Frederick Henry Cooper (1827–1869) was a British civil servant who worked with the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

. He served as Deputy Commissioner of

Amritsar Amritsar (), historically also known as Rāmdāspur and colloquially as ''Ambarsar'', is the second largest city in the Indian state of Punjab, after Ludhiana. It is a major cultural, transportation and economic centre, located in the Majha r ...

, Punjab, during the

Indian rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

. Along with James Neill, John Nicholson and William Hodson, he is noted for his ruthlessness and indiscriminate killings of Indian rebels and civilians during the 1857 uprising. His killing of about 500 sepoys of the 26th Native Infantry and civilians at Ajnala were gleefully described in his memoirs. After throwing 257 sepoy bodies into a well, he remarks: "The few remnants have since been brought in and executed.There is a well at

Kanpur Kanpur or Cawnpore ( /kɑːnˈpʊər/ pronunciation (help·info)) is an industrial city in the central-western part of the state of Uttar Pradesh, India. Founded in 1207, Kanpur became one of the most important commercial and military stations o ...

, but there is also one at Ajnala." This well is known as Shaheedan Wala Khu (martyrs' well) at Ajnala in district

. His acts were condemned by the Liberal MP and Quaker Charles Gilpin in the British parliament on 14 March 1859:
"as an Englishman, he felt himself called upon to blush for the shame which had been brought upon the character of his country." Nevertheless, Cooper was appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate medieval ceremony for appointing a knight, which involved Bathing#Medieval ...

in the 1860 Birthday Honours while serving in the Bengal Civil Service.

References

1827 births 1869 deaths British East India Company civil servants British people of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 Companions of the Order of the Bath {{UK-gov-bio-stub