Revolt of Rajab Ali
soldier of the Bengal Regiment
Rajab Ali Khan, also known as Havildar Rajab Ali, was a soldier of the Bengal Regiment who defected during the Sepoy Revolt of 1857. He commanded the rebels at Chittagong and was chased by British forces as far as Sylhet and Manipur.
Description
The identity of Havildar Rajab Ali is quite unclear. Many historians and researchers consider him to be a resident of Sandwip, an island off the coast of Chittagong. At a young age, he joined the Bengal Regiment as a sepoy and was later promoted to a 4th Company Havildar. The 34th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry had 120 havildars only. At that time, he was living at the Parade Ground army camp near Pahartali, which was under the charge of Captain PHK Dewaal.
Rebellion
On 12 November 1857, four hundred sepoys of the 34th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry called for rebellion against the British East India Company. Among the sepoys of Chittagong, the sepoys of Barrackpore were also present. It is thought that it was the latter who arrived in Chittagong to spread the revolt.
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This entry incorporates text from “Revolt of Rajab Ali” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.