The Manipur Uprising of 1891

An Imperial Crisis in British India: The Manipur Uprising of 1891 by Caroline Keen (I.B. Tauris, 2015) 214pp., £58, hard, ISBN 978-1-78453-103-4

In 1891 a major anti-British revolt erupted in the northeast Indian princely state of Manipur after a dangerously miscalculated attempt by the Government of India to assert its authority in the wake of a palace coup. Following the murder of a number of senior officers, a substantial British force descended upon the state to restore order and to bring the prime culprits to a questionable justice, generating widespread condemnation in England.  The Manipur incident showed the impossibility of the ‘one size fits all’ pattern for the Government of India in dealing with the Native States, that is, those not under direct Government of India rule. It was a classic British fudge of ignoring the man nearest to the situation, Frank Grimwood, and getting boxed into a corner from which there was no retreat. The Manipur Uprising and its aftermath showed the fragility of indirect rule in India and British underestimation of native loyalty to princely rule. Caroline Keen provides a compelling account of erratic imperial policy-making at the highest level using fresh archival research and contemporary reports.