Sir Frederick Currie, 1st Baronet
Encyclopedia
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...
diplomat.
He was educated at Charterhouse
Charterhouse School
Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...
and had a distinguished career in the British East India Company
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...
and the Indian Civil Service. His posts included Foreign Secretary to the Government of India, Member of the Supreme Council of India, Resident at Lahore
Lahore
Lahore is the capital of the Pakistani province of Punjab and the second largest city in the country. With a rich and fabulous history dating back to over a thousand years ago, Lahore is no doubt Pakistan's cultural capital. One of the most densely populated cities in the world, Lahore remains a...
and Chairman of the East India Company.
He acted as an agent for the Governor-General, Sir Henry Hardinge
Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge
Field Marshal Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge, GCB, PC was a British field marshal and Governor-general of India.-Army career:...
, during the First Anglo-Sikh War
First Anglo-Sikh War
The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company between 1845 and 1846. It resulted in partial subjugation of the Sikh kingdom.-Background and causes of the war:...
of 1845-6 and was rewarded with a baronetcy in 1847 for his assistance in negotiating the Treaties of Lahore
Treaty of Lahore
The Treaty of Lahore of March 9, 1846, was a peace treaty marking the end of the First Anglo-Sikh War. The Treaty was concluded, for the British, by the Governor-General Sir Henry Hardinge and two officers of the East India Company and, for the Sikhs, by the seven year old Maharaja Duleep Singh...
and Bhyrowal.
He was succeeded by his eldest son, Reverend Sir Frederick Larkins Currie, 2nd Bt.
Family background
Currie was born on 3 February 1799 in Bloomsbury, Central London, the third of eight children of the brewer and banker Mark Currie of Upper Gatton, Surrey, and Elizabeth Currie née Close. The politician William CurrieWilliam Currie (British politician)
William Currie, , was a land owner, distiller, banker and Member of Parliament for Gatton and Winchelsea.On his father's death in 1781, he inherited his father's 75% interest in the distilling partnership his father had started with Nathaniel Byles...
of East Horsley was his uncle and the diplomat Philip Currie, 1st Baron Currie
Philip Currie, 1st Baron Currie
Philip Henry Wodehouse Currie, 1st Baron Currie GCB , known as Sir Philip Currie between 1885 and 1899, was a British diplomat. He was Ambassador to the Ottoman Empire from 1893 to 1898 and Ambassador to Italy from 1898 to 1902.-Background and education:Currie was the son of Raikes Currie, Member...
, his first cousin, once removed. The Curries belonged to an old Scottish family descended directly from the Curries of Duns, Berwickshire, in the late sixteenth century and, via a cadet, from the Corrie/Currie family
Corrie family
The Corrie family, also known as the Currie family, was a Scottish family which was once seated in what is today the civil parish of Hutton and Corrie, in Dumfriesshire, Scotland. The leading branch of the family were the Corries of that Ilk. Members of the family are on record in the Middle Ages...
of Annandale, Dumfriesshire, in the twelfth century.
Two younger brothers, Edward and Albert Peter, were also in the Bengal Civil Service and his elder brother Mark John Currie
Mark John Currie
Captain Mark John Currie RN played a significant role in the exploration of Australia and the foundation of the Swan River Colony, later named 'Western Australia'....
was a founder settler/administrator of Western Australia and Vice-Admiral, Royal Navy.
Early days
He was at school at CharterhouseCharterhouse School
Charterhouse School, originally The Hospital of King James and Thomas Sutton in Charterhouse, or more simply Charterhouse or House, is an English collegiate independent boarding school situated at Godalming in Surrey.Founded by Thomas Sutton in London in 1611 on the site of the old Carthusian...
until at age 16 he entered the East India Company College
East India Company College
The East India College was a college in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire, England. It was founded in February 1806 as the training establishment for the British East India Company . At that time, the BEIC provided general and vocational education for young gentlemen of sixteen to eighteen years old,...
at Haileybury.
He arrived in Bengal in 1820 and after a number of minor judicial and revenue posts in the Gorakhpur district he became in 1835 Commissioner of the Benares Division. In 1840 he was selected to be a judge at Allahabad.
