Colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge ...

Sir Claude Martine Wade CB (3 April 1794 – 21 October 1861) was a British soldier who was Agent to the Governor-General for the Affairs of the Punjab and North-West Frontier, 1823–1840.PunjabRevenue
accessed July 2007 He managed relations between the British and important rulers in India such as

Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ranjit Singh (13 November 1780 – 27 June 1839), popularly known as Sher-e-Punjab or "Lion of Punjab", was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire, which ruled the northwest Indian subcontinent in the early half of the 19th century. He s ...

and

Shah Shuja Shāh Shujā' ( fa, شاه شجاع, meaning: ''brave king'') may refer to the following: * Shah Shoja Mozaffari, the 14th-century Muzaffarid ruler of Southern Iran *Shah Shuja (Mughal prince) (1616-1661), the second son of Shah Jahan *Shah Shujah ...

, King of

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is borde ...

. He was one of the first to "force the

Khyber pass The Khyber Pass (خیبر درہ) is a mountain pass in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan, on the border with the Nangarhar Province of Afghanistan. It connects the town of Landi Kotal to the Valley of Peshawar at Jamrud by traversing p ...

Career

Claude Martin Wade was born in 1794 to Joseph Wade and his wife in

Bengal Bengal ( ; bn, বাংলা/বঙ্গ, translit=Bānglā/Bôngô, ) is a geopolitical, cultural and historical region in South Asia, specifically in the eastern part of the Indian subcontinent at the apex of the Bay of Bengal, predom ...

. He was named after his godfather, Major General

Claude Martin Major-General Claude Martin (5 January 1735 – 13 September 1800) was a French army officer who served in the French and later British East India companies in colonial India. Martin rose to the rank of major-general in the British East India C ...

.Leslie. Stephen ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

'' 1899 p412 He was named after Claude Martin The said General died in 1800 leaving his immense fortune, in the manner of a childless man, to charity. Wade had two children. A son named, Claude Fitzroy Wade, a barrister, and a daughter, Ellen Maud Welman. Wade was appointed a cadet in the

Bengal army The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire. The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company (EIC) until the Gover ...

in 1809 and became an Ensign posted to the

Bengal Native Infantry The regiments of Bengal Native Infantry, alongside the regiments of Bengal European Infantry, were the regular infantry components of the East India Company's Bengal Army from the raising of the first Native battalion in 1757 to the passing int ...

in 1812 He served in Bundelkund in 1812, and in operations in Sindia and

Holkar The Holkar (Pronunciation: �o(ː)ɭkəɾ dynasty was a Maratha clan of Dhangar origin in India. The Holkars were generals under Peshwa Baji Rao I, and later became Maharajas of Indore in Central India as an independent member of the M ...

in 1815. He fought in the Third Maratha War between 1817 and 1819. In 1823 he was diplomatic agent at

Ludhiana Ludhiana ( ) is the most populous and the largest city in the Indian state of Punjab. The city has an estimated population of 1,618,879 2011 census and distributed over , making Ludhiana the most densely populated urban centre in the state. I ...

, taking over from a Captain Murray In 1835, Claude was in charge of relations with

The Gentleman's Magazine ''The Gentleman's Magazine'' was a monthly magazine founded in London, England, by Edward Cave in January 1731. It ran uninterrupted for almost 200 years, until 1922. It was the first to use the term '' magazine'' (from the French ''magazine' ...

1861 pub. F. Jefferies Col. C. M. Wade, was able to win the confidence of Maharaja Ranjit Singh through mutual regard and understanding which greatly helped to change the relations between the two Governments from undisguised hostility to close friendship and accord. In the 1830s, the British decided to replace

Dost Mohammad Khan Dost Mohammad Khan Barakzai (Pashto/ Persian: ; 23 December 17929 June 1863), nicknamed the Amir-i Kabir, Also titled Amir al-Mu'minin, was a member of the Barakzai dynasty and one of the prominent rulers of the Emirate of Afghanistan. His 37-ye ...

on the

Kabul Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into #Districts, 22 municipal dist ...

throne. A tripartite Treaty of 1838 was drafted between the British,

and Ranjit Singh. The Lahore ruler signed the treaty on 26 June 1838, but the Governor-General, Lord Auckland, before signing it sent the draft to Shah Shuja at Ludhiana through Macnaughten, Wade and Mackeson. The Shah objected to various articles, but he secured various assurances from the British Government, and on 17 July 1838, the mission left Ludhiana with the signed treaty. Shah Shuja raised his contingent of 6,000 at Ludhiana, and through the combined help of the British and the Sikhs he was placed on his ancestral throne on 7 August 1839. Claude's special mission in 1838 to

Peshawur Peshawar (; ps, پېښور ; hnd, ; ; ur, ) is the sixth most populous city in Pakistan, with a population of over 2.3 million. It is situated in the north-west of the country, close to the International border with Afghanistan. It is ...

to join the Sikh army with Shahzada Timoor (Shah Shuja's son) meant he was (amongst) the first to force the

. In 1845 he married Jane Selina, eldest daughter of Captain Thomas Nicholl of the Bengal Horse Artillery. She and their son Claude FitzRoy (barrister) survived him. In 1848 he had his last appointment as political agent for the vast area of

Malwa Malwa is a historical region of west-central India occupying a plateau of volcanic origin. Geologically, the Malwa Plateau generally refers to the volcanic upland north of the Vindhya Range. Politically and administratively, it is also sy ...

In 1839, Wade was knighted and made a Companion of the Most Honorable Military Order of the Bath.

References

;Attribution

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Wade, Claude Martin, Sir 1794 births 1861 deaths British East India Company Army officers Knights Bachelor Companions of the Order of the Bath British military personnel of the First Anglo-Afghan War

Career

See also

References

External links