Major Herbert Benjamin Edwardes, CB, DCL (1819–1868), The Hero of Multan, dressed as an Indian nobleman, by Henry Moseley, c.1850. National Portrait Gallery, London, (NPG 1391)
Major-GeneralSir Herbert Benjamin EdwardesKCBKCSIDCL (12 November 1819 – 23 December 1868) was a British administrator, soldier, and statesman active in the Punjab region of British India. He is best known as the "Hero of Multan" for his pivotal role in securing British victory in the Second Anglo-Sikh War.
Edwardes was born at Frodesley in Shropshire on 12 November 1819, the 2nd son of the Rev. Benjamin Edwardes (1790/1-1823), rector of Frodesley, a younger son of Sir John Thomas Cholmondeley Edwardes, 8th Baronet, of Shrewsbury (1764–1816). The Edwardes Baronetcy of Shropshire had been conferred on his ancestor Sir Thomas Edwardes by King Charles I in 1644/5.The baronetcy eventually became dormant on the death of the 10th Baronet Sir Henry Hope Edwardes to extant with Edwardes-Iddon which Edwardes are descended claiming succession to the title.
Edwardes's mother died during his infancy, and from the age of four, following his father's death in 1823, he was brought up in the household of a deeply religious aunt, from whom he developed his own strongly Protestant Christian faith. At the age of ten, he was sent to a boarding school at Richmond, Surrey, where he did not early distinguish himself. He went on to study Classics and Mathematics at King's College, London, and developed there a great interest in modern literature, composing poetry and drawing. He played a prominent role in the debating society.
Early service in India
Having been prevented from going up to Oxford by pressure from his guardians, Edwardes determined himself on a career in India. He applied directly to Sir Richard Jenkins, of Bicton Hall, Salop, a deputy chairman of the East India Company,[1] formerly of the Bombay Civil Service,[2] Member of Parliament for Shrewsbury in 1837, and family friend, for a cadetship in the Bengal Infantry. He landed at Calcutta early in 1841, aged 22, and from July 1842 served as a Second Lieutenant in the 1st Bengal European Regiment, first at Dinapore and then at Karnal, a frontier station. He remained with this regiment about five years, during which time he obtained a good knowledge of the Hindustani, Urdu and Persian languages,[3] passing exams in all 3 subjects, which qualified him for the position of interpreter, which he obtained in November 1845, aged 26. He developed a deep understanding of military, political and social affairs in India, which showed itself in his many literary contributions to the Delhi Gazette entitled "Brahminee Bull's letters to his Cousin John Bull", expressing bold political opinions often critical of British Indian policy. His essays became well-read throughout British India and particularly impressed the Commander-in-Chief of the Indian Army himself, Sir Hugh Gough, who appointed Edwardes a member of his personal staff.
Edwardes served as aide-de-camp to Gough during the First Anglo-Sikh War and fought at Mudki on 18 December 1845, where he was wounded, and at the final bloody rout of the Sikhs at Sobraon on 10 February 1846. Following the British victory, the Punjab came to be ruled by a British Resident seated at the historic capital of Lahore, supported by a Regency Council acting for the infant Maharaja Duleep Singh. In 1846, aged 27, Edwardes was appointed by the new British Resident Sir Henry Lawrence, as Assistant Resident. After three months at Lahore he was posted to the court of the Maharaja of Jammu, recently established by the British as ruler of Kashmir, divested from Punjab territorial lands following the Treaty of Lahore in 1846. Here he helped to suppress a local rebellion against the Maharaja, Gulab Singh.
