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The Battle Meeane, 17th February 1843
Edward Armitage 1847
This was the major battle of Sir Charles Napier's short and sharp conquest of Scind at the head of the Bombay Presidency army, and is shown leading his troops from the front in this painting.
Edward Armitage 1847
This was the major battle of Sir Charles Napier's short and sharp conquest of Scind at the head of the Bombay Presidency army, and is shown leading his troops from the front in this painting.
Napier had been dispatched from Bombay before the calamity that struck Elphinstones column to ensure that the local Amirs did not try to take advantage of any British misfortune. He felt the British "had no right seize Sind", but he did so anyway with great zeal.
At one stage of the battle when HM 22nd Cheshire regiment hesitated in charging the down the enemy the 60 year old general rode to the front "pouring out torrents of blasphemous exhortation", to encourage the men.
The speed at which he conquered Sind inspired what Richard Holmes described as "one of the two great Latin jokes of British India" as Napier reported his victory with the telegram "Peccavi, I have Sin [ne] d"
Napiers rule was incredibly patrician and comparable to a strict Victorian school master. His guiding philosophy was that to rule effectively you shouldn't be afraid to hand out "a good thrashing first and kindness afterwards".
