Bahadur Shah Zafar, Emperor of Delhi, 1859 (c)

Photograph by Robert Christopher Tytler (1818-1872).

This image depicts Bahadur Shah Zafar (1775-1862), the last Mughal Emperor of India, contemptuously dubbed the 'King or Emperor of Delhi' by the British. It shows him in captivity in Delhi awaiting trial in the aftermath of the Indian Mutiny (1857-1859). It was common practice for Europeans to visit the ex-emperor in captivity. One of these, William Hodson's wife, describes seeing him as he is portrayed in this photograph, reclining on a bamboo charpoy, and smoking a hookah. Although there were calls for his execution, a promise had been made on his surrender that his life would be spared, and he was afterwards sentenced to exile in Burma. His sons suffered a worse fate; after they had surrendered the British killed most of them.

One of four photographs collected by Colonel K J W Coghill CB.