•
ASI
72
withdrawn they had not power to maintain themselves in possession of the land, and gradually the greater part of their villages reverted to the original owners. The present head of the house, Chaudhri Mansah Ali, was a man of considerable weight in the country, and would have restored the influence of the family but the conspicuous part he took in the rebellion, opposing Sir BL Hav&loek's. advance at ITnao and Bashirgasj, sending ia his adherence to the Nana, cutting up our outposts, and murdering his
prisoners in cold blood made it impossible to extend the terms of the amnesty to him in their fullest sense. His life was spared, but his estates" have been confiscated, and a small portion of them, with the town of Rastilabad itself, has been given to the younger branch." ,
Colonel Sleeman writes* a* follows abottt a district
—
NawaH
Governor of the
" The brief history which I propose to give of Bakhsh Ali, the late con^Muqaddara Aalia, one of tractor for the Rastilabad district, is as follows the consorts of the king Nasir-ud-din Haidar, was the daughter of Mr, George Hopkins Walters, a half-pay of&cer of one of the regiments of British Dragoons, who came to Lucknow as an adventurer. He there
—
'
united himself (though not in marriage) to the widow of Mr. Whearty, an English merchant or shopkeeper of that city, who had recently died, leaving this widow, who was the daughter of Mr. CuUoden, an English merchant of Lucknow, one son, now called Amir Mirza, and one daughter, now called Sharif-un-nisa. By Mr. Walters this widow had one daughter, who afterwards became united to the king in marriage (in 1827), under the title of Muqaddara Aulia. " Mr. Walters died at
reside at
Cawnpur.
disposed to
Lucknow, and the widow and two daughters went to The daughters were good-looking, and the mother was
make the most of their charms, without regard to creed or colour.
" Bakhsh Ali, a Dom by caste, who had been by profession a drummer to a party of dancing girls, served them as a coachman and table attendant. At Cawnpore he cohabited with Mrs. Walters, and prevailed upon her to take her children back to Lucknow as the best possible market for them, as he had friends at court who would be able to bring them to the notice They were shown to the king as soon as he succeeded of the sovereign. his father on the throne in 1827. He was captivated with the charms of Miss Walters, though they were not great, demanded her hand from the mother, and was soon after united to her in marriage according to the Muhammadan law. suitable establishment was provided by the kino' for her mother, father-in-law, brother, and sister and as His Majesty con^ sidered that the manner in which Bakhsh Ali and her mother had hitherto lived together was unsuitable to the connection which now subsisted between them, he caused them to be married in due form according to the Muhammadan law. The mother and her three children now changed their creed for that of Islamism, and took Muhammadan names.
A
"
By
a deed of engagement with the British Government, beanng date' Volume
I.,
325.
