John Jacob (soldier)
Encyclopedia
Brigadier-General John Jacob CB
(11 January 1812 – 6 December 1858) was an officer of the British East India Company
who served in colonial India for the major portion of his career. He is known for the cavalry regiment called 36th Jacob's Horse
and for founding the town of Jacobabad
.
, in the county of Somerset
, England
, where his father the Reverend Stephen Long Jacob was incumbent. His mother was Susanna, daughter of the Reverend James Bond of Ashford, Kent
, England. He was schooled by his father until he obtained his cadetship to Addiscombe Military Academy
. He was commissioned into the Bombay Artillery (Bombay Army
) on his 16th birthday, and subsequently sailed for India in January 1828, never to set foot in England again.
with the Bombay column, to join the army of the Indus at the outbreak of the First Anglo-Afghan War
.
He first saw active service in the summer of 1839 as a subaltern of artillery, the force led by Sir John Keane, sent to invade the Upper Sindh. He was given command of the Sind Horse by Sir James Outram in 1841; in 1842 he was additionally placed in political charge of the whole of the Cutchee frontier. He saw his first major action as Brevet Captain at the Battle of Meanee
, with the British force sent to conquer Sindh. He was awarded a CB.
He set about to recruit a second regiment of Sind Horse, which Napier announced in a letter dated 28 November 1846 would be called Jacob's Horse. As Irregular Cavalry, each regiment had only three European officers, a system that Jacob argued should be extended to all Indian cavalry regiments. Both regiments were absorbed into the Indian Army in 1860 and ultimately became the 35th Sind Horse and the 36th Jacob's Horse. They saw active service in Northern and Central India, Persia and Afghanistan
, and during World War I
in France
. They were amalgamated in 1921 and became known as the 14th Prince of Wales's Own Scinde Horse
.
In 1847 Jacob was placed in political charge of the frontier and established his headquarters at Khangurh, where a flourishing town known as Jacobabad
developed.
He wrote many pamphlets which were critical of the Indian Army
as it then was, and got him into much trouble with the Government in London
. He was a scientist and inventor, developing an exploding bullet, or shell, that fired combustibles up to 6 miles. He believed this would revolutionize the art of war. Two good riflemen could, in his opinion, annihilate the best battery of field artillery in 10 minutes. Further experiments made it possible to fire shells up to a range of 14 miles. More importantly, he designed a four grooved rifle and had various experimental guns manufactured in London by leading gunsmiths, and at his expense.
In April 1855 he was gazetted Lieutenant-Colonel. In 1856, due to Sir Bartle Frere's poor health, he taking leave in England, Jacob was pronounced Acting Commissioner in Sind.
, Jacob was put in charges of the cavalry and departed for Persia. He was raised to the rank of Brigadier-General, and appointed A.D.C.
to Queen Victoria
. When he arrived at Bushire, General Stalker having suddenly died, Jacob was put in charge of 3000 men. Peace favourable to the British Government having been negotiated, Jacob was left in charge of conducting the evacuation of Bushire.
A month after the end of hostilities with the Persians, the Indian rebellion of 1857
had broken out, Jacob's Horse remained loyal throughout. He was anxious to return to India, as he had been selected for the command of the Central Indian Army. Delayed in Bushire by the insistence of the British minister there, Lord Elphinstone was unable to await his arrival. The command was given to Sir Hugh Rose instead. Jacob returned to Jacobabad where he raised two regiments of infantry. He died of ill health at Jacobabad on 6 December 1858. He was buried in the town where his grave has been well-maintained by the locals for whom he retains a cult status, according to BBC correspondent Mark Tully
locals believe he has saintlike status.
, journalist and writer who wrote of him in his biographical novel Scenes from a Bourgeois Life
. Alaric Jacob contrasted his great-great uncle's selfless devotion to duty and democratic principles with the opportunistic capitalism of his contemporaries in England, and used him as model to support
his own conversion to an idealistic form of Marxism. Alaric Jacob reports having found the original portrait on which the print illustrated above was based and caused it to be passed to Field Marshal Jacob
. Unfortunately it was destroyed in The Blitz
.
