May

Dhuleep Singh was the youngest son of Maharaja Ranjit Singh who established the Sikh Kingdom of Punjabs. He ascended the throne at age five under the regency of his mother, the legendary Rani Jindan but became a helpless pawn in the power-struggle that followed his father’s death and during the short reigns of his two predecessors. The Maharaja’s Dogra ministers and generals secretly entered into a pact with the British to betray the Sikhs in exchange for a slice of the Sikh Kingdom’s territories, namely Kashmir.

The ensuing war eventually led to British annexation of Punjab. This engraving depicts the child Maharaja in 1846, aged seven, with the Governor General of India at the surrender ceremony staged by the British forces, after their defeat of the betrayed Sikh army. The terms of surrender effectively placed administration of Punjab in British hands, with assurances that power to the Maharaja and the Sikhs would be restored on his coming of age. Instead, the child was separated from his mother who was exiled from Punjab and the wealth of Punjab summarily shipped off to Britain.