Lal Pratap Singh was a member of the Bisen

Rajput Rajput (from Sanskrit ''raja-putra'' 'son of a king') is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating from the Indian subcontinent. The term Ra ...

dynasty of

Kalakankar Kalakankar is a village in Pratapgarh district of Indian state Uttar Pradesh. Kalakankar was a zamindari in British India. The famous Hindi poet Sumitranandan Pant Sumitranandan Pant (20 May 1900 – 28 December 1977) was an Indian poet. ...

. He was prominent leader in the

Indian Rebellion of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...

. He was killed during the 1858 Battle of Chanda. The

Government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

issued a

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail), who then affix the stamp to the fa ...

on 17 December 2009 to commemorate him.

Early life

Lal Pratap Singh born to father Hanumant Singh (1826–1885) in the

zamindar A zamindar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: , ; Persian: , ) in the Indian subcontinent was an autonomous or semiautonomous ruler of a province. The term itself came into use during the reign of Mughals and later the British had begun using it as a ...

of the

of Partabgarh (now spelt Pratapgarh) near

Allahabad Allahabad (), officially known as Prayagraj, also known as Ilahabad, is a metropolis in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh.The other five cities were: Agra, Kanpur (Cawnpore), Lucknow, Meerut, and Varanasi (Benares). It is the administrat ...

in the

Bengal Presidency The Bengal Presidency, officially the Presidency of Fort William and later Bengal Province, was a subdivision of the British Empire in India. At the height of its territorial jurisdiction, it covered large parts of what is now South Asia and ...

Colonial India Colonial India was the part of the Indian subcontinent that was occupied by European colonial powers during the Age of Discovery. European power was exerted both by conquest and trade, especially in spices. The search for the wealth and prosper ...

during

Company rule Company rule in India (sometimes, Company ''Raj'', from hi, rāj, lit=rule) refers to the rule of the British East India Company on the Indian subcontinent. This is variously taken to have commenced in 1757, after the Battle of Plassey, when ...

Revolt of 1857

During the turbulent period of 1857

Wajid Ali Shah Mirza Wajid Ali Shah ( ur, ) (30 July 1822 – 1 September 1887) was the eleventh and last King of Awadh, holding the position for 9 years, from 13 February 1847 to 11 February 1856. Wajid Ali Shah's first wife was Alam Ara who was better k ...

, ruler of

Awadh Awadh (), known in British historical texts as Avadh or Oudh, is a region in the modern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, which was before independence known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. It is synonymous with the Kośāla region of ...

, was ousted by the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Southea ...

and exiled to

Calcutta Kolkata (, or , ; also known as Calcutta , List of renamed places in India#West Bengal, the official name until 2001) is the Capital city, capital of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of West Bengal, on the eastern ba ...

Begum Hazrat Mahal Begum Hazrat Mahal (c. 18207 April 1879), also known as the Begum of Awadh, was the second wife of Nawab of Awadh Wajid Ali Shah, and the regent of Awadh in 1857–1858. She is known for the leading role she had in the rebellion against the Br ...

took over the regency of the State for her twelve-year-old son

Birjis Qadr Birjis Qadr (20 August 1845 – 14 August 1893) was the Nawab of Awadh from 1857 until 1858. Following the outbreak of the War of 1857, Qadr's mother appointed him monarch of the state in 1857 and she became his regent. Although they provided s ...

. During these time Hanumant Pratap Singh (father of Lal Pratap Singh) was the

Talukdar Taluqdars or Talukdar ( Hindustani: Devanagari: ; Perso-Arabic: , ; from ''taluq'' "estate/attachment" + '' dar'' "owner"), were aristocrats who formed the ruling class during the Delhi Sultanate, Bengal Sultanate, Mughal Empire and British Raj ...

. The

had enforced a system of taxation called "

Mahalwari The Mahalwari system is used in India to protect village-level-autonomy. It was introduced by Holt Mackenzie in 1822. The word "Mahalwari" is derived from the Hindi word ''Mahal'', which means house, district, neighborhood or quarter. Mahalwari con ...

", which involved constantly increasing revenue demands with consequences disastrous to the landlords and farmers. Their increasing indebtness led to dissatisfaction and the Talukdars sided with the Begum to reinstate the Nawab and overthrow the British. Their trained armies stood ready to assist

at short notice.

Pratap Jang

At the behest of the Begum, Hanumant Singh raised a battalion of 1000 soldiers under the command of his eldest son Lal Pratap Singh. This battalion, called "Pratap Jang" rose to action in February 1858 when the British under

Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde Field Marshal Colin Campbell, 1st Baron Clyde, (20 October 1792– 14 August 1863), was a British Army officer. After serving in the Peninsular War and the War of 1812, he commanded the 98th Regiment of Foot during the First Opium War and then ...

and

Commander-in-Chief, India During the period of the Company rule in India and the British Raj, the Commander-in-Chief, India (often "Commander-in-Chief ''in'' or ''of'' India") was the supreme commander of the British Indian Army. The Commander-in-Chief and most of his ...

attempted the

Capture of Lucknow The Capture of Lucknow (Hindi: लखनऊ का क़ब्ज़ा, ur, ) was a battle of Indian rebellion of 1857. The British recaptured the city of Lucknow which they had abandoned in the previous winter after the relief of a besieg ...

. Lord Campbell was aided by a

Gurkha The Gurkhas or Gorkhas (), with endonym Gorkhali ), are soldiers native to the Indian Subcontinent, chiefly residing within Nepal and some parts of Northeast India. The Gurkha units are composed of Nepalis and Indian Gorkhas and are recruit ...

battalion and two Company battalions. The three forces summoned by the Begum, including the one from

camped at Chanda in Sultanpur district of

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh (; , 'Northern Province') is a state in northern India. With over 200 million inhabitants, it is the most populated state in India as well as the most populous country subdivision in the world. It was established in 1950 ...

awaiting the signal for battle. On 19 February 1858, as the 'Pratap Jang' contingent sat down to breakfast, the army of

attacked them. The soldiers of the 'Pratap Jang' picked up whatever weapon came to hand and pitched into the battle until ammunition ran out. Reinforcements were cut off by the Company troops and scattered remnants of other forces of the Talukdars had been forced to retreat.

Killed by British

Lal Pratap Singh was advised to withdraw so that he could fight another day but the young warrior Lal Pratap led his troop into the final battle, of which the result was inevitable. many Indian soldiers and warriors died that day, among them was Lal Pratap Singh for whom a glorious death was preferable to the shame of cowardice. The humiliation inflicted on his body by the company troop commanders could not decimate the glory of great warrior Lal Pratap Singh. His untimely death devastated his father Hanumant Singh. He left behind a young widow princess Diggach Kunwari and a son Raja Rampal Singh Singh who born in August 1848. Lal Pratap Singh, a loving son with a kind and generous nature, led a disciplined life, a life that has inspired his future generations to fight the good fight.

Commemoration

Postage stamp

The

government of India The Government of India (ISO: ; often abbreviated as GoI), known as the Union Government or Central Government but often simply as the Centre, is the national government of the Republic of India, a federal democracy located in South Asia, c ...

commemorated Lal Pratap Singh by issuing a postage stamp and accompanying first day cover were designed by artist Suresh Kumar and Alka Sharma. The stamp is printed by Security Printing Press in

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

Early life

Revolt of 1857

Pratap Jang

Killed by British

Commemoration

Postage stamp

See also

References

Further reading