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| Mayo is stabbed to death |
- Name - Richard Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo (1822-1872)
- Occupation - Viceroy of India
- Assassin - Sher Ali Afridi (c.1840-1873)
- Assassination Method - Stabbed
- Place of Death - Port Blair, Andaman Islands
This is intriguing because the murdered was the Viceroy of India, Lord Mayo! It was a strange coincidence that while the British Empire was glorified as a vast one where the sun never set, the same sun was indirectly responsible for the death of its Viceroy.
It was fate that drew Richard Southwell Bourke, 6th Earl of Mayo, also called Lord Naas, the 4th Viceroy of India (1869-1872), to Andaman Islands. He took special interest in the welfare of prisoners of the Penal Settlement there (revived after the 1857 Sepoy Rebellion) and wanted to inspect it. Rated as the kindest Viceroy of all, he was not an armchair officer; he is said to have travelled about 20,000 miles in British India just within his three-year stint as Viceroy, from 1869 till his death in 1872, for on-the-spot inspections. No mean feat, considering the situation then. And this is exactly what led him to Andamans and to his death there. He had reports of anarchic conditions prevailing in the Penal Settlement there which gave Andamans the notorious name of ‘Kala Pani’ (Black Waters). It was overflowing after the 1857 First War of India’s Independence, ‘Sepoy Mutiny’ as the British chose to describe it, besides with life term criminal convicts.
So he set off on Royal Navy Ship (RNS) Glasgow. As if a premonition, during an onboard conversation about a recent murder of a Calcutta judge, Mayo observed, “I do not believe any precaution will prevail against a determined attempt to assassinate.” And assassinated he was by a determined Pathan despite precautions!
Accompanied by Lady Mayo, high ranking officials and all the paraphernalia of a Viceroy, Lord Mayo reached Andamans on 8th Feb. 1872 morning, to a 21 cannon fire salute – the first ever visit of a Viceroy to the Islands! Ross Island was then the administration headquarters of the Penal Settlement. On landing, he proceeded straight on a day-long inspection of factories, workshops, and barracks of prisoners. In the evening he was led to Mt. Harriet for a relaxed trip.
Mt. Harriet (1,966 ft./365 meter), South Andaman Island’s highest point, lies just opposite Port Blair. The view from Mt. Harriet of the rising and setting sun and full moon is a breathtaking one. Famed as Islands of Marigold Sun, the view on that evening was as charming as ever. Or, did it appear bloody red? He was quite impressed by the ‘loveliest sights’, the last sunset he would be viewing. Unknowingly, death was shadowing Mayo up and down the peak.
The Last minutes: Flanked by officials and bodyguards, Mayo leisurely walked down to Hope Town jetty. Torchbearers lit the path ahead. A steam ferry was waiting there to take him to RNS Glasgow, from where just then they heard the bell ring 7 PM. As Mayo was to descend on the pier steps to board the boat, someone pounced on him from darkness, clung to his back and stabbed him with a knife. When Mr. Burne, his private secretary, looked back, he was horrified to see someone attacking the Viceroy’s back. Had he not prevented, the 12 security guards would have instantly killed the attacker. When the torches that had died out in the commotion were lit again, Viceroy was seen fallen down into the knee-deep sea waters near the pier. Helped by his secretary, he stood up wiping his face with his hanky; he reassured the team that though injured he was fine because he was not much hurt. Sir William Wilson Hunter, ICS, a member of the party, recalled that Mayo was lifted and laid on a crude cart nearby. But streaming blood was observed through his torn coat which others tried to control with their handkerchiefs. Though he tried his best to sit up, he fell back. Trying to get back again, he told, ‘hold my head up’, which were his last words. The attacker was bound, handcuffed and taken for investigation.
When doctors examined Mayo onboard Glasgow, it was too late. The two stabbings were so deep; the one below the right shoulder blade and to the side of the spine had pierced his liver. The other cut through his left shoulder and pierced a lung, both enough cause for instantaneous death. The attacker was a lanky person, not a strong man; yet, the well-built, six foot tall viceroy died almost immediately because of the forceful stabbings at vital points.
Mayo’s body was first brought to Calcutta; after obsequies was paid, it was shipped to Ireland immersed in spirits within a lead coffin and buried near his home at Palmers Town House medieval church in Johnstown, Kildare County. Mayo was born at Dublin, Republic of Ireland, on 21 February 1822. A grand 50th Golden birthday for Mayo was just 13 days ahead of that fateful night. As sketches of that period (courtesy internet) indicate, he was given a grand funeral, befitting a Viceroy.