He was appointed Foreign Secretary to the Government of India in 1844 and in that post negotiated the 1846 treaties of Lahore
Treaty of Lahore
The Treaty of Lahore of March 9, 1846, was a peace treaty marking the end of the First Anglo-Sikh War. The Treaty was concluded, for the British, by the Governor-General Sir Henry Hardinge and two officers of the East India Company and, for the Sikhs, by the seven year old Maharaja Duleep Singh...
, Amritsar
Treaty of Amritsar
The Treaty of Amritsar was signed on March 16, 1846, to settle a dispute over territory in Kashmir after the First Sikh War with the United Kingdom, ceding some land to Maharaja Gulab Singh Dogra...
and Bhyroval with the Sikhs at the end of the First Anglo-Sikh War
First Anglo-Sikh War
The First Anglo-Sikh War was fought between the Sikh Empire and the British East India Company between 1845 and 1846. It resulted in partial subjugation of the Sikh kingdom.-Background and causes of the war:...
.
The First Anglo-Sikh War and the Treaties of Lahore and Bhyroval
Ranjit Singh
Maharaja Ranjit Singh Ji was the first Maharaja of the Sikh Empire.-Early life:...
the British were discouraged from attacking the Sikh Empire of the Punjab by the Maharaja's diplomatic skills, popularity and 35,000 strong united Sikh Khalsa Army
Sikh Khalsa Army
Punjab Army was the military force of the Sikh Empire responsible for land defense from 1801-1849.-Background:...
. In the years following his death in 1839, assassinations, weak government and warring factions provided the British with an argument and opportunity to invade. In 1842 a new Governor-General, Lord Ellenborough
Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough
Edward Law, 1st Earl of Ellenborough GCB, PC was a British Tory politician. He was four times President of the Board of Control and also served as Governor-General of India between 1842 and 1844.-Background and education:...
, began preparations for war and in 1844 his successor, Sir Henry Hardinge
Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge
Field Marshal Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge, GCB, PC was a British field marshal and Governor-general of India.-Army career:...
, a veteran of the Peninsular War
Peninsular War
The Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
under Sir Arthur Wellesley
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
, accelerated these preparations.
As foreign secretary, Currie fell in with the designs of Ellenborough and Hardinge and supported the actions against the Sikhs in 1845 of the British Representative to the Punjab, Major George Broadfoot. The resultant provocative acts on both sides led to military escalation and on 13 December 1845 Hardinge issued a proclamation declaring war on the Sikhs. During the war Currie accompanied Hardinge, who despite his seniority as Governor-General volunteered to act as second-in-command under Sir Hugh Gough
Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough
Field Marshal Sir Hugh Gough, 1st Viscount Gough, KP, GCSI, KCB, PC , was an Irish British Army officer. He was said to have commanded in more general actions than any other British officer of the 19th century except the Duke of Wellington.- Early career :Born at Woodstown House, Co...
, another veteran of the Peninsular war.
.png)
Battle of Mudki
The Battle of Mudki was fought on 18 December 1845, between the forces of the British East India Company and part of the Khalsa, the army of the Sikh Empire of the Punjab. The British army won an untidy encounter battle, suffering heavy casualties....
on the 18th December, was brief and indecisive. The Battle of Ferozeshah three days later was nearly a disastrous defeat for the British, and Hardinge instructed Currie to destroy the state papers in the event of a defeat, to prevent them falling into the hands of the Sikhs. However Tej Singh, commanding the Sikh army, did not press home his advantage when the British were at his mercy. After this there was a temporary reduction of hostilities while the British waited for reinforcements. The last battle of the campaign took place at Sabhraon on 10 February 1846. The Sikhs were decisively defeated. Gough, paying tribute to their gallantry, wrote to Sir Robert Peel
Robert Peel
Sir Robert Peel, 2nd Baronet was a British Conservative statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 10 December 1834 to 8 April 1835, and again from 30 August 1841 to 29 June 1846...
, the British Prime Minister, "... I could have wept to have witnessed the fearful slaughter of so devoted a body of men".
