Viceroy Lord Mayo was stabbed to death on February 8, 1872, by Sher Ali Afridi, a life-term convict, at Port Blair in the Andamans. The Andaman and Nicobar Islands served as a penal colony for convicts from India, including political prisoners. Lord Mayo, who had initiated prison reforms, was visiting the islands to inspect prison conditions and see the workshops and barracks.
Afridi, a former soldier who was from Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency, was known as a good-natured man when he was in service and was liked by his superiors. He had served in the Presidency armies during the Indian Uprising of 1857 in Rohilkhand and Awadh and was working as a mounted orderly for a British official in Peshawar, where he killed a relative in public, seeking revenge for a family feud. He was sentenced to life imprisonment and deported to the Andamans. When Lord Mayo was visiting Port Blair, Afridi managed to hide and stabbed the Viceroy on the back. Lord Mayo bled to death.
The murder of the British empire’s supreme official in India sent shockwaves through many parts of the world. It prompted several theories, from political motivation to deep, personal grudge for being cast away far from one’s own place, across kala pani (the black waters). Afridi was sentenced to death and hanged March 11, 1872.