Sher Ali Afridi (Khan), the murderer, belonged to the Tirah valley in Khyber Agency (now a Federally Administered Tribal Area) of Pakistan. A Pathan, he had served under Major Hugh James, Peshawar Commissioner, as a cavalry trooper, and then in the Punjab Mounted Police during the 1860s as a mounted orderly for Reynell Taylor, who awarded Sher Ali with a horse, pistol and certificate. Generally of good character, Sher Ali was popular among colonial officers; he had even taken care of Taylor’s children. Later, he joined the cavalry regiment in Ambala. During the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857 he was with the Indian army in Rohilkhand and Oudh.
A quirk of fate made him a first-time murderer and dragged him to Port Blair to commit his second murder. Two clans of his Pathan Tribe were having enmity for ages. Whoever had an opportunity would kill the rivals. One day Sher Ali noticed Hydur, his tarboor (cousin) near Company Bagh, Peshawar Cantonment, where his office was located. Without any thought Sher Ali killed him immediately. The broad daylight murder rewarded him a death sentence on 2 April 1867. On appeal, this was reduced by Judge Colonel Pollock to life imprisonment with deportation to Kala Pani or Andamans. He felt let down by his British officers whose goodwill, he hoped, would save him, or at least result in lenient punishment. When no help came, he decided to avenge this injustice.
Since arrival at the Penal Settlement of Andamans in 1869, Sher Ali Khan (Afridi) had behaved well. A very religious person, he prayed five times a day, fasted regularly and gave in charity his earnings and food to deserving co-prisoners. Obviously, these acts made him popular among the prisoners; even prison officers treated him with some decency. Hence his activities were not closely monitored. He was even appointed as a barber for prison labourers in 1871.
Investigation: The whole British Empire was shaken by the murder of its Viceroy. Government wondered if it was part of a big conspiracy against the empire. Adding to this suspicion was Muhammad Ja’far Thanesri, a leading figure of the Tehreek-e-Mujahideen, serving his sentence in Andaman. It was suspected that Maulvi Thanesri and other Mujahideens serving sentence there had brainwashed Sher Ali to murder Viceroy. In addition, some Wahhabi jihadi-inspired prisoners had also been deported there then; however, no link could be proved. Many experienced investigation officers, including Aishwari Prasad, notorious for implicating Mujahideen leaders in false cases, then Deputy Collector of Suraj Garh, were appointed to somehow link these Mujahideen leaders. Though nothing could be established, their prison sentence, however, was extended by ten years.
Sher Ali Afridi told the courts that he waited almost the whole day near the steamer ferry that would take the viceroy back to his lodging. As it was getting late in the evening, he wondered if Mayo would come down at all from the peak. So he went up and understood that Mayo would come back only after watching sunset. Assured, Sher Ali returned to the same spot and hid himself.
Investigations revealed that he killed Viceroy simply to take revenge for his deportation sentence which he considered an injustice, more severe than he deserved, and had resolved to kill a high-ranking colonial official. Confirming this in the court; he simply affirmed, “I killed him by the Order of Allah!” and ‘his partner in this act was only God, no man was his accomplice’. He readily posed for photographs. Despite this purely personal motive, there were attempts to raise Ali to the pedestal of a mujahid, martyr & freedom fighter, and to rename the jetty after him.
At the Gallows: After trial, Sher Ali was hanged to death on Viper Island (within Port Blair harbor area) on 11 March 1873 (or in 1872 itself, as the memorial at the murder spot indicates?). When he was brought to the gallows there was a look of satisfaction in his eyes. He kissed the rope and exclaimed, “When I made this intention [of killing the viceroy], I had already envisioned myself over here”. He addressed the Muslims gathered there, “Brothers, I killed your enemy. You be witness that I am a Muslim.” Reciting the Kalma Shahadah twice, he breathed his last.
During my Port Blair days, Mayo’s great granddaughter, Lady Egremont, visited the assassination spot on 21 March 1980. She was the first family member to visit the spot in the 108 years after the incident. She remarked, “My great grandfather came to Andamans only to help the prisoners who were being tortured and wanted to see whether a health centre has been established for them or not. But things went otherwise…!” she sighed.
A memorial for Mayo has been erected on 8th Feb. 2006 (on his 134th death anniversary) there by the General Council and Fraternity of Mayo College, Ajmer (Rajasthan), which he founded. A year after his murder in 1873, the swallowtail butterfly discovered in Andamans was named Papilio mayo.
Viceroy Mayo met an undeserved cruel death with a simple kitchen knife at ‘Hope’ Town Jetty in the remote Andamans! Life is indeed full of contrasts & surprises.
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| Earl of Mayo |
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