Hardinge entered the Sikh capital Lahore on 20 February and Currie, assisted on military matters by Brevet-Major Henry Lawrence
Henry Montgomery Lawrence
Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence was a British soldier and statesman in India, who died defending Lucknow during the Indian Mutiny.-Career:Lawrence was the brother of John Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence and was born at Matara, Ceylon...
, arranged the terms of surrender. Currie led the negotiations, but did not determine the content of either of the two treaties which formed the Treaty of Lahore
Treaty of Lahore
The Treaty of Lahore of March 9, 1846, was a peace treaty marking the end of the First Anglo-Sikh War. The Treaty was concluded, for the British, by the Governor-General Sir Henry Hardinge and two officers of the East India Company and, for the Sikhs, by the seven year old Maharaja Duleep Singh...
, signed by Hardinge on the 9 and 11 March 1846. However his diplomatic skills so impressed Hardinge that he urged the home authorities to reward Currie with a baronetcy, a request which was granted in January 1847. The terms of the Treaty were punitive. Sikh territory was reduced to a fraction of its former size, losing Jammu, Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir
Jammu and Kashmir is the northernmost state of India. It is situated mostly in the Himalayan mountains. Jammu and Kashmir shares a border with the states of Himachal Pradesh and Punjab to the south and internationally with the People's Republic of China to the north and east and the...
, Hazara
Hazara Division
On the dissolution of West Pakistan in 1970, Hazara District and the two tribal agencies were merged to form the new Hazara Division with its capital at Abbottabad...
, the territory to the south of the river Sutlej and the forts and territory in the Jalandhar
Jalandhar
Jalandhar is a city in Jalandhar District in the state of Punjab, India. It is located 144 km northwest of the state capital, Chandigarh...
Doab
Doab
A Doab is a term used in India and Pakistan for a "tongue" or tract of land lying between two confluent rivers...
between the rivers Sutlej
Sutlej
The Sutlej River is the longest of the five rivers that flow through the historic crossroad region of Punjab in northern India and Pakistan. It is located north of the Vindhya Range, south of the Hindu Kush segment of the Himalayas, and east of the Central Sulaiman Range in Pakistan.The Sutlej...
and Beas
Beas River
The Beas River is a river in the northern part of India. The river rises in the Himalayas in central Himachal Pradesh, India, and flows for some 470 km to the Sutlej River in the Indian state of Punjab....
.
In consideration of the help Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu had given the British during the war and in restoring amicable relations after the war, he was to be recognised, under Article 12 of the 9 March Treaty, as independent sovereign "in such territories and districts in the hills as may be made over to the said Rajah Golab Sing by separate agreement between himself and the British Government". On 16 March, this separate agreement was signed by Currie and Lawrence, forming the Treaty of Amritsar
Treaty of Amritsar
The Treaty of Amritsar was signed on March 16, 1846, to settle a dispute over territory in Kashmir after the First Sikh War with the United Kingdom, ceding some land to Maharaja Gulab Singh Dogra...
, in which Kashmir was sold by the British Government to Gulab Singh for 7,500,000 rupees (75 lakhs Nanak Shahi). In acknowledgement of the supremacy of the British Government Gulab Singh agreed to make an annual present to the British of "one horse, twelve perfect shawl goats of approved breed (six male and six female), and three pairs of Cashmere shawls".
Vizier
A vizier or in Arabic script ; ; sometimes spelled vazir, vizir, vasir, wazir, vesir, or vezir) is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in a Muslim government....
Lal Singh and the majority of the members of the Lahore Durbar remained in office. Duleep Singh Bahadur
Duleep Singh
This article is about Maharaja Dalip Singh. For other uses, see Dalip SinghMaharaja Dalip Singh, GCSI , commonly called Duleep Singh and later in life nicknamed the Black Prince of Perthshire, was the last Maharaja of the Sikh Empire...
, the seven year old son of Ranjit Singh, remained as Maharaja and his mother, Maharani Jind Kaur Sahiba
Jind Kaur
Maharani Jind Kaur, also popularly known as Rani Jindan. She was the youngest wife of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the mother of the last Sikh Emperor, Maharajah Duleep Singh. In 1845 she became Regent of Punjab for Duleep Singh. The Queen Mother of the last Sikh sovereign of the Punjab...
