Welcome To Rokeby Manor

In 1840, Captain G.N. Cauthy purchased a 2-acre patch in the quiet hills of Landour and built a grand mansion. He named it after a book-length poem of Sir Walter Scott which describes heroic battles fought near Rokeby Castle in England – “I saw his melancholy smile, When, full opposed in front, he knew, Where Rokeby’s kindred banner flew…”

After completion, the bungalow was passed onto Lt. Col. Reilly, who mortgaged Rokeby and Ralston – his lavish Mussoorie estate – for Rs.25,000 to controversial adventurer Fredrick ‘Pahari’ Wilson.

After the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny, Wilson deserted the British army, came to Garhwal and married a local lady at Harsil. Gaining notoriety for smuggling fur, musk and timber, he carved out a personal domain along the headwaters of the Ganga. He chopped forests of deodar, floated the logs down the Ganga and supplied them to the British government for making railway sleepers from Rishikesh to Calcutta! He introduced apples to the Himalayas, minted his own gold coins and was the inspiration for Rudyard Kipling’s classic tale, ‘The Man Who Would Be King’. Pahari Wilson and his Garhwali wife, Gulabi, are buried in the cemetery on Camel’s Back Road.

His adventurous spirit left a profound mark on Rokeby and as tribute, our multi-purpose meeting room is named Wilson’s Chamber after this multi-faceted personality. In 1891, Wilson’s son Henry sold Rokeby for Rs.10,000 to Rev. JS Woodside, one of the founders of Woodstock School. By 1930, it changed hands to the Woman’s Foreign Missionary Society of the Methodist Episcopal Church and was converted into a boarding house for young missionary ladies studying Urdu and Hindi at the Landour Language School. For most of 20th century, it functioned as a guest house under the Methodist missionaries.

While several old residences around town have crumbled due to neglect, Rokeby Manor is continually inspired by its glorious past and serves as an iconic landmark even today. Presently managed by the Mars Group, Rokeby has been restored to its former glory, with several of its charming features retained – Victorian fireplaces, rustic brick arches, stone walls and wooden flooring. Our restaurant is named after the author Emily Eden, Governor-General Lord George Eden’s sister, who spent considerable time in Landour in the 1830s and penned several memoirs here. Landour’s literary love affair continues with several writers like Ruskin Bond and Steve Alter making it their home.