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Know Your City | Bengaluru in the 1870s, through the eyes of a man who once ruled it

According to Sir Lewin Bentham Bowring, Bengaluru had in 1869 a population of 1,32,000, including 79,000 in the cantonment area, with only 3,900 Europeans and Englishmen and 2,500 ‘Eurasians’.

Old Bengaluru, Sir Mark Cubbon, Sir Lewin Bentham Bowring,

Sir Lewin Bentham Bowring. (Photo: Wikipedia)

4 min readBengaluruJan 13, 2026 08:16 PM IST First published on: Jan 13, 2026 at 08:13 PM IST

The 1860s and 70s were pivotal in the development of Old Bengaluru into the city that it would become in the modern day. The early 1800s bore the brunt of chaos in the years after the war with Tipu Sultan, leaving it to Sir Mark Cubbon to take over the state of Mysore as the third commissioner in 1834 in order to restore governance. He was succeeded by Sir Lewin Bentham Bowring, who built on the newly stabilised base created by Cubbon in the form of infrastructural projects and education initiatives (and lent his name to the future Bowring Institute).

Bowring is also a remarkable source of information on the Bengaluru of the 1860s and 70s, at least from the perspective of an upper-class British resident of the time—via his memoirs, Eastern Experiences, which also includes a selection of letters from his wife. While the book (penned in 1871) deals with a cross-section of his experiences in the country as far afield as Punjab, his years in Bengaluru seem to have made a strong impression on him.

His writings provide insight into the initial increase in the city’s population, after the British forces were moved here from Srirangapatnam (which had proved a poor choice of barracks, with the soldiers frequently being affected by fever). Traders and merchants soon followed, alongside the civil administration apparatus of the British Raj. Trade and movement rose again in 1864 with the advent of railway links. At this point, Bowring records that as of 1869, the city housed 1,32,000 people, of which 79,000 lived in the newly built cantonment area. Only 3,900 were Europeans and Englishmen, including the soldiers posted in the city, along with 2,500 “Eurasians” (presumably members of the Anglo-Indian community).

Absence of diseases and temperate climate

Of the praise he accords to the city, Bowring records an absence of diseases at the time, and a climate that allowed soldiers to play cricket at the parade ground eight months out of the year. As is common to many British accounts of the time, he takes particular note of the fact that the city allowed the cultivation of fruits and vegetables valued by the European community. The Government Museum and Lalbagh were also topics that he took note of more than once, writing, “The garden is a beautiful retreat, and is frequented by all classes, the natives being attracted to it mainly by the menagerie attached to it.”

Bowring also anticipated complications from the split sovereignty of the cantonment and walled pete (the latter being under the sovereignty of the Maharaja), which would in the end never be resolved before Independence. The solution he had in mind was for the British to take full control of the area surrounding Bengaluru, while in exchange, the sovereignty of Srirangapatnam could be handed over to the princely state. Although Srirangapatnaman could not compare with the revenues of Bangalore, Bowring was of the opinion that the intangible values of the island fortress, such as its historical significance for the ruling dynasty, would balance this factor. In any case, this proposed exchange never came to be.

He also provides an account of some of the trade in the walled town, which he was not particularly impressed by, ” …nor is Bangalore remarkable for any manufactures, except carpets of rare quality, rugs, and articles of mixed silk and cotton. Nevertheless, some of the leading merchants are men of substance, and bear the honourable appellation of Shetti, which entitles them to wear a gold signet-ring, to be accompanied in processions by smaller city functionaries, and to immunity from certain taxation.”

Katharine Bowring, in a section devoted to her letters, also records the death of the Maharaja and the tribute paid to his heir on the parade ground. While the Wodeyars did not regain full rule over Mysore until their powers were restored in 1881, the king’s station still had to be respected. Two thousand soldiers assembled on the ground (which gave today’s MG Road its old name of South Parade) the day after the cremation of King Krishnaraja Wadiyar III, and 21 cannons fired to salute his heir, who would rule under the name Chamarajendra Wadiyar, the tenth of that name.