William Hodson: The Company Sabre
The life of William Hodson one of Britain's forgotten sons.
“I appealed to the crowd, saying these were the butchers who had murdered and brutally used helpless women and children, and the government had now sent their punishment: seizing a carbine from one of my men, I deliberately shot them one after the other.”
A letter William wrote to his brother recounting his execution of the Princes.
Hodson’s summary execution of the Mughal Princes on the 22nd September 1857 was entirely justified, they had encouraged the mutineers and handed over the British civilians sheltering in the Red Fort to the baying mob of treacherous sepoys, sentencing them to a cruel death. Hodson was a man of action who had seen the consequences of failed leadership from senior officer and civil servant and knew that the sooner the Princes were punished the sooner the mutiny would end. He was an excellent swordsman being described as the Company Sabre, and a natural leader. However, many have seen fit to criticise Hodson for this act of retribution, from modern historians to even his contemporaries. This is because throughout his life he was dogged with false accusations of corruption, embezzlement, looting and negligent command that cut short his promising career. These factors combined with his death in combat meant he was unable to defend himself any longer and for many he became the symbol of all the worst excess of British rule in India.
William Hodson born on the 19th March 1821 at Maisemore Court and was the third son of the Rev. George Hodson, and unlike most officers in the employ of the East India Company (EIC) or British Army he had a university education. He attended Cambridge where he studied classical and general literature and developed a flare for the languages of the Indian Subcontinent. He was an athlete as well, while at Rugby he won a wager that involved him completing three tasks which were, running eight miles in an hour, then a mile in five minutes and finally picking up 100 rocks, placed one yard apart within an hour. He also was committed to turning “the island” at Rugby into a gym. However, Hodson suffered from what were most likely migraines that would manifest themselves while he studied which ended his academic career before it began. In India, to cope with the sun he would wear tinted sunglasses, unfortunately these have not survived. With a career as an academic out the question he decided to become a soldier in India taking a cadetship in the EICs 2nd Bengal Fusiliers. At 23 he was comparatively older than the majority of cadets as most were recruited as teenagers into the Company army or Civil Service.
The Rise of a Frontier Soldier
Hodson arrived in India on the 13th of September 1845 and in just four short months in country, and two with his regiment, he would find himself leading a company of Sepoys in a charge against the Sikh cannon at Mudki. He wrote to his Father about the intensity of the fighting as he advanced with his men through dense jungle to the Sikh fortifications.
“we were within twenty, and at times ten yards of three guns blazing grape [shot] into us, and worse of all, the bush with which the whole the whole ground was covered with marksman who, unseen by us, could pick us off with pleasure.”
But in spite he endeavoured to lead his men with “great zest”. His regiment also provided an escort to the Governor-General and his staff and he saw its destruction with only two members escaping death and serious injury. They would have been accompanying Sir Hugh Gough who was never far from the danger, but unlike his subordinates Sir Gough always evaded death. British numbers meant victory was inevitable, but the Sikhs took high and bloody toll with every yard of ground that was yielded. The Khalsa (Sikh army) retreated to the heavily fortified village of Ferozeshah.
At Ferozeshah there would be no jungle to protect the advancing British and they were now facing a more numerous enemy. Hodson and his regiment were on the right of the army and he would have watched helplessly as General Littler’s Division on the left flank advanced towards the entrenchments and was destroyed by the Sikh artillery. He would have seen them retreat without having even reached the enemies line, such was the ferocity of the cannon fire. He knew that it was only a matter of time before it was his turn to lead his men into oblivion. There were less guns opposing them, but the fire was still heavy, Hodson wrote:
“In the most dense dust and smoke, and under an unprecedented fire of grape, our Sepoys again gave way and broke. It was a fearful crisis, but the bravery of the English regiments saved us. The Colonel (Hamilton), the greater part of my brother officers, and myself, were left with the colours and about thirty men immediately in front of the batteries! Our escape was most providential, and is, I trust, thankfully acknowledged by us. A ball (from a shell, I fancy) struck my leg below the knee, but happily spared the bone, and only inflicted a flesh wound. I was also knocked down twice – once by a shell burst so close to me as to kill the men behind me, and once by the explosion of a mine.”
