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{{Infobox military person
| name = Sir David Ochterlony, Bt
| image = David Ochterlony.jpg
| caption = Portrait of Ochterlony by [[Arthur William Devis|Arthur Devis]], {{Circa|1816}}
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1758|02|12|df=y}}
| death_date = {{Death date and age|1825|07|15|1758|02|12|df=y}}
| placeofburial_label =
| placeofburial =
| birth_place = [[Boston]], [[Province of Massachusetts Bay]], [[British America]]
| death_place = [[Meerut]], [[Bengal Presidency]]
| nickname =
| birth_name =
| allegiance = [[File:Flag of the British East India Company (1707).svg|22x25px]] [[East India Company]]
| branch = [[Bengal Army]]
| serviceyears =
| rank = [[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major-general]]
| servicenumber =
| unit = [[Bengal Artillery]]
| commands =
| battles = [[Second Anglo-Maratha War]], [[Anglo-Nepalese War]] & [[Third Anglo-Maratha War]]
| battles_label =
| awards = [[Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath|GCB]]
| relations =
| laterwork = Colonial administrator
}}

[[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major-general]] '''Sir David Ochterlony, 1st Baronet of Pitforthy, 1st Baronet of Ochterlony''' [[Order of the Bath|GCB]] (12 February 1758{{snd}}15 July 1825) was a [[Massachusetts]] born military officer of the [[East India Company]] in [[British India]]. He held the powerful post of [[Resident (title)#Residents in Asia|British Resident]] to the [[Mughal Empire|Mughal]] court at [[Delhi]].

==Biography==
===Background===
David Ochterlony was born in [[Boston]], Massachusetts, the eldest son of Captain David Ochterlony (also Ochterloney) and his wife, Katherine Tyler.<ref>[https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/A-Georgian-Heroine-Hardback/p/14151 Major & Murden. A Georgian Heroine: The Intriguing Life of Rachel Charlotte Williams Biggs]</ref> His father was born into an ancient family in [[Forfarshire]], Scotland, and his mother was born in Boston to settlers of English and Welsh descent. His mother was the niece of Sir [[William Pepperrell]]. He attended the [[Boston Latin School]]<ref name="stark"/> and Dummer Charity School (now known as [[The Governor's Academy]]) in nearby [[Byfield, Massachusetts]].

He had two younger brothers, Gilbert and Alexander, and a sister, Catherine. Captain Ochterlony died in the [[Saint Vincent (Antilles)|Saint Vincent]], [[West Indies]], in 1765,<ref name="stark">{{cite book|last1=Stark|first1=James Henry|title=The Loyalists of Massachusetts and the Other Side of the American Revolution|year=1907|publisher=J.H. Stark|pages=299–300|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=jkgSAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA299|accessdate=13 June 2017}}</ref> after which his widow moved to England and his mother remarried to Sir [[Isaac Heard]], Garter King-of-Arms.<ref name="masshist">{{cite web|title=MHS Collections Online: Major General Sir David Ochterlony, Bt. K.C.B.|url=http://www.masshist.org/database/822|publisher=Massachusetts Historical Society|accessdate=13 June 2017}}</ref>

===Career in India===
In 1777, at age 18, Ochterlony went as a cadet to India. In February 1778 he was commissioned into the [[Bengal Native Infantry]] as an [[Ensign (rank)|ensign]] and that same September was advanced to [[lieutenant]].<ref name="J. Higginbotham 1874, p.338">J.J. Higginbotham, ''Men Whom India Has Known: Biographies of Eminent Indian Characters'', Higginbotham and Company, 1874, pg. 338</ref>

In June 1782 while serving in the [[Second Anglo-Mysore War]] he was wounded and taken prisoner by the forces of Haidar Ali. He remained in captivity for the duration of the war, and was only released when peace resumed in 1784. Thereafter, he returned to [[Kolkata|Calcutta]], and in recognition of his eminent service during the war was conferred with the appointment of Judge Advocate-General for one of the divisions in the army.<ref name="J. Higginbotham 1874, p.338"/> In 1796, he was promoted to [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|Captain]] and in 1800 to [[Major (United Kingdom)|Major]].{{cn|date=August 2022}}

In early 1803, he was appointed [[Lieutenant General]] and accompanied [[Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake|Lord Lake]] throughout the [[Second Anglo-Maratha War]]. He was present at the battles of [[Koil]], [[Siege of Aligarh|Aligarh]] and [[Battle of Delhi (1803)|Delhi]]. Following the battle of Delhi he was appointed [[Resident (title)|Resident]] at Delhi. In 1804, he defended the city with a very inadequate force against an attack by [[Yashwantrao Holkar]] which earned him the highest approbation from the Commander-in-Chief. He was thereafter given the command at [[Allahabad]] and then commanded a force on the banks of the [[Sutlej]] to check the expansion of the Sikhs. He was promoted to [[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major-general]] in 1814.

