Author’s Note
143 Words
Author’s NoteOn New Year’s Day 1833 William Sleeman set out on an official tour of his territories, carried in a palanquin preceded by an elephant and escorted, as usual, by Sepoys and Cavalry,
With him was Amelie, his wife, and on the sixth day out from Saugor she was seized with labour pains.
They pitched camp in a grove of lime and pepper trees, a place that for generations had been notorious as a bele – a haunt of Thugs.
There the Sleemans’ son was born.
Several years later William Sleeman was appointed British Resident at Lucknow. One of the heroes of the British Administration in India, he died in 1856, a Major General,
British Resident at the Court of Oudh, he was recommended for a Knighthood, which was awarded posthumously.
By 1841 Thuggee had been virtually exterminated, although the Office of Superintendent survived until 1904.
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