The right flank was successful in reaching the village, and a charge by the centre and the few remaining reserves was successful in pushing the Khalsa back into their camp and to the village. At the high-water mark of the attack the British controlled the village, half the camp and one third of the fortifications, but they would be forced to withdraw. This was because they had run out of ammunition and a series of mines were detonated by the Sikhs which had caused great confusion and terror among the ranks. It was an orderly retreat to the original British line but the men were starving, thirsty and exhausted as over the previous four days they had an amount of food that Hodson described “would not compose half a home breakfast loaf” and for the whole day and that night they would not have any water to drink. If the Sikhs attacked now they likely would have been able to force a mass rout of the British army and might have been able to march on Delhi. So desperate was the situation that the Governor of India, Sir Henry Hardinge sent the Civil staff back to Delhi along with one of Napoleons swords with orders to prepare for the worst. The Sikhs did not attack and in fact they retreated back to the River Sultej
Twice now the sepoys of the 2nd Bengal Fusiliers had broken and fled before even reaching thir lines, leading to its removal from combat and being placed in the rear to secure the lines of communications and supply. Hodson wrote, “Not liking the notion of returning to the rear while an enemy was in front” he immediately set about transferring to a different regiment. He was successful and assigned to the 16th Bengal Native Grenadiers on the 9th February 1846, one day before the battle. The Sikh entrenchments at Sobraon were daunting and expansive. The first line formed the shape of a squashed U defended with earthen ramparts between 10 and 20 feet high and was around 3,500 yards long and was topped with 200 swivel guns. The ramparts were also protected by a series of dry riverbeds (Nullah) that would further hamper the British. Inside was another defensive line between the main position and the river.
The British infantry advanced to forward positions at 3am and awaited the coming artillery duel. When the guns let loose it was a thunderous display but was ultimately inadequate as not enough ammunition had been brought up, despite Sir Gough orders. Seeing that guns were spent Gough exclaimed joyously “Thank God! I shall be at them with the bayonet”. Hodson was in the centre division and writes in a rather routine way about the advance under heavy Sikh fire. The Sikh artillery was incredibly inaccurate as result of the sandy soil causing the guns to sink into the ground. As they advanced over ramparts and into the position the Sikhs ran for the river and were gunned down by a tremendous amount of musket fire. The retreat devolved into stampede to escape and the bridge of boats over the Sultej collapsed causing even more to drown. Hodson escaped serious injury and only suffered a slight wound on the tip of his little finger that did ruin the buckskin glove he was wearing. The Sikh army was destroyed at this battle and had lost the bulk of its artillery and allowed the Sir Gough to march unopposed into Lahore. Although immensely proud of taking part in the destruction of the “mightiest army, and the best organized, which India has seen”, he soon grew displeased at the peace having developed a taste for fighting.
The Rise and Fall of a Paladin of Punjab
After the war he came into contact with an Ulster-Scots Political Officer called Henry Lawrence who would lay the foundations of British Rule in Punjab. He served as his and accompanied him, along with John Nicholson, Harry Lumsden and Patrick Vans Agnew, on an expedition to secure Kashmir for its new ruler Mahraja Gulba Singh. The local Muslim governor had mutinied against the instillation of Singh as ruler of Kashmir. The expedition was a resounding success as most of the mutinous Sikh troops simply surrendered to the British lead army. Lawrence noted that Hodson was ill suited to civil and secretarial work but had great respect for his skill as a soldier so endeavoured to but his skills to use. Hodson along with Harry Lumsden were given the task of establishing and training what could be best described as the most elite regiment in the Indian Army, the Corps of Guides. The Guides would act as rapid reaction force that would protect the frontiers of India and act as the Vanguard of any army crossing the into Afghanistan. Hodson was the officer responsible for introducing Khaki (derived from the Hindustani word for dust-coloured) uniforms to the Guides in 1847 as they needed to be “invisible in the land of dust”. He was also responsible for equipping them so had his brother send out 900 uniforms and 300 carbines from England.
His appointment to the Guides was only ever meant to be a steppingstone to a posting as a Political Officer, which was supposed to be in the newly captured city of Multan. However, this was not to be as Lawrence had left Punjab on sick leave and had been replaced by the far less capable Fredrick Currie. Currie picked the rising star in the Company the 24-year-old Vans Agnew to replace him, this likely saved Hodson’s life. While inspecting the fort of Multan on 20 April 1848, in the company of the Governor Mulraj Chopra, Vans Agnew and his assistant Lt Anderson were attacked by Sikh soldiers and driven out of the city. Anderson had been mortally wounded and Vans Agnew with his few remaining servants found shelter in a fortified temple, it was here they were killed. This incident sparked a Sikh rebellion across the Punjab and for many British officers the skills they learnt in suppressing the last gasp of the Khalsa would serve them well in 1857.