, was to remain as regent. The Maharani had not committed Sati
Sati (practice)
For other uses, see Sati .Satī was a religious funeral practice among some Indian communities in which a recently widowed woman either voluntarily or by use of force and coercion would have immolated herself on her husband’s funeral pyre...
on Ranjit Singh's funeral pyre with his four principal wives, as she needed to look after the (then) 10 month old Duleep. At the request of the Durbar the Treaty had specified that the British were to retain a force in Lahore until no longer than the end of the year "for the purpose of protecting the person of the Maharaja and the inhabitants of the City during the reorganisation of the Sikh army". However, when the time came for the British to leave, the Durbar pressed them to remain and on 16 December 1846 Currie assisted by Lawrence, by this time a lieutenant colonel, signed the Treaty of Bhyroval, under the terms of which the British consented to remain until the Maharaja reached the age of 16. A condition of the agreement was that the Regent should be replaced by a resident British officer. The Maharani was awarded a pension of 150,000 rupees and replaced by Lawrence as Resident, who "shall have full authority to direct and control all matters in every Department of the State". In the words of a contemporary "An officer of the company's artillery became, in effect, the successor of Ranjit Singh".
The Period as Resident at Lahore and the events leading to the Second Anglo-Sikh War
In 1847 Currie was appointed to the Supreme Council of India. However, he was soon to be appointed to a different post. Henry Lawrence was granted sick leave in 1848 and travelled back to England with Hardinge, who had come to the end of his term of office as Governor-General. Hardinge was replaced on the 12th January by the Earl of DalhousieEarl of Dalhousie
Earl of Dalhousie, in the County of Midlothian, is a title in the Peerage of Scotland, held by the Chief of Clan Ramsay.-History:This family descends from Sir George Ramsay, who represented Kincardineshire in the Scottish Parliament in 1617. He received a charter of the barony of Dalhousie and also...
, a former President of the Board of Trade in Sir Robert Peel's cabinet and, on the 6th March, Currie replaced Lawrence as Resident at Lahore.
During the first few months of 1848 the Punjab had been disturbed by only a few incidents. Hardinge, when leaving, had predicted that peace in India would remain unbroken for the next seven years. The periodical The Friend of India reported "the last obstacle to the complete, and apparently the final, pacification of India has been removed". The London Morning Herald considered that "India is in the full enjoyment of a peace which, humanly speaking, there seems nothing to disturb".
It was the calm in the eye of the storm. Beneath the surface there was turmoil in both camps. Many of the Sikh commanders were seething at what they saw as the treachery of their general Tej Singh during the war and the subsequent settlement. Before he left, Lawrence had exiled Lal Singh, for urging Kashmir governor Shaikh Imamuddin not to turn over that country to Gulab Singh, and had replaced him as vizier
Vizier
A vizier or in Arabic script ; ; sometimes spelled vazir, vizir, vasir, wazir, vesir, or vezir) is a high-ranking political advisor or minister in a Muslim government....
by Tej Singh. When Maharaja Duleep Singh refused to invest Tej Singh as prime minister, Lawrence had imprisoned the Regent, Maharani Jind Kaur, and this treatment of the widow of Maharaja Ranjit Singh, was a further source of anger and unrest.
In the British camp, John Lawrence
John Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence
John Laird Mair Lawrence, 1st Baron Lawrence, GCB, GCSI, PC , known as Sir John Lawrence, Bt., between 1858 and 1869, was an Englishman who became a prominent British Imperial statesman who served as Viceroy of India from 1864 to 1869.-Early life:Lawrence came from Richmond, North Yorkshire...
, who had been expected to receive the Resident appointment during his brother's leave of absence, was critical of Currie, pointing out that the latter lacked military knowledge and experience of the feuds and alliances of the numerous Sikh, Muslim and Hindu factions. Lawrence, who at that time was Commissioner of the Jullundur District (he later became Viceroy and Governor-General of India), was charismatic and independent, traits he shared with several other officers connected with the Lahore Residency, including Captain (later Brigadier-General) John Nicholson
John Nicholson (general)
Brigadier-General John Nicholson was a Victorian era military officer known for his role in British India. A charismatic and authoritarian figure, Nicholson created a legend for himself as a political officer under Henry Lawrence in the frontier provinces of the British Empire in India...
