Thread by @cbkwgl

@ArmchairPseph Looking at some details...
Obituary of Motilal Nehru in The Allahabad And Cawnpore Civil And Military.
Profession not given

@ArmchairPseph Jawaharlal Nehru, the man and his message; a critical and a biographical sketch - Al Kafir 1919
Kotwal of Delhi. When and all that, no information.

@ArmchairPseph Collected Works of Motilal Nehru. Kotwal of Delhi when the rebellion erupted.

@ArmchairPseph But we know the Kotwal was Qazi Faizullah. This is a letter from C-in-C British forces to Qazi Fazlullah Khan dated 23 May 1857 which clearly mentions him as Kotwal. We can safely assume he is the Kotwal when rebellion reached Delhi some 10 days before.

@ArmchairPseph And if Gangadhar Nehru was the Kotwal in the preceding 10 days and ran away, that would have been a bigger news - clearly, there is no news of change in guard in the first 10 or 20 days before the king involved himself...

https://twitter.com/ArmchairPseph/status/1067086550725521410

@ArmchairPseph And coming to the mother tome, My Autobiography by Nehru.
He says his grand father was a Kotwal of Delhi before rebellion, not during. What's the possibility of a EIC Vakil's son becoming the Kotwal? And the small retinue they had in Delhi, weren't they identified?

@ArmchairPseph The escape clause. Papers destroyed.

@ArmchairPseph And another. Is there any precedence such, where a Hindu dresses in Muslim court attire, of a high ranking noble?

@ArmchairPseph Again, no one remembers or notices the Kotwal's son and a Vakil's grandson in British legal system and in Jaipur court.

@ArmchairPseph The 1857 Rebellion in Delhi
12 May 1857 Mirza Moinuddin Hasan Khan appointed to control the rioting since Hasan Ali Khan refused the post. No talk of the older Kotwal. Also to note is the fact that the old king himself led a flag march earlier that day.

@ArmchairPseph Made the Kotwal the next day. So, an interregnum.

@ArmchairPseph His subordinates.

@ArmchairPseph Sacked on 15th and replaced by Qazi Faizullah.

@ArmchairPseph Synopsizing,
1. Rebellion started in Delhi on 11th. No information of Kotwal running away.
2. The king was in direct charge on 12th.
3. Mirza Moinuddin appointed Kotwal on 13th.
4. He was replaced by his deputy Qazi Faizullah on 15th.

@ArmchairPseph A few observations.
1. If a Kotwal ran away before the rebels struck, he will go to the British. What's the need for him to run all his life?
2. There is no talk of a Kotwal decamping.
3. We know for sure Faizullah was arrested(he gave a statement in August 1857).

@ArmchairPseph Now, trying to make some sense with this information, using a rabble rouser "Nehru Becomes Gandhi". I won't believe everything in it is true, but am presenting some facts.
There is no Gangadhar in the records.

@ArmchairPseph And if he is a Kashmiri Pandit, why did he escape to Agra and not into Kashmir?

@ArmchairPseph And this presents another facet of the information.
Kotwal, fine. But Kotwal to whom or Kotwal where?

@ArmchairPseph 1. If he is a Kotwal of Delhi during the rebellion, Gangadhar Nehru is one of the three - Qazi Faizullah, Moinuddin Hasan Khan and Syed Mubarak Shah.
Mubarak Shah is captured as his memoirs are there in London and are translated.
If so, is he one of the two, then?

@ArmchairPseph Muinuddin is also accounted.

@ArmchairPseph So, either Gangadhar is Qazi Faizullah(unless he is also accounted for) or not at all a Kotwal of Delhi. If he is a Kotwal before rebellion and if his record is clean, he simply need to go to the British for help.

@ArmchairPseph After all, if he is a Kotwal, his contacts would have helped them. And if he is not innocent, there would have been a hunt for him - which is not the case as his sons became much bigger in life. So, who is he, then?

@ArmchairPseph Been thinking. Yesterday, I went through the memoirs of Muinuddin. There are many observable things, comparing with Gangadhar Nehru.
1. Both their properties are looted and houses burnt.
2. Muinuddin was separated from his family and moved to Bombay. Nothing is known of Gangadhar

@ArmchairPseph Nehru between 1857 and 1861.
3. Muinuddin surfaced sometime before 1877, but not before 1864. Gangadhar Nehru died in1861.
4. His brother was sent to Delhi to check what's happening in Delhi, not before 1861.
That besides, there are hints that Muinuddin was

@ArmchairPseph removed because he is a British spy. All this can infer to the fact that Muinuddin's brother settled his brother's family affairs, gave them a solid footing in life and disappeared again. Or may be, they found some sympathizers and climbed up the ladder and his brother was

@ArmchairPseph not able to locate them. When they moved from Khetri to Allahabad, it was game over - there is no way Muinuddin was able to meet his family.
Two open questions.
1. What happened to Muinuddin's family?
2. What happened to Qazi Faizullah?

@threadreaderapp unroll please