Harold Lee, Brothers in the Raj: The Lives of John and Henry Lawrence (Karachi: Oxford University Press, 2002), pp.437. Price in Pakistan Rs. 595/--
Many of us in Pakistan must be familiar with the name of Lawrence College in Ghora Gali (near Murree). Few, however, know the exact connection of this great public school for elitist children with two brothers---John and Henry Lawrence---who were among the rulers of the Punjab. Even fewer would know that these colonial British officers, these imperialists, had not meant to create an exclusive school for the children of the elite at all. What they wanted to set up were institutions for ‘barrack children’---‘the offspring of sergeants and other ranks whose condition in the cantonments of north India’ had appalled Henry Lawrence. Indeed, as the author remarks, ‘it is a minor irony of the post-colonial subcontinent that all three of these foundations [Sarawar in Simla hills, one in Nilgiri Hills and Lawrence College] for the imperial disadvantaged are not exclusive public schools’ (p.106). But who were the Lawrences? That is the question this book attempts to answer.
The two brothers were the sons of Alexander Lawrence, an army officer who saw service in India, Sri Lanka and Europe. He retired as a lieutenant colonel but his pension of British Pounds 220 per year was so meagre that his died ‘feeling proud of his achievements but bitter at his meagre rewards’ (p.9). He and his wife Letitia Catherine Knox had twelve children, six of them born in India. Henry was born at Matwa, Sri Lanka, on 28 June 1806 and John at Richmond, Yorkshire on 4 March 1811. Both were influenced by their sister Letitia whom they loved till the end of their lives. Both were inspired by the romantic stories about adventure, war and heroism which were in the air at the time. Eventually Henry joined the East India Company’s army and John, who was very keen on the military, had to content himself with becoming a civilian officer of the Company. This meant, however, that both of them would serve in India and this, indeed, is what happened.
The author devotes half a chapter to Henry and the other half to John in this biography of both the brothers. We learn that eventually the brothers found their forte---the governance of the Punjab. This was the era of individualistic rule of Company officers of great administrative skills. They were quite flexible in their approach being less constrained by the rigid bureaucratization and regimentation which curtailed initiative of individual officers later. Moreover, they were far brom indulgent of Indian norms of behaviour and practices than their successors. Henry Lawrence, who had proved himself an authority on the Punjab by writing about it even as the Resident in Nepal, was just such a paternalistic, flexible and ‘Orientalist’ figure. John, in contrast to his brother, belonged to the rising fashion of Anglicist officers who were impatient of everything ‘native’ and wanted much more record-keeping, accountability and control than was considered necessary. These two brothers, with their different approaches, were now to control the destiny of the Punjab.
The date of the annexation of the Punjab is 1849 but it is a mistake to assume, as it often is, that the Punjab was an independent province before that date. It was not. Indeed, the loss of Sikh power began rapidly after Ranjit Singh’s death in 1839. In 1845, seeing dissension among the Sikhs, Lord Hardinge, the Governor-General, had sent an army of 40,000 men to defeat the Sikhs. In the ensuing war near Sobraon nearly 10,000 Punjabis were killed and the Treaty of Lahore of March 1846 made the Sikh Darbar, with the boy-ruler Dalip Singh and his formidable mother Rani Jind Kaur (also called Jindan), subservient to the British Resident. This functionary, as it happened, was Henry Lawrence. John Lawrence became the Commissioner of the newly-annexed Jullundur Doab territories. Thus the two brother started laying down the foundations of the revenue and administrative system of the Punjab---foundations which are mostly intact even now after more than a century.
Slowly, British power increased. After the Treaty of Bhyrowal in 1847 the British resident was granted ‘full authority to direct and control all matters in every Department of State’. This Treaty was to be effective until 4 September 1854 when Maharajah Dalip Singh would attain the age of sixteen. However, as Rani Jindan always resented the treaty and conspired to reduce the influence of the British, events hastened the end of even the semblance of independence. This occurred when Henry was on leave in England and John had the confidence of the new Governor-General Lord Dalhousie. The immediate reason was the uprising in Multan in March 1848 which was put down forcefully. On 31 March 1849 Dalip Singh signed the document ending the Sikh dynasty and the Punjab became a British province. A Board of Administration was to govern it and, although both brothers were part of it, Henry’s opinions were impatiently brushed aside while John’s were valued. Eventually, Henry was removed from the Punjab---something which hurt him tremendously. John now ruled the Punjab from 1853 till 1857.
The year 1857 found both brothers most strategically situated. While John was in the Punjab Henry too had been given the Residentship of Oudh in Lucknow in 1856. This was the year of the rebellion which Henry had not foreseen though he had warned that the soldiers needed better pay and better treatment. The soldiers were discontented and officers like Henry could sense it. At last the soldiers rose in revolt and both brothers, in their respective places, rose to defend their hard won empire. Henry was killed by a shot which penetrated into the building of the Residency. John, however, recruited troops in the Punjab and the North West Frontier Province and sent them on to Delhi. This force tipped the scale in favour of the British and eventually made them win the war. For all these services John was rewarded with the Governor-Generalship of India.
The book is immensely readable. It
has the added merit, which all readable books do not have, of drawing on a
large archive of records preserved mostly in the India Office Collections of
the British Library. This is not only a biography of two eminent Victorians but
also an account of British imperialism in India. Among other things we learn
that the British succeeded by taking advantage of Indian dissension. Moreover,
whereas most Indian rulers were despotic and lustful, British officers were
assiduous, fond of reading and aspiring to moral rectitude. Of course they were
imperialists but, in common with Indians, imperialism was admired in those
days. Even the greatest British universities, Oxford and Cambridge, conferred
honorary degrees upon famous imperialists such as John Lawrence. Scholarship,
like money and fame, bows down to power! Indeed, the greatest irony of all is
that now, when imperialism seems to be so out of fashion, there should be such
an accomplished book on two imperialists! But perhaps it is not so surprising.
After all the human race is still impressed with power and maybe an era of a
new kind of imperialism is dawning---an
era which might not have honest imperialists like the Lawrences but shadowy
corporations, think tanks and media giants to sing its praises and call it the
‘New Order’! Dr. Tariq Rahman