Josiah Harlan - in The Service of A Maharaja Ranjit Singh

In The Service of A Maharaja Ranjit Singh

Harlan came to Lahore, the capital of Punjab, in 1829. He sought out the French general Jean-François Allard, who introduced him to the Maharaja. Harlan was offered a military position but declined, looking for something more lucrative. This, he eventually found: After lingering at the court for some time he was offered the position of Governor of Gujrat District, a position he accepted. Before giving him this position, however, the Maharaja decided to test Harlan.

In December 1829, he was instated as Governor of Nurpur and Jasrota, described by Harlan himself as two districts then newly subjugated by the King in Lahore, located on the skirt of the Himalah mountains. These districts had been seized by their rajah in 1816 and were fairly wealthy at the time Harlan arrived. Little, if anything, is known of Harlan's tenure here, but he must have fared well. In May 1832 he was transferred to Gujrat. In Gujrat, Harlan was visited soon after his instatement by Henry Lawrence who later described him as a man of considerable ability, great courage and enterprise, and judging by appearance, well cut out for partisan work.

While appointing a European governor was rare, Harlan was certainly not the only one. His colleague Paolo Di Avitabile was made governor of Wazirabad, and Jean-Baptiste Ventura was made governor of Dera Ghazi Khan in 1831. Harlan was also in turn followed in his position in Gujrat by an Englishman named Holmes.