Soldier Sahibs

Soldier Sahibs follows the group of East India Company officers associated with Henry Lawrence who fought in the Punjab during the 1840s and then became soldiers, political agents and administrators along India's newly acquired north-west frontier. Their careers unfolded amid the Anglo-Sikh wars, the annexation of Punjab and the effort to impose British influence across a region of tribal territories and Afghan connections.

Drawing on letters, journals and memoirs, Charles Allen interweaves the ambitions and rivalries of Lawrence's circle with the expansion of Company power. The narrative culminates in the uprising of 1857, when several of these men played prominent roles in the defence of British positions and the recapture of Delhi. It is a collective biography of frontier imperialism at its most energetic and violent.