, Commissioner of the Sind Sagar District, Captain James Abbott (later General Sir James Abbott), Deputy Commissioner of Hazara and Lieutenant Herbert Edwardes
Herbert Benjamin Edwardes
Major-General Sir Herbert Benjamin Edwardes DCL KCSI KCB was an English administrator, soldier, and statesman active in the Punjab, India. He is best known as the "Hero of Multan" for his pivotal role in securing the British victory in the Second Anglo-Sikh War.-Early life:Edwardes was born at...
of the 1st Bengal Fusiliers (later Major-General Sir Herbert Edwardes), Assistant at Bannu to the Resident. These would have been a challenging bunch to manage even if circumstances had given Currie time to settle into his new post before the situation exploded.
When the Diwan Mul Raj Multanwala, governor of the Sikh province of Multan
Multan
Multan , is a city in the Punjab Province of Pakistan and capital of Multan District. It is located in the southern part of the province on the east bank of the Chenab River, more or less in the geographic centre of the country and about from Islamabad, from Lahore and from Karachi...
, was faced with an increase in the levy imposed by the British, he resigned his office. To replace him, Currie appointed the Sikh Sardar
Sardar
Sardar is a title of Indo-Aryan origin that was originally used to denote feudal princes, noblemen, and other aristocrats. It was later applied to indicate a Head of State, a Commander-in-chief, and an Army military rank...
Kahn Singh Man, who arrived at Multan on the 18th April with two British officers, Mr Vans Agnew and Lieutenant William Anderson. The Diwan handed over the keys peacefully, but afterwards his soldiers attacked and wounded the British officers, who were rescued by Kahn Singh and his troops and carried to the British temporary camp at Idgah, half a mile from the fort of Multan. Agnew sent urgent messages to Lieutenant Edwardes and Colonel van Cortland, asking for help. However the following day a Mazhabi boy was shot by one of Kahn Singh's men and an angry mob from the city sought out and killed the British officers. Kahn Singh was taken prisoner and led before Mul Raj, who presented him with Vans Agnew's head and told him to take it back to Currie. Mul Raj then declared a holy war against the British and set about strengthening the defences of the citadel.
Lieutenant Edwardes quickly decided to quell what he saw as a local outbreak before it developed into a national revolt. With Currie's agreement he assembled a force with help from Cortland and the Khan of Bhawalpur, marched on Multan and called upon the rebels to surrender. When Dalhousie heard about this, he was furious that a subaltern should act in this way without his authority. He sharply reprimanded Currie for allowing Edwardes to march on Multan, and ordered him to "keep his reckless subaltern absolutely and utterly away from Multan". Currie wrote to Dalhousie defending Edwardes and asking for a free hand in dealing with the situation. He also wrote to Gough, the Commander-in-Chief, recommending that a British force should at once move upon Multan, capable of reducing the fort and occupying the city. Neither request was granted immediately. Gough, in his summer headquarters in the hill station at Simla, considered that military activity during the hot and monsoon seasons (May to September) was inadvisable. However, the Lahore garrison was reinforced, as were also the forces at Ambala and Firozpur.
Dost Mohammad Khan
Dost Mohammad Khan was the Emir of Afghanistan between 1826 and 1863. He first ruled from 1826 to 1839 and then from 1843 to 1863. He was the 11th son of Sardar Pāyendah Khan who was killed by Zaman Shah Durrani in 1799...
protested that such treatment is objectionable to all creeds.
Trouble was also brewing in the Hazara province. During the first months of Currie's Residency Captain James Abbot had warned Currie that discontent was rife in the Sikh brigade stationed there and in August he reported that its Governor, Sardar Chatar Singh Atarivala was planning an uprising against the British. Abbott raised a Muslim force and marched on the capital to expel Chatar Singh. Currie ordered an investigation by Captain John Nicholson, whose report excused the defensive measures the Governor had taken to protect the capital, but drew attention to Chatar Singh's numerous previous actions, which had given rise to and justified Abbott's assessment. Accordingly, Currie issued orders that substantially reduced Chatar Singh's authority and income. This angered his son, Raja Sher Singh Atarivala
Sher Singh Attariwalla
General Sher Singh was a royal military commander and a member of the Sikh nobility during the period of the Sikh Empire in the mid-19th century in Punjab....
