Raja Lal Singh (died 1866) was

Wazir Wazir often refers to: * Vizier or wazir, a high-ranking political advisor or minister Wazir may also refer to: Places * Wazirabad, a City in Punjab, Pakistan * Waziristan, a region in tribal belt of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan * Wazir Akbar K ...

of the Sikh Empire and commander of Sikh Khalsa Army forces during the

First Anglo-Sikh War The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company in 1845 and 1846 in and around the Ferozepur district of Punjab. It resulted in defeat and partial subjugation of the Sikh empire and cession of ...

. Along with

Tej Singh Tej Singh or Raja Teja Singh was a Sikh commander in the Sikh Empire. He was appointed as Commander in chief of the Sikh Khalsa Army during the First Anglo-Sikh War. After the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the Sikh court became fractious ...

, Lal Singh was in the employ of 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 ...

during the course of the war. Lal Singh was regularly supplying information and even receiving instructions from Company officers, communicating through Captain Peter Nicholson.

Biography

Early life

Lal Singh was, a shopkeeper native to Sahgol in the Jehlum District.Singh, Harbans (2011) ''Encyclopaedia of Sikhism: Volume II, E-L''. Punjab University, Patiala. p. 563-564. He entered the service of the Sikh government in 1832, working as a writer in the treasury, and, according to some sources, converting from his original Hinduism to Sikhism in order to secure a place at court.Bansal, Bobby Singh (2015) ''Remnants of the Sikh Empire: Historical Sikh Monuments in India & Pakistan''. May House, Inc.. He was patronised by the Wazirs

Dhian Singh Dogra Raja Dhian Singh (22 August 1796 – 15 September 1843) was the longest serving wazir of the Sikh Empire, during the reign of Maharajah Ranjit Singh, and four of his successors. He held the office for twenty five years, from 1818 up till his deat ...

and Hira Singh Dogra, gaining favour by engineering, in 1843, the murders of Beli Ram (another of Lal Singh's benefactors) and Bhai Gurmukh Singh, both of whom were disliked by Hira Singh. Hira gave Lal military commands, granted him the title of Rajah and numerous

jagir A jagir ( fa, , translit=Jāgir), also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar (Zamindar) system. It developed during the Islamic rule era of the Indian subcontinent, start ...

s at Rohtas, and appointed him tutor to Maharajah

Duleep Singh Maharaja Sir Duleep Singh, GCSI (4 September 1838 – 22 October 1893), or Sir Dalip Singh, and later in life nicknamed the "Black Prince of Perthshire", was the last ''Maharaja'' of the Sikh Empire. He was Maharaja Ranjit Singh's youngest son ...

in the place of Duleep's uncle,

Jawahar Singh Jawahar Singh () ( hi, महाराजा जवाहर सिंह) was a Jat ruler of the Bharatpur State. He succeeded to the throne when his father Suraj Mal died in 1763. Early life During Ahmed Shah Abdali's invasion of India in 1 ...

. Nevertheless, when Maharani

Jind Kaur Maharani Jind Kaur ( – 1 August 1863) was regent of the Sikh Empire from 1843 until 1846. She was the youngest wife of the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, Ranjit Singh, and the mother of the last Maharaja, Duleep Singh. She was renowned fo ...

turned against Hira Singh, Lal supported the Maharani and her brother Jawahar, helping them to persecute Hira Singh. Lal quickly won the Maharani's confidence, and became her closest advisor - contemporaries assumed that he was her lover, but Lal himself denied this in later lifeKeay, John (2017) ''The Tartan Turban: In Search of Alexander Gardner''. Kashi House. - being appointed to the Council of Regency. In February 1845, he was sent to

Jammu Jammu is the winter capital of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. It is the headquarters and the largest city in Jammu district of the union territory. Lying on the banks of the river Tawi Ri ...

at the head of an army to negotiate with

Gulab Singh Gulab Singh Jamwal (1792–1857) was the founder of Dogra dynasty and the first Maharaja of the princely state of Jammu and Kashmir, the largest princely state under the British Raj, which was created after the defeat of the Sikh Empire in t ...

