Sir charles napier biography of mahatma

Here he found himself chief agent in Sind of the governor-general, as well as general officer commanding the troops. Sind was divided under three distinct sets of rulers—the amirs of Khairpur or Upper Sind, the amirs of Haidarabad or Lower Sind, and the amir of Mirpur. The British occupied Shikarpur, Bakhar, and Karachi by treaty.

The amirs were in a state of excitement, due to the recent British reverses in Afghanistan, while the return to India of General England's force through the Bolan pass, when both advanced on Kandahar, was interpreted as a retreat. The situation was critical. The chief complaint against the amirs was the continued levying of tolls in violation of the treaty, notwithstanding frequent protests.

Then came the discovery that negotiations were going on with neighbouring tribes for an offensive alliance against the British. Napier was impressed with the natural wealth of the country, and the oppression of the Pindis and Hindus by the governing class. Napier moved at the end of November to Shikarpur. A fresh treaty, based on Napier's reports, was ordered by the governor-general to be offered as an ultimatum.

The proposal produced strong remonstrances from both Khairpur and Haidarabad. On 15 Dec. On 31 Dec. He mounted men of the Queen's 22nd regiment on camels, two soldiers on each, and, taking two pound howitzers and two hundred Sind horse, started on 5 Jan. On arriving on 12 Jan. After three days' rest the fortress was blown up, and Napier made for the Indus at Pir Abu Bakar, where he halted on 21 Jan.

The masterly stroke by which Napier seized Imamghar before hostilities had actually commenced, and deprived the amirs of their last retreat in case of danger, elicited the warm praise of the Duke of Wellington. Napier at this time had the governor-general's authority to compel the amirs to accept the new treaty. Outram thought that its acceptance could be obtained by negotiations, while Napier knew that every day's delay would bring him nearer to the hot weather, when operations in the field would be difficult.

He nevertheless was so far influenced by Outram that he decided to try what peaceable measures would do, and sent Outram to Khairpur as his commissioner to issue a proclamation calling on the amirs of both provinces to appear on 20 Jan. The time was extended to 25 Jan. Meanwhile Napier sent Outram, at his own request, to Haidarabad, and himself moved with his army slowly southward.

He reached Nowshera on 30 Jan. Outram was still sanguine of a peaceful issue, and, reporting that not a man in arms was at Haidarabad, suggested that the only thing wanting was that Napier should leave his army and go in person to Haidarabad. He therefore ridiculed Outram's proposal. On 12 Feb. Next day the amirs represented that they could not restrain their followers, and on the 15th the residency was attacked, and Outram and his gallant band, after some hours' siege, fought their way to the steamers, which carried them off to rejoin the main force.

Napier had waited at Nowshera until 6 Feb. He then marched to Sakarand, where he halted on 11 Feb. After three days he reached Sindabad, and on 16 Feb. Towards evening he heard that the enemy were ten miles off, entrenched in the bed of the Falaili river near Miani Meanee. The lowest estimate of the enemy's strength was twenty-two thousand.

Napier's force was less than 2, and this number was further reduced by six hundred men, of whom two hundred were sent with Outram to fire the forests on the enemy's flank, while four hundred men were in charge of baggage. Of the 2, men remaining, fewer than five hundred were Europeans.

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The enemy was discovered at daybreak of the 17th, and at nine o'clock in the morning the British line of battle was formed. The baggage, the animals, and the large body of camp followers were formed up in the British rear, and surrounded with a ring of camels facing inwards, with bales between them for the armed followers to fire over.

This improvised defence was guarded by Poona horse and four companies of infantry. Napier's order of battle was—artillery with twelve guns and fifty sappers on the right, 22nd Queen's regiment next, and on the left the 25th, 12th, and 1st grenadier native regiments in succession, the whole in echelon; on the left of the line were the 9th Bengal cavalry and the Sind or Jacob's horse.

The enemy had eighteen guns, and were strongly posted on a curve of the river, convex to the British, with a skikargah on each side flanking their front. The skikargah, or woody enclosure, on the left was covered towards the plain by a stone wall; behind the wall six thousand Baluchis were posted. Giving the order to advance, Napier rode forward, and noting an opening in the wall on his right flank, with an inspiration of genius thrust a company of the 22nd regiment and a gun into the space, telling Captain Tew to block the gap, and if necessary die there, thus paralysing the six thousand Baluchis within with a force of eighty men.

Tew died at his post, but his diminished company held the gap to the end. The main body of the British, advancing in columns of regiments in echelon under heavy fire, formed into line successively as each regiment approached the river Falaili, and charged up the bank, but staggered back on seeing the sea of turbans and of waving swords that filled all the broad, deep bed of the river, now dry.