Founding of Edwardesabad
In February 1847, aged 28, Edwardes was detached on special duty as Political Agent to the remote trans-Indus district of Bannu, where he was to improve the district's tax-revenue yield to Lahore, much lessened of late by evasion and non-payment. Here backed by a small force of Sikh troops, but largely on the strength of his own personality, he completely reformed the administration. He settled local feuds and demolished local fortresses, built roads and canals and encouraged agriculture. The town established by him was named after his death in his honour Edwardesabad, a name which gave way after independence to Bannu, unlike the surviving name of Abbottabad, which commemorates Edwardes's contemporary, General Sir James Abbott.[4]
Sir Herbert Benjamin Edwardes by Alfred Crowquill, c.1850. Etching, National Portrait Gallery, London (NPG D36073)
The events and disturbances which grew into the Second Anglo-Sikh War of 1848–49 started at Multan, in southern Punjab, under the governorship of Dewan Mulraj, near which fortified town Edwardes found himself at the time, devoid of military support. Sensing that time was of the essence to prevent the rebellion spreading rapidly to the whole of the Punjab, and having no senior officer to consult, Edwardes made his response at first on his own initiative. He immediately raised a body of Pathan Irregulars and on 18 June 1848, having been joined by a force of Sikh troops, at Kineyri he routed a rebel force loyal to Dewan Mulraj. Subsequently, on 3 July, with reinforcements from his neighbouring District Officer Lieutenant Lake, and with troops sent by the Nawab of Bahawalpur from south of Multan, he defeated the rebels a second time at Sadusam, near Multan. Here he permanently injured his right hand in an accident with his pistol. Edwardes then forced the rebels to retreat to the fort of Multan, where they remained contained until the arrival of General William Sampson Whish and the Bombay column, whereupon, assisted by the further action of Edwardes's force, a siege was established. On 22 January 1849 Dewan Mulraj surrendered, following negotiations directed by Edwardes. Sir Henry Lawrence praised Edwardes's pivotal role in the war, stating that "Since the days of Clive no man had done as Edwardes".[5] All had been achieved by personal initiative, without formal military training. He was commended by Gough and the Government, promoted brevet major in September 1848 and made a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB), in October 1849. The East India Company awarded him a specially struck gold medal for services in the Punjab.[6]
He returned to a hero's welcome in England and Shropshire, was thanked by both Houses of Parliament and on 12 June 1850 was awarded the degree of Doctor of Civil Law (DCL) by Oxford University. He was entertained at civic banquets in London and Liverpool, and made many well-received public speeches. While in England, on 9 July 1850, aged 31, he married Emma Sidney, daughter of James Sidney of Richmond, Surrey. It was most probably at this time his portrait was painted by Henry Moseley, showing him dressed as an Indian nobleman, which was presented by his widow in 1905 to the National Portrait Gallery.[7] He published in 1851 an account in 2 volumes of his experiences during the war entitled A Year on the Punjab Frontier.
Treaty with Afghanistan
Edwardes believed that the security of British India against the designs of Russia would be improved on the North-Western Frontier by the existence of a strong and independent Afghanistan and he urged the signing of a British Treaty of Friendship with the Amir Dost Mohammad Khan. Although opposed by Sir John Lawrence, then Chief Commissioner of the Punjab, as the new ruling magistrate was known following the 1849 British annexation of Punjab, Edwardes's suggestion received the approval of the Governor General of India Lord Dalhousie. The treaty was signed by Lawrence and the Amir on 30 March 1855. It contained a strict non-interference clause which turned out to be vital in maintaining calm in the Punjab during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 2 years later, thus allowing Punjab troops to be sent away to assist in the relief of Delhi and in subsequent operations. A second treaty was signed in January 1857.
On the outbreak of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 at far away Meerut and Delhi, Edwardes received the sanction of Sir John Lawrence, the successor in the chief magistracy of the Punjab to his elder brother Sir Henry Lawrence, to raise native troops in the Punjab to form a moveable column to maintain order in the Punjab. Lawrence later sent the large part of these troops and other units previously raised by his brother and new units raised by himself to assist in the Siege of Delhi. It was this decisive action of Sir John Lawrence's, in taking the risk to leave the Punjab undefended, a policy opposed by Edwardes, which earned for him the sobriquet "The Saviour of India".
Interlude in England
Sir Herbert Benjamin Edwardes by William Edward Kilburn. Carte-de-Visite, 1860s. National Portrait Gallery, London (NPG x45342)
Aged 40, in mid-1859 Edwardes once more returned to England, his health so greatly impaired by the continual strain of arduous work that it was doubtful whether he could ever return to India. During his stay he was created KCB, with the rank of brevet colonel; and the degree of LL.D. was conferred upon him by the University of Cambridge.[3][8] In 1860, he was invited to speak at the Wenlock Olympian Games, when he praised their founder William Penny Brookes and the local Olympian Society's work but showed disagreement with the Greek influence of the name by publicly suggesting the games be called "'The Shropshire Class of British Work and Play', or anything else you will; but let it tell of English men and women."[9]
Commissioner of Ambala
Early in 1862, aged 43, with improved health he again returned to the Punjab, and was appointed to the prestigious Commissionership of Ambala and as agent for the Cis-Sutlej states. After he had held the posts for 3 years, the health of both him and his wife deteriorated and on 1 January 1865, aged 46, he left British India for the last time.
