist passes through the old GT Road. This road was the original GT Road, and is now preserved as a heritage place.



Source: Nicholson Monument

 

[fatman17]

A view of the 40 feet tall monument. / The plaque inside the room at Nicholson’s monument reads as “This column is erected by friends, British and Nativ to the memory of Brigadier General Jogn Nicholson, taking a hero’s part in four great wars for the defence of British India. Cabul 1840, First Siekh War 1845, Second Seikh War 1848, Sepoy Mutiny 1857”.

Source: Nicholson Monument

 

[HeadHunter]

Read it few minutes ago on a dawn sunday newspaper

 

[Capt.Popeye]

@fatman17; Brig.John Nicholson (1821-1857) was the man who really turned the tide for the British at Delhi in 1857. He headed what was then called the "Moveable Column" (formed in Jhelum) who moved from Peshawar into Delhi after a series of forced marches that moved so rapidly while other British reinforcements were being raised in Meerut but could not move more lack of transport. The Moveable Column was composed largely of irregular troops.

John Nicholson was born a Protestant in Ulster, Ireland. A man of very few words he could be extremely decisive, violent and bloodthirsty in action. As a District Commissioner in Rawalpindi; he had personally decapitated a local robber chieftain and then kept the head on his desk as a memento. The he reported the incident to his boss Sir John Lawrence, Chief Commissioner of Punjab in Lahore in the following words:
"Sir,
I have the honour to inform you that I have just shot a man who came to kill me.
Your Obedient Servant,
John Nicholson"

He hated India wit a passion- he said "I dislike India and its inhabitants more every day" just as he regarded Afghans as even worse saying "(they are) the most vicious and blood-thirsty race in existence". All this was probably conditioned by the fact that in India; he had been captured and imprisoned once. Then after his release, he had found his younger brother's dead body with his genitalia cut off and stuffed in his mouth. Leading to his feelings about Afghans and Indians and Muslims of any nationality.
It is said of him: 'Only his wish to spread the Christian Empire of the British in this heathen wilderness kept him in the East. Indeed his survival amidst the carnage of the Afghan War left him with a near-messianic sense of destiny; if the God of Hosts had saved him when so many other Christian Soldiers had been killed, it must have been for some higher purpose of Providence.'

In contrast his boss Sir John Lawrence was a catholically stickler for norms and procedures. In fact Lawrence had insisted that the Mutineers should be tried by Courts-Martial after the Mutiny was quelled and asked for 'a return of Courts-Martial, held upon insurgent natives, with a list of punishments inflicted'.
Nicholson just sent back the dispatch; writing on the back: 'THE PUNISHMENT FOR MUTINY IS DEATH'.
His Courts-Martial simply consisted of stringing up whoever he could find on the nearest gallows, however makeshift; like the branches of the nearest tree.

About "Nikal Seyn", his stature was so awe inspiring that it even inspired a religious sect of that name, some believing that he was some Pir Baba, while others thinking that he was an incarnation of Vishnu, while the name Nikal Seyn itself is thought to be connected to the Urdu expression of "Nikal Seyna-- let the army come out". Of course it also rhymes well with his name.
It seems that Nicholson barely tolerated those believers, since he knew about the existence of the sect. However its also said; 'if they prostrated themselves before him or began chanting his name; they were taken away and whipped (three dozen lashes with the cat-o'-nine-tails).'

His physical description runs thus: 'a commanding presence, some six feet two inches in height, with a long black beard, dark grey eyes with black pupils which under excitement would dilate like a tiger's (eyes)'.

Quintessentially, John Nicholson has been described as "a great Imperial Psychopath."

 

[fatman17]

@fatman17; Brig.John Nicholson (1821-1857) was the man who really turned the tide for the British at Delhi in 1857. He headed what was then called the "Moveable Column" (formed in Jhelum) who moved from Peshawar into Delhi after a series of forced marches that moved so rapidly while other British reinforcements were being raised in Meerut but could not move more lack of transport. The Moveable Column was composed largely of irregular troops.

