Fnurban #32: Ranjit Singh: Sikh Warrior King

On a rare sunny day, today I went to that London and visited The Wallace Collection, for their exhibition Ranjit Singh : Sikh Warrior King.  And rather good it was, too. 

Putting it very briefly, Maharaja Ranjit Singh lived from 1780 to 1839, and carved out a Sikh empire ('roughly  the size of modern Germany')  encompassing the Punjab, uniting many smaller Sikh states and building a powerful state which acted as a buffer between British possessionss in India and Afghan and Russian influence beyond the Khyber Pass. 

He was a dynamic warrior, and developed a formidable army along modern Euopean lines, assisted by several Western soldiers, in particular former officers from Napoleonic France ( Ranjit Singh is sometimes referred to as 'The Napoleon of the East' as a result ). This army was designed to be more than a match for the forces of the East India Company, for example.   

I knew very little of this period, but  reviews of the exhibition  looked interesting, and it proved to be well worth a visit. There were quite a few 'arms and armour' exhibits, many of which are reputed to have belonged to Ranjit Singh himself,  and several interesting pictures involving military subjects, including one rather gory battle scene.   I'll show some of the photos I took :

 

The entrance is dominated by an enlarged version of a splendid picture included in the exhibition, showing Ranjit Singh and his court at Lahore. The picture shows quite a few of his soldiers, including very European style infantry, cavalry and artillery units drilling and firing in the fields  beyond the city walls.     

Battle of Sirhind, 1710

 The Sikhs had famously been a warrior race - the above picture illustrated that, showing a battle from 100 years before. In the centre, an enemy Mughal governor (riding the horse with its lower half  dyed red)  is pictured minus his head, which has been chopped off by a sword-weilding Sikh horseman. A version of the  picture is also enlarged to cover the wall of one of the rooms, so you can see every gory detail.

There was a good selection of arms and armour associated with Ranjit Singh himself :  swords, helmet, bow, pistol, musket. The pistol is interesting as its stock is of Indian make, but the lock is English; and the musket is interesting because despite the emphasis on modernity in the army, this personal weapon of the Maharaja is in fact a matchlock.  Given some rather lovely metalwork decoration on it, I suspect this weapon was more for show than actual use!   

   

 

This was a surprising exhibit - I had no idea that Quoits began as a battle weapon! The edges  were sharpened, and they would be thrown at enemy formations - quite nasty. And they could be kept in a handy stack on the conical hat - where they then doubled as armour. 

 More Sikh helmets - note the way the wearer's  top-knot is accommodated 

 

Armour for a Sikh mounted warrior - note the rectangular  plate armour, which was typical. There would be four plates strung toghether, making an all-round cuirass. Under that is a mail shirt. 

More splendidly-engraved muskets, again matchlocks, with powder-horn and a dagger.

 

Contemporary picture of a mounted warrior of Ranjit Singh's army 

Amritsar, home of the Sikhs' Golden Temple and part of Ranjit Singh's empire.

Portrait of Ranjit Singh in later life - 1830s. Note the Western style of the soldier's yellow jacket at the bottom.

Some of the 'Firanji'   ( Foreigners ) who were brought in to modernise the army - first is a Frenchman,   Jean-Francois Allard, who was a former officer in Napoleon's army, and was first commissioned to raise a corps  of dragoons and lancers, being then made a General and becoming a close confidante of Ranjit Singh. 

This splendid chap is Scots-American mercenary Alexander Gardner, who is of course wearing a tartan turban!

Gardner it seems wrote an eye-witness account of the political  chaos after Ranjit Singh died in 1839, a rapid series of assassinations of his successors led to the empire's collapse and annexation by the British after what we refer to as The Sikh Wars.  As a result of the British takeover, many of the riches of the Sikh empire passed to Britain,  and of course are now able to be shown in this exhibition. Among the British loot was the Ko-ih-Noor diamond, and the show includes a document which is in effect a 'receipt' for it, presumably an attempt to legitimise its acquisition.  There is also Ranjit Singh''s Golden Throne 

  

The British governor, Lord Dalhousie, was ordered to send the throne to Britain, but rather took a fancy to it himself, and supposedly tried to have a replica made and sent, so he could keep the real one! 

All in all quite a fascinating exhibition, and well worth a visit if the period is of interest. From a wargaming point of view, lots of inspiration, perhaps?  The Sikh army did end up fighting against the British after Ranjit Singh's death - and a good 'what if' might be to imagine him actually getting into a scrap with the East India Company army while he was in his prime?  Or with the Russians, perhaps if you also  have a Crimean War force?  The show will  be quite timely if you have acquired Andy Copestake's recently published and doubtless excellent Khalsa! A Guide to Wargaming the Anglo-Sikh Wars 1845-1846 and 1848-1849  

 Finally a view of one of the exhibition rooms - the enlargement of pictures to cover entire walls is very effective.  Using my National Art Pass discount, my ticket cost me £7, which was pretty good - normal price £14, though I suspect some might think the exhibition a little too small for that price. There are 'over 100' objects on display.     

It's also woth noting that the Wallace Collection itself is a rather amazing place, including a couple of rooms packed  full of great arms and armour from Europe and Asia,  and a reallyfine  collection of paintings and objets dart. It's like a sort of Mini V&A, and a madly over-the-top Victorian house interior absolutely rammed with 'stuff'  -the phrase 'Tart's Boudoir' springs to  mind, in the nicest possible way!   I made a resolution to go back and spend an afternoon looking at the regualr collections  - all this is 5 minutes from Oxford Street in Manchester Square, Central London. If you are interested in the period and find yourself in the area, I would thoroughly recommend a visit.   Meanwhile keep well, everyone.