Annexation
Unknown · WikimediaAfter two wars, the East India Company annexed the Kingdom of Lahore on 29 March 1849. The ten-year-old Maharaja Duleep Singh was deposed and sent away, the Koh-i-Noor was shipped to Queen Victoria, and the last independent state of the Punjab came to an end.
Shah Mohammad, a Muslim poet, mourned the defeat of the Khalsa army as the defeat of the whole Punjab. Bhai Maharaj Singh fought on until he was captured and exiled to Singapore.
The Board and the brothers
The annexed Punjab was ruled at first by a Board of Administration under the brothers Henry and John Lawrence. Henry wanted to keep the old Sikh chiefs on side; John wanted to cut their jagirs and tax the land directly. John won. The Khalsa army was disbanded, forts were pulled down, and the land revenue was settled village by village.
In 1857, when the Bengal army rose against the British, John Lawrence raised new regiments in the Punjab and sent them to retake Delhi. From then on the Punjab became the main recruiting ground of the Indian Army.
The two Anglo-Sikh Wars
1845 – 1849- 1
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After Sobraon the Treaty of Lahore (March 1846) took the Jalandhar Doab and the hills, and Kashmir went to Gulab Singh. After Gujrat the Kingdom of Lahore was annexed, on 29 March 1849.