Augustus Cleveland, a British East India Company administrator in Bengal, was killed by Santhal leader Tilka Manjhi on this day. According to other accounts, Cleveland was killed on January 13.

Cleveland was a collector of revenues and a judge of the Diwani Adalat in Bhagalpur and other places. He was known for his hatred towards Indians.

Tilka Manjhi mobilised his community in the aftermath of the famine of 1770 against the British and the zamindars aligned with British rule. He attacked Cleveland in Rajmahal area with a gulel (a slingshot) or an arrow and disappeared. The blow proved fatal for Cleveland.

The British finally captured Manjhi after Cleveland’s death, tied him to a horse and dragged him to the collector’s residence at Bhagalpur. He was hung from a banyan tree there.

He had led one of the earliest armed protests against the British in India.

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