Page 160 - Arabian Studies (V)

150 Arabian Studies V
‘learned in four months to dread him as an enemy and to love him
as a friend*. His great prestige and important contacts would have
made an enormous difference to the history of Aden had he stayed,
but his health broke down after a summer there. His next appoint­
ment was as Resident at Lucknow and he was promoted Major-
General in 1854 and knighted in 1856. He commanded the
Company’s army in the Persian War of 1857 and returned to lead
the Bengal Army in the Indian Mutiny. He won more fame at the
i
relief of Lucknow and received the Freedom of the City of London,
a Baronetcy and an annuity of £1,000 a year. His final post in India
was as Military Member of the Viceroy’s Council. He died in 1863
and was buried in Westminster Abbey. Statues were erected in his
memory in Calcutta and on the Thames Embankment. He wrote
various books about India.
1854 (October) to 1863 (spring)
COGHLAN, Brigadier-General William Marcus
Born in 1803, he was the son of a Captain in the Royal Navy. After
education at Addiscombe, he joined the Bombay Artillery in 1820.
He commanded Artillery detachments in the Dooab field force of
1826-7 and in the Kolapore field force of 1827-8. He was a Brigade
Major of Artillery with the Bombay Column Army of the Indus in
the campaigns in Scind and Afghanistan of 1838-9. In 1850 he was
present at the storm of Ghuznee and Khelat and was decorated. As
Resident in Aden, he recruited an exceptionally able staff and took
its advice although personally rather stern and inflexible. In 1857
he annexed Perim, although according to Low’s History of the
Indian Navy, he denied forestalling a French mission sent to
perform the same task by making its commander drunk and
planting the Union Flag before the Frenchman sobered up. He had
troubles with Lahej and in March 1858 commanded the force which
stormed the Sultan’s fort at Sheikh Othman. He was the principal
member of the Commission which adjudicated upon the division of
the inheritance of Sayyid Said between his sons, the rulers of
Muscat and Zanzibar—the Canning Award of 1861. He made anti­
slavery treaties with the Lower Aulaqis and Somalis and purchased
Little Aden in 1862. He was knighted upon his retirement from
Aden and settled as a J.P. in Kent. He was promoted General in
1877 and died in November 1885.

1863 to 1867
MERE WETHER, Colonel William Lockyer
Born in 1825, he was the son of a distinguished lawyer. After
education at Westminster he joined the Bombay Army in 1841. He
made a considerable name in the Scind Campaign of 1842-3

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