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Brevet Major William Stephen Raikes Hodson (10 March 1821 – 11 March 1858) was a British leader of irregular light cavalry during the Indian Rebellion of 1857 (also known as the Indian Mutiny or the Sepoy Mutiny). He was known as "Hodson of Hodson's Horse." His most celebrated action in British 19th century annals, was to apprehend the King of Delhi (also referred to as Emperor of India and Bahadur Shah II). The following day he rode to the enemy camp, heavily outnumbered by the rebels and demanded the surrender of the Mughal princes who were leading the rebellion around Delhi and killed them,.〔LJ Trotter, ''A Leader of Light Horse'', pages 200-202〕 It needs to be noted that in the course of the Mutiny a number of male members of Bahadur Shar II's family were killed by East India Company forces, who imprisoned or exiled the surviving members of the Mughal dynasty; furthermore, Bahadur Shah II was tried on four counts, two of aiding rebels, one of treason, and being party to the murder of 49 people - however, as Hodson had previously guaranteed his life the Emperor eventually died peacefully of old age.〔Charges against Mahomed Bahadoor Shah, ex-King of Delhi reprinted in Perth Inquirer & Commercial News, 7 April 1858〕 Hodson's career received praise from a number of senior military commanders such General Hugh Gough 〔''Old Memories'' 1897 memoirs published by H. Gough〕 (see references below) but there were certain dissenting voices from other members of the military. There were also a few politicians who felt the killing of Mughal princes by Hodson had done 'dishonour',〔From a speech delivered by Gen. Thompson, MP for Bradford, in the House of Commons, February 1858. Cited in Michael Edwardes, ''Red Year: The Indian Rebellion of 1857'', London: Cardinal Books, 1975, p.165〕 however Hodson's career received praise from more senior politicians including the Prime Minister and Minister for India.〔(Hansard; 14 April 1859 )〕 Hodson is credited with being jointly responsible for the introduction of the khaki uniform. == Early career == William Hodson was born on 9 March 1821 at Maisemore Court, near Gloucester, third son of the Rev. George Hodson. He was educated at Rugby School under Dr Arnold and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He accepted a cadetship in the Indian Army at the age of twenty-three; joining the 2nd Bengal Grenadiers, he went through the First Anglo-Sikh War. Unusually among officers of the time, William Hodson was a Cambridge graduate and keen linguist. A contemporary described him as tall man with yellow hair, a pale, smooth face, heavy moustache, and large, restless, rather unforgiving eyes… a perfect swordsman, nerves like iron, and a quick, intelligent eye. Hodson delighted in fighting and his favourite weapon was the hog spear. He was a brilliant horseman with the capacity to sleep in the saddle. He was described as 'the finest swordsman in the army'.〔"''Encyclopædia Britannica'', 1911 edition"〕 The initial assistance he gave in organising the newly formed Corps of Guides in December 1846 had been one of Sir Henry Lawrence's projects in which Hodson excelled. The Guides Corps had Lt Harry Burnett Lumsden as its commandant and Lt Hodson as adjutant. Significantly, among the duties assigned to Hodson was responsibility for equipping the new regiment which necessitated his choosing the regiment's uniform. With Lumsden's approval, Hodson decided upon a lightweight uniform of Khaki colour - or 'drab' as it was then referred to. This would be comfortable to wear and 'make them invisible in a land of dust'. Accordingly, in May 1848 he liaised with his brother Rev. George H. Hodson, in England, to send 'drab' cloth for 900 men as well as 300 carbines.〔pages 50-51 from ''Twelve Years of a Soldier's Life in India'', published 1859 - first edition of the biography on Hodson by his brother George〕 As a result, Hodson and Lumsden had the joint distinction of being the first officers to clothe a regiment in Khaki which many view as the precursor of modern camouflage uniform. For a while, later, he was transferred to the Civil Department as Assistant Commissioner in 1849 and stationed at Amritsar; and from there he travelled in Kashmir and Tibet. In 1852 he was appointed Commandant of the Corps of Guides. As well as being unusual among British soldiers in India for being a Cambridge university graduate, he also enjoyed classical literature for relaxation, and was a keen linguist - this included his interest in learning the main language(s) of his host country at that time. On his arrival in India he started first learning ‘Hindustani ‘and later Persian, with the help and encouragement from his mentor Sir Henry Lawrence.〔Trotter, Hodson of |Hodson’s Horse〕 This apparently was of intellectual and cultural interest to him. Particularly as his army quarters offered him little in the way of culture or reading-matter, save for the ‘usual copy of the Bible and works of Shakespeare’. This led him to eventually order from his brother “a formidable collection of classics, though he probably saw nothing incongruous in spending three hours a day studying Persian, and turning later for relaxation to untranslated Xenophon…”.〔pp.40 B. Joynson Cork, ‘Rider on a Grey Horse’〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「William Stephen Raikes Hodson」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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