Herbert Benjamin Edwardes

Herbert Benjamin Edwardes was a British East India Company officer and administrator on the Punjab frontier. He raised local forces against the Multan revolt and played a prominent role in the opening campaigns of the Second Anglo-Sikh War.

Edwardes became famous in 1848 when, with limited regular support, he raised local troops and fought the forces of Dewan Mulraj at Kinyeri and Sadusam before the main British army reached Multan. His success made him known as the ‘Hero of Multan’ and established his reputation as a frontier administrator. He later held senior posts at Peshawar and Ambala, advocated close political engagement with Afghan rulers, and was promoted major-general shortly before his death in 1868 after prolonged ill health.

Amarpal Singh’s The Second Anglo-Sikh War traces the Multan crisis of 1848, the rebellion centred on Dewan Mulraj and Herbert Edwardes's improvised campaigns at Kinyeri and Sadusam. The second volume begins with the restricted Sikh state created after the First Anglo-Sikh War and the British-controlled regency governing for Duleep Singh. The siege of Multan is placed within the broader spread of resistance led by Sher Singh and Chattar Singh Attariwalla, and within the political calculations of Frederick Currie, the Lawrence brothers and Governor-General Dalhousie.