Which British general paid tribute to the Rani of Jhansi by saying, ‘Here lay…

Concept

Attributing a remark made during the Revolt of 1857 is a two-stage evidence problem, not a matter of picking the most famous name. First fix the theatre and the campaign in which the person described actually fought, because that narrows the field of British officers who could have observed her at all. Then ask which of those officers commanded against her and whose own campaign record carries the remark: the theatre narrows the candidates, the campaign record decides.

Application

1. Rani Lakshmibai’s fighting career belongs entirely to the Central India front: she defended Jhansi in March–April 1858, withdrew to Kalpi, and was killed in action at Kotah-ki-Serai near Gwalior on 17–18 June 1858.

2. The force that fought her through all three of those actions was the Central India Field Force, commanded by Major-General Sir Hugh Rose (later Lord Strathnairn), who took Jhansi in April 1858 and Gwalior in June 1858.

3. Hugh Rose is therefore the one commander among those named who faced her in the field, and the tribute “Here lay the woman who was the only man among the rebels” is recorded of him. His official campaign dispatch makes the same judgement, rating her the best and bravest of the rebel leaders.

Cross-check

• Sir Colin Campbell, Commander-in-Chief in India, ran the Awadh campaign — the relief of Lucknow in November 1857 and its recapture in March 1858 — a front on which Lakshmibai never appeared.

• William Hodson (printed “Hudson” in many papers) of Hodson’s Horse belonged to the Delhi theatre, where he seized Bahadur Shah Zafar in September 1857; he died of wounds at Lucknow on 12 March 1858, three months before Lakshmibai fell at Gwalior.

• Exactly one of the three individually named officers commanded against her, so neither the combined choice nor the outside-the-list choice arises.

Answer: Hugh Rose.