. When Jawahar Singh, who had since been appointed Wazir, was assassinated by the Sikh Khalsa Army on 21 September 1845, Lal Singh was made Wazir of the Sikh Empire in his place on 8 November.

First Anglo-Sikh War

During the

of 1845-1846, Lal Singh took personal command of the Khalsa, but alongside

, he was secretly working with the British, sending information to and receiving orders from Captain Peter Nicholson, an officer stationed at Ferozepur. According to Alexander Gardner, who was in Lahore at this time, the Maharani, Lal, and Tej wanted to use the war as an opportunity to neutralise the growing threat of the Khalsa, who were becoming rebellious. At the start of the war, Lal kept his divisions entrenched at Ferozeshah even when the British garrison at Ferozepur was open to attack, allowing John Hunter Littler to retreat from the village and join forces with Hugh Gough. Gough's

army subsequently defeated the Khalsa in the Battle of Mudki, from which Lal fled after a single exchange of fire, and at the Battle of Ferozeshah, which was only won with the help of Tej Singh's treachery. Lal himself supposedly sheltered in a ditch during the battle. With his own treachery suspected by the men under his command, Lal Singh once again fled with his irregular cavalry, making his way to Lahore, where he offered before the Khalsa to relinquish his office. Although he was relieved of the office of Wazir, replaced by Gulab Singh on 31 January 1846, he retained military command, and was present at the Battle of Sobraon on 10 February. Before the battle, Lal Singh allegedly betrayed the Khalsa once again, sending a map of the Sikh entrenchments to Nicholson. During the battle itself, Lal kept his artillery and cavalry off the field, and once again retired to Lahore.

Aftermath and exile

In the aftermath of the First Anglo-Sikh War, Lal Singh was rewarded by the British by being confirmed as Wazir of the State of Lahore under Henry Lawrence. However, he fell from grace when it was discovered that he had sent written instructions to the Governor of Kashmir to thwart Gulab Singh's attempts to occupy the

Vale of Kashmir The Kashmir Valley, also known as the ''Vale of Kashmir'', is an intermontane valley concentrated in the Kashmir Division of the Indian- union territory of Jammu and Kashmir. The valley is bounded on the southwest by the Pir Panjal Range and ...

, which had been granted him by the British under the

Treaty of Amritsar A treaty is a formal, legally binding written agreement between actors in international law. It is usually made by and between sovereign states, but can include international organizations, individuals, business entities, and other legal pers ...

. Lal was tried by a Court of Inquiry, found guilty, and exiled to

Agra Agra (, ) is a city on the banks of the Yamuna river in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, about south-east of the national capital New Delhi and 330 km west of the state capital Lucknow. With a population of roughly 1.6 million, Agra is ...

with a pension of 12,000 rupees a year. He was interviewed by journalist John Lang, who found that he had no complaints about his situation, and had taken up archaeology and surgery as hobbies. He was later moved to

Dera Doon Dehradun () is the capital and the most populous city of the Indian state of Uttarakhand. It is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and is governed by the Dehradun Municipal Corporation, with the Uttarakhand Legislative As ...

, where he eventually died in 1866.

Gallery

File:Photograph of Lal Singh.jpg, Sole existing photograph of Lal Singh, circa 1855-1860, Agra or Dera Doon, India File:Portrait of Lal Singh.jpg, Portrait of Lal Singh, circa 1846-1849, Lahore, Punjab File:Raja Lal Singh. Watercolour by a Company artist, Punjab, 1865.jpg, Raja Lal Singh. Watercolour by a Company artist, Punjab, 1865.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Singh, Lal Year of birth missing People of the First Anglo-Sikh War People of the Sikh Empire 1866 deaths People from Dehradun