MOHAN SINGH VAID, BHAI. (1881-1936), apothecary, writer, collector of books and social reformer, was born at Tarn Taran on Phagun sudil, 1937 Bk/7 March 1881, the youngest of the four sons of Bhai Jaimal Singh (1843-1919), who too was a void (practitioner of Ayurveda or Indian system of medicine) of long standing. Mohan Singh had no regular schooling after his preliminary education in the Gurmukhi Vidyala at Tarn Taran. He, however, studied books on Sikh religion and history at home and learnt Ayurveda from his father and, later, from Sant Ishar Singh and Pandit Jai Dial.
AGNEW, PATRICK ALEXANDER VANS (1822-1848), a civil servant under the East India Company. He was the son of Lt Col Patrick Vans Agnew, an East India Company director. Agnew joined the Bengal civil service in March 1841. In 1842, he became assistant to the commissioner of Delhi division. In December 1845, he was appointed assistant to Major George Broad foot, the superintendent of the cis Sutlej states. He was present at the battle of Sabhraon in 1846.
BROADFOOT, GEORGE (1807-1845) Joined service of the East India Company as a cadet in the Madras Native Infantry in 1826. In May 1841, he went to Kabul in command of the escort which accompanied the families of Shah Shuja` and Zaman Shah. He took part in the first Afghan war and distinguished himself in the Khaibar operations under General Pollock. In 1844, he was appointed Agent to the Governor General at the North-West Frontier Agency. The appointment was not liked by the Sikh Government. Major George Broadfoot was impulsive by nature and had a temperamental hostility towards the Sikhs.
MOUTON, FRANCOIS HENRI (1804-1876), born at Montelimar (France) on 17 August 1804, joined the French army as a volunteer in 1823, becoming in 1827 a sublieutenant in the Royal Bodyguards. In 1835, he got promotion as captain. In 1838, he accompanied General Ventura, then on leave in France, to the Punjab where he was employed as commandant of Cuirassiers in the Khalsa army, on a monthly salary of Rs 800. In 1839 he along with Foulkes accompanied Ventura on an expedition to Mandi, in the hills. Foulkes was killed at Mandi in 1841 by his own troops, but Mouton`s life was spared.
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 Indus in the Afghan campaign of 1838-39. He also commanded the cavalry division of Sir Hugh Gough`s army in the campaign against the Marathas of Gwalior at the close of 1843. In the first Anglo Sikh war, he was in command of the cavalry at Sabhraon on 10 February 1846.
ADINA BEG KHAN (d. 1758), governor of the Punjab for a few months in AD 1758, was, according to Ahwal-i-Dina Beg Khan, an unpublished Persian manuscript, the son of Channu, of the Arain agriculturalist caste, mostly settled in Doaba region of the Punjab. He was born at the village of Sharakpur, near Lahore, now in Sheikhupura district of Pakistan. Adina Beg was brought up in Mughal homes, for the most part in Jalalabad, Khanpur and Bajvara in the Jalandhar Doab. Starting his career as a soldier, he rose to be collector of revenue of the village of Kang in the Lohian area, near Sultanpur Lodhi.
