Charles James Napier
General Sir Charles Napier Sir Henry Hardinge | |
---|---|
Preceded by | Office established |
Succeeded by | (as chief commissioner of Sindh) |
Personal details | |
Born | London, England | 10 August 1782
Died | 29 August 1853 Portsmouth, England | (aged 71)
Resting place | Royal Garrison Church, Portsmouth, England |
Military service | |
Allegiance | United Kingdom / British Empire East India Company |
Branch/service | British Army Bombay Army |
Years of service | 1794–1851 |
Rank | General |
Commands | Northern District (1839–1840) Commander-in-Chief of India (1848–1849) |
Battles/wars | Peninsular War War of 1812 Conquest of Sindh |
Awards | Army Gold Medal Military General Service Medal Scinde Medal |
General Sir Charles James Napier,
Early life
Charles James Napier was the eldest son of Colonel
When he was only three years old his father took up an administrative post in
Peninsular War
Napier commanded the
Napier recuperated from his wounds while he was being held near the headquarters of the French Marshal Soult and afterwards Michel Ney. On 21 March 1809, a British sloop approached Corunna with a letter for the commandant of the city, requesting information about the fate of Napier on behalf of his family. After an agreement between Ney and Napier, the latter was released on a convalescence leave at home for three months, under parole to return to Ney's quarters wherever he was on the first of July 1809.[5]
Napier volunteered to return to the
Bermuda Garrison and American War of 1812
Napier subsequently served in
Napier served as governor of
Return to England
In 1835, Napier was designated Governor of the planned new colony of South Australia, but he resigned the position, recommending William Light for the post. However, John Hindmarsh had already been lobbying for the position and had gained influential support, and was appointed to it.[9]
Napier became the
Service as General Officer Commanding of the Northern District
In April 1839, Napier was put in command of 6,000 troops in the Northern District, with one of his designated tasks being to confront the many Chartist protests active in the area. As a leftist who in principle agreed with the Chartist demands for Democracy, Napier made efforts to keep violence to a minimum and calm tensions in the area as best he could whilst still obeying his orders. Napier privately blamed "Tory injustice and Whig imbecility" for the conflicts, and pitied the Chartists rather than feared them.[10]
Service in India
In 1842, at the age of 60, Napier was appointed Major General to the command of the
His orders had been only to put down the rebels: by conquering the whole Sindh Province, he greatly exceeded his mandate. Napier was supposed to have despatched to his superiors the short, notable message, "
On 4 July 1843, Napier was appointed Knight Grand Cross in the military division of the
Napier was appointed Governor of the
Napier remained for a while as the
Napier returned home to England for the last time. He was still suffering with physical infirmities which were results of his wounds during the Peninsular War, and he died about two years later at Oaklands, near
When revolt broke out in 1857, Napier's Defects was hailed as a prophetic work which correctly identified many of the seething tensions in the sub-continent.[18] The problem was as one of his contemporaries observed "Had he made his representations with sober moderation, eschewing all offensive exaggeration, his warnings and suggestions would have commanded attention. Instead they were pooh-poohed as the emanations of a distempered mind."[19]
Napier's former house is now part of Oaklands Catholic School of Waterlooville. Napier died on 29 August 1853 and his remains were buried in the Royal Garrison Church in Portsmouth.[4]
Sati practice
Napier enforced the British prohibition of suttee, or
- "Be it so. This burning of widows is your custom; prepare the funeral pile. But my nation has also a custom. When men burn women alive we hang them, and confiscate all their property. My carpenters shall therefore erect gibbets on which to hang all concerned when the widow is consumed. Let us all act according to national customs." [20]
On slavery and plunder
