page_title: John Spencer Login
section_title: Maharajah Duleep Singh and the Koh-i-Noor
hierarchical_section_title: John Spencer Login / Maharajah Duleep Singh and the Koh-i-Noor
caption_attribution_description: English: Maharaja Duleep Singh (1838 - 1893).
context_page_description: Sir John Spencer Login was a Scottish surgeon in British India, best remembered as the guardian of Maharajah Duleep Singh and the Koh-i-Noor diamond following the annexation of Punjab and Last Treaty of Lahore.
  Born in the seaport of Stromness, Orkney, in 1809, Login went on to study medicine at the University of Edinburgh and was, within a few years, offered the post of assistant surgeon for the East India Company. Arriving in Calcutta in 1832, he initially had appointments with the Bengal establishment and the Nizam’s army. Later roles included, amongst others, a medical charge of the horse artillery in the Afghan campaign, residency surgeoncy at Lucknow, action in the Second Anglo-Sikh War and in 1849, the appointment as the Governor of Lahore.
  It was under Login and his wife's guidance that Duleep Singh converted to Christianity and was escorted to England in 1854. After a final trip to India, Login died shortly after his return to England in 1863.
context_section_description: Following the death of Maharajah Ranjit Singh in 1839 and the ensuing decade of power struggles, civil war and First Anglo-Sikh War, the East India Company army defeated the Sikhs in 1849, resulting in the inducement of the ten year old Maharajah Duleep Singh to sign the Last Treaty of Lahore with the consequential annexation of Punjab. Subsequently, Login was entrusted with the Company’s two most significant possessions, the guardianship of Maharajah Duleep Singh and the protection of the Koh-i-Noor diamond. 
  In addition, Login was put in charge of cataloguing the newly acquired treasuries of the Sikh government's (treasury). He meticulously measured, described and recorded the details of each jewel. He was also in charge of the post office in Punjab. It was said that the British regarded Login as the most trustworthy man in all India. 
  Login was first introduced to the ten year old Maharajah Duleep Singh on 6 April 1849, just a few days after he had been appointed Governor of "the Citadel of Lahore and all that it contains". They moved from Lahore to Fatehgarh Park, Fatehgarh, where Login introduced an English type of learning. Impressed with the young Duleep Singh's handsome looks and attitudes, Login noted his (Duleep's) preferences for isolation, but attributed this to the "maharajah's contemplative nature" rather than to unhappiness. Apprehensive about the manner in which the diamond had been obtained, he avoided the subject with Duleep Singh. In addition, he avoided conversation about Singh's mother Jind Kaur. It was, according to George Bruce Malleson, under Login's guidance that Duleep Singh "developed into a Christian gentleman, an English courtier, and a Scottish laird", who saw Login as a significant figure in his life, calling him "MaBap", a collective appellation for mother and father. 
  The Koh-i-Noor was eventually handed over to Governor-General Dalhousie at the end of 1849 by Login, whilst still set in the armlet that Maharajah Ranjeet Singh had once worn.
  Lena Login returned to India to assist in the upbringing of Duleep Singh and later they escorted Duleep Singh to England in 1854.
caption: A young Maharaja Duleep Singh. After Charles Stewart Hardinge, 1847.[4]
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