PANOPLY. To have established precise standards of regal usage and hospitality was remarkable for one born to a small worldly inheritance. Ranjit Singh`s patrimony did not amount to more than a few villages precariously held in those turbulent days, and his authority scarcely coincided with any recognizable or settled geographical

POTTINGER, SIR HENRY (1789-1856), soldier and diplomat, son of Eldred Curwen Pottinger, was born on 3 Ocober 1789. He obtained a cadetship in the Indian army in 1804. During 1809-11, he explored the country between Persia and India travelling incognito. He reported the results of his journey which were published

BOARD OF ADMINISTRATION, a set of triumvirs appointed by Lord Dalhousie, the British governor general to manage affairs in the Punjab after its annexation on 29 March 1849 to the dominions of the East India Company. The Board consisted of three members. Henry Lawrence, the British resident at Lahore, was

BUR SINGH (d. 1892). son of Ruldu Ram, appointed to do menial jobs first as an attendant in the household of Maharaja Ranjit Singh`s wife, Rani Mahtab Kaur, and then as a water carrier in Kanvar Sher Singh`s, carried out some of the confidential errands he was assigned to

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,

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

FIVE YEARS IN INDIA, by Henry Edward Fane, aide-de-camp to his uncle, General Sir Henry Fane, commander-in-chief of the army of the East India Company during late 1830`s, is "a narrative of [the author`s] travels in the Presidency of Bengal, a visit to the court of Runjeet Singh, a residence

JAI SINGH MAN (d. 1812), son of Sarja Singh (d. 1763) of Mughal Chakk settled in the village of Man, near Gujrariwala. His family was related to the Sukkarchakkia family by matrimony as Ranjit Singh`s father, Mahari Singh, was married to his daughter. Jai Singh was a constant companion

LAWRENCE, JOHN IAIRD MAIR (1811-1879), Governor General of India, younger brother of Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence, was born on 4 March 1811 at Richmond, in Yorkshire, England. He was educated at Bristol, Londonderry, Bath and Haileybury. In 1830, he look up appointment under the East India Company and served from

LAWRENCE, SIR HENRY MONTGOMERY (1806-1857), elder brother of Governor General John Laird Mair Lawrence, was born on 28 June 1806 at Matura, in Ceylon. After education at schools in Londonderry and Bristol, he joined the Bengal Artillery, in 1823, as a Second Lieutenant. In 1833, lie was appointed an officer

NANAKI (d. 1856), daughter of Sham Singh Atarivala, was married in March 1837 to Prince Nau Nihal Singh, son of Prince Kharak Singh and grandson of Maharaja Ranjit Singh. To the marriage, the most ostentatious of oriental marriages, were invited the Governor General, the Lieutenant Governor of the North-West

NICHOLSON, JOHN (1821-1857), political assistant at Firozpur (1844-45), was born in Dublin on 11 December 1821, the son of Dr Alexander Nicholson. He obtained cadetship in Bengal Infantry in 1839 and in December the same year was posted to the 27th Native Infantry at Firozpur. In 1844, he became political