Napier opposed slavery. According to the memoir on Napier by William, the Sindh cultivator was bonded and oppressed, and the numerous Hindus were plundered people and their faith was condemned by Balochis and Sindhis alike. They were eager for peace and protection.[21] Napier removed the Amirs from power, dismantled their private assembly of armed men, proclaimed that taxes previously collected by the Amirs from the peasants be paid to the English instead, and that slavery was abolished throughout the land.[22] This was vehemently opposed by Balochi masters, but welcomed by slave-girls of the harems.[22]
Napier found that the Sindh was divided into land parcels called kardarats, under a headman called kardar, who were under an Arabian cadi.[23] The cadi had powers to summarily fine and imprison, and in practice exercised powers of life, death and torture. The kardar collected land taxes and customs, frequently fining and torturing the villagers to a level of fear that they were slaves of the chief to whose estate their village belonged. Napier continued the old system of kardars, but made them official collectors giving them government salaries, allowing villagers to file complaints against any kardar.[23]
While stationed at Karachi, Napier found that the land was owned by the state, Amirs were collecting land taxes with "shocking cruelty – mutilations and tortures", with land tax rates between half and two-thirds.[24] The due collectors enjoyed hereditary tenures in a feudal jagir system where the husbandman was a mere slave. These oppressive practices had led many Sindh farmers to abandon their farms and move to the desert. Napier challenged this oppression.[24]
Napier opposed the slavery custom where, according to William's memoir, young girls would be dragged from "their homes for the harems of the great". His efforts to respect the rights of women and children required him to battle numerous Amirs who previously exercised "unmitigated cruelty and debauchery".[25]
Legacy
In 1903, the
A bronze in honour of Napier by
Some controversy was raised in October 2000 when Ken Livingstone, the newly elected mayor of London, requested that the statue of Napier and that of Major General Sir Henry Havelock be moved to less prominent positions, stating as his reason "I have not a clue who two of the generals there are or what they did", but these requests did not result in any action.[30]
His remains lie in the now-ruined Royal Garrison Church, Portsmouth. His tomb is immediately outside the west door of the church. A loose plaque in the church is thought to have indicated the burial place of Napier, inside what is now the west wall.[31]
The city of Napier in the Hawke's Bay region of New Zealand is named after him.[32] The suburb of Meeanee commemorates his victory in the Battle of Miani.[33]
The city of
There is a residential area in Quetta named Napier Lines. The Indian city of Jabalpur in Madhya Pradesh state has a neighbourhood called Napier Town.[citation needed]
Bibliography
- The Colonies, Treating of their Value Generally, of the Ionian Islands Particularly and Including Strictures on the Administration of Sir Frederick Adam (1833)
- Colonization, particularly in Southern Australia: with some remarks on small farms and overpopulation (1835)
- Remarks on Military Law, and the Punishment of Flogging (1837)
- A Dialogue on the Poor Laws (1838)
- Lights and Shades of Military Life (1840)
- A Letter to the Right Hon Sir J. Hobhouse, on the Baggage of the Indian Army (1849)
- A Letter on the Defence of England by Corps of Volunteers and Militia (1852)
- Defects, Civil and Military, of the Indian Government (1853)
- William the Conqueror, a Historical Romance (edited by Sir William Napier, 1858)
See also
- Colonel George Napier (1751–1804), his father;
- Lady Sarah Lennox (1745–1826), his mother;
and his brothers:
- Sir George Thomas Napier (1784–1855), Commander-in-Chief of the Army in the Cape Colony
- Sir William Francis Patrick Napier (1785–1860), soldier and military historian
- Henry Edward Napier (1789–1853), naval officer and historian.
Notes
- ^ "Napier". Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary.
- ^ Napier, William Francis Patrick (1857). Life & Opinions of General Sir Charles James Napier Volume I. London: John Murray. p. 2.
- ^ Napier, William Francis Patrick (1857). Life & Opinions of General Sir Charles James Napier, Vol I. London: John Murray. p. 18.
- ^ a b c d e f Ainslie T. Embree, Napier, Sir Charles James (1782–1853), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
- ^ Bonnal, Henry (1910). La vie militaire du Maréchal Ney, duc d'Elchingen, prince de la Moskowa.
- ^ "No title". The Bermuda Gazette. City of Hamilton, Pembroke, Bermuda. 11 October 1817. p. 4.
