The Skull of Alum Bheg
historical fiction novel
The Skull of Alum Bheg: The Life and Death of a Rebel of 1857, is a book by Kim A. Wagner, a lecturer on colonial India and the British Empire. It was published in 2017 by C. Hurst & Co., and is based on the life of Havildar Alum Bheg, a sepoy of the 46th Regiment of the Bengal Native Infantry, who following the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and being said to have killed a British missionary family in Punjab, was executed by the British by being blown from a cannon.
His skull was subsequently taken to Ireland before being discovered in the Lord Clyde pub in Walmer, Kent, in 1963. It remained there until it was given to Wagner in 2014 by the pub's owners. The Natural History Museum confirmed its likely authenticity and Wagner, with little evidence to go on, traced Bheg's history using various sources including letters written by the relatives and friends of Bheg's alleged victims.
Publication
The Skull of Alum Bheg was authored by Kim A. Wagner and published in 2017 by C. Hurst & Co. It has 256 pages and is available in hardback and paperback. The book contains a prologue, introduction, eleven chapters and an epilogue.
Summary
Wagner traces the story of Havildar Alum Bheg, also called Alim Beg, a sepoy of the 46th Regiment of Bengal Native Infantry, who following the Indian Rebellion of 1857 and being said to have killed the Britons, surgeon James Graham, missionary Thomas Hunter and Hunter's wife and daughters in Punjab, was executed by the British by being blown from a cannon. His skull was then taken to Ireland by a Captain Costello, who was on duty during his execution.
The public source identifies “The Skull of Alum Bheg” as historical fiction novel. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Skull, Alum and Bheg.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “The Skull of Alum Bheg”, the useful work is to connect “historical fiction novel” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Nov 27, 2023. The linked authority identifier is Q85808481. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1857, 2017, 1963 and 2014.
Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.
- Identifying works and editions
- Tracing reception history
- Finding collection records
The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “The Skull of Alum Bheg”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow The Skull of Alum Bheg primary sources, The Skull of Alum Bheg archive and Skull research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “The Skull of Alum Bheg”?
- Where is authorship, date or provenance documented?
- How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “The Skull of Alum Bheg” 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.