, who was fighting on the British side with Edwardes against Diwan Mul Raj. Sher Singh was a prominent member of the Council of the Regency and was until then well disposed to British interests. His sister was betrothed to Maharaja Duleep Singh and in November 1847 he had been honoured by the Lahore Durbar with the title Raja.
In July Dalhousie granted Currie the free hand he had asked for in April. Currie ordered a force from the East India Company's Bengal Army, under General Whish, to join Edwardes and the contingents from Van Cortland, Bhawalpa and Sher Singh in the Siege of Multan
Siege of Multan
The Siege of Multan was a prolonged contest between the city and state of Multan and the British East India Company. The siege lasted between 19 April 1848, when a rebellion in the city against a ruler imposed by the East India Company precipitated the Second Anglo-Sikh War, and 22 January 1849,...
. The forces under General Whish arrived outside Multan between the 18 and 28 August. However, Sher Singh and his troops changed sides on 13 September, angered by the treatment of both his father and sister, and the Bhawalpa troops and a number of Edwardes' irregulars dispersed to their homes in sympathy with them, severely weakening the British side. The fortified city of Multan with its fortress citadel was considered to be the strongest in the Punjab and General Whish decided that the siege must be abandoned until the arrival of reinforcements from Bengal, so he withdrew to a position which commanded the principal roads to Bahawalpur and the Derajat. The reinforcements started arriving in November and heavy siege guns arrived at the beginning of December. Their batteries made two breaches in the city walls and on the 30th destroyed the main magazine in the citadel. The city itself fell early in January 1849, but the citadel held out for two more weeks, finally falling on 18 January.
Sher Singh had offered to assist Mul Raj, who declined his offer but gave him money to pay his army, so he moved northward with his troops at the end of September on the way to join his father. He proclaimed himself a servant of the Maharajah and the Khalsa
Khalsa
+YouWebImagesVideosMapsNewsMailMoreTranslateFrom: ArabicTo: EnglishEnglishHindiEnglishAllow phonetic typingHindiEnglishArabicAssumptionGoogle Translate for Business:Translator ToolkitWebsite TranslatorGlobal Market Finder...
and called upon the people of the Punjab to rise in arms and expel the British. Meanwhile, the Sikh contingents at Bannu, Kohat, Tofik, Peshawar and Attock had joined Chatar Singh.
The monsoon over, Gough announced in early October the formation of "the Army of the Punjab" to operate under his personal control. He reached Lahore on 13 November. Full accounts of the campaign are given elsewhere. Summarising:
- 22 November - Gough's cavalry fell into a trap at the ford of the Chenab RiverChenab RiverThe Chenab River چنRiver' آب) is a major river of Jammu and Kashmir and the Punjab in Pakistan. It forms in the upper Himalayas in the Lahaul and Spiti district of Himachal Pradesh, India, and flows through the Jammu region of Jammu and Kashmir into the plains of the Punjab, Pakistan...
at RamnagerRasulnagarRasulnagar is a town and Union council of Gujranwala District in the Punjab province of Pakistan. It is located at 32°20'0N 73°47'0E with an altitude of 197 metres and is part of Wazirabad Tehsil.-History:...
, with severe losses, including the deaths of General Cureton and Colonel Havelock; - 13 January - a disastrous battle at ChillianwalaBattle of ChillianwalaThe Battle of Chillianwala was fought during the Second Anglo-Sikh War in the Chillianwala region of Punjab, now part of modern-day Pakistan. The battle was one of the bloodiest fought by the British East India Company. Both armies held their positions at the end of the battle and both sides...
