Annexation of Oudh

Annexation of Oudh 1856

The Punjab and Pegu were the conquests of war. The states of Satara, Jhansi, Nagpur, and Sambhalpur had fallen in by the “Doctrine of Lapse”.

• The Kingdom of Oudh was the only great Indian state whose ruler Nawab Wajid Ali Shah was dispossessed on the ground of “intolerable misgovernment”.
  

The British alleged that the Nawab who had made a treaty with Lord Wellesley to establish such a system of administration as would be conducive to the “prosperity of the subjects” were entirely and continuously neglected and the whole of Awadh had fallen into the constantly increasing confusion, violent disorders, tumults, brigandage and widespread oppression of the people.

• Awadh was annexed finally in February 1856 via a proclamation and before the end of this month, the tenure of Lord Dalhousie ended and he was replaced with the Governor Generalship of Lord Canning.