European adventurers, scholars and officials

ANDREWS, CHARLES FREER (1871-1940). Anglican missionary, scholar and educationist, was born to John Edwin Andrews on 12 February 1871 in NewcastleonTyne in Great Britain. His father was a minister of the Evangelical Anglican Church. Andrews grew up in an intense and emotional religious environment. A nearly fatal attack of rheumatic fever in childhood drew him to his mother with an intense affection and her love created in his mind the first conscious thoughts of God and Christ, and by the time he entered Cambridge, at the age of 19, he had already had "a wonderful conversion of my heart to God." In 1893, Andrews graduated first class in Classics and Theology from Pembroke College, Cambridge.

Uncover the story of Francis John Canora, an Irishman in 19th century Lahore who rose to Colonel in Maharaja Ranjit Singh's army. Discover his intrigue and downfall.

FANE, SIR HENRY (1778-1840), commander-in-chief of the British Indian army, who visited the Punjab in 1837 on the occasion of the marriage of Kanvar Nau Nihal Singh, Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s grandson. Sir Henry Fane`s visit to Ranjit Singh was an event of considerable interest. He was highly impressed by the extraordinary discipline of the Maharaja`s troops and the splendour of his court. In his several meetings with the British commander-in-chief, Ranjit Singh questioned him on the strength and composition of the British army, on the extent of Russian influence in Persia, and on the ability of the Shah of Persia to give effective aid to the Russians.

HARLAN, JOSIAH (1799-1871), adventurer and medical practitioner who served the British, the Sikhs and the Afghans, was born in Philadelphia, U.S.A., in 1799. At the age of 24, he arrived at Calcutta and was employed as an assistant surgeon by the East India Company and attached to the British army then operating in Burma (1824). After the war, Harlan proceeded towards the Punjab to try his luck there. At Ludhiana, he met Shah Shuja`, the deposed king of Kabul, then a pensionary of the English, who engaged him as his secret agent and despatched him to Kabul to stir up a revolt in Afghanistan.

LEIGH, WILLIAM, an Irish adventurer, who while serving with the 19th Light Dragoons in Bombay, shot down, in 1803, his captain and fled his unit. He travelled in the remote parts of Sindh and Afghanistan. In Khorasan he embraced Islam and adopted the name of Muhammad Khan. He came to Lahore in 1825, and, in an interview with Maharaja Ranjit Singh, stated that he knew the art of cartography. He showed him maps of Kabul, Kandahar, Sindh and Peshawar. The Maharaja gave him appointment and attached him to General Vcntura. There is no mention of him in the Sikh records after 1830.

PERRON, PIERRE CUILLIER (1755-1834), in chief and all powerful deputy in northern India. Perron endeavoured to extend Maratha influence up to the River Sutlej. When in 1800 the British emissary, Mir Yusaf `Ali Khan, came on a mission to the court of RanjTt Singh, Perron did not wish an entente to take place between him and the English and wrote to him as well as to the Malva chiefs not to trust them and drive their agent out of their territory.

VOCHUS, a Russian, who was, in 1823, employed in the gunpowder factory at Lahore, then under the Sikhs.

Explore the adventurous and tumultuous life of Benoit Argoud, a quarrelsome Frenchman who joined Maharaja Ranjit Singh's infantry in 1836.

CLERK, SIR GEORGE RUSSELL (1800-1889), diplomat, son of John Clerk, entered the service of the East India Company as a writer in 1817. After various appointments in Calcutta, Rajputana and Delhi, he became political agent at Ambala in 1831. He was appointed agent to the Governor General at the North-West Frontier Agency in 1840. In this capacity, he shaped British policy towards the Sikhs during the days following the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. For almost a decade, as political agent at Ambala, he had been responsible for British political relations with the cis Sutlej states.

FARRIS (d. 1842), a Frenchman, who joined the Sikh army in 1841 and was employed in the gunpowder factory. He died at Lahore within one year of his appointment.