Lord William Bentinck

Lord William Cavendish-Bentinck (14 September 1774 to 17 June 1839) was Governor-General of the Presidency of Fort William from 4 July 1828 and the first Governor-General of India from 22 April 1834 until 20 March 1835. He is best known for abolishing sati in Bengal by Regulation XVII of 4 December 1829. In the Panth's record he is the Governor-General who met Maharaja Ranjit Singh at Ropar in 1831.

The Ropar meeting. The Treaty of Amritsar of 1809 had made the Sutlej the boundary between Ranjit Singh's kingdom and Company territory, but it had not settled who controlled the river's course to the sea. In the last week of October 1831 Bentinck met Ranjit Singh at Ropar on the Sutlej. Captain Claude Martin Wade, the Company's agent for Sikh affairs, organised the meeting and acted as master of ceremonies and interpreter: Ranjit Singh's words went from Punjabi to Persian through Fakir Azizuddin and from Persian to English through Wade.

Ranjit Singh came with his son Kharak Singh and grandson Nau Nihal Singh, and with Hari Singh Nalwa and Dhian Singh among his sardars. The two sides built boat bridges over the Sutlej, drilled their troops for each other and exchanged gifts over about a week. Ranjit Singh wanted recognition of Kharak Singh's succession and Company approval of his plans for Sindh. The Company suspected him of dealings with Russia and wanted trade through the Indus and the Sutlej.

The outcome. Accounts differ. A British officer present, Captain White of the 31st Regiment, recorded that Bentinck gained the assurances of friendship he had come for. A modern account drawing on Cunningham and other sources says the meeting did not bring the two sides' interests into line: Ranjit Singh received only a commemorative paper of friendship, his hopes over Sindh were not met, and the Company dealt secretly with the Mirs of Sindh to stop him taking part of it. An Indus navigation treaty followed in 1832.

Key moments

• 4 December 1829: abolishes sati in Bengal.
• Last week of October 1831: meets Ranjit Singh at Ropar.
• 1832: the Indus navigation treaty is signed.
• 22 April 1834: becomes the first Governor-General of India.

What he is remembered for. Bentinck is remembered for abolishing sati and for the reforms of his term. In the Panth's record he is remembered mainly for the Ropar meeting, a week of Sikh display and British ceremony on the Sutlej at which, on the fuller account, Ranjit Singh did not get what he had come for.