Punjab

by Rajmohan Gandhi

Napoleon’s defeat in 1815 had ended any French hopes of displacing the British from India, but it also freed some French and Italian officers for service outside Europe, including in Punjab. In 1822, two French commanders, Jean Francois Allard and Jean Baptiste Ventura, whom I have referred to earlier, were among the first Europeans to join the Maharaja’s army. Within a few years, more than fifty whites or Eurasians were on Ranjit Singh’s payroll, of whom the best known, besides Allard and Ventura, were Claude August Court and Paolo Avitabile from France and Italy respectively. From 1829, the Maharaja also employed the Austro-Hungarian homeopath, Martin Honigberger, as his personal physician, and two years later he facilitated a journey to the Himalayas by the French geologist and botanist, Victor Jacquemont. Always conscious of the British next door, Ranjit Singh was glad to have officers who had fought the British and could train his army along European lines. Though most of his ministers and commanders advised against the employment of foreigners on handsome emoluments, they were overruled.

French officers