On the outbreak of the [[Anglo-Nepalese War]] in 1814 he was given the command of one of four converging columns. His was regarded as the only truly successful column throughout the war.<ref name="J. Higginbotham 1874, p.338"/> He was subsequently promoted to the command of the main force in its advance on [[Kathmandu]], and outmaneuvered the [[Gurkha]]s by a flank march at the Kourea Ghat Pass, brought the war to a successful conclusion and obtained the signature of the [[Sugauli Treaty|Treaty of Sugauli]], which dictated the subsequent relations of the British with [[Nepal]].

In return for his services during the war, he became a [[Order of the Bath|Knight Commander of the Bath]], the first time the honor had been conferred on an officer of the [[Presidency armies|British military in India]], and was granted a [[Ochterlony baronets|baronetcy]] in November 1815.<ref name="EB1911">{{EB1911|inline=1 |wstitle=Ochterlony, Sir David |volume=19 |page=990}} Endnote: See Major Ross of Bladensburg, ''The Marquess of Hastings'' ("Rulers of India" series) (1893).</ref> The following month he was given a pension of £1,000 per annum.

In December 1816, he was made a [[Order of the British Empire|Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath]]. In 1818, he was appointed Resident in [[Rajputana|Rajpootana]], with which the Residency at Delhi was subsequently combined.<ref name="EB1911"/> In the [[Pindari War]] between 1818 and 1819 he commanded the [[Rajputana]] column and made a separate agreement with [[Amir Khan (Pindari)|Amir Khan]]. He detached him from the [[Pindari]]s, and then, interposing his own force between the two main divisions of the enemy, brought the war to an end without an engagement. He was afterwards made Resident and Political Agent of [[Malwa]], thus having the entire superintendency of the affairs of central India.<ref name="J. Higginbotham 1874, p.338"/>

During this period he encountered and engaged in an ongoing personal feud with [[James Tod]], which was based most likely on the power politics within the hierarchy of the East India Company.<ref>{{cite book |title=Serving empire, serving nation: James Tod and the Rajputs of Rajasthan |first=Jason |last=Freitag |publisher=BRILL |year=2009 |isbn=978-90-04-17594-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Ib93BhAu43gC |page=38}}</ref>

===Death===
When Durjan Sal revolted in 1825 against [[Balwant Singh of Bharatpur|Balwant Singh]], the infant Raja of the [[Princely state]] of [[Bharatpur State|Bharatpur]], Ochterlony acting on his own accord supported the young Raja by proclamation and ordered out a force to support him. However, the Governor-General of India, [[William Amherst, 1st Earl Amherst|Lord Amherst]], repudiated these proceedings and ordered the army to return. Ochterlony, who was bitterly chagrined by this rebuff, resigned his office, and retired to Delhi. He was to be replaced by his good friend [[Charles Metcalfe, 1st Baron Metcalfe|Sir Charles Metcalfe]]. The feeling that the confidence which his length of service merited had not been given him by the governor-general is said to have accelerated his death, and he died at [[Meerut]] in July 1825. He is interred in [[St. John's Church, Meerut|St. John's Church]] in Meerut.<ref>{{cite book|first=Edward Arthur Henry|last=Blunt|author-link=E. A. H. Blunt|title=List of Inscriptions on Christian Tombs and Tablets of Historical Interest in the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh|url=https://archive.org/stream/listofinscriptio00blunuoft#page/4/mode/2up|year=1911|page=6}}</ref>
The [[Shaheed Minar, Kolkata|Ochterlony column]] at [[Calcutta]] commemorated his name, though it has since been rededicated.<ref name="EB1911"/>

==Private life==
[[File:DavidOchterlonyResidentDelhi.jpg|right|thumb|200px|[[Watercolor]] by an anonymous Delhi artist of Sir David Ochterlony in Indian dress smoking a [[hookah]] ca. 1820s]]
As the official British Resident at Delhi, David Ochterlony adopted and thoroughly embraced [[Indo-Persian culture]] of Mughals. He was reputed to have thirteen Indian [[concubines]] (as seen by the British) or wives (as seen by others). Every evening, he used to take all thirteen of his wives on a promenade around the walls of the [[Red Fort]], each on the back of her own [[elephant]].<ref name=Dalrymple>William Dalrymple, ''The Last Mughal'', p. 49</ref>

==Mubarak Begum==
The most prominent among Ochterlony's women was "Bibi (or Bebee) Mubarak-ul-Nissa Begum", a Brahmin dancing girl from [[Pune]], who had converted to Islam. Reportedly his favorite wife, she was the mother of his two youngest children, both daughters. She was known as "Generallee Begum".<ref>{{cite news |url=http://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/metroplus/article2001540.ece |title= Ochterlony and his bibis|author=R. V. Smith |date= 8 May 2011 |location=Chennai, India |work=The Hindu}}</ref> As such, she took clear precedence over the rest of the household. She was considered to be a devout Muslim, having once applied for leave to make the ''[[hajj]]'' to [[Mecca]].<ref name=Dalrymple1/>

