ROSSAIX(d. 1844), a Frenchman, who was a skilled road engineer and who had served in Napoleon`s army. He came to the Punjab in 1843 to take up service under the Sikh Maharaja. His salary was fixed at Rs 500 per month. His main charge was the construction of bridges

BENTINCK, LORD WILLIAM CAVENDISH (1774-1839), Governor General of India, son of William Henry, third duke of Portland, was born on 14 September 1774. In 1803, he was appointed governor of Madras, but recalled in 1807 in consequence of the sepoy mutiny at Vellore. In 1827, Bentinck succeeded Lord Amherst as

DE LA FONT, CAPTAIN AUGUSTE, a Frenchman, who entered Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s service in 1838. He was appointed an aide decamp to General Ventura. Later, he acted as a staff officer to Colonel C.M. Wade during his journey to Kabul. He took active part in the action at Fort

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

HURELEEK, a Greek, who according to Alexander Gardner, Ranjit Singh and His While Officers, joined the Sikh infantry in 1841 during the reign of Maharaja Sher Singh.

METUI, a Russian soldier of fortune, described to be a captain in one of the regiments of the Sikh army in 1841 on a monthly salary of Rs 300. According to one account, he had married a Kashmiri woman and had a daughter by her and was a resident

SHERIFF, a Spaniard, who joined the Sikh army as an engineer in 1841 on a salary of Rs 300 per month. He had not been in service more than an year when he fell off his horse and died in Lahore.

BIANCHI, an Italian engineer, who arrived at Lahore in Sikh times. According to the Khalsa Darbar payrolls, he served the Sikh State and was employed in 1835 as a road engineer on a salary of 9 rupees per day. He constructed a road from General Ventura`s house to the

DE LA ROCHE, HENRI FRANCOIS STANISLAUS (d. 1842), a Frenchman born in Mauritius, served in the army of Begam Samru. As the force was disbanded by the British after the Begam`s death, he came to Lahore in 1838 and

GILLMORE, an English deserter from British army who came to Lahore in 1833 and entered the Sikh service. He attained the rank of colonel and commanded a regiment. He married a Kashmir! Muslim woman and had children by her. He died of cholera at Lahore and was buried in

JAMES (d. 1825), in Sikh records known as James Sahib Feringhee, was an Englishman from Yorkshire. A deserter from the British army, he had taken up service under Raja Sansar Chand of Karigra. In 1820, he left Sansar Chand and joined Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s army as a gunner. In

MEVIUS, also recorded as Frank Ernest Mevins, was a Prussian who came to the Punjab in March 1827 and was employed in the Sikh army in the rank of a colonel. According to the Khalsa Darbar records, Mevius had to sign a pledge that he would, "during his period