Claude Auguste Court Claude Auguste Court was a French soldier and mercenary . He was hired by Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab in 1827 to organize and train the artillery . He was promoted to the rank of General , and served as one of the leading European officers in the Khalsa . Early life . Court was born at Saint - Cézaire - sur - Siagne , France , on 24 September 1793 . He was educated at the Ecole Polytechnique in Paris . Military career in French army . In 1813 , he joined the French army . After Napoleon ' s defeat in the Waterloo in 1815 he was dismissed from service . He left France in 1818 for Baghdad and joined the Persian forces which were trained at Kermanshah by a handful of ex - officers of Napoleon ' s army including Jean - Baptiste Ventura . While in Persia , he met Paolo Avitabile , another Neapolitan adventurer , and together they travelled on to Lahore reaching there in early 1827 . Military services with Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab . Maharaja Ranjit Singh gave Court employment in the artillery befitting his talents and scientific attainments . Court was responsible for the training of artillerymen , the organization of batteries and the establishment of arsenals and magazines on European lines . The Maharaja had his own foundries for casting guns and for the manufacture of shells . Court supervised these in collaboration with Sardar Lahina Singh Majithia . When Court produced the first shell at the Lahore foundry , the Maharaja bestowed upon him a prize of Rs 30 , 000 , and when he produced the fuse , he was rewarded with an award of Rs 5 , 000 . Court received a salary of Rs 2 , 500 per month , besides a jagir . Expedition and battles . He took part in the expedition of Peshawar ( 1834 ) and the battle of Jamrud ( 1837 ) . He was promoted to general in 1836 . Role during struggle for succession of Ranjit Singh . Claude Auguste Court continued to serve the State after the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh . After the death of Kanvar Nau Nihal Singh on 5 November 1840 , Court along with Ventura sided with Sher Singh who was installed as Maharaja , with their help in investing the Fort of Lahore , on 20 January 1841 . Later life and death . After Maharaja Sher Singh ' s assassination in September 1843 , he fled to Firozpur , in British territory , and , ultimately securing his discharge from the Sikh army , proceeded with his Punjabi wife and the children to France in 1844 . He purchased an estate in the countryside and a residence in the city of Paris where he lived until his death in 1880 . [ A very useful overview of Court ' s life in India is found in Jean - Marie Lafont ' s book " Indika : Essays in Indo - French Relations , 1630 - 1976 " [ New Delhi , 2000 ] . Lafont presents an enormous amount of new information of the ' French Generals " serving in Lahore in the 1820s - 30s as well as the intellectual interest France showed in all things Indian in the 19th Century . Interest in coin collection . Court was one of the first Europeans to become interested in the coins of South Asia , which he collected from 1829 . Part of the collection was described in " Revue Numismatique " in 1839 and Court talks of his coin collection in his valuable " Memoires " published in Paris in 1856 - 57 . Court died in Paris in January 1880 leaving his heirs his rich coin collection . We know almost nothing of its fate since then until three albums came to light in an English book sale . They contained 627 coin rubbings , allowing many of Court ' s coins to be identified . These had been bought by a coin collector , Alexander Cunningham , whose collection was acquired by the British Museum in 1888 – 94 . Cunningham may also have owned the albums .