Sir Henry Lawrence

Sir Henry Montgomery Lawrence was the British officer who ran the Lahore Darbar for the East India Company after the First Anglo-Sikh War and then headed the Board that governed the Punjab after annexation. He was born on 28 June 1806 in Ceylon, joined the Bengal Artillery in 1823, and served in the revenue survey of the North-West Province, at Firozpur, at Peshawar and, from 1843 to 1846, as Resident in Nepal.

Key moments

• 1846. Lord Hardinge appointed him agent at Lahore after the First Anglo-Sikh War. After the Treaty of Bharowal that year he became British Resident with wide authority over the Darbar. His civil administration ran through a council of eight leading sardars: six Sikhs, one Hindu and one Muslim. He also raised the Guides Corps in 1846.
• August 1847. Fearing the influence of Maharani Jind Kaur, he detained her in the Lahore Fort, implicated her in an alleged plot and had her expelled from Lahore. He also helped bring about the dismissal and expulsion of Wazir Lal Singh, believed to be behind the Kashmir revolt.
• 1846 to 1849. He introduced regular pay for the Sikh army, ending long arrears, recommended large-scale enlistment of Sikhs into the British army, and worked to settle disbanded soldiers.
• 29 March 1849. The Punjab was annexed. Lawrence privately opposed annexation, calling it immoral, unjust and impolitic in letters to the Home Government and to friends in England. Lord Dalhousie disliked him and resented his popularity among the Sikhs.
• 1849 to 1853. President of the three-man Board of Administration, in charge of defence and relations with the sardars, while his brother John Lawrence handled land settlement. He resigned in January 1853 over differences with Dalhousie. Dalhousie abolished the Board on 4 February 1853 and transferred him to Rajputana.
• 4 July 1857. Killed in action while defending the Residency at Lucknow during the rising of 1857.

Sikh history keeps both sides of him. He was the Resident through whom the Darbar was run on the Company's behalf and who removed Maharani Jind Kaur from Lahore. He was also the British officer who admired the Sikhs, looked after their soldiers and argued against taking their kingdom.