During the Second Sikh War Hodson served with the Guides as a rapid reaction force riding across the region supressing outbreaks of violence and throughout, he was in constant communication with other political officers. It was in these letters they voiced their frustrations with the inability of senior military and civil officers to grasp the seriousness of the situation. Herbert Edwardes was particularly scathing and wrote to Hodson that Currie was wanting to “postpone rebellion”. The Guides assisted Herbert Edwardes in his attempt to recapture Multan but were forced to retreat in the face of greater numbers and joined up with Hugh Goughs army that was marching into the Punjab. Hodson and Lumsden were placed in charge of the Intelligence Department and were required to keep the army informed on the movements of the enemy. They also protected supply lines and messengers. The Sikhs under the command of Sher Singh clashed with the British at Chilinwala
on the 13th January 1849, it was to be a bloodbath as Gough decided again to not use his artillery. In the words of Charles Allen he “re-enacted the folly of Ferozshah” and had his men charge against the entrenched enemy. There were 2000 British dead on the field, with some regiments losing almost all their officers. The 24th Regiment lost 13 officers and the Regimental Sergeant Major. Hodson was damning of the conduct of his commanders pointing out that the majority of colonels and majors were unable to withstand the “wear and tear of Indian service” and that they were a “burden to themselves, an annoyance to those under them, and a terror to everyone but the enemt”. During the battle he led the horse his Brigadier was riding almost into the thick of the fighting and the old man still could not tell which direction the enemy were in. For all his fault Gough was physically capable of leading his men and had his intellectual faculties intact.
These mistakes were not repeated at Goojerat on the 21st February as Gough had become aware that if he did not crush the Sikhs decisively he would sent back to England. Harry Lumsden wrote of the battle “a more beautiful sight could not have been on earth than the steady advance of upward of one hundred guns”. The methodical and deliberate use of overwhelming cannon fire meant the infantry were spared the slaughter of a bayonet charge and Gough’s reputation was saved. This was the final battle of the war and paved the way for the total annexation of Punjab, something both Hodson and Lumsden were sceptical of. They feared being appointed to dreary civil duties as they had grown accustomed to Frontier life. Although the return of Henry Lawrence to Punjab and recognition that the Corps of Guides would provide the nucleus for the Punjab Irregular Force, he decided to appoint Hodson as acting District Commissioner of Amritsar. He welcomed the promotion but he did not meet the exacting standards of Lawrence and within six months he was sent back to be 2iC to the Corps of Guides. He lamented the “absurdity in dropping from the minister of a province into a drill-sergeant” and found little enjoyment in convincing Afghans of the benefits of proper drill. There was another brief spell on the Lahore Secretariat but he loathed the paperwork and begged to head back to the Frontier where under Lumsden’s command he could do as he wished. For the third time he was again 2iC to the Guides but a chance to prove himself appeared in 1852 when Lumsden went on home leave and he assumed acting command of the Corps. He was extremely pleased, writing to his brother how he was the “the most fortunate man in the service”, little did he know that soon his reputation would be in tatters and his career almost ruined.
The year of 1852 would have been the happiest Hodson had lived, he was married to his childhood sweetheart Susan who had given to his daughter Olivia and his career was now advancing. But India was always cruel. Lumsden was not a very good adjutant and the accounts of the Guides were a Gordian knot of confusion. He had also managed to make enemies with one Ensign Turner who in letters to superior officers alluded to financial impropriety and negligent command. In 1853 his life began to unravel first with the loss of young Olivia.
“She had wound her little being round our hearts to an extent which neither of us knew until we woke from the brief dream of beauty and found ourselves childless”
To distract himself he redoubled his efforts to mould the Guides into the leading Regiment of the army, he was far more of a disciplinarian than Lumsden and sought to reign in his Native officer more unprofessional practices. This also served to alienate himself from the British junior officers who intensified a whispering campaign against him. Throughout this period he was still trying to formalise the Corps finances and failed to send back reports to Lahore, further damaging his reputation. The final straw was when he arrested a Yusufazi Chieftain, and his son, who he believed was involved in the murder of his friend Colonel Mackenson. This arbitrary detention infuriated Edwardes who wrote to Lawrence demanding he take action, which he did. Hodson was relived of his command and charged with falsifying regimental accounts and dereliction of duty. He was found guilty and reprimanded to his regiment the 1st Bengal Fusiliers, his career and reputation destroyed.
It is clear that the trial was a sham and a witch hunt as many of the witnesses that testified against Hodson were simply settling old scores, and the prosecution never checked the validity of their lies. Despite the transparency of the injustice enacted against him, Hodson refused to be beaten into submission and wrote “I am too much of a soldier to permit myself to be subdued by reverses”. Hodson was a deeply religious man and likely found comfort in the words of Luke 12 2:3 “What's done in the dark will come to light”, he would be exonerated.
