VERACITY OF A VILLAIN

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Envied by fellowmen, dogged by criticism but revered for unmistakable and unmatchable courage. Such was the life William Stephen Raikes Hodson chose to lead…

Humayun’s tomb in Delhi is an almost forgotten monument in generation Y’s rat race and has been pathetically reduced to a mere landmark for someone looking for driving directions to Hazrat Nizamuddin Railway Station. But many pages of Indian History intersect at this very junction, and one such chapter is of Major Hodson of the Hodson’s Horse...

A 23-year-old William Stephen Raikes Hodson joined the 2nd Bengal Grenadiers and played an inconsequential role in the first Sikh War. He managed to be in the good books of his superior, Sir Henry Lawrence, and in 1852 was given the civil command of the Yusafzai. But the rashness in his words and actions never went down well with his compatriots and superiors. Two years later, two grave charges were levied against him. First, was his imprisoning of a Pashtun pathan named Khadar Khan for murdering one Colonel Mackeson, and the second being the embezzlement of funds for his regiment. Lord Dalhousie removed Hodson from his duties with immediate effect. It was later concluded that Major Hodson had been negligent towards government funds but was found innocent on the fraud charge. In the future, various similar charges were also raised against him. Just as he was on the brink of a complete dismissal from India, the mutiny of 1857 broke out. He became a cult figure within East India Company because of his ability to take companies of cavaliers from Karnal to Meerut – a region swarming with rebel soldiers – and back in four days. He undertook this accomplishment with such élan that General Anson allowed him to raise a regiment of 2000 cavaliers called the Hodson’s Horse. On 22nd September, Hodson persuaded General Wilson to permit him to ride with 50 of Hodson’s horsemen to Humayun’s tomb, where the rebel princes of the Mughul dynasty were taking refuge with thousands of rebels. He was to go to their hideout and make the sons of Bahadur Shah Zafar, Mirza Mughal and Mirza Khizr Sultan and grandson Mirza Abu Bakr surrender without condition. He managed the surrender of Bahadur Shah, and returned to the British stronghold without as much as a cry from the rebels.

The following day, he made a return to Humayun’s tomb with hundred sowars to make the princes surrender. And with the level-headedness peculiar to him, he commanded the three princes to lay down their arms unconditionally, which they did, and made them leave in a carriage guarded by 10 of his soldiers, while he stayed back with the remaining 90 to collect the arms of the mutineers. Hodson then caught up with the princes’ caravan near Feroz Shah Kotla Fort. However, while they were still on enemy ground, the rebels became restless as their leaders were taken away. Moments later, they threatened to turn violent and sensing imminent danger, Hodson did what became the blackest page with Major Hodson’s name. He took a musket from a sowar and shot all three princes through their heads; ending thus, one of world’s greatest imperial dynasties. The East India Company came down heavily on Major Hodson, but eventually it was concluded that he would not have been able to bring the princes safely into Delhi had he not done what he did.

La Martiniere, Lucknow, is the only school in the world that has been awarded the Queen’s colours for its service during the 1857 mutiny. Its students tended to the sick and the wounded and parcelled food to where the soldiers’ makeshift hospital was. Its Principal, Mr. Elton D’Souza, says, “Major Hodson’s actions cannot speak for his character. It is hard to imagine one to be in his place. The various other stories are baseless and cannot be established. He was a British Army officer and did what was in the best interest of his establishment.”

On 11 March,1858, at Begum Peth in Lucknow, Hodson ordered the door of a room, where a handful of rebels were holed up, to be brought down. But before the soldiers could bring in the gunpowder bags and blow up the door, Hodson rushed in with the characteristic rashness that was known of him and got shot through the liver. He instantly choked on blood and, to his compatriot, said his last words, “I hope I have done my duty.” Thus, a controversial career of a fine officer and the finest soldier came to an abrupt end. Contrary to the accusations he lived under, Hodson’s wife was left with merely GBP 400. Major William Stephen Raikes Hodson was buried on the grounds of La Martiniere, Lucknow.

B&E edit bureau: Ashish Pratap Singh

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Source : IIPM Editorial, 2008

An Initiative of IIPM, Malay Chaudhuri and Arindam chaudhuri (Renowned Management Guru and Economist).

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