Tempo:
HISTORY OF THE SIKHS
110 1787-1800
Sindhia's
deputy in Northern India, 1797.
Sindhia's
and Perron's views
crossed by
Holkar and George Thomas, 1787-97.
CHAP. V
after appointed the Maharaja's deputy in Northern India. His ambition surpassed his powers; but his plans -were nevertheless systematic, and might have temporarily extended his own, or the Maratha, authority to Lahore, had not Sindhia's influence been endan-
gered by Holkar, and had not Perron's own purposes been crossed by the hostility and success of the adventurer George Thomas.^ This Englishman was bred to the sea, but an eccentricity of character, or a restless love of change, caused him to desert from a vessel of war at Madras in 1781-2, and to take military service with the petty chiefs of that presidency. He wandered to the north of India, and in 1787 he was employed by the well-known Begum Samru,^ and soon rose high in favour with that lady. In six years he became dissatisfied, and entered the service of Appa Khande Rao, one of Sindhia's principal officers, and under whom De Boigne had formed his first regiments. While in the Maratha employ, Thomas defeated a party of Sikhs at Karnal, and he performed various other services; but seeing the distracted state of the country, he formed
himself at Hansi,
the not impracticable scheme of establishing a separate authority of his own. He repaired the crumbling walls of the once important Hansi, he assembled soldiers about him, cast guns, and deliberately pro-
1798,
ceeded to acquire territory.
George Thonr.as establishes
Perron was apprehensive power the more so, perhaps, as Thomas was encouraged by Holkar, and supported by Lakwa Dada and other Marathas, who entertained a great jealousy of the French commandant.-'' of his
—
1 [For an excellent sketch of the life of this adventurer see the article 'A Free Lance from Tipperary' in Strangers within the Gates, by G. Festing. Edinburgh, and London, 1914,
—Ed.] 2
[This remarkable
woman, whose
origin
is
wrapped
in
mystery, was said to have been a dancing-girl in Delhi. She subsequently married 'Somru', a European adventurer, who had entered the service of the Emperor and had received the Jagir of Sardhana, a few miles from Delhi. 'Somru' whose real name was Reinhard was a man of the foulest antecedents, and among his other exploits he had been principally concerned in the murder of the English prisoners at Patna in 1763. Upon her husband's death the Begum; succeeded to his estate and to the leadership of the disreputable band of cut-throats who formed his army. After the battle of Assaye he submitted to the English, embraced Christianity about 1781, and was publicly embraced by Lord Lake, to the great horror of the spectators. She ended her days in great sanctity, and was buried in the Roman Catholic Cathedral at Sardhana which she herself had built. See also Sleeman, Rambles and Recollections, ed. V. A. Smith, chap. 75. Oxford University Press,
—
—
1915.—Ed.] 3 Francklin,
Life oj George
Thomas, pp.
1,
79,
107, &c.,
i
|
110 1787-1800
Sindhia's
deputy in Northern India, 1797.
Sindhia's
and Perron's views
crossed by
Holkar and George Thomas, 1787-97.
CHAP. V
after appointed the Maharaja's deputy in Northern India. His ambition surpassed his powers; but his plans -were nevertheless systematic, and might have temporarily extended his own, or the Maratha, authority to Lahore, had not Sindhia's influence been endan-
gered by Holkar, and had not Perron's own purposes been crossed by the hostility and success of the adventurer George Thomas.^ This Englishman was bred to the sea, but an eccentricity of character, or a restless love of change, caused him to desert from a vessel of war at Madras in 1781-2, and to take military service with the petty chiefs of that presidency. He wandered to the north of India, and in 1787 he was employed by the well-known Begum Samru,^ and soon rose high in favour with that lady. In six years he became dissatisfied, and entered the service of Appa Khande Rao, one of Sindhia's principal officers, and under whom De Boigne had formed his first regiments. While in the Maratha employ, Thomas defeated a party of Sikhs at Karnal, and he performed various other services; but seeing the distracted state of the country, he formed
himself at Hansi,
the not impracticable scheme of establishing a separate authority of his own. He repaired the crumbling walls of the once important Hansi, he assembled soldiers about him, cast guns, and deliberately pro-
1798,
ceeded to acquire territory.
George Thonr.as establishes
Perron was apprehensive power the more so, perhaps, as Thomas was encouraged by Holkar, and supported by Lakwa Dada and other Marathas, who entertained a great jealousy of the French commandant.-'' of his
—
1 [For an excellent sketch of the life of this adventurer see the article 'A Free Lance from Tipperary' in Strangers within the Gates, by G. Festing. Edinburgh, and London, 1914,
—Ed.] 2
[This remarkable
woman, whose
origin
is
wrapped
in
mystery, was said to have been a dancing-girl in Delhi. She subsequently married 'Somru', a European adventurer, who had entered the service of the Emperor and had received the Jagir of Sardhana, a few miles from Delhi. 'Somru' whose real name was Reinhard was a man of the foulest antecedents, and among his other exploits he had been principally concerned in the murder of the English prisoners at Patna in 1763. Upon her husband's death the Begum; succeeded to his estate and to the leadership of the disreputable band of cut-throats who formed his army. After the battle of Assaye he submitted to the English, embraced Christianity about 1781, and was publicly embraced by Lord Lake, to the great horror of the spectators. She ended her days in great sanctity, and was buried in the Roman Catholic Cathedral at Sardhana which she herself had built. See also Sleeman, Rambles and Recollections, ed. V. A. Smith, chap. 75. Oxford University Press,
—
—
1915.—Ed.] 3 Francklin,
Life oj George
Thomas, pp.
1,
79,
107, &c.,
i
|
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