ABSTRACT
Lucknow in the first half of last century, when it was the capital of the Kings of Oudh, has been described as Stamboul in lath and plaster. Ever since Lucknow became their capital in 1775, successive Nawabs of Oudh - who assumed the title of King in 1819 at the instigation of the British - vied with each other in adding to the confusion of gimcrack architectural fantasies. Nevertheless, there was one Lucknow Resident who regarded the house as unsuitable for doing the honours of Britain at what was then, for all its shortcomings, the most brilliant court in India. The Commissioner of Lucknow, John Sherbrooke Banks, succeeded Honoria Lawrence as Chief Commissioner, but was himself killed after little more than a fortnight. When Lawrence and his troops - who included 700 Indians - finally withdrew into the Residency on 30 June, there were nearly 5,000 souls within the cramped and exposed area of the compound.