His Majesty's 100th Regiment has been lately embarked under the command of Major ROCHFORT at St. John's, New-Brunswick, to proceed to England for reduction. They have been stationed in New Brunswick three years. The Officers of the Regiment have presented Major ROCHFORT a valuable sword as a token of their esteem.
- ^ Napier, K.C.B., Lieutenant-General Sir William Francis Patrick (1857). The Life and Opinions of General Sir Charles James Napier, G.C.B. Volume I (of IV). London, England: John Murray, Albemarle Street.
- ^ NAPIER, Charles James
- ISSN 1833-7538. Retrieved 19 October 2019.
This article was first published in hardcopy in Australian Dictionary of Biography, Volume 1, (MUP), 1966
- ISBN 9781315517278.
- ^ "Peccavi". Encyclopedia of Britain. Retrieved 20 December 2015.
- ^ Rice, Edward (19 April 2002). "General Charles Napier and the Conquest of Sind". The Victorian Web.
- ^ "No. 20239". The London Gazette. 4 July 1843. p. 2246.
- ^ "97th (The Earl of Ulster's) Regiment of Foot". regiments.org. Archived from the original on 12 July 2006. Retrieved 15 August 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ "The Cheshire Regiment". regiments.org. Archived from the original on 31 December 2006. Retrieved 11 July 2016.
{{cite web}}
: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link) - ^ Napier, C., Defects, p. 91.
- ^ Napier, C., Defects, p. 255
- ^ Napier, C., Defects, 250.
- ^ Thorburn, S., The Punjab in Peace and War. Blackwood, 1904. p. 155
- ^ a b Napier, William (1851). History Of General Sir Charles Napier's Administration Of Scinde. London: Chapman and Hall. p. 35. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
- ^ Napier, William (1851). History Of General Sir Charles Napier's Administration Of Scinde. London: Chapman and Hall. p. 1.
- ^ a b Napier, William (1851). History Of General Sir Charles Napier's Administration Of Scinde. London: Chapman and Hall. pp. 10–12.
- ^ a b Napier, William (1851). History Of General Sir Charles Napier's Administration Of Scinde. London: Chapman and Hall. pp. 26–27.
- ^ a b Napier, William (1851). History Of General Sir Charles Napier's Administration Of Scinde. London: Chapman and Hall. pp. 45–49.
- ^ Napier, William (1851). History Of General Sir Charles Napier's Administration Of Scinde. London: Chapman and Hall. pp. 34–35.
- ISBN 978-81-7023-140-0) page 99at books.google.co.uk. Retrieved 4 August 2008
- ^ 125th Napier's Rifles at britishempire.co.uk. Retrieved 3 August 2008
- ISBN 0-9514296-0-4.
- ^ "SIR CHARLES JAMES NAPIER (1782–1853)"
- ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 17 March 2020.
- ^ Memorials and Monuments in Portsmouth: "Royal Garrison Church – General Sir Charles James Napier G.C.B." Archived 5 September 2004 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ Reed 2010, p. 266.
- ^ Reed 2010, p. 249.
References
- ISBN 9780143204107.
Further reading
- Lee, Sidney, ed. (1894). . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 40. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
- Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 19 (11th ed.). 1911. pp. 169–171. .
- Memorials & Monuments in the Royal Garrison Church Portsmouth
- Butler, William F. (1890). Sir Charles Napier. London: Macmillan & Co.
- Napier, Charles, Defects, Civil and Military of the Indian Government. Westerton, 1853.
- Greenwood, Adrian (2015). Victoria's Scottish Lion: The Life of Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde. History Press. ISBN 978-0750956857.
- Lieutenant William Edwards of the 86th Regiment and his 'Sketches in Scinde' Archived 17 July 2016 at the Wayback Machine, An essay about an important collection of illustrations by Napier's aide-de-camp Edwards (published London, 1846).
- ISBN 0-85955-163-6.
- ISBN 0-85955-175-X.