In 1855 Reynell Taylor rather begrudgingly was dispatched to the Frontier and investigate the accounts of the Guides and uncovered the truth of the matter. Assisted by Ensign Godby he spent three months trawling through the paper trail and wrote a report that completely exonerated Hodson and placed most of the blame for the irregularities as a result of Lumsden’s lax standards. It appeared that William Hodson’s only crime was making himself “disagreeable with the men”. Taylor recommended a that a second court of enquiry be established, but the Commander-in-Chief William Gromm and the new Governor-General Lord Canning believed that it was unnecessary and wanted to close the chapter on the horrid business. On the news of the full acquittance Hodson set about lobbying the new Commander-in-Chief George Anson for a public inquiry into the witch hunt and the two men met at Simla in April 1857, and again in the first week of May. Anson was very sympathetic and wrote to Canning instructing Hodson to wait with his regiment at Dagshi till news arrived, but events that would shake British rule in India to its very foundations would soon overtake them.
The Great Mutiny
From March 1857 a series of disturbance had occurred in the Bengal army at Barrackpore and across the Presidency, this was a prelude to the violence that was to come. On Sunday the 10th May 1857, while the British were attending church, the Sowars of the 3rd Light Cavalry rose up in Mutiny against their officers rampaging through the cantonment at Meerut looting and killing as they went. Despite the presence of two British regiments and numerous batteries the enfeebled station commander Archdale Wilson and the equally inept General Hewitt failed to stop the mutinous regiments escape, and India was set ablaze. These were the types of officers who had blundered across Afghanistan and the Punjab, men wholly incapable of command and ill-suited to the harsh Indian climate and the physical strains of campaigning. As result of their blunders the mutineers descended on Delhi, it was an easy target as there were no British regiments to stiffen the resolve of the Sepoys. The garrison of the Red Fort quickly deserted and turned the city over to the Mutineers, much to the joy of the Mughal Emperor and his sons. English and Eurasian families were hunted down across the city and they either fled to the Red Fort seeking the protection of the Mughals, or to the Flagstaff signalling Tower on Delhi ridge. Those who sheltered at the Red Fort were slaughtered. By now word had spread fast of the Mutiny and Anson ordered British troops at Dagshai be assembled to retake the city and punish the Mutineers.
Upon Anson’s arrival he immediately appointed Hodson as the Quartermaster of the hastily assembled Delhi Field Force and was commissioned to raise a body of irregular cavalry recruited from the tribes of the Punjab. Hodson’s horse would go on to be indispensable in the coming months and many of the best officers in India were drawn to it. Delhi needed to be recaptured as soon as possible as it was the focal point of the rising and the capital of the revived Mughals. The traitorous family needed to face retribution. The Field Force arrived at Delhi on the 8th June under the command of Sir Henry Barnard, as Anson had died of cholera four days into the march on the 23rd of May. The force around was about 3000 strong and was not capable of storming the city so dug in along the Delhi ridge. The force was incapable of sealing the Delhi and the number of mutineers in the city grew daily. On the 9th of June he was reunited with the Guides Regiment who had come down from the Frontier to assist in the siege writing “They seized my bridle, dress, hands, and feet, and literally threw themselves down before the horse with the tears streaming down their faces”, dispelling the notion that he was ever unpopular with the men. The reunion was short lived as at that moment a sortie was launched from the city and the guides charged into action. He mourned every death that occurred.
He worked tirelessly organising his Regiment and as the man responsible for intelligence gathering he regularly sent loyal sepoys into the city to collect information and set up networks of informers. For now, he was forced to wait for reinforcements as the weak British position came under regular and sustained attack from the Rebels. Morale was being whittled away, especially after Barnard caught cholera and Neville Chamberlin was wounded while clearing a suburb of Delhi. All this changed with the arrival of John Nicholson who Hodson declared was a “host in himself”, his presence alone was enough to electrify the British and fortify their will to fight. He also wrote of the grief he felt with the death of his friends but remained faithful to God declaring “may He in His mercy preserve me for further exertion and an ultimate reunion, and if not, His will be done.” Throughout July an August the attrition was dreadful with disease ripping through the camp and the bridge of boats across the river Jumna refusing to be destroyed meaning 10,000 of rebels had bolstered the cities formidable defences.