Later life and death
Following his final return to England he was made Knight Commander of the Star of India (KCSI) on 24 May 1866 and promoted Major-General on 22 February 1868. He received a "good conduct" pension of £100.
He had been engaged for some time on writing a biography of his old chief Sir Henry Lawrence, and high expectations were held for the work, which he did not, however, live to complete, which task was performed by Herman Merivale. He suffered a bad attack of pleurisy in March 1868 from which he temporarily recovered, upon which he was offered the post of Lieutenant-Governor of the Punjab in March 1868. His recovery however relapsed and he died in London on 23 December 1868, aged 49, after a severe haemorrhage.
He was buried in the Meadow on the western side of Highgate Cemetery[10] and is commemorated by a mural tablet in Westminster Abbey and a stained glass window in the chapel of King's College London.
He was survived by his wife, Emma (nee Sydney), whom he had married in 1850.
Christian Evangelism
Edwardes was a devout Christian of the Protestant anti-ritualist variety. A contemporary point of contention on his career could be stated to be his propensity to evangelise amongst the indigenous populations of India.[11] After the Indian Rebellion of 1857–8, caused in some measure by the sepoys' belief that their ancient religions were under attack with the sanction of the British-Indian regime, he continued, on his return to India in 1862, to enthusiastically urge the Government of India to publicly support the propagation of Christianity in India.[12] Reputable biographers have gone so far as to call this attitude of his "a considerable lack of common sense",.[5] He shared his strong evangelical Christian attitudes with his brother officer and close friend Brigadier-General John Nicholson.[13] During his final period in England, he served as vice-president of the Church Missionary Society.
On 19 December 1853, a meeting was arranged under the Commissioner of Peshawar, Sir Herbert Edwardes, to discuss a Christian Mission to the city. The very first school in the province was established in 1853 by one of the first missionaries, Robert Clarke, under the patronage of Edwardes, today the High School, Kohati Gate Peshawar, Pakistan.
Literary works
A Year on the Punjab Frontier, 2 vols., 1851.
Political Diaries of Lieut. H. B. Edwardes, Assistant to the Resident at Lahore 1847 – 1849, Sang-e-Meel Publications, Lahore, Pakistan 2006 (Reprint version) ISBN969-35-1770-9
Edwardes High School kohati gate Peshawar Pakistan.(S.Qaisar Kazmi)
Related Research Articles
Lieutenant-General Sir Harry Burnett "Joe" Lumsden was a British military officer active in the British Raj.
Brigadier General Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence, was a British military officer, surveyor, administrator and statesman in British India. He is best known for leading a group of administrators in the Punjab affectionately known as Henry Lawrence's "Young Men", as the founder of the Lawrence Military Asylums and for his death at the Siege of Lucknow during the Indian Rebellion of 1857.
Multan is a city in Punjab, Pakistan, located on the bank of river Chenab. It is one of the five largest urban centres of Pakistan in 2024 and serves as the administrative centre of Multan Division. A major cultural, religious and economic centre of Punjab region, Multan is one of the oldest inhabited cities of Asia, with a history stretching deep into antiquity.
John Laird Mair Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence,, known as Sir John Lawrence, Bt., between 1858 and 1869, was a prominent British Imperial statesman and served as the Viceroy of India from 1864 to 1869.
The second Anglo-Sikh war was a military conflict between the Sikh Empire and the East India Company which took place from 1848 to 1849. It resulted in the fall of the Sikh Empire, and the annexation of the Punjab and what subsequently became the North-West Frontier Province, by the East India Company.
The North-West Frontier was a region of the British Indian Empire. It remains the western frontier of present-day Pakistan, extending from the Pamir Knot in the north to the Koh-i-Malik Siah in the west, and separating the modern Pakistani frontier regions of North-West Frontier Province, Federally Administered Tribal Areas and Balochistan from neighbouring Afghanistan in the west. The borderline between is officially known as the Durand Line and divides Pashtun inhabitants of these provinces from Pashtuns in eastern Afghanistan.
Brigadier General John Nicholson, was an Anglo-Irish military officer who rose to prominence during his career in British India. Born in Ireland, Nicholson moved to the Indian subcontinent at a young age and obtained a commission in the Bengal Army where he spent the majority of his career helping to expand the East India Company's territories in numerous conflicts, including the First Anglo-Afghan War and the first and second Anglo-Sikh wars. Nicholson created a legend for himself as a political officer under Henry Lawrence in the frontier provinces of British India, especially in the Punjab, and he was instrumental in the establishment of the North-West Frontier. Nicholson's most defining moment in his military career was his crucial role in suppressing the Indian Rebellion of 1857, a conflict in which he died.