Although much younger than Ochterlony, Mubarak was seen as the dominant personality in the relationship. This led one observer to remark that "making Sir David the Commissioner of Delhi was the same as making Generallee Begum". Another observer remarked that "Ochterlony's mistress is the mistress now of everyone within the walls. As a result of her influence, Ochterlony considered raising his children as Muslims, and when his two daughters by Mubarak Begum had grown up, he adopted a child from the family of the Nawabs of Loharu, one of the leading Muslim families of Delhi. Raised by Mubarak, the girl went on to marry her cousin, a nephew of the famous [[Urdu]] poet [[Mirza Ghalib]].<ref name=Dalrymple1>William Dalrymple, ''The Last Mughal'', p. 66</ref>

Mubarak even seems to have set herself up as a power in her own right, and even formed her own independent foreign policy. At one point, it was reported that "Mubarak Begum, alias Generalee Begum, fills the [Delhi] papers with accounts of the ''Nizars'' and ''Khiluts'' [gifts and dresses of honor] given and taken by her in her transactions with the ''Vacquils'' [ambassadors of the different Indian powers] - an extraordinary liberty, if true."<ref>Gardner papers, National Army Museum, Letter 87, p. 226, 10 August 1821</ref>

However, in spite of all her power and high status, Mubarak Begum was widely unpopular among the British and the Mughals alike. She offended the British by calling herself "Lady Ochterlony" and on the other hand, also offended the Mughals by awarding herself the title ''"Qudsia Begum"'', a title previously reserved for the Emperor's mother. After Ochterlony's death, she inherited ''Mubarak Bagh'', an Anglo-Mughal garden tomb Ochterlony had built in the north of [[Old Delhi]], but her intense unpopularity combined with her background as a dancing girl ensured that no Mughal gentleman would use her structure. To this date, the tomb is still referred to by the local inhabitants of the old city as the ''"Rundi ki Masjid"'' (''"The Whore's Mosque"'').<ref name=Dalrymple2>William Dalrymple, ''[[White Mughals]]'', pp. 183-184</ref>

==Descendants==
[[File:Kolkata Sahid Minar.jpg|right|thumb|200px|[[Shaheed Minar, Kolkata]], built as a memorial to Sir David Ochterlony.]]
Ochterlony had at least six natural (illegitimate) children, by two or more of his concubines:
# Roderick Peregrine Ochterlony, of Delhi (1785-d by 1823), his only son; he married 1808 Sarah Nelly, the daughter of Lt. Col. John Nelly of the Bengal Engineers, at Allahabad, India.<ref>Rakashi Chand. [http://www.masshist.org/object-of-the-month/objects/-meet-the-ochterlonys-2006-10-01 "Meet the Ochterlonys"]. The Massachusetts Historical Society. Online: Object of the Month. Retrieved 18 June 2010. [http://www.masshist.org/database/864use-onview-id Portrait of Mr and Mrs Roderick Peregrine Ochterlony] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100706185243/http://www.masshist.org/database/864use-onview-id |date=6 July 2010 }}, dated 1810-1820</ref> Roderick and Sarah Ochterlony had three children. A daughter, Charlotte Ochterlony, died in 1835 (death mentioned in ''The Gentleman's Magazine'').
## Sir Charles Metcalfe Ochterlony, 2nd Baronet (1817–1891), who succeeded his grandfather by special remainder in 1825. He married in 1844 a Miss Sarah Tribe of Liverpool, and had as descendants three sons and two daughters. This creation became extinct on the death of the fifth Baronet in 1964.
###
## Charlotte Ochterlony (d. 1835)
# [by Mubarak Begum] a daughter
# [by Mubarak Begum] a daughter

==References==
{{reflist}}
{{s-start}}
{{s-reg|uk-bt}}
{{s-new|rows=2|Creation]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Ochterlony baronets|Baronet]] '''(of Pitforthy)''' | years=1816–1825}}
{{s-non|reason=Extinct}}
{{s-break}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Ochterlony baronets|Baronet]] '''(of Ochterlony)''' | years=1823–1825}}
{{s-aft|after=Charles Ochterlony}}
{{s-end}}
{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ochterlony, David}}
[[Category:1758 births]]
[[Category:1825 deaths]]
[[Category:British East India Company Army generals]]
[[Category:Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:People from Massachusetts]]
[[Category:American emigrants to the United Kingdom]]
[[Category:The Governor's Academy alumni]]

David Ochterlony - Revision history

Bot at 11:17, 15 October 2022