William Linnæus Gardner William Linnæus Gardner ( 1770 / 1771 – 1835 ) , was an Indian officer . Early life and family . Gardner was the eldest son of Major Valentine Gardner ( born 1739 in Ireland ) , 16th Foot . His father was the elder brother of Alan Gardner , 1st Baron Gardner and was with the 16th Foot , during its service in America from 1767 to 1782 . Gardner ' s mother was his father ' s first wife , Aleda ( 1747 – 1791 ) , third daughter of Colonel Robert Livingston of Livingston Manor , New York ( where he was born ) . Gardner " . . . is mentioned as being cared for by his maternal grandfather at the . . . manor house for several years before it was judged prudent to send him to his father , with whom he ended up back in England – an involuntary intercontinental emigration in reverse . ” Through his father , he had a younger half - brother , also named Valentine Gardner , whose mother his father later married . He was brought up in France and when a boy , was gazetted as ensign in the old 89th Foot on 7 March 1783 and placed on half - pay of the regiment on its disbandment some weeks later . He was brought on full - pay as ensign in the 74th highlanders in India on 6 March 1789 , and promoted to a lieutenancy in the 52nd Foot in India in October of the same year . The regimental muster - rolls , which are incomplete , show him on the strength of the depôt - company at home from 1791 – 93 . He became captain in the 30th Foot in 1794 and at once exchanged to half - pay of a disbanded independent company . Of the circumstances under which he retired various stories were told . All that is known is that he appeared afterwards as a military adventurer in the " chaotic field of central Indian discord " . Marriage and children . For some time ( starting in 1798 ) , Gardner was in the service of Jeswunt Rao Holkar , the famous Maratha ruler of Indore . Holkar sent him on a mission to the independent princes of Cambay , where he converted to Islam and married his only wife , an Indian Muslim princess ( born c . 1775 ) , on whose ancestors the emperors of Delhi , in days gone by , had conferred the highest hereditary honours . However , certain sources state that they married in 1796 . On seeing his future wife , Begum Mah Munzel ul - Nissa , for the first time , he stated : " . . . I saw , as I thought , the most beautiful black eyes in the world . " She was the daughter of the Nawab of Cambay and the adopted daughter of Akbar Shah II , the Mughal Emperor of India . On living at his wife ' s estates at Khassgunge , he wrote in a letter to his cousin Edward : " At Khassgunge I anticipate very great happiness . I am fond of reading and I am fond of my garden and . . . have more relish in playing with [ my ] little brats than for the First Society in the World . " Together they had three children : two sons named Alan Hyde Gardner ( whose younger daughter married a Mughal prince named Mirza Anjum Shikoh Bahadur ) and James Valentine Gardner ( who married a Mughal princess named Begum Mulka Humanee ) , as well as a daughter . Adventures . Holkar afterwards sent Gardner to meet with Lord Lake and suspecting treachery , grossly insulted him on his return . Gardner replied by attempting to cut down the Maharaja . Failing , he escaped in the confusion and went through a succession of the wildest adventures . At one time , when a prisoner of Emurt Rao , he was strapped to a gun under the threat of death unless he promised to fight against the English . At another time , he jumped down a precipice fifty feet deep into a stream to escape his guards . Eventually , he made his way into Lake ' s camp in the guise of a grass - cutter ( 1804 ) . His wife and her attendants were allowed to depart unharmed from Holkar ' s camp through her family ' s influence . Post Indian military life . Gardner served as a leader of irregular horse ( captain ) under Lake and in the same capacity ( lieutenant - colonel ) , performed services under Sir David Ochterlony in Kaman from 1814 – 15 . In the latter connection , Gardner ( whose name , like that of his father , is spelt ‘ Gardiner ’ in many army lists ) , has been confounded by some writers with the first British resident in Nepal , the Hon . Edward Gardiner , who was affiliated with the Bengal Civil Service ( for reference see Debrett , Peerage , 1825 , under ‘ Blessington , ’ and Dodwell and , Lists of Bengal Civil Servants ) . He also rendered service under Ochterlony in the settlement of Rajputana from 1817 – 18 . He was rewarded in 1822 with an unattached majority in the king ' s service antedated to 25 September 1803 . The name of William Linnæus Gardner first appears in the East India Company army lists in January 1819 , as a local lieutenant - colonel commanding a corps of irregular cavalry , afterwards described as Gardner ' s Corps , as Gardner ' s Local Horse and as the 2nd Local Horse . Because of the prior , he was stationed at Kasganj in 1819 , at Sagar in 1821 , at Bareilly from 1821 – 23 , at Arracan in 1825 and at Kasganj again from 1826 – 27 . In January 1828 , when the 2nd Local Horse was again at Bareilly , Gardner is described as on leave and his name does not again appear in either the British or Indian army lists . No further record of him exists at the India Office . He resided at Kasganj , now the chief town of the Etah district , North West Provinces , which was his private property ( Hunter , Gazetteer of India , under ‘ Kásganj ’ ) . There he died on 29 July 1835 , aged 65 . His Begum died a month after him ( Parkes , vol . i . ) . Gardner , a skilled rider and swordsman in his prime , is described in his latter years as a " . . . tall , soldier - like old man , of very courteous and dignified manners and very kind to his ailing wife " .