The Punjab Province was a province of British India. Most of the Punjab region was annexed by the British East India Company on 29 March 1849; it was one of the last areas of the Indian subcontinent to fall under British control. In 1858, the Punjab, along with the rest of British India, came under the rule of the British Crown. It had a land area of 358,355 square kilometers.
The Battle of Gujrat was a decisive battle in the Second Anglo-Sikh War, fought on 21 February 1849, between the forces of the East India Company, and a Sikh army in rebellion against the company's control of the Sikh Empire, represented by the child Maharaja Duleep Singh who was in British custody in Lahore. The Sikh army was defeated by the British regular and Bengal Army forces of the British East India Company. After it capitulated a few days later, the Punjab was annexed to the East India Company's territories and Duleep Singh was deposed.
The siege of Multan began on 19 April 1848 and lasted until 22 January 1849, and saw fighting around Multan between the British East India Company and the Sikh Empire. It began with a rebellion against a ruler imposed by the East India Company, which precipitated the Second Anglo-Sikh War, and ended when the last defenders of the city surrendered to British forces.
Mulraj Chopra was the Diwan (governor) of Multan and leader of a Sikh rebellion against the British which led to the Second Anglo-Sikh War.
Henry Lawrence's "Young Men", also known as "the Paladins of the Punjaub", were a group of East India Company officers sent to act as "advisers" to the Sikhs after the First Sikh War in 1846. In the words of George Lawrence, his duties were "to act as a friendly adviser to the native officials". They served under the command of Sir Henry Lawrence, initially the Agent to the Governor General and later also the Resident at Lahore.
Sir Frederick Currie, 1st Baronet was a British diplomat, who had a career in the British East India Company and the Indian Civil Service. His posts included Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, Member of the Supreme Council of India, Resident at Lahore and Chairman of the East India Company.
The 4th Punjab Infantry Regiment was an infantry regiment of the British Indian Army formed on 18 April 1849 by Captain GG Denniss at Lahore as part of the Transfrontier Brigade, which became the Punjab Irregular Force (PIF) in 1851. The regiment was designated as the 57th Wilde's Rifles (Frontier Force) in 1903, and 4th Battalion (Wilde's) 13th Frontier Force Rifles in 1922. In 1947, it was allocated to the Pakistan Army, where it continues to exist as 9th Battalion The Frontier Force Regiment.
Patrick Alexander Vans Agnew (1822–1848) was a British civil servant of the East India Company, whose murder in April 1848 during the Siege of Multan by the retainers of Dewan Mulraj led to the Second Sikh War and to the British annexation of the Punjab region.
The Afghan–Maratha War was fought between the Afghan Empire under Ahmad Shah Durrani and the Maratha Confederacy and the Sikh Confederacy between 1758 and 1761. It took place in north-west India, primarily the region around Delhi and Punjab.
Major-General Reynell George Taylor was a British military officer who served in the Bengal Army.
Muhammad Habib Khan Tarin, Risaldar-Bahadur, CSI, was a cavalry officer of Tarin descent, who lived in the Hazara region on the Punjab Frontier, in British India.
Vans Agnew Monument is a monument in Multan, Punjab, Pakistan.
Edward John Lake CSI was a British major-general in the Royal Engineers.
References
↑ India Lists & India Office List, at Google books
↑ In fact, after Abbott was posted away in April 1853 from Hazara region, Edwardes became the second/next Deputy Commissioner of this district and was responsible for formally naming the region's newly founded town after his predecessor. See Harold Lee, Brothers in the Raj: The Lives of John and Henry Lawrence, Karachi: Oxford UP, 2002, p.320, ISBN0-19-579415-X; and Charles Allen, Soldier-Sahibs: The Men who made the North-West Frontier, London: Abacus/Time Warner UK, 2002 ed, p.206, ISBN0-349-11456-0
1 2 Moreman, T. R., Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
↑ Medal illustrated in Puddester, R.P. Medals of British India with Rarities and Valuations, vol.1
↑ Beale, Catherine (2011). Born out of Wenlock, William Penny Brookes and the British origins of the modern Olympics. DB Publishing. pp.42–43. ISBN978-1-85983-967-6.
↑ He rather saw himself as a 'pioneer of Christian civilisation', Allen, p.11
↑ Indeed, it is said that the 'triumphant outcome of the Rebellion' further convinced him of the righteousness of his cause and that 'the Giver of Empires is indeed God'; Allen, p.340
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
