Vans Agnew Monument Explained
Vans Agnew Monument is a monument in Multan, Punjab, Pakistan.[1]
History
The mounment was commissioned by the British East India Company. It commemorates murder of Patrick Alexander Vans Agnew (1822-1848) and Lieutenant William A. Anderson of the 1st. Bombay Fusilier Regiment by followers of Dewan Mulraj, the Diwan of Multan. This instigated the Second Anglo-Sikh War, which culminated in the British East India Company's conquest and annexation of the Punjab.[2]
The monument stands over the final resting place of Vans Agnew, a member of the Bengal civil service, and Lieutenant Anderson of the 1st Bombay Fusilier Regiment.[2] The pair were dispatched, as Assistants to the Resident at Lahore Sir Henry Lawrence, to relieve Dewan Moolraj, Viceroy of Multan, of his fortress and duties at his behest.[2] However, they were assaulted and injured by the garrison on April 19, 1848, and subsequently abandoned by their Sikh escort.[2] On the following day, they were brutally murdered at the Eedgah, under the walls of Multan.[2] [3]
Notes and References
- Web site: The famous Four – Part II. Muhammad Hassan. Miraj. November 11, 2013. DAWN.COM.
- Web site: Vans Agnew Monument, Multan, Pakistan. Asian Architecture.
- Book: Anderson . G. . Sudebar . M. . The Expansion of British India (1818-1858) . 1918 . G. Bell & Sons, Ltd. . 71 . 8 June 2024 . Inscription on Monument in Multan: Beneath this Monument lie the remains of PATRICK ALEXANDER VANS AGNEW, of the Bengal Civil Service and WILLIAM ANDERSON, Lieutenant, 1st Bombay Fusilier Regiment, Assistants to the Resident at Lahore, who, being deputed by the Governor to relieve, at his own request, Diwan Mulraj, Viceroy of Multan, of the fortress and authority which he held, were attacked and wounded by the garrison, on April 19, 1848; and being treacherously deserted by the Sikh escort, were, on the following day, in flagrant breach of national faith and hospitality, barbarously murdered in the Eedgah, under the walls of Multan. Thus fell these two young public servants at the ages of 25 and 28 years, full of high hopes, rare talents, and promise of future usefulness, even in their deaths doing their country honour. Wounded and forsaken, they could offer no resistance but hand in hand calmly awaited the onset of their assailants. Nobly they refused to yield, foretelling the day when thousands of Englishmen should come to avenge their death, and destroy Mulraj, his army and fortress. History records how the prediction was fulfilled. Borne to the grave by their victorious brother soldiers and countrymen, they were buried with military honours, here, on the summit of the captured citadel, on the 26th of January, 1849. The annexation of the Punjab to the British Empire was the result of the war, of which their assassination was the commencement..
