Battling a famine of evidence, Dr Wagner began researching Bheg. He worked in the archives in London and Delhi, and travelled to Sialkot to locate the forgotten battlefield of the four-day Trimmu Ghat clash in July 1857 - during which the Sialkot rebels, including Bheg, were intercepted and defeated by a General Nicholson.He relied on letters, petitions, proclamations and statements by rebels after the outbreak of the uprising, went thorough 19th Century newspaper databases and scanned books."It was only after I spent some time researching the story, in the UK and in India, that I managed to piece a historical narrative together and realised that there was a bigger story to tell," he told me.
'Detective novel'
The result is Wagner's new book, The Skull of Alum Bheg, a vivid page-turner on life and death in British India during the largest anti-colonial revolt of the 19th Century. Yasmin Khan, associate professor of history at the University of Oxford, says the book "reads like a detective novel and yet is also an important contribution to understanding British rule and the extent of colonial violence".Dr Wagner writes that his book sets out to "restore some of the humanity and dignity that has been denied to Alum Bheg by telling the story of his life and death during one of the most dramatic episodes in the history of British India"."I hope I have prepared the ground for Alum Bheg to finally find some peace, some 160 years late."