Colonel James Skinner holding a Regimental Durbar

Colonel James Skinner holding a Regimental Durbar, 1827.Watercolour with gouache on European paper by Ghulam Ali Khan (fl 1817-1855), 1827.Inscribed in Nastaliq script lower left ?The work of Ghulam Ali Khan the painter, resident of the Seat of the Empire Shahjahanabad, it was completed in the Christian year 1827?Skinner, seated centre left, may be seen presiding over a durbar of his regiment, an occasion when any soldier was at liberty to raise with his commanding officer anything that concerned him. The holding of a durbar, when Skinner mixed freely with his soldiers and men, was a conscious re-creation of Afghan and Mughal military and ceremonial traditions, which gave his soldiers a corporate sense of their upward mobility in the Company's service.The son of a Scottish officer of the Bengal Army and a Rajput girl whom he had captured during the war against the Raja of Benares, James Skinner's (1778-1841) military career commenced with eight years service in the part European officered Maratha army. In 1803 when war broke out between the British and the Marathas he obliged to leave their service and after their defeat was made commander of 800 horsemen who joined the British. Such were the origins of what was to become the senior regiment of the Indian cavalry, Skinner's Horse (1st Duke of York's Own Cavalry). In 1827 the regiment was known as the 1st Regiment of Local Horse and had just been awarded the battle honour Bhurtpore for its part in the reduction of the fortress at Bharatpur, Skinner himself being made a Companion of the Order of the Bath. Skinner was well aware that on more than one occasion, racial prejudice against Eurasion officers had interfered with his advancement in the Company's service - counterbalanced only by his employers awareness of the important part he and his men played in their military build up, providing the light cavalry needed so urgently to fight the Pindaris and Marathas, and later settling conquered territory. In the latter role Skinner's ostensibly Irregular soldiers became a permanent adjunct of the Company's state formation in India

1778 1803 1817 1822 1827 1841 Adjunct Advancement Afghan Anything Aware Awareness Benares Bengal Bharatpur Broke Build Commanding Commenced Companion Companys Concerned Conquered Conscious Corporate Counterbalanced Durbar Employers Freely Gouache Horsemen Interfered Irregular Joined Latter Maratha Marathas Mixed Mobility Mughal Needed Obliged Origins Ostensibly Permanent Prejudice Presiding Providing Raise Raja Rajput Reduction Regimental Resident Sense Settling Skinner Skinners Traditions Upward Urgently Whom Yorks

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