A legacy of the Punjab VS British Empire

A legacy of the Punjab VS British Empire 1799-1849
Anglo-Sikh war maps discovered in Irish castle 

 A legacy of the Punjab VS British Empire 1799-1849

I updated t at 15th March 2026

Some AI info

In 2011, a collection of rare Anglo-Sikh War maps was discovered in the attic of a castle in Galway, Ireland. The find was made by historian and author Bobby Singh Bansal while he was conducting research for a project on British colonial administrators

• The Location: The maps had lain undetected for over 100 years in an estate belonging to the descendants of General Sir Hugh Gough. Gough was the Commander-in-Chief of the British forces during the First (1845–46) and Second (1848–49) Anglo-Sikh Wars.AI used colonial information so instead of Lhore Darbar Vs English it used tricky term Anglo Sikh Wars....   
• The Content: The collection includes hand-drawn field maps and plans of attack for several critical battles, including:
  • Battle of Sobraon (1846): Often called the "Waterloo of India," which ended the First Anglo-Sikh War.
  • Battle of Chillianwala (1849): A pyrrhic victory for the British where the Sikh Khalsa Army inflicted heavy casualties.
  • Those wars were the last wars and after it annexation of India completed. Dalhousie mentioned it in its letter to Queen. I included the references in my upcoming book (It will Publish till April 2026) 
• Historical Significance: These documents provide unique insights into 19th-century military strategy and the specific movements of the Khalsa Army under commanders like General Sham Singh Attariwala and Rajah Shere Singh Attariwala.

Now read the article, it discussed the battle of Maharajpore (1843) which hd no connection with Punjab....it was used the tricky term Khlsa army but it was Lhore Darbar army and it had many Muslims like commander of Artillery Gen Allahi Baksh, Peshawar commander Talai Khan (Sultan Muh Khan brother of Dost Muh Khan) and many more Muslims as will as Hindus in it. Now you read the article at Sikh.net 

• Rare maps used by the British Army for their winter campaign in Anglo-Sikh wars of 1845 have been discovered in an Irish Castle.

The maps formerly belonged to 1st Viscount Hugh Gough who was commander-in-chief of the British army in India for that campaign which took place during the regency of Maharajah Duleep Singh.

The find was made by British born writer Bobby Singh Bansal who was visiting Ireland to conduct research for his next project when he was shown the maps that had lay undetected in the castle attic for over 100 years.

After further examination he realized that the rare maps were in a very frail condition and required urgent restoration.

The unique maps reveal a wealth of information for any passionate military historian or private collector.

One of the maps depict the Battle of Sobraon which was fought on the 10 February 1846, between General Hugh Gough with 10,000 troops of the East India Company’s Bengal Regiment versus the mighty Khalsa Army of the ‘Lahore Durbar’ with 20,000 troops under the command of General Sham Singh Attariwala. Other maps include the Battle of Mudki, Battle of Maharajpore (1843) and the Battle of Chillianwalah fought under the leadership of Rajah Shere Singh Attariwala where the Khalsa army won a decisive victory over the British in 1849.

After serving in the British Army, General Gough retired to a quiet life back home in Dublin, receiving a generous pension from the British government for services rendered. The maps remained within the Gough family in Ireland and Scotland but for reasons unknown were abandoned in one of the Gough estates in Galway until now.

Bansal has previously published ‘The Lion’s Firanghis: Europeans at the Court of Lahore’ in 2010, published by Coronet House and available on Amazon.com.

He is currently completing his next volume on ‘British Colonial Administrators of the East India Company’ and also a television documentary on the plight of Hindu & Sikh families of Kabul.

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