Footnotes

Brevet Major William Stephen Raikes Hodson (1821-1858) was educated at Rugby School and Trinity College, Cambridge. He joined the 2nd Bengal Grenadiers at the age of twenty-three and served throughout the First Anglo-Sikh War. In December 1846 he was Lieutenant in the newly formed Corps of Guides serving as adjutant to its commander Lieutenant Harry Burnett Lumsden. Hodson was responsible for equipping the regiment and with Lumsden's approval he decided on a lightweight uniform of khaki colour resulting in their having the joint distinction of being the first officer's to equip a regiment dressed in khaki. Hodson was a keen linguist and with the encouragement of his mentor, Sir Henry Lawrence, he learnt Hinustani and later Persian. In 1849 he transfered to the Civil Department as Assistant Commissioner stationed at Amristsar and from there travelled throughout Kashmir and Tibet. In 1852 he was appointed Commandant of the Corps of Guides

At the outset of the Indian Mutiny in 1857 Hodson achieved the remarkable feat of riding despatches from General Anson from Karnal to Meerut and back again, a distance of 152 miles in seventy-two hours, through country under the control of hostile cavalry. As a result of this achievement Anson enpowered him to raise and command a new regiment of 2000 irregular horse, which become famed as 'Hodson's Horse', and placed him at the head of the Intelligence Department. Hodson played a large part in the reduction of Delhi and his major achievement during this time was the capture of the Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah II. His reputation was tarnished however with the contraversial execution of the three princes, Bahadur's sons Mirza Mughal and Mirza Khizr Sultan, and his grandson Mirza Abu Bakhr

On 11 March 1858 Hodson was shot while storming the Begum's Palace in Lucknow. His last words were 'I hope I have done my duty'. For more information see B.J. Cork, Rider on a Grey Horse: Life of Hodson of Hodsons Horse, 1958