George Thomas (soldier)
George Thomas (born Roscrea, Tipperary, c 1756; died Barhampur, India, Aug. 22, 1802) was an Irish mercenary who was active in 18th-century India. In the 1790s he was the most successful general in India.
Biography
His father was a poor Catholic tenant farmer near Roscrea who died when George was a child. Originally press-ganged at Youghal, where he worked as a labourer on the docks, Thomas deserted from the British Navy in Madras in 1781. Still illiterate, he led a group of Pindaris north to Delhi by 1787, where he took service under Begum Samru of Sardhana. Supplanted in her favour by a Frenchman, he transferred his allegiance to Appa Rao, a Mahratta chieftain. [1]
In 1796AD, he built Jahaj Kothi at Hisar, Haryana which was his residence. He was finally defeated and captured by Scindia's army under General Pierre Cuillier-Perron. He died on his way down the Ganges on 22 Aug. 1802.[1]
See also
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Chisholm 1911.
- Attribution
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Thomas, George". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press.; Endnotes:
- Francklin, Military Memoirs of Mr George Thomas (1803)
- Compton, Military Adventurers of Hindustan (1892).
Further reading
- Hennessy, MN "George Thomas - the Rajah from Tipperary", London, Sidgwick and Jackson, 1971. ISBN 0-283-48492-6
- "George Thomas - the Rajah from Tipperary", The Calcutta Review, No. CXL (1880) (reprint of H. G. Keene, George Thomas – An episode from the Great Anarchy)
- Bidwell, Shelford, Swords for hire: European Mercenaries in Eighteenth Century India (1971). John Murray.
- Haefs, Gisbert, Raja (2000), btb Verlag, a historical novel in German
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