During the 1857 disturbances the Indian sepoys posted at Dum Dum were affected and Mangal Pandey was hanged from a tree at Dum Dum cantonment (he/ his dead body was probably hanged at both Barrackpore and Dum Dum). Two monuments were erected to commemorate their memory. During the early years of the cantonment the British waged several imperial wars, out of which the wars in Burma, Nepal, the Deccan and Afganisthan were costly in blood and lives. ĭum Dum was a separate subdivision for a short period (See Barrackpore subdivision for more information). It may be noted that both North Dumdum Municipality and South Dumdum Municipality were established in 1870 thereby somewhat defining administratively the different parts of an earlier undefined Dum Dum 'area'. The ordnance factory was established at Dum Dum in 1846. A Cantonment Board was formed to provide civic amenities.

Military barracks were built and civilians started coming in to provide essential services to the military personnel. In 1783 a cantonment was established at Dum Dum. On 6 February 1757, an accord was signed at Dum Dum by the Nawab of Bengal to allow the British to build forts at Calcutta, Dacca and Kashim Bazar. The previous name of Dum Dum was 'Domdoma'.ĭum Dum was sparsely populated before the British came. It was here that, in the early 1890s, Captain Neville Bertie-Clay developed a bullet with the jacket cut away at the tip to reveal its soft lead core (see hollow-point bullet), known informally as a dum-dum or more correctly as an expanding bullet.

6.2 Travel within Dum Dum and North Dum Dumĭuring the 19th century the area was home to the Dum Dum Arsenal, a British Royal Artillery facility.6.1 Travel within Dum Dum and South Dum Dum.