'"Jessie's Dream" or the Relief of Lucknow', 1857

Music cover with music, lithograph, composed and arranged for the piano forte by John Blockley, 2 Argyll Sreet, Regent Street, London, 1857 (c).

Subtitled 'A Descriptive Fantasia', the music cover depicts the moment the 78th Highlanders arrived at the besieged Residency at Lucknow. It shows Jessie Brown, a corporal's wife, who had heard the bagpipes of the approaching force in her dream.

The image is a typical example of the Victorian romanticisation of the Indian Mutiny (1857-1859) as a savage native attack on defenceless British women. Many similar works were produced during and after the uprising which had generated unprecedented interest in Britain.