William Stephen Raikes Hodson

William Stephen Raikes Hodson
William Hodson, the frontispiece to his biography Rider on a Grey Horse, by B. J. Cork (1958)
Born(1821-03-19)19 March 1821
Maisemore Court, near Gloucester, England
Died11 March 1858(1858-03-11) (aged 36)
Lucknow, Oudh, British India
Buried
La Martiniere College
Allegiance East India Company
Service / branchBengal Army
RankBrevet Major
CommandsCorps of Guides
Hodson's Horse
Battles / warsFirst Anglo-Sikh War
Indian Mutiny

William Stephen Raikes Hodson (19 March 1821 – 11 March 1858) was a British leader of irregular light cavalry during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, commonly referred to as the Indian Mutiny or the Sepoy Mutiny. He was known as "Hodson of Hodson's Horse".[1]

His most celebrated action was to apprehend Bahadur Shah II, the Mughal king of Delhi (also referred to as emperor of India). The following day Hodson rode to the enemy camp, heavily outnumbered by the rebels, and demanded the surrender of the Mughal princes who were leading the rebellion around Delhi and subsequently shot his prisoners.[2]

Hodson's career received praise from a number of senior military commanders, such as General Hugh Gough,[3] but there were dissenting voices from other members of the military. There were also politicians who felt the killing of Mughal princes by Hodson had been "dishonourable".[4] However, Hodson's career received praise from more senior politicians including the prime minister and the secretary of state for India.[5]

Hodson is credited with being jointly responsible for the introduction of the first khaki uniforms in the Indian army.

  1. ^  One or more of the preceding sentences incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Hodson, William Stephen Raikes". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 13 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 558–559.
  2. ^ LJ Trotter, A Leader of Light Horse, pages 200-202
  3. ^ Old Memories 1897 memoirs published by H. Gough
  4. ^ From a speech delivered by Thomas Perronet Thompson, MP for Bradford, in the House of Commons, February 1858. Cited in Michael Edwardes, Red Year: The Indian Rebellion of 1857, London: Cardinal Books, 1975, p. 165
  5. ^ Hansard; 14 April 1859