Place Name
The recapture of Cawnpore was a key episode in the Indian rebellion when a mutiny of sepoys, professional Indian infantryman, rose up against the East Indian Company. The Company’s besieged forces and civilians in the town were ill-prepared to hold out for an extended time and surrendered to the rebel forces, which were being led by Nana Sahib, in return for a safe passage to Allahabad. However during their evacuation most of the men were killed. Faced with a British-led rescue party the sepoys then killed some 120 women being held captive. Major-General Sir Henry Havelock, recaptured Cawnpore on July 16, 1857, winning national acclaim back home. It was originally called George Street, and like many of the roads in Norwood, began as a dirt track with very few houses built upon it but started to be developed in the 1840s. The Railway Bell pub was built 1864/1865 and Gipsy Hill Station nearby opened in 1856, which eventually began the residential development of the area in the 1880s. It was renamed to Cawnpore Street in the first half of 1913 to avoid confusion with the many other George Streets.
