John Jacob (British army officer)

John Jacob (British army officer)

Brigadier-General John Jacob, CB (11 January 18126 December 1858), was an officer of the British East India Company who served in colonial India for the major portion of his career. He is known for the cavalry regiment called 36th Jacob's Horse and for founding the town of Jacobabad.

Early life

He was born at Woolavington, in the county of Somerset, England, where his father the Reverend Stephen Long Jacob was incumbent. His mother was Susanna, daughter of the Reverend James Bond of Ashford, Kent, England. He was schooled by his father until he obtained his cadetship to Addiscombe. He was commissioned into the Bombay Artillery on his 16th birthday, and subsequently sailed for India in January 1828, never to set foot in England again.

Afghan War

After seven years employed with his regiment, he was then employed as subordinate to the collector of Gujerat. In 1838 he was ordered to Sind with the Bombay column, to join the army of the Indus at the outbreak of the First Anglo-Afghan War.

He first saw active service in the summer of 1839 as a subaltern of artillery, the force led by Sir John Keane, sent to invade the Upper Sindh. He was given command of the Sind Horse by Sir James Outram in 1841; in 1842 he was additionally placed in political charge of the whole of the Cutchee frontier. He saw his first major action as Brevet Captain at the Battle of Meanee, with the British force sent to conquer Sindh. He was awarded a CB.

He set about to recruit a second regiment of Sind Horse, which Napier announced in a letter dated 28 November 1846 would be called Jacob's Horse. As Irregular Cavalry, each regiment had only three European officers, a system that Jacob argued should be extended to all Indian cavalry regiments. Both regiments were absorbed into the Indian Army in 1860 and ultimately became the 35th Sind Horse and the 36th Jacob's Horse. They saw active service in Northern and Central India, Persia and Afghanistan, and during World War I in France. They were amalgamated in 1921 and became known as the The Scinde Horse.

In 1847 Jacob was placed in political charge of the frontier and established his headquarters at Khangurh, where a flourishing town known as Jacobabad developed.

He wrote many pamphlets which were critical of the Indian Army as it then was, and got him into much trouble with the Government in London. He was a scientist and inventor, developing an exploding bullet, or shell, that fired combustibles up to 6 miles. He believed this would revolutionize the art of war. Two good riflemen could, in his opinion, annihilate the best battery of field artillery in 10 minutes. Further experiments made it possible to fire shells up to a range of 14 miles. More importantly, he designed a four grooved rifle and had various experimental guns manufactured in London by leading gunsmiths, and at his expense.

In April 1855 he was gazetted Lieutenant-Colonel. In 1856, due to Sir Bartle Frere's poor health, he taking leave in England, Jacob was pronounced Acting Commissioner in Sind.

Persian War

At the outbreak of the Anglo-Persian War, Jacob was put in charges of the cavalry and departed for Persia. He was raised to the rank of Brigadier-General, and appointed A.D.C. to Queen Victoria. When he arrived at Bushire, General Stalker having suddenly died, Jacob was put in charge of 3000 men. Peace favourable to the British Government having been negotiated, Jacob was left in charge of conducting the evacuation of Bushire.

By this time the Indian mutiny, an event he had presaged some time before, had begun. Jacob's Horse remained loyal throughout. He was anxious to return to India, as he had been selected for the command of the Central Indian Army. Delayed in Bushire by the insistence of the British minister there, Lord Elphinstone was unable to await his arrival. The command was given to Sir Hugh Rose instead. Jacob returned to Jacobabad where he raised two regiments of infantry. He died of ill health at Jacobabad on 6 December 1858. He was buried in the town where his grave has been well-maintained by the locals for whom he retains a cult status, according to BBC correspondent Mark Tully locals believe he has saintlike status [KARACHI TO THE KHYBER PASS- Mark Tully] .

Legacy

Jacob was the great-great uncle of Alaric Jacob, journalist and writer who wrote of him in his biographical novel "Scenes from a Bourgeois Life". Alaric Jacob contrasted his great-great uncle's selfless devotion to duty and democratic principles with the opportunistic capitalism of his contemporaries in England, and used him as model to support his own conversion to an idealistic form of Marxism. Alaric Jacob reports having found the original portrait on which the print illustrated above was based and caused it to be passed to Field Marshall Jacob. Unfortunately it was destroyed in The Blitz.

References

*Alexander Innes Shand, Brigadier General John Jacob C.B., Seeley and Co, London, 1900
*Hugh T Lambrick, John Jacob of Jacobabad, Cassel and Co, London, 1960
*Kenneth W Jacob, Brigadier General John Jacob of Jacobabad, Family History, Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies, Vol 20, No 163, April 2000.
*Dictionary of National Biography
*Alaric Jacob Scenes from a Bourgeois Life Secker & Warburg 1949.
*Major John Jacob, Remarks on the Native Troops of the Indian Army, Times Press, Bombay, 1854.

External links

* [http://www.myjacobfamily.com/favershamjacobs/johnjacob1.htm] For images of John Jacob, Jacobabad and Jacob's Horse] . Accessed 28 March 2006


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем решить контрольную работу

Look at other dictionaries:

  • John Graham (British Army officer) — Colonel John Graham (24 April 1778ndash 13 March 1821) was a soldier notable for founding Grahamstown, South Africa in 1814. Grahamstown went on to become a military, administrative, judicial and educational centre for its surrounding… …   Wikipedia

  • John Jacob — may refer to:* John Jacob of Montferrat (1395 1445), Italian soldier government administrator * John Jacob (British army officer) (1812 1858) * John J. Jacob (1829 1893), American politician * John Edward Jacob (born 1934), American activistSee… …   Wikipedia

  • David Campbell (British Army officer) — Sir David Campbell General Sir David Campbell Nickname Soarer, Barbara Born 28 January 1869 …   Wikipedia

  • Jacob (disambiguation) — Jacob (died by 1st millennium BCE) was the Jewish patriarch of that name.Jacob may also be:* Jacob, Indian unit of length a.k.a. jow * Jacob (sheep) * JACOB, Jacob (software) providing Java COM bridge * Jacob (name), linguistic aspects * Jacob ,… …   Wikipedia

  • John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever — Lieutenant Colonel John Jacob Astor, 1st Baron Astor of Hever DL (May 20, 1886–July 19, 1971), was a military officer, statesman, a newspaper proprietor, and a member of the prominent Astor family. Note: Standard genealogies of the Astor family… …   Wikipedia

  • Portal:British Army — American Civil War · American Revolutionary War · Battleships · …   Wikipedia

  • Jacob H. Smith — Jacob Hurd Smith Smith in Tacloban, Philippines, 1901 Nickname Hell Roaring Jake …   Wikipedia

  • John DeCow — (variably spelt DeCou or DeCew, and sometimes with the C not capitalized) was a United Empire Loyalist, an early settler in the Niagara Peninsula of Upper Canada, a commissioned militia officer in the War of 1812, and a founding member of the… …   Wikipedia

  • John Berger — John Peter Berger (born November 5, 1926) is an English art critic, novelist, painter and author. His novel G. won the 1972 Booker Prize, and his essay on art criticism Ways of Seeing , written as an accompaniment to a BBC series, is often used… …   Wikipedia

  • John Hooper (sculptor) — John Hooper OC (1926 ndash;January 26 2006) was an English born Canadian sculptor known for his colourful polychromed wood carvings. [http://www.cbc.ca/arts/story/2006/01/28/hooper obit.html Sculptor John Hooper dies] , Canadian Broadcasting… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”