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(11 January 1812 – 6 December 1858) was an officer of the British East India Company
British East India Company
The East India Company was an early English joint-stock company that was formed initially for pursuing trade with the East Indies, but that ended up trading mainly with the Indian subcontinent and China...
who served in colonial India for the major portion of his career. He is known for the cavalry regiment called 36th Jacob's Horse
36th Jacob's Horse
- Origins :Raised by Lieut. John Jacob of the Bombay Artillery, they served first in Southern Afghanistan and later under Sir Charles Napier in the taking of Scinde....
and for founding the town of Jacobabad
Jacobabad
Jacobabad or Yaqubabad is the capital city of Jacobabad District, Sindh, Pakistan. The city is also the administrative centre of Jacobabad Taluka, an administrative subdivision of the district, the city is subdivided into 8 Union Councils...
.
Early life
He was born at WoolavingtonWoolavington
Woolavington is a village and civil parish on the Somerset Levels in the English county of Somerset. It forms part of the District of Sedgemoor, and is north east of Bridgwater, south east of Burnham on Sea and west of Glastonbury...
, in the county of Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
, where his father the Reverend Stephen Long Jacob was incumbent. His mother was Susanna, daughter of the Reverend James Bond of Ashford, Kent
Ashford, Kent
Ashford is a town in the borough of Ashford in Kent, England. In 2005 it was voted the fourth best place to live in the United Kingdom. It lies on the Great Stour river, the M20 motorway, and the South Eastern Main Line and High Speed 1 railways. Its agricultural market is one of the most...
, England. He was schooled by his father until he obtained his cadetship to Addiscombe Military Academy
Addiscombe Military Academy
The East India Company Military Seminary, colloquially known as Addiscombe Seminary, Addiscombe College, or Addiscombe Military Academy was a British military academy at Addiscombe, Surrey, in what is now the London Borough of Croydon. It was established in 1809, and closed in 1861...
. He was commissioned into the Bombay Artillery (Bombay Army
Bombay Army
The Bombay Army was the army of the Bombay Presidency, one of the three Presidencies of British India, in South Asia.The Presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company until the Government of India Act 1858 transferred all three presidencies to the direct...
) on his 16th birthday, and subsequently sailed for India in January 1828, never to set foot in England again.
Afghan War
After seven years employed with his regiment, he was then employed as subordinate to the collector of Gujerat. In 1838 he was ordered to SindHistory of Sindh
Sindh is one of the provinces of Pakistan. Sindh was home to one of the world's oldest civilizations, the Indus Valley civilization.-Paleolithic and Mesolithic era:...
with the Bombay column, to join the army of the Indus at the outbreak of the First Anglo-Afghan War
First Anglo-Afghan War
The First Anglo-Afghan War was fought between British India and Afghanistan from 1839 to 1842. It was one of the first major conflicts during the Great Game, the 19th century competition for power and influence in Central Asia between the United Kingdom and Russia, and also marked one of the worst...
.
He first saw active service in the summer of 1839 as a subaltern of artillery, the force led by Sir John Keane, sent to invade the Upper Sindh. He was given command of the Sind Horse by Sir James Outram in 1841; in 1842 he was additionally placed in political charge of the whole of the Cutchee frontier. He saw his first major action as Brevet Captain at the Battle of Meanee
Battle of Miani
The Battle of Miani was a battle between British forces under Sir Charles Napier and the Talpur Amirs of Sindh, Pakistan.-Background:...
, with the British force sent to conquer Sindh. He was awarded a CB.
He set about to recruit a second regiment of Sind Horse, which Napier announced in a letter dated 28 November 1846 would be called Jacob's Horse. As Irregular Cavalry, each regiment had only three European officers, a system that Jacob argued should be extended to all Indian cavalry regiments. Both regiments were absorbed into the Indian Army in 1860 and ultimately became the 35th Sind Horse and the 36th Jacob's Horse. They saw active service in Northern and Central India, Persia and Afghanistan
Afghanistan
Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
, and during World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
in France
Western Front (World War I)
Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, the German Army opened the Western Front by first invading Luxembourg and Belgium, then gaining military control of important industrial regions in France. The tide of the advance was dramatically turned with the Battle of the Marne...
. They were amalgamated in 1921 and became known as the 14th Prince of Wales's Own Scinde Horse
14th Prince of Wales's Own Scinde Horse
The 14th Prince of Wales's Own Scinde Horse was a regular cavalry regiment of the British Indian Army it can trace its formation back to two regiments of Scinde Irregular Horse raised at Hyderabad in 1839 and 1846 respectively....
.
In 1847 Jacob was placed in political charge of the frontier and established his headquarters at Khangurh, where a flourishing town known as Jacobabad
Jacobabad
Jacobabad or Yaqubabad is the capital city of Jacobabad District, Sindh, Pakistan. The city is also the administrative centre of Jacobabad Taluka, an administrative subdivision of the district, the city is subdivided into 8 Union Councils...
developed.