For over two hours the British line remained a few yards from the top of the bank, advancing to deliver their fire into the masses of the enemy in the river-bed, and returning to load. The Baluchis, driven desperate by the increasing volleys of the British, pressed upon from behind, and unable to retreat, made frequent charges; but, as these were not executed in concert along their line, the British troops were able to overlap round their flanks and push them back over the edge.

The Baluchis fought stubbornly. No fire of musketry, discharge of grape, or push of bayonet could drive them back. Leaping at the guns, they were blown away by scores at a time, their gaps being continually filled from the rear.

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Napier could not leave this desperate conflict. He saw the struggle could not last much longer, and, judging that the supreme moment had come, he sent orders to his cavalry on the left to charge on the enemy's right. He himself rode up and down his infantry line, holding, as it seemed, a charmed life, while urging his men to sustain the increasing fury of the enemy.

The British cavalry swept down on the enemy's right, dashed through their guns, rode over the high bank of the river, crossed its bed, gained the plain beyond, and charged into the enemy's rear with irresistible fury. Then the Baluchis in front looked behind, and the British infantry, seizing the opportunity, charged with a shout, pushed the Baluchis into the ravine, and closed in hand-to-hand fight.

The battle was won. The Baluchis slowly moved off, as if half inclined to renew the conflict. With a British loss of twenty officers and men out of 2, no less than 6, Baluchis were killed or wounded, and more than three times as many were in retreat. Napier was content. Haidarabad surrendered, and six amirs gave up their swords. Shir Muhammad, the Lion of Mirpur, confident in the defeat of the British, and unwilling to swell the triumph of his rivals, was a few miles off, with ten thousand men.

He now retreated on Mirpur, where he soon found himself at the head of twenty-five thousand men. The position was one that called forth all Napier's powers.

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Knowing that Shir Muhammad was a good soldier, but deficient in wealth, he resolved to give him time, hoping that a large army and no money would compel him to attack. Napier sent to Sakhar for all available troops to join him by river. These reinforcements, consisting of a regiment of Bengal cavalry, a regiment of native infantry, and a troop of horse artillery, duly arrived; while Major Stack's brigade of fifteen hundred men and five guns joined him from the north on 22 March.

Napier had entrenched a camp close to the Indus, with a strong work on the other side of the river to protect his steamers. In the camp he placed his stores and hospital, with every appearance of the greatest caution, in February, and sat down to wait. The Lion was slowly approaching, and sent envoys to summon Napier to surrender. On the morning of the 24th Napier marched to attack the enemy.

He crossed diagonally the front of Haidarabad towards Dubba, eight miles to the north-west of the city. He found the Lion posted at Dubba with fifteen guns and twenty-six thousand men. Two lines of infantry were entrenched. The right rested on a curve of the river Falaili and could not be turned by reason of soft mud in the bed of the river, while the bank was covered with dense wood; in front of the position was a scarped nullah, behind which the first line of infantry extended for two miles to another wood, and then bent back behind a second nullah.

The cavalry were massed in advance of the left, under cover of the wood. Behind the right, where it rested in the Falaili, was the village of Dubba, filled with men. He was still suffering with physical infirmities which were results of his wounds during the Peninsular War, and he died about two years later at Oaklands, near PortsmouthEngland, on 29 Augustat the age of However his quarrel with Dalhousie was not over.

In his posthumously published Defects, Civil and Military of the Indian Government Westerton, he detected and condemned the growing superciliousness of the English in India towards the Indians; "The younger race of Europeans keep aloof from Native officers … How different this from the spirit which actuated the old men of Indian renown," he wrote.

He proposed that British officers should learn the language of the natives and that native officers be appointed as ADCs and Companions of the Bath. When revolt broke out inNapier's Defects was hailed as a prophetic work which correctly identified many of the seething tensions in the sub-continent. Instead they were pooh-poohed as the emanations of a distempered mind.

Napier's former house is now part of Oaklands Catholic School of Waterlooville. Napier died on 29 August and his remains were buried in the Royal Garrison Church in Portsmouth. Napier enforced the British prohibition of suttee, or sati practice. This was the custom of having a widow burning alive on the funeral pyre of her husband. While rarer during the time Napier ruled Sindh, [ 20 ] Napier judged that these immolations were motivated by profits for the priests; when told of an actual Sati about to take place, he informed those involved that he would stop the sacrifice.

The priests complained that this was a customary religious rite, and that customs of a nation should be respected. As recounted by his brother Williamhe famously replied:. Napier opposed slavery. According to the memoir on Napier by Williamthe Sindh cultivator was bonded and oppressed, and the numerous Hindus were plundered people and their faith was condemned by Balochis and Sindhis alike.

