A History of the Mahrattas v2.c43.23

v2.c43.23

¹ [For many years past the spot where the Residency stood has been occupied by the official residence of the District and Sessions Judge of Poona, who is also Agent for the Sardārs of the Deccan. The grounds of the old Residency included the site of the present Science College and the English burial-ground close to the present Sangam Lodge. The Resident’s quarters contained five houses, besides outer buildings for the guard and escort-parties. The entire block was destroyed on November 5, 1817, immediately after the departure of Mountstuart Elphinstone to join the British forces arrayed for the battle of Kirkee. Reporting the event to Sir Evan Nepean, Governor of Bombay, Mountstuart Elphinstone wrote, ‘I beg you will excuse this scrawl, but all my writing implements, with everything I have except the clothes on my back, form part of the blaze of the Residency, which is now smoking in sight.’ (Colebrooke, Life of M. Elphinstone (1884), vol. i, p. 376.)]