After two months of enjoying ourselves, Wellesley and the rest of his army finally returned to Madras. We were invited to a formal ball in the town to celebrate victory in the campaign. All of Wellesley’s officers would be there, together with local dignitaries and any unattached girls from the latest convoys. For the first time in ages I put on my captain’s uniform, which had been pressed and cleaned. It no longer contained the gem stones in the lining. Some I had kept hidden elsewhere, others I had sold and one was on a ring on Louisa’s finger. I buckled on my sword with the stars and the moon glistening on the golden hilt and looked at myself in the bungalow’s full-length mirror. I realised it might be the last time I would wear the uniform. I had recently written to Colonel Wallace asking him to sell my commission for me, as I was not planning to stay in India with the regiment.
The ball was a glittering affair, hosted by the governor general to recognise the ‘gallant heroes’. I was feeling very proud as I marched in with my smart uniform and Louisa on my arm. I had not seen many of the officers since Gawilghur and we were soon exchanging news and stories. Before anyone got too drunk the governor general proposed a minute’s silence for the fallen, and as I stood there I suddenly realised what a lot had happened since I was last in this hall when I had first met Eliza Freese. There were a lot of fallen to remember too: Poorun, Lal, Flora, Daisy and all those other brave soldiers killed at the hill fort protecting me; that young lieutenant in the 74th at Assaye with his guts spilling into his lap but still friendly and polite; Abu Saleem finally ending his mourning for his Salome; and of course Carstairs, a man who seemed to have no fear at all until the end.
Over the evening I drank a toast to them all and plenty more besides. Louisa was impressed when the governor general came over to offer his thanks and congratulations on the service I had provided, but the person she really wanted to meet was Arthur Wellesley.
“My, isn’t he tall and handsome!” she said as Wellesley emerged from the crowd and moved in our direction.
I introduced the pair of them and was concerned to note a leery glint in the general’s eye as leaned over to kiss Louisa’s hand. After the usual pleasantries Wellesley excused himself and asked for a word with me in private. Another officer swiftly moved in to escort Louisa to the punchbowl.
“Wallace tells me you are looking to sell your commission,” said Wellesley, watching Louisa depart.
“That’s right. I am not planning to stay in India with the regiment. It is time to go back to Britain.”
“If you are sure, but your absence will be a loss to the army, which is why I have told Wallace to refuse your request.”
“What? You cannot keep me here!”
“Don’t worry, you are free to go, but I have asked Wallace to put you on the half-pay list so that you retain your rank and receive half-pay until you are called up again. You can sell your commission then, of course, if you like.”
I was speechless. It was a very generous offer and would provide a regular income as well as the eventual sale value of the commission.
“Thank you, sir,” I eventually managed to say.
“It was the least I could do after what you have done during this campaign,” said Wellesley, still looking at Louisa. “You know,” he continued, “there is a rumour going around town that you are not married to that woman at all. Someone is convinced that they have seen her before and that she is the unmarried daughter of Lord Berkeley.”
“It must be a passing resemblance, sir,” I said, keeping a straight face. Louisa, looking up and seeing us both staring at her, gave a broad smile back that seemed to light up the room.
“Well, she is certainly a striking woman,” said Wellesley wistfully. “I don’t suppose you would consider sharing her like Eliza, would you?” he asked with a grin.
“Absolutely not, sir,” I said, grinning back.
“Well, if I were you,” said Wellesley, reaching over to shake my hand, “I would ask the ship’s captain on the way back to make sure you are married by the time you reach London. Then there will be little that Berkeley can do about it.”
He moved on, casting a final lecherous glance in Louisa’s direction, and I noticed that she gave a distinctly flirtatious look back. I decided that it really was time to go home. Wife or not, I was not going to let that randy bastard cock his leg over my girl.
We left India two weeks week later. With the army back and officers looking for lodgings it was easy to find a new tenant for the bungalow, and there was a convoy was ready to sail. I gave Runjeet a generous settlement to pay off the staff and on the morning of our departure he stood there, cuffing a tear, as Louisa and I stepped out towards a carriage on the drive with a cart of luggage behind. To my astonishment there was Sergeant Fergusson holding the carriage door open and saluting smartly.
“What are you doing here?” I asked, puzzled.
“The old company wanted to give their captain a send-off, sir,” he said, gesturing down the drive. I looked to see nearly ninety men spaced a few yards apart all the way down either side of the long drive with their muskets at the ‘present’. They were all there: Big Jock, Gilray, the new piper, even McFarlane who seemed less scruffy than normal.
“It has been an honour serving with you, sir,” Fergusson added.
I thought back to his suspicion of me when he confronted me on that rooftop. Ironically his assessment of me then was probably more accurate than the one he had of me now. If they had known that all the feats that they seen or heard about were driven by fear or panic then they would probably have chased me down the street at the tip of their bayonets rather than stand in salute. But they didn’t know and that was the point. It did not matter what I knew about my motives, it was what others believed that counted.
So I returned Fergusson’s salute and climbed into the carriage, acknowledging the men as we passed them. At the end by the gate stood Wee Jock, who beat a tattoo on his drum as we passed.
