As you can imagine, there is a British connection. It goes back to their seizure of the Kingdom of Mysore in 1799 with the defeat of Tipu Sultan in the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War.
This was a major victory for the British, and they looked for a good place to station their garrison, and also run the military establishment of the southern Indian peninsula.
After considering many places, Bangalore was chosen because, according to British military engineer John Blakiston, it was "by far the pleasantest and most agreeable residence in the peninsula".
LITTLE BRITISH ENCLAVE
The Cantonment, called the Civil and Military Station of Bangalore -- though was within the princely state of Mysore -- was governed directly by the British. This gave the enclave a different western cultural hue compared to the surrounding city area (called pete. Read about in this series on April 19).
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| Lady Curzon hospital in the cantonment was established in 1864 and named after the first wife of the Viceroy of India, Lord Curzon Source: Wikipedia |
CUBBON PARK
The two segments of Bangalore were separated by a stretch of grassland which is now the Cubbon Park, according to M. Fazlul Hasan, author of Bangalore Through the Centuries. One needed to pay a toll to cross from one part to the other.
CLUBS
The desire to have a little bit of England led to the setting up of Colonial or Cantonment Clubs in the area. And one of them was the Bangalore Club, which is still around. Many of these clubs still retain some very British traditions, etiquettes and rules, obviously not quite liked by hardcore nationalists.
CHURCHILL
As a military lieutenant, at the age of 22, Winston Churchill came to Bangalore in 1896 and was a member of the Bangalore Club for three years.
The city has a romantic connection to Churchill. This is where he met his first love -- Pamela Frances Audrey Plowden. The fledgeling relationship later floundered and in 1902 Pamela married Earl of Lytton.
Churchill, also when he left in 1899, owed a debt of Rs 13 to the Bangalore Club, which was written off as an "irrecoverable sum".
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| Bangalore Cantonment Railway Station. Once this place is developed as a transport hub, it will sport a very different look (Source: The Times of India) |
RAILWAY STATION
Today the Cantonment area is not much different from any other areas of the city except for some of the streets retaining their British names.
Now when people refer to Cantonment it's the railway station, set up in 1864, surely one of the oldest in India. This is now being developed as a major transport hub, with metro train connectivity as well.
(On April 5, we head to another part of the city which was once a part of the Cantonment)
References:
The 'other' Bangalore - Frontline
International Churchill Society