Frederick Henry Cooper

Frederick Henry Cooper (1827–1869) was a civilian official of the East India Company, who served as Deputy Commissioner of Amritsar, Punjab during the Indian rebellion of 1857. Along with James Neill, John Nicholson and William Hodson, he is noted for his ruthlessness and indiscriminate killings of Indian rebels and civilians during the 1857 uprising. His killing of about 500 sepoys of the 26th Native Infantry and civilians at Ajnala were gleefully described in his memoirs.[1] After throwing 257 sepoy bodies into a well, he remarks:

"There is a well at Kanpur, but there is also one at Ajnala."

— Frederick Cooper

This well is known as Shaheedan Wala Khu (martyrs' well)[2] at Ajnala in district Amritsar.

His acts were condemned by the Liberal MP and Quaker Charles Gilpin in the British parliament on 14 March 1859:
"as an Englishman he felt himself called upon to blush for the shame which had been brought upon the character of his country."[3]

References

  1. ↑ Frederick Cooper (1858). The crisis in the Punjab, from the 10th of May until the fall of Delhi. Smith, Elder,.
  2. ↑ http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Skulls-of-282-killed-in-1857-war-found-in-well/articleshow/31305039.cms
  3. ↑ Commons debates 14 March 1859


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