“What a sweet-looking drummer boy,” said Louisa as we went past.
If she only knew, I thought. I looked over my shoulder at Wee Jock, who grinned and gave me a wink back that was anything but innocent.
Historical Notes
French Revolution and the ‘Reign of Terror’
The facts around the period known as the Reign of Terror during the French revolution as described by the un-named sergeant to Flashman are largely correct. On the tenth of June 1794 a law was passed which was intended to simplify the judicial process. It was known as the Law of 22 Prairial. (It was passed on the twenty-second day of the month of Prairial in the year two in the French revolutionary calendar.) Its clauses included banning prisoners from employing counsels for their defence and suppressing the hearing of witnesses and it made death the sole penalty for guilt. It also included a clause empowering every citizen to seize conspirators and counter-revolutionaries and bring them before the magistrates. Citizens were required to denounce such people as soon as they became aware of them or they could also be found guilty of being part of such conspiracies.
The net result was a huge increase in the rate of executions. In the year before this law was passed around one hundred people were executed per month, but afterwards in the forty-nine days between the passing of the law and the fall of Robespierre, an estimated one thousand four hundred people were executed, over twenty-eight per day. This was mostly in Paris, but much greater numbers were executed elsewhere, particularly in western France where there was a strong royalist/counter-revolutionary uprising in early 1794. Estimates of those killed during the rebellion in the Vendee region range from one hundred thousand to five hundred thousand.
Benoit de Boigne
This general existed with a career as described in the book. Together with Mahadji Scindia, he helped create a European-trained army and Mahratta confederation that dominated the region. Benoit de Boigne did command an army of up to one hundred thousand men and was undefeated in a series of battles, showing great skill in controlling his force
s. He retired to his native Savoy in 1807 and spent his remaining years managing his immense fortune and funding many state and religious organisations, particularly for the welfare of the poor and for education. He died having received many public honours in 1830 and left his still-considerable estate to his son from his first marriage with his Indian wife.
Life for the British in India 1802–3
In editing Thomas’s memoirs I am deeply indebted to John Blackiston, a British army engineer who wrote a memoir called Twelve Years Military Adventure in Three Quarters of the Globe. This four-hundred-page account stamped Univ of California is available on the internet and confirms many of the facts mentioned by Flashman. The engineer was present at the battles of Assaye, Argaum and Gawilghur, and the information he provides is confirmed by other historical sources for these events, but it is the incidental details he provides that are the most valuable to the editor.
He provides anecdotes about the journey on the indiaman and may have even been on the same ship as he mentions a girl who confused a mosquito with an elephant. He talks about the arguments to hire a dubash on the beach, but is not lucky enough to find someone like Runjeet. There are references to food, customs, the formality of the fort, the balls introducing the new ladies to the community and regimental dinners, and he even mentions the major who was beaten by his own servant. He also describes the countryside of the campaign, villages after they have been ravaged by pindaree with the occupants left to die and incidental events during the battles. For example, he joined in the final cavalry charge with Flashman at Assaye, and saw the surgeon ‘resurrect’ the presumed dead Mahratta warrior when taking his sash for a bandage. In short, he confirms that Flashman’s account of India during the period is entirely authentic.
Other information was confirmed by the author’s own visit to the region, including the canoes with the v-shaped masts and the habit of ospreys to fly over wading elephants. The account of an elephant being left to babysit the mahout’s child was something witnessed by the astonished engineer in 1802, but other sources have also confirmed this.
For those interested in the period, Blackiston's very readable account is recommended.
Wellesley and Mrs Freese
To confirm information about Arthur Wellesley, there is a variety of sources but notable is the definitive biography of Wellington by Elizabeth Longford. His time in India was obviously a pivotal period for Wellesley’s career, turning him from an unproven commander to one who had demonstrated innovative tactics and a courageous approach, although luck certainly played a part in some of his early victories. He also proved himself a capable administrator first at Seringapatam and then managing the long supply chains during the Mahratta campaign, which were crucial to his success.
Flashman provides a rare insight into the insecurities he must have had at the start of the campaign, and due to their unusual intimacy over Mrs Freese, Wellesley seems to have been more willing to share his feelings. Elizabeth Longford’s book confirms that some of Wellesley’s officers had concerns over his close relationship with Mrs Freese while her husband was away, although her husband (promoted under Wellesley’s command) never raised objections. Wellesley was godfather to their son (who had the red hair of John Freese) and supported the child when the boy was sent to England.
Biographies of Wellington also confirm that he felt that Assaye was his greatest battle and describe George IV's behaviour at the Waterloo dinners and the subsequent tour of the battlefield.
James Skinner
The autobiography of James Skinner provided another unique insight into the world experienced by Thomas Flashman, as James started his career with the Mahratta and finished it with the British. With his Rajput mother and Scottish father, he very much had a foot in both cultures and was well placed to understand their strengths and weaknesses. Skinner was clearly a very honourable man, refusing to fight against Scindia’s forces even after he was expelled from Scindia’s army, and fighting for the British. His autobiography is particularly useful for confirming the extraordinary circumstances of the meeting at Oojeine, which he does in some detail, with the exception of mentioning Flashman’s arrest at the end. Perhaps he was embarrassed to admit his collusion in hiding Flashman’s identity.
