Lt. Col. James Skinner, C.B.

A portrait by a Mogul artist in Skinner's *Tazkirat ul-Umara* (Description of the Princes, 1830). A further specimen of the paintings in this work is the study of the famous Sardar Ranjit Singh on the opposite page. The drummer (*Qawaal*) is from Skinner's *Tashrih ul-Akvam* (Concise Account of the People, 1825). The pictures in this work are much more lively and competent.

Lt. Col. James Skinner, C.B. (1778-1841) was one of the most colourful of the many Eurasian military adventurers of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries in India. He left an orphanage at fifteen to become a printer's apprentice, but ran away three days later and was pressed by his godfather into military service. He was commissioned by General Benoit de Boigne in April 1795 and remained in the pay of Daulat Rao Sindhia until 1803, when he was dismissed on account of his Scots 'blood'. He went over to General Lake, under whom he was soon given command of a body of irregular cavalry - Skinner's Horse - which became one of the most distinguished regiments in India.

Twenty-five years later he was already a legendary figure, for he had great courage, spectacular wealth, fourteen wives, and a lavish disposition in which extremes of conceit and humility were intriguingly blended. In retirement he lived an idyllic Mogul existence at his country seat in Hansi and his town house in Delhi, where he was the leader of the Eurasian group. His private benefactions were large and numerous, while his public works included building a church, a mosque and a temple. He would have relished the extravagance of his funeral rites, for it was said that 'None of the Emperors of Hindustan were ever brought into Delhi in such state as Sikander Sahib'.

He became an active patron, too, of local scholarship and art; and the extent of his own participation in Indian history and learning are indicated by his knowledge of the Sanskrit texts and his elegant command of the Persian language, in which he wrote his memoirs and two beautifully executed and illustrated books: a unique account of the common people of India and a series of historical sketches of the Indian princes, followed by a survey of the district (Hariana) he had adopted as his own. Manuscript copies are in the British Museum.

From Cedric Dover: The Cultural Significance of Col. James Skinner. *Calcutta Review*, January 1955, pp. 18-24.

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