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{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Joseph Davey Cunningham
| image =
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| birth_name =
| birth_date = 9 June 1812
| birth_place = [[Lambeth]]
| death_date = {{death-date and age|28 February 1851|9 June 1812}}
| death_place = [[Ambala]]
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| occupation = {{ubl|Historian|Soldier}}
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| father = [[Allan Cunningham (author)|Allan Cunningham]]
| relatives = {{ubl|[[Francis Cunningham (Indian Army officer)|Francis Cunningham]] (brother)|[[Alexander Cunningham]] (brother)|[[Peter Cunningham (writer, born 1816)|Peter Cunningham]] (brother)<ref name=dnb>{{cite ODNB|author=Cotton, J. S. & James Lunt (reviser)|chapter=Cunningham, Sir Alexander (1814–1893) |title= Oxford Dictionary of National Biography| year=2004| doi=10.1093/ref:odnb/6916}}</ref>}}
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| nationality = [[United Kingdom|British]]
}}

'''Joseph Davey Cunningham''', (b. [[Scotland]], 9 June 1812, died 28 February 1851) was the author of the book ''History of the Sikhs'' (1849) and an authority in [[Punjab (India)|Punjab]] University. His father was the Scottish poet and author [[Allan Cunningham (author)|Allan Cunningham]] and his brother was the archaeologist Sir [[Alexander Cunningham]].<ref name="V. A. S." />

At an early age he was reported to have shown such an aptitude for mathematics that his father was advised to send him to Cambridge. However, since he desired to become a soldier, a cadetship in the [[East India Company|British East India Company]]'s service was procured for him, through the good offices of Sir [[Walter Scott]]. After a reported brilliant career at [[Addiscombe Military Academy]] (London Borough of Croydon, England), he sailed for India in 1834.

He was first employed on the staff of the chief engineer of [[Bengal Presidency]] in 1834. In 1837, he was appointed assistant to Colonel [[Claude Martin Wade|Claude Wade]], the [[Political officer (British Empire)|political agen]]<nowiki/>t on the [[Sikh Empire]]. For the next eight years he held and occupied several political positions in this area under Colonel Wade and his successors until 1845. At time of the outbreak of the [[first Anglo-Sikh War]] (December 1845), he was a political agent in the state of [[Bahawalpur (princely state)|Bahawalpur]].

Upon the commencement of the conflict, he was attached first to the staff of Sir [[Charles James Napier|Charles Napier]] and then to that of Sir [[Hugh Henry Gough|Hugh Gough]], Commander-in-chief in India. He was present, as political officer, with the division of Sir [[Sir Harry Smith, 1st Baronet|Harry Smith]] at the battles of Buddawal (22 January 1846) and Aliwal (28 January 1846). At [[Battle of Sobraon|Sobraon]] (10 February 1846), he served as an additional aide-de-camp to the [[Governor-General of India|Governor-General]], Sir [[Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge|Henry Hardinge]]. His services earned him a brevet and the appointment of political agent to the state of [[Bhopal State|Bhopal]] from 1846 to 1850.

He published ''History of the Sikhs'' in 1849. The second edition of the book was published in 1853 after the death of Cunningham by his brother [[Peter Cunningham (writer, born 1816)|Peter Cunningham]].<ref name="V. A. S.">{{cite journal|last=V. A. S.|title=A History of the Sikhs from the Origin of the Nation to the Battles of the Sutlej by Joseph Davey Cunningham, H. L. O. Garrett|journal=The Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland|date=April 1919|pages=246–249|jstor=25209495}}</ref> The book was noted for Cunningham's criticism of Sir Henry Hardinge's management of the Anglo-Sikh War and which then brought about his dismissal from political service since the views expressed in this work were anything but pleasing to his superiors. As a punishment, he was removed from his political appointment and sent back to regimental duty. The disgrace is reported to have hastened his death, and soon after his appointment to the [[Meerut]] Division of Public Works, he died at the city of [[Ambala]], Punjab in 1851. His grave is still there in Ambala Christian cemetery.<ref>{{Cite web|title=First British Sikh historian Joseph Davey Cunningham grave found - Times of India|url=https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/first-british-sikh-historian-joseph-davey-cunningham-grave-found/articleshow/84476834.cms|access-date=2021-07-18|website=The Times of India}}</ref>

==Publications==
*{{cite book |last1=Cunningham |first1=Joseph Davey |title=A History of the Sikhs, from the Origin of the Nation to the Battles of the Sutlej |date=1849 |publisher=J. Murray |url=https://www.google.co.uk/books/edition/A_History_of_the_Sikhs_from_the_Origin_o/u1cOAAAAQAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=Joseph+Davey+Cunningham&printsec=frontcover |location=London|language=en}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*{{cite DNB|wstitle=Cunningham, Joseph Davey|volume=13}}

==External links==
{{Sister project links| wikt=no | commons=no | b=no | n=no | q=no | s=Author:Joseph Davey Cunningham | v=no | voy=no | species=no | d=q5614198}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cunningham, Joseph}}
[[Category:1812 births]]
[[Category:1851 deaths]]
[[Category:19th-century Scottish historians]]
[[Category:Bengal Engineers officers]]
[[Category:Historians of India]]

Joseph Davey Cunningham - Revision history

Bot at 04:58, 6 October 2022