He wrote many pamphlets which were critical of the Indian Army
British Indian Army
The British Indian Army, officially simply the Indian Army, was the principal army of the British Raj in India before the partition of India in 1947...
as it then was, and got him into much trouble with the Government in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. He was a scientist and inventor, developing an exploding bullet, or shell, that fired combustibles up to 6 miles. He believed this would revolutionize the art of war. Two good riflemen could, in his opinion, annihilate the best battery of field artillery in 10 minutes. Further experiments made it possible to fire shells up to a range of 14 miles. More importantly, he designed a four grooved rifle and had various experimental guns manufactured in London by leading gunsmiths, and at his expense.
In April 1855 he was gazetted Lieutenant-Colonel. In 1856, due to Sir Bartle Frere's poor health, he taking leave in England, Jacob was pronounced Acting Commissioner in Sind.
Persian War
At the outbreak of the Anglo-Persian WarAnglo-Persian War
The Anglo-Persian War lasted between November 1, 1856 and April 4, 1857, and was fought between the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Persia . In the war, the British opposed an attempt by Persia to reacquire the city of Herat...
, Jacob was put in charges of the cavalry and departed for Persia. He was raised to the rank of Brigadier-General, and appointed A.D.C.
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
to Queen Victoria
Victoria of the United Kingdom
Victoria was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India....
. When he arrived at Bushire, General Stalker having suddenly died, Jacob was put in charge of 3000 men. Peace favourable to the British Government having been negotiated, Jacob was left in charge of conducting the evacuation of Bushire.
A month after the end of hostilities with the Persians, the Indian rebellion of 1857
Indian Rebellion of 1857
The Indian Rebellion of 1857 began as a mutiny of sepoys of the British East India Company's army on 10 May 1857, in the town of Meerut, and soon escalated into other mutinies and civilian rebellions largely in the upper Gangetic plain and central India, with the major hostilities confined to...
had broken out, Jacob's Horse remained loyal throughout. He was anxious to return to India, as he had been selected for the command of the Central Indian Army. Delayed in Bushire by the insistence of the British minister there, Lord Elphinstone was unable to await his arrival. The command was given to Sir Hugh Rose instead. Jacob returned to Jacobabad where he raised two regiments of infantry. He died of ill health at Jacobabad on 6 December 1858. He was buried in the town where his grave has been well-maintained by the locals for whom he retains a cult status, according to BBC correspondent Mark Tully
Mark Tully
Sir William "Mark" Tully, OBE is the former Chief of Bureau, BBC, New Delhi. He worked for BBC for a period of 30 years before resigning in July 1994. He held the position of Chief of Bureau, BBC, Delhi for 20 years. Since 1994 he has been working as a freelance journalist and broadcaster based in...
locals believe he has saintlike status.
Legacy
Jacob was the great-great uncle of Alaric JacobAlaric Jacob
Harold Alaric Jacob was an English writer and journalist. He was Reuters correspondent in Washington in the 1930s, and a war correspondent during World War II in North Africa, Burma and Moscow.-Early life:...
, journalist and writer who wrote of him in his biographical novel Scenes from a Bourgeois Life
Scenes from a Bourgeois Life
Scenes from a Bourgeois Life is an autobiographical novel by the British author Alaric Jacob, first published in 1949.-Summary:The book is an apologia for the paradoxes and anomalies of the author's own career. Jacob had drifted into journalism and become a Reuter's correspondent, first in London...
. Alaric Jacob contrasted his great-great uncle's selfless devotion to duty and democratic principles with the opportunistic capitalism of his contemporaries in England, and used him as model to support
his own conversion to an idealistic form of Marxism. Alaric Jacob reports having found the original portrait on which the print illustrated above was based and caused it to be passed to Field Marshal Jacob
Claud Jacob
Field-Marshal Sir Claud William Jacob GCB GCSI KCMG was a British Army officer who served in the First World War.-Military career:...
. Unfortunately it was destroyed in The Blitz
The Blitz
The Blitz was the sustained strategic bombing of Britain by Nazi Germany between 7 September 1940 and 10 May 1941, during the Second World War. The city of London was bombed by the Luftwaffe for 76 consecutive nights and many towns and cities across the country followed...
.
External links
- Images of John Jacob, Jacobabad and Jacob's Horse. Accessed 28 March 2006