The Begum of Samru
The begum is an extraordinary character who is largely unknown in the west. She provides an exceptional challenge to biographers as she deliberately adapted and changed her persona to suit the circumstances. There are various theories about her parentage and her biographers cannot even agree on her name as she used several. She has also been associated with the massacre of some English prisoners by her first husband, which has soured the opinion of some contemporary English writers, to confuse the situation further. As the massacre happened in 1763 when she was aged around ten and almost certainly before she met her husband, it is highly unlikely she had anything to do with it.
The undisputed facts are that she was born around 1753 and whoever her parents were, they were not wealthy. As a result by her mid-teens she was living with a mercenary soldier called Walter Reinhardt Sombre, whom she married. Pronunciation of the French Sombre surname by Indians evolved it to Samru. She was just over four feet tall and later portraits of her in middle age show a face with a prominent nose. But clearly in her youth she was very captivating to attract and marry a wealthy and powerful mercenary general and later have a man kill himself for her.
It seems that she also had exceptional leadership abilities such that when her first husband died in 1778, when she was aged around twenty-five, the officers of her husband’s army were content for this young woman to assume command. This was quite extraordinary given the male-dominated culture in both Europe and India at the time. She did not so easily inherit her husband’s lands at Sardhana, as a son by an earlier wife of her husband contested the inheritance. There are accounts of her imposing her authority at this volatile time by having the two servant girls buried alive as she described to Flashman. She was baptised a Catholic in 1781.
In 1787 she supported the blind Mughal emperor Shah Alam in putting down an insurrection, and when the Shah’s troops were wavering in their resolve to attack, it is said that she personally advanced with a force of a hundred men while ordering her artillery to open fire on the rebels. In recognition of her courage the emperor declared her to be his 'most beloved daughter', bestowed various honours on her and settled the dispute over the estate of Sardhana in her favour.
There are various accounts of what happened after her second marriage to Le Vassoult. Her troops did mutiny on hearing of the marriage and attempted to stop the couple leaving. The undisputed facts are that Le Vassoult shot himself and that the begum cut her chest with a knife. It will never be known whether she was actually trying to kill herself or tricking Le Vassoult into committing suicide so that she could regain power. Whatever her motive, with the help of George Thomas she swiftly regained control of her army and retained the Samru surname for the rest of her days, rarely mentioning her second marriage.
She remained an exceptionally astute political operator after that and played off the various Mahratta factions to retain her lands and influence during a very volatile period. When the British extended their influence she interacted with them too and became a very rich lady. Her estate was apparently valued at eighteen billion Deutsche Mark in 1953 by some descendants of her first husband who are still disputing the will to this day.
She died at the age of ninety in 1836 and her body was buried in the imposing Catholic church known as the Basilica of our Lady of Graces which she had built in Sardhana. Flashman’s memory may be playing tricks on him if he remembered her priest called Julius Caesar during his visit in 1803. It is unclear when this man started in her service, but he would certainly have been in Sardhana for Flashman’s subsequent visit. He was Bishop Julius Caesar by the time of her death and complaining that he had not been left enough in her will to reward him for many years of service.
The Battl
e of Assaye
The Battle of Assaye was an extraordinary event with Wellesley achieving victory against immense odds. It has to be said that the outcome would probably have been very different if the Mahratta cavalry had chosen to play a part in the battle with their vastly superior numbers. While there are many accounts in the west of the battle from the British point of view, Flashman’s is the only account I have found of the build-up to the battle from the Mahratta perspective. He is also the only person to offer the intriguing insight that the begum may have worked with the bhinjarrie to bring Wellesley to Assaye and change the Mahratta plan of attack. Various sources do confirm that it was a cavalry patrol meeting a group of bhinjarrie traders that alerted the British to the true position of the Mahratta army.
The battle of Assaye is described in some detail in the book and the details Flashman provides match precisely the British historical records I have found. They viewed the Mahratta as a single mass and did not make distinctions between the troops of Scindia or the begum as Flashman did. All accounts describe that one group of Mahratta troops withstood the cavalry charge and marched off in good order, but few mention whose troops they were. It must be acknowledged that in at least one web-based account of the battle, the begum’s troops were described as poor quality and guarding the baggage in the battle. I suspect that this account is rather biased against her, as it is hard to believe that Pohlmann would have thought it necessary to have half of his European-trained infantry guarding the baggage. Other sources confirm that it was the begum’s men who held the line near Assaye and left the field unbeaten. In particular Skinner’s autobiography, The Recollections of Skinner of Skinner’s Horse by James Skinner with additional notes by J. Bailey Fraser, on page 147 confirms that: “It is a remarkable thing and much to the credit of the begum’s troops that some four of five of her battalions were the only part of Scindia’s army that went off unbroken from the field of Assaye.” Remembering that James Skinner’s brother, Robert, was one of the begum’s officers, James Skinner should be a reasonably reliable source of information for what happened to the begum’s troops at Assaye. Anthony Pohlmann seems to have followed the begum's advice as he disappeared after the battle.
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