John Brunton (1812-1899) was appointed in 1857 as
Chief Resident Engineer by the East India Railway Company to supervise the construction of
the line from Karachi to Kotri. He reached the port of Bombay on his way to Karachi when
India was in the grip of the mutiny. His diary, which he wrote for his grandchildren in
the last days of his life, contains interesting accounts of the events of 1857 in Karachi
which form an important leaf of Karachi’s history.The introduction of railways, which linked Karachi with Sindh, Punjab and the rest of northern India, was one of the most significant developments in the life of the city after the British captured it in 1839. This was the beginning of Karachi’s transformation into one of the most important sea routes for the export of agricultural produce from India. Brunton’s diary talks of the place Karachi was at the beginning of this process which was to turn it into a city of a very distinct cosmopolitan outlook. He also gives an interesting account of his interaction with the Nawab of the princely state of Bahawalpur.