HISTORY OF GENERAL SIR CHARLES NAPIER’S CONQUEST OF SCINDE 1843

‘Peccavi’ – the Latin for ‘I have sinned’ – was the punning one-word telegram with which General Sir Charles Napier announced to the world his 1843 capture of Scinde (or Sind). Napier, a much wounded 61-year-old veteran of the Peninsula War, was placed in charge of the turbulent province, whose ruling Emirs, encouraged by British reverses in nearby Afghanistan, rose against Britain’s power. Napier’s forces routed the Emirs at the battles of Meanee and Hyderabad and the region became a key part of British India, making Napier into a popular Victorian hero. Unsurprisingly, Sir William Napier, the author of this work, is an uncritical admirer of his brother and fellow General, and is unsparing in his critique of those he perceives as Charles Napier’s British enemies in the bureaucratic turf wars of the Raj. With 12 appendices and several endpaper maps.