As well as adventurers, criminals and runaways, a sizeable minority of the freelances in Finglas’s battalions, as elsewhere, were Anglo- Indians. Since Cornwallis had passed legislation banning Anglo- Indian children of British soldiers from entering the East India Company’s army between 1786 and 1795, increasing numbers of the unemployed sons of Indian mothers and British soldiers too poor to send their children ‘home’ sought out service with one of the Indian princes. The increasingly racist and dismissive attitude of the British to their mixed- race progeny was something that struck the French General Benoît de Boigne, who had been one of the first to recruit adventurers and to train them into formidable fighting units for Scindia. Sending a newly orphaned Anglo- Indian recruit to one of his officers who was then the qiladar (fort keeper) at Agra, de Boigne observed that the boy had no introduction, but ‘appears to have good will and inclination [and] you may try him . . . I have already sent you many of these young men, sons of European officers which can’t prevent me from observing how few [British] fathers can leave anything to their [Anglo- Indian] children at their death. There are hundreds more at Calcutta who wish to enter into the service, but have no friends to recommend them and no other means to go up [to Agra from Calcutta].’ 83 One rather unusual Anglo- Indian who turned up in Hyderabad around this time looking for a commission in Finglas’s regiment was the young William Palmer. He was the Anglo- Indian son of James Kirkpatrick’s opposite number in Pune, General William Palmer, by his beloved Mughal wife Begum Fyze Baksh of Delhi. As fluent in Persian and Urdu as he was in English and French, and educated in both India and England, where he had attended Woolwich Military Academy, William was equally at home in Mughal and English culture, and was able to switch from one to the other as easily as he changed from his jacket to his jama. He was also extremely intelligent, with a flair for entrepreneurial innovation that would later blossom into a banking fortune of almost unparalleled magnitude. Sent from my iPhone 6 in Honolulu.

Thanks Charles, that was very interesting. Joan As well as adventurers, criminals and runaways, a sizeable minority of the freelances in Finglass battalions, as elsewhere, were Anglo- Indians. Since Cornwallis had passed legislation banning Anglo- Indian children of British soldiers from entering the East India Companys army between 1786 and 1795, increasing numbers of the unemployed sons of Indian mothers and British soldiers too poor to send their children home sought out service with one of the Indian princes. The increasingly racist and dismissive attitude of the British to their mixed- race progeny was something that struck the French General Benot de Boigne, who had been one of the first to recruit adventurers and to train them into formidable fighting units for Scindia. Sending a newly orphaned Anglo- Indian recruit to one of his officers who was then the qiladar (fort keeper) at Agra, de Boigne observed that the boy had no introduction, but appears to have good will and inclination [and] you may try him . . . I have already sent you many of these young men, sons of European officers which cant prevent me from observing how few [British] fathers can leave anything to their [Anglo- Indian] children at their death. There are hundreds more at Calcutta who wish to enter into the service, but have no friends to recommend them and no other means to go up [to Agra from Calcutta]. 83 One rather unusual Anglo- Indian who turned up in Hyderabad around this time looking for a commission in Finglass regiment was the young William Palmer. He was the Anglo- Indian son of James Kirkpatricks opposite number in Pune, General William Palmer, by his beloved Mughal wife Begum Fyze Baksh of Delhi. As fluent in Persian and Urdu as he was in English and French, and educated in both India and England, where he had attended Woolwich Military Academy, William was equally at home in Mughal and English culture, and was able to switch from one to the other as easily as he changed from his jacket to his jama. He was also extremely intelligent, with a flair for entrepreneurial innovation that would later blossom into a banking fortune of almost unparalleled magnitude. --- This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software. https://www.avast.com/antivirus