CHET SINGH, military commander, engineer and a kardar, i.e. a revenue officer, under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. In 1831 he became engineer in charge for constructing a bridge over the River Sutlej for the Ropar meeting between Maharaja Ranjit Singh and Governor General William Bentinck. He constructed another bridge at

NIHAL SINGH SODHI (d. 1859), son of Megh Singh, entered Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s army in 1819, and was, five years later, made commandant of 100 horsemen in the Charyari corps. He fought for Maharaja Sher Singh during the siege of Lahore in January 1841. Under Sher Singh`s successor, Nihal

CORTLANDT. HENRY CHARLES VAN (1814-1888), son of Colonel Henry Clinton Van Cortlandt of the British army, by an Indian wife, was born at Meerut in 1814, and was educated in England. In 1832, he returned to India and joined Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s army on a monthly salary of Rs 250,

PREM SINGH, commandant in the Sikh forces demobilized after the first AngloSikh war, joined Bhai Maharaj singh (d. 1856) in a bid to raise the standard of revolt against the British. After Sikhs` defeat in the second AngloSikh war early in 1849, he along with Maharaj Singh escaped to

DAL SINGH (d. 1845), son of Santokh Singh, a follower of Kanhaiya misi under Jai Singh, and of village Talvandi in Gurdaspur district, fought in most of Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s campaigns. He inherited Talvandi and some neighbouring villages. Dal Singh was killed in the first AngloSikh war in 1845

SAHIB DIAL (b.1801), second of the five sons of Misr Ralia Ram, entered the Sikh service as a munshi (clerk) in the Customs Department under his father. In 1832 he was transferred to the Paymaster`s office of the regular army and in 1839 was made chief of the customs

GILBERT, SIR WALTER RALEIGH (1785-1853), divisional commander of the British army under Lord Hugh Gough in the first and second Anglo Sikh wars, son of the Rev Edmund Gilbert, was born in Bodmin, England, in 1785. In 1801, he joined the Bengal infantry as a cadet. He rose to

TARJKHIPANJAB, TUHFAT ULALBAB, a brief chronicle in Persian, by Maulawi Munshi `Abd ul Karim `Alawi, printed in Lucknow in 1849, gives a somewhat diffused account of Ranjit Singh and his successors, mainly bearing upon the two Anglo Sikh wars, the first of 1845-46, with actions fought at Mudki, Feroze

GOBINDJAS, RAI (d. 1846) served, like his father Rai Anand Singh, as a vakilor agent of the Sikh kingdom, first at Ludhiana and then at Delhi. His despatches from Ludhiana contain reports concerning various political matters such as the Indus navigation scheme, the Ropar meeting, Alexander Burncs` mission to

THACKWELL, SIR EDWARD JOSEPH (1781-1859), commander of cavalry division of the army of the Sutlej under Lord Hugh Gough in the first Anglo Sikh war was born on 1 February 1781, the son of John Thackwell. A veteran of Peninsula and Waterloo, he assumed command of the army of the

GURMUKH SINGH (1799-1870), son of Fateh Singh , belonged Lo the village of Turig, near Amritsar. In 1816, he joined Maharaja Ranjit Singh `s army. He was given command of 100 horse and placed under Misr Divan Chand and, after the latter`s death in 1825, under Desa Singh Majlthia.

HAKIM RAI, DIWAN (1803-1868), whose forebears had served the Kanhaiya chiefs, was born the son of Kashi Ram in 1803. In 1824, he joined the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, but soon rose to the high civilian office of diwan. He became tutor to Karivar Nau Nihal Singh, the Maharaja`s