, after which Lord Airey, referring to the infamous Charge of the Light BrigadeCharge of the Light BrigadeThe Charge of the Light Brigade was a charge of British cavalry led by Lord Cardigan against Russian forces during the Battle of Balaclava on 25 October 1854 in the Crimean War. The charge was the result of a miscommunication in such a way that the brigade attempted a much more difficult objective...
at Balaklava, said "It is nothing to Chillianwala"; - 25 January - Sher Singh, joined by Chatar Singh's army, moved to Gujrat, on the Chenab River;
- 18 February - General Whish's troops and heavy batteries arrived from Multan and during the next two days brigades from Bombay and Bengal arrived;
- 21 February - the British won a decisive final victory in the Battle of Gujrat;
- 14 March - Sher Singh surrendered to the British at Rawalpindi;
- 29 March - the British flag was hoisted on the citadel of Lahore and the Punjab was formally proclaimed to be part of the British Empire.
Currie had called for military help to protect the young Maharaja and his government of the Lahore Durbar. However, despite his protests and strong opposition from Henry Lawrence, who by that time had returned from leave, Dalhousie had annulled the Lahore Government, exiled Duleep Singh and confiscated the Koh-i-Noor
Koh-i-Noor
The Kōh-i Nūr which means "Mountain of Light" in Persian, also spelled Koh-i-noor, Koh-e Noor or Koh-i-Nur, is a 105 carat diamond that was once the largest known diamond in the world. The Kōh-i Nūr originated in the state of Andhra Pradesh in India along with its double, the Darya-ye Noor...
diamond, the symbol of his power. The Sikh Raj was ended. The annexation of the Punjab was complete. A Sikh warrior cried out "Aj Ranjit Singh mar gaya" - Today Ranjit Singh is dead.
Later career and return to England
On 12 March 1849, Currie again took up his office as a member of the Supreme Council of India. He returned to England in 1853 and the following year he was elected a director of the East India Company. In 1857 he was elected Chairman of the Company, the last person to hold that office, and advised the British Government on the transfer of power from the Company to the Crown.A letter, dated 23 June 1858, from Currie and his Vice-Chairman to Lord Stanley
Edward Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby
Edward Henry Stanley, 15th Earl of Derby KG, PC, FRS , known as Lord Stanley from 1844 to 1869, was a British statesman...
, President of the Board of Control, expressed reservations regarding several of the clauses of a Bill before Parliament for the better Government of India. The proposed Government of India Act 1858
Government of India Act 1858
The Government of India Act 1858 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed on August 2, 1858. Its provisions called for the liquidation of the British East India Company and the transference of its functions to the British Crown...
created a new cabinet
Cabinet of the United Kingdom
The Cabinet of the United Kingdom is the collective decision-making body of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom, composed of the Prime Minister and some 22 Cabinet Ministers, the most senior of the government ministers....
post of Secretary of State for India
Secretary of State for India
The Secretary of State for India, or India Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister responsible for the government of India and the political head of the India Office...
with sweeping powers, advised, if and when the Secretary wished, by a newly created Council of India. The reservations expressed in the letter related to the method of composition of the Council, its constitution and its powers. The Act was passed by the British Parliament on 2 August 1858 and Currie was appointed Vice-President of the new Council, a post which he held until his death.
Family
Currie married three times. His first wife was Susannah, daughter of John Pascal Larkins of the Bengal Civil Service. They married on 7 August 1820 and had four children: Frederick, Mark Edward, William Close and Charles.After Susannah's death in 1832 he married Lucy Elizabeth, daughter of Robert Mettins Bird of the Bengal Civil Service, on 3 September 1834. They had one son, Robert George. Sadly, Lucy died three weeks later, on 25 July 1835.
His third wife was Katherine Maria, daughter of George Powney Thompson, also of the Bengal Civil Service. They had seven children: Fendall, who played cricket for the Gentlemen of Kent and became a Major-General, Harriet Sophia, Susan Mary, Katherine Louisa, Mabel Thornton, Hugh Penton and Rivers Grenfell. The 1861 and 1871 British Census returns show him living at the Manor House, May Place, Crayford
Crayford
Crayford is a town and electoral ward in the London Borough of Bexley that was an important bridging point in Roman times across the River Cray, a tributary of the River Darent, which is itself a tributary of the River Thames.-History:...
, Kent, England with his third wife Katharine Maria and the first six of his seven children by that marriage.
He was made an honorary Doctor of Civil Law by the University of Oxford in 1866 He died at St Leonards, Sussex, England on 11 September 1875, aged 76. Katharine Maria survived him, dying on 30 January 1909, aged 87.