John Nicholson was born a Protestant in Ulster, Ireland. A man of very few words he could be extremely decisive, violent and bloodthirsty in action. As a District Commissioner in Rawalpindi; he had personally decapitated a local robber chieftain and then kept the head on his desk as a memento. The he reported the incident to his boss Sir John Lawrence, Chief Commissioner of Punjab in Lahore in the following words:
"Sir,
I have the honour to inform you that I have just shot a man who came to kill me.
Your Obedient Servant,
John Nicholson"

He hated India wit a passion- he said "I dislike India and its inhabitants more every day" just as he regarded Afghans as even worse saying "(they are) the most vicious and blood-thirsty race in existence". All this was probably conditioned by the fact that in India; he had been captured and imprisoned once. Then after his release, he had found his younger brother's dead body with his genitalia cut off and stuffed in his mouth. Leading to his feelings about Afghans and Indians and Muslims of any nationality.
It is said of him: 'Only his wish to spread the Christian Empire of the British in this heathen wilderness kept him in the East. Indeed his survival amidst the carnage of the Afghan War left him with a near-messianic sense of destiny; if the God of Hosts had saved him when so many other Christian Soldiers had been killed, it must have been for some higher purpose of Providence.'

In contrast his boss Sir John Lawrence was a catholically stickler for norms and procedures. In fact Lawrence had insisted that the Mutineers should be tried by Courts-Martial after the Mutiny was quelled and asked for 'a return of Courts-Martial, held upon insurgent natives, with a list of punishments inflicted'.
Nicholson just sent back the dispatch; writing on the back: 'THE PUNISHMENT FOR MUTINY IS DEATH'.
His Courts-Martial simply consisted of stringing up whoever he could find on the nearest gallows, however makeshift; like the branches of the nearest tree.

About "Nikal Seyn", his stature was so awe inspiring that it even inspired a religious sect of that name, some believing that he was some Pir Baba, while others thinking that he was an incarnation of Vishnu, while the name Nikal Seyn itself is thought to be connected to the Urdu expression of "Nikal Seyna-- let the army come out". Of course it also rhymes well with his name.
It seems that Nicholson barely tolerated those believers, since he knew about the existence of the sect. However its also said; 'if they prostrated themselves before him or began chanting his name; they were taken away and whipped (three dozen lashes with the cat-o'-nine-tails).'

His physical description runs thus: 'a commanding presence, some six feet two inches in height, with a long black beard, dark grey eyes with black pupils which under excitement would dilate like a tiger's (eyes)'.

Quintessentially, John Nicholson has been described as "a great Imperial Psychopath."

its part of our history. we cannot ignore it away. we need to learn lessons that such behaviour dosnt repeat itself. i'm not a fan of his because i posted this bit of history which is present in PK today.

 

[scorpionx]

I read about Nicholson first in Return of a King and then in the last Mughal. He lost his brother in Afghanistan, whose barbarous murder virtually made him a lunatic about Indians. His unprecedented psychopathic treatment of innocent Muslims was hitherto unknown in Indian history. He might be considered to be incarnation of Lord Vishnu by some of his admirers, but personally for me he was no more than a taciturn,mentally unstable murderer.

 

[Capt.Popeye]

its part of our history. we cannot ignore it away. we need to learn lessons that such behaviour dosnt repeat itself. i'm not a fan of his because i posted this bit of history which is present in PK today.

We don't have to be a fan of anyone @fatman17 sahab; we just have to be honest enough to accept history as it is. That description that I wrote up above is largely from English sources
Just as Nicholson was the outstanding Military General in 1857, hence he prevailed... though he died while leading from the front while leading the attack to re-take Delhi.

 

[Samandri]

Good to hear that we Afghans traumatized john nicolson.

 

[Sam_Bajwa]

Nice article thanks for posting sir