2-982-348 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

Meer Heidayut Ali, Rissaldar (Native Captain) 4th Regiment of the Bengal Irregular Horse, 1858. Engraving from a sketch by Major-General Carmichael. 'At a time when our native troops in India have in general behaved so ill, it is cheering to find that a few of them whom we formerly cherished and placed confidence in have done honour to the service to which they belong. Prominent among those who have proved faithful to their trust is...Meer Heidayut Ali, Rissaldar...a Mahomedan, observing strictly the rites of his religion...When the Bhurtpore troops mutinied, the European...fugitives came to Mahona. They were received by Rissaldar Heidayut Ali with all that courtesy which a Mahomedan gentleman knows so well how to assume, and such as he would have displayed in the palmiest days of the raj to a party of English, comprising among its members ladies and officers of high rank'. Hedayat Ali was the first Indian career army officer who reached the rank of a Lieutenant Colonel in the British Indian army. He was aide-de-camp to the Prince of Wales during the royal visit to India in 1875-1876. From "Illustrated London News", 1858.