They were eager for peace and protection. Napier found that the Sindh was divided into land parcels called kardaratsunder a headman called kardarwho were under an Arabian cadi. The kardar collected land taxes and customs, frequently fining and torturing the villagers to a level of fear that they were slaves of the chief to whose estate their village belonged.

Napier continued the old system of kardarsbut made them official collectors giving them government salaries, allowing villagers to file complaints against any kardar. While stationed at KarachiNapier found that the land was owned by the state, Amirs were collecting land taxes with "shocking cruelty — mutilations and tortures", with land tax rates between half and two-thirds.

These oppressive practices had led many Sindh farmers to abandon their farms and move to the desert. Napier challenged this oppression. Napier opposed the slavery custom where, according to William's memoir, young girls would be dragged from "their homes for the harems of the great". His efforts to respect the rights of women and children required him to battle numerous Amirs who previously exercised "unmitigated cruelty and debauchery".

Since amalgamated, it is now the 5th Battalion Napier's of the Rajputana Rifles. A bronze in honour of Napier by George Gamon Adams — surveys from its plinth the southwest corner of Trafalgar Squarewhile a marble stands in the Crypt of St. Paul's Cathedral. In his bronze, he is shown bareheaded, in military uniform, with his cloak thrown back.

His left hand is grasping his sword by the scabbard and raised above his waist, while his right, extended, holds a scroll symbolic of the government awarded to Scinde during his tenure of office. The monument was erected without ceremony on 26 November and paid for by means of public subscriptions, the most numerous contributors being private soldiers.

Some controversy was raised in October when Ken Livingstonethe newly elected mayor of London, requested that the statue of Napier and that of Major General Sir Henry Havelock be moved to less prominent positions, stating as his reason "I have not a clue who two of the generals there are or what they did", but these requests did not result in any action.

His remains lie in the now-ruined Royal Garrison ChurchPortsmouth. His tomb is immediately outside the west door of the church. A loose plaque in the church is thought to have indicated the burial place of Napier, inside what is now the west wall. In the port area, there is also a Napier Mole. In Manora, the St. Paul's Churcherected inis a sir charles napier biography of mahatma to Napier.

Karachi Grammar School named its second-oldest house "Napier". There is a residential area in Quetta named Napier Lines. Contents move to sidebar hide. As a volunteer he served in the actions on the Coa, and again at Busaco, where he was badly wounded in the face. He was ordered to England, but refused to go, and in Marchthough barely recovered, he hurried to the front to take part in the pursuit of Massena.

After the battle of Fuentes d'Onor, he received the lieutenant-colonelcy of the nd sir charles napier biography of mahatma, which had become entirely demoralized at Botany Bay, and when he joined it at Guernsey in r was one of the worst regiments in the service. When he left it in it was one of the best. He accompanied it in June from Guernsey to Bermuda, where he wrought a wonderful change in the spirit both of officers and men.

By treating his men as friends he won their love and admiration, and became in a peculiar degree the hero of the British soldiers. After seeing further active service against the United States in September he exchanged back into the 10th regiment, and in Decemberbelieving all chance of active service to be at an end, went on half-pay.

He was gazetted one of the first C. Though an officer of some experience and more than thirty years of age, he now entered the military college at Farnham, and completed his military education. In he was appointed inspecting field officer at Corfu, in was sent on a mission to Ali Pasha at Iannina, and in visited Greece, where he became an ardent supporter of the patriot party.

From Corfu he was moved in to Cephalonia, where he remained for eight years as governor and military resident. He was the model of an absolute colonial governor, and showed all the qualities of a benevolent despot. He made good roads and founded great institutions, but everything must be done by him, and he showed himself averse to interference, whether from the high commissioner of the Ionian Islands, whom it was his duty to obey, or from the feudal magnates of his own little colony, over whom it was his duty to exercise strict supervision.

An interesting episode in his command was his communication with Lord Byron when he touched at Cephalonia on his way to take part in the Greek War of Independence. Byron sent a letter to the Greek committee in London recommending Napier's appointment as commander-in,chief. But after many negotiations the scheme came to nothing. In Napier, who had two years before been made a colonel in the army, quarrelled with Sir Frederick Adam, the new high commissioner, and inwhen Napier was in England on leave, Adam seized his papers and forbade him to return.

Sir David Gill. Sir Edmond Halley. Sir Edmund Andros. Sir Edmund Percival Hillary. Sir Ernest Dunlop Swinton. Sir Francis Drake. Sir Francis Galton. Sir Francis Nicholson. Sir Frederic Charles Bartlett. Sir Frederick Grant Banting. Sir Frederick William Herschel. Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Sir George Cayley.