General Jean-François Allard

Jean-François Allard was a French cavalry officer from Napoleon's army who joined Maharaja Ranjit Singh's service in 1822 and helped build the European-drilled units of the Khalsa army. He was born at Saint-Tropez on 8 March 1785, joined the French army in 1803, served in the imperial cavalry, rejoined Napoleon in March 1815 and was promoted captain that April. He had been named a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1814; France raised him to Officer in 1832 and Commander in 1835.

After a spell in Persian service at Tabriz, from February 1820 to September 1821, he and Jean-Baptiste Ventura left Persia when British pressure led it to dismiss French officers, and reached Lahore in March 1822. Ranjit Singh hired them only after confirming they were Napoleonic officers and not British spies.

Key moments

• 1822: told to reorganise the Maharaja's cavalry on European lines, he raised two cavalry regiments on 16 July 1822 and a dragoon regiment in 1823. Drill followed a French manual and commands were given in French. With Ventura he commanded units of the Fauj-i-Khas, the model brigade of the Khalsa army, which one account puts at 5,000 to 6,000 men by 1825.
• From 1824: responsible for security along the Sutlej border with the British. He led operations at Peshawar and the Derajat in 1825, against Sayyid Ahmad Barelvi's followers in 1827 and 1830, and at Jamrud in 1837.
• 1826: married Bannou Pan Dei, daughter of Raja Menga Ram of Chamba.
• 1834 onward: took his family to France on leave and settled them at Saint-Tropez. He went back to the Punjab alone; accounts differ on whether in 1836 or early 1837, and he carried a letter from King Louis Philippe.
• 23 January 1839: died at Peshawar of a heart ailment, where he had been sent in 1838 to help General Avitabile govern the province. He was buried with military honours at Kuri Bagh, Lahore, on 19 February.

Standing at court. His pay was Rs 30,000 a year with jagirs. The Tribune reports that Ranjit Singh often consulted him on “important and delicate matters of the state”, which upset native courtiers. The Maharaja awarded him the Kaukab-i-Iqbal-i-Punjab medal. His descendants in Saint-Tropez still keep paintings, medals and Sikh artefacts from that time.

What he is remembered for. As, with Ventura, one of the first European officers to modernise Ranjit Singh's army. The Fauj-i-Khas he helped train served the Sikh state until it was disbanded after the battle of Gujrat in 1849.