ALLARD, ACHILLE

ALLARD, ACHILLE, a young Muslim boy whose parents had been killed in one of the battles of Multan, and who was saved by Maharaja Ranjit Singh, had been born at Sayyidpur in the then province of Multan. General Allard noticed his intelligence and asked the Maharaja\’s permission to adopt him. Jacquemont saw him in Lahore, and Honigberger performed upon him a delicate surgical intervention. In 1834, he was christianized and rebaptized Achille by his adopted family.

In October 1834, he accompanied General Allard to Paris. He was educated at the Ecole Speciale de Commerce in Paris at the expense of the French government. When General Allard had left for Lahore in June 1836, a regular correspondence went on between Achille and his foster father through Feuillet de Conches, Head of the Protocole at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Paris). In 1840, Achille decided to go back to Lahore with Benjamin Allard in order to settle the succession of General Allard. He fell sick and died at Lahore in 1841 or 1842.

References :

1. Lafont,Jean-Marie, “Bannou Pan Dei Allard and the Family of General Allard,” Journal of
2. Sikh Studies, vol. 2. Amritsar, 1978
3. Honigberger, John Martin, Thirty-five Years in the East. Calcutta, 1852