The Viceroy of India and 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, was accorded a royal welcome on his visit to Kashmir in 1890 on the invitation of Maharaja Pratap Singh. During his visit the Viceroy inaugurated the Kohala to Baramulla stretch of Jehlum Road which was completed in 1889. Maharaja Pratap Singh had commissioned work on the road from Kohala to Baramulla, via Muzaffarabad, which eventually connected Srinagar. The Jhelum Valley Cart Road from Kohala to Baramulla, then famous as ‘the most wonderful mountain road in the world’, was completed in 1889 and was extended to Srinagar in 1897. Prior to the advent of the automobile in Kashmir, travelers to Kashmir made the journey in a two-horse four-seater tonga or a single-horse two-seater ekka. His journey from Baramulla to Srinagar and back was through the Jehlum River. Henry Charles Keith’s visit was photographed by Maharaj Pratap Singh royal photographer Dewan Alam Chand. During this visit, Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice also gave a kick start to Land Settlement of Kashmir under Walter Lawerance.
In this photograph, you can see Kashmiri farmers waiting for the arrival of Henry Charles Keith Petty-Fitzmaurice, 5th Marquess of Lansdowne, The Viceroy of British India.
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