Firangi: European Adventurers of Northern India (1785-1849)
Charles Grey (Author) & HLO Garrett (Author), William Dalrymple (Introduction)
Paperback: 400 pages
Publisher: Kashi House (October 24, 2019)
ISBN-13: 9781911271109
Around 200 years ago in Lahore, deserters across Europe intermingled with sophisticated ex-Napoleonic officers for the chance to fight for Maharaja Ranjit Singh, who sought to create Asia's most powerful army in anticipation of a clash with the British Empire. Firangi: European Adventurers of Northern India (1785-1849) tells the story of these forgotten adventures, over seventy intrepid Europeans, or 'Firangi', who sought fame and fortune fighting for the 'Napoleon of the East' as he built an empire to face the looming threat of the East India Company. Conspicuous among them were a Scots-American soldier-of-fortune who single-handedly defended Lahore by blowing up 300 furious fanatics, a Neapolitan general whose blood-lust for extreme forms of punitive justice inspired fear in Sikhs and Afghans alike, and the son of an Irish sailor who had ruled a small Indian principality as the Raja of Tipperary.
This new edition of a lost classic (first published 1929), comes beautifully illustrated with European and Asian artworks, and features a new introduction by the acclaimed writer and historian, William Dalrymple
About the Authors
After retiring from the North-Western Railway in 1918, CHARLES GREY retired to Lahore where he became an amateur scholar of early European interactions with Asia.
HLO GARRETT was an eminent professor of history and a principal of Government College, Lahore. He was Keeper of the Records of the Punjab Government and also the first Director of the Punjab Archives (1923-36).
WILLIAM DALRYMPLE is the bestselling author of In Xanadu, City of Djinns, White Mughals and Koh-i-Noor. He is a founder of the Jaipur Literature Festival, a regular contributor to the New Yorker, the Guardian, the TLS, and the New York Review of Books, and the India correspondent of the New Statesman.