On the 14h of August Hodson was dispatched to fight his first proper engagement of the war and was sent to the village of Rohtuck to ambush a column of mutineers sheltering in the area. With 380 men he routed and killed and wounded several hundred in open combat, recovering two
cannons and scattering over 2000 men. After this he was ordered by General Wilson to hunt down and eliminate the 10th Light Cavalry from Ferozepoor, but he was already 45 miles from Delhi and his men needed rest so they galloped back to the ridge and arrived on the 24th of August. They were now in the end stages of the siege as an artillery siege train with dozens of cannons that would breach the walls had been sent to the city. After Nicholson’s lighting victory on the 26th at Nujjufghur there was nothing stopping the progress of the cannon, it was only a matter of time before the city would fall. Hodson was “much disappointed” in not taking part in this overwhelming victory as he was suffering from a bout of fever. As soon as he recovered, he was again riding upwards of 12 hours a day engaging in reconnaissance around the Delhi and its environs. By the 3rd of September the siege train rumbled into camp and serious preparations were made to breach the walls and storing columns were organised. The greatest challenge, however, was ensuring that Wilson did not fold and call off the siege as the old man believed he would need more than the 8000 men at his disposal to take assure victory. Hodson wrote,
“our General waits and waits for this and that arrival, forgetful that each succeeding day diminishes his force by more than the strength of the expected driblets. He talks now of awaiting the arrival of three weak regiments of Ghoolab Singh's force under Richard Lawrence, who are marchingfrom Umbâla. Before they arrive, if the General really does wait for them, we shall have an equivalent to their numbers sickened and dying from the delay in this plague spot.”
At this stage of the battle Wilson was a greater threat than the Mutineers as the longer he waited the more likely that the loyal sepoys and allied native troops might just go home. Not only this but cholera had reappeared in the camp and also those familiar with warfare before the 20th century, disease was by the far the greatest killer of men. Hodson grimly predicted that by the 21st of September, the date selected for the final attack, there would be no men healthy to take part. As a result of Nicholson’s intense presence and ceaseless attempts to force Wilsons’s hand the old man relented and brough the day of judgment up to the 14th. Nicholson even considered having Archdale arrested for his behaviour which verged on cowardice. When the assault came on the morning of the 14th Hodson was charged with protecting the flanks of the storming columns and was exposed to withering musket fire from the walls of the city losing many brave men. Morale of the army was severely damaged when Nicholson was mortally wounded being struck by a rebel bullet while attempting to storm Mori bastion, he lamented that “our best and bravest, was struck down”. Despite this victory was inevitable and in six days the city was cleared.
“On the morning of the 20th, the flag of old England floated grace fully out over the palace of the Great Mogul”
As can be expected the fighting for the city was like a meat grinder with a rifle behind every wall and poking through every window. To clear out particularly well dug in sepoys sappers usually placed charges a close as they could blowing the enemy to dust. There was one point on the 15th
where Hodson had to command a counterattack against a mutineer charge out of the city and only had a handful of men and cannon to keep them in check. For 3 hours he maintained his position till the enemy were pushed back, and miraculously he again escaped injury. Street by street and house by house the army clawed forward and by the 18th the enemy were fleeing across the bridge of boats. On the 22nd he petitioned to command a mission to locate the Mughal Royal family and delivered a swift justice against them.
Despite the crushing victory at Delhi and the revolt now decapitated of its symbolic leadership, the war was not over and Lucknow still had to be relived. In the coming weeks he would act independently taking his Regiment across the Delhi countryside rounding up mutineers and punishing them. This continued till he was ordered to join Colin Campbells column advancing on Lucknow. At Fathigaeh he was wounded receiving two sabre cuts to the right arm which compounded the strain over a decade of soldiering had done do his body. It took him 17 days to recover. He was growing tired of fighting and wished to rest in some hill station and properly drill his new regiment. On the 1st March 1858 the attack on the Lucknow commenced with a
thundering artillery bombardment. Hodson did not take part and he along with his men were held in reserve. After 10 days of heavy fighting, it was now his turn to and his regiment went forward to positions near the Alambagh to assist in the clearing of the Begum Palace. He was eager to see action and against the advice of his fellow officer he decided to storm the building before charges could be detonated. As he walked to the door a Lieutenant Sergison tried to pull him back, but a shot rang out and Hodson fell calling for his wife. He died later that evening with his last words being "Bear witness for me that I have tried to do my duty to man” and was buried in the grounds of La Martinière College with many men breaking into tears as his body was lowered into the grave. Colin Campbell wrote "I followed your noble husband to the grave ' myself, in order to mark, in the most public manner, my regret and esteem for the most brilliant soldier under my command, and one whom I was proud to call my friend”.
As he, though carried off in the prime of life, had lived long enough for glory.
Well told! A little bibliographic addendum would be nice to have.
Well told! A little bibliographic addendum would be nice to have.