*EDWARDES, HERBERT BENJAMIN, Major in the East India Company's service, was born in January 1820, at Frodesley in Shrop shire. His father, the Rev. B. Edwardes, was rector of Frodesley. He completed his education at King's College, London. His uncle, Sir Henry Edwardes, of Ryton Grove, Shrewsbury, having procured him a nomination to a cadetship, he was examined and passed on the 26th of August 1840. He landed at Calcutta in January 1841, and was soon afterwards attached to the 1st European regiment. Iu November 1845 Lieutenant Edwardes was appointed aide-de-camp to Sir Hugh Gough (now Viscount Gough), then commander-in-chief of the B.-itish army in Hindustan, and was present at the battle of Moodkee, December 18, 1845, when he was wounded. Having recovered from his wound, and resumed his duties as aide-de-camp, he was actively engaged at the battle of Sobraou, February 10, 184G. Lieutenant Edwardes, baying studied the native languages, was declared qualified to act as interpreter, and in April 1846 was appointed third assistant to the Commissioners of the Trans-Sutlej Territory, and in January 1847 first assistant to Sir Henry Lawrence, the Resident at Lahore. .
Lieutenant Edwardes was employed to collect the revenue in the north-west of the Punjab, and here he commenced that series of skilful and energetic operations which, though limited to the short period of one year, have obtained for him a place among the most distinguished of the military officers of the present day. He has himself given a narrative of the operations in which he was engaged in a work which he published in 1851, 'A Year on the Punj ib Frontier in 1848-49, by rajor Herbert B. Edwardes, C.B.,' 2 vols. 8vo. The services performed by Lieutenant Edwardes during the first three months of that eventful year are unknown in this country except by those who have. read his own account of them. What those services were may be best stated in his own words, merely premising, that the valley of Bunnoo is in the north-west of the Punjab, and is estimated to yield a revenue of about 15,000/. He observes, that his object iu writing the first part of his book "is to put on record a victory which I myself remember with mom satisfaction than any I helped to gain before Mooltan—the bloodless conquest of the wild valley of Bunneo. It was gained neither by shot nor shell, but simply by balancing two recce and two creeds. For fear of a Sikh army, two warlike and independent Muhommudan tribes levelled to the ground st my bidding the four hundred forts which constituted the strength of their country; and for fear of these same Muhommudan tribes, the same Sikh army, at my bidding, constructed a fortress for the crown, which completed the subjugation of the valley." The operations by which Lieutenant Edwardes obtained his celebrity in Great Britain we re commenced in April 1848. Mr. Vans Agnew of the Bengal Civil Service, and Lieutenant Anderson of the Bombay Fuaileers, having accompanied the newly-appointed governor of Mooltan from Labors, arrived at the city of Meehan on the 19th of April, and were murdered on the 20th by order of the Dewan Moolraj, who was to have been superseded in his government. On the following morning Moolraj began to make preparations for a war with the British, who, on the 9th of March 1846, had become by treaty tho protectors of Dhnleep Sing, the Maharaja of Lahore. Lieutenant Edwardes, who was then on the west bank of the Indus, near Dens Fati Khan, having communicated with Sir Henry Lawrence, and received his authority to operate against Moolraj, immediately wrote to General Cortlandt, who was in the Buono° districts, to come to his assistance. Edwardes having been joined by Cortlandt, they descended the Indus on the western side, while 10,000 troops sent against them by Moolraj descended on the eastern side. Meantime the Nawab of Bhawulpoor had pat his army in motion against Moolraj, and threatened Meehan.
Moolraj, fearing for his capital, recalled his army, which fell back to the left bank of the Chenab, between Mooltan and the nawab's troops. This retrograde movement having left open the passage of the Indus, Edwardes brought over his troops, and hastened to throw them across the Chenab, and form a junction with the Bhawulpoor army before it could be attacked by the forces of Moolraj. On the evening of the 17th of June, he got over with great difficulty, for want of boats, 3000 irregular infantry and 80 horse (mounted officers), but no guns, Cortlandt remaining behind to obtain boats and transport the guns with the remainder of the troops. The Bhawulpoor army was attacked at eight o'clock in the morning of the 18th of June, near Kennyree, and after fighting about two hours, withdrew to some strong ground out of range, leaving Edwardes with his small body of men to resist the attack of the whole Sikh army till Cortlandt could get the guns over the river. The enemy now bore down in front on Edwardee's position with about 10,000 men and ten guns, whilst about 2000 cavalry hovered on his flanks. Fortunately the ground was broken, and afforded good cover, and they resisted repeated attacks till the little band was in such danger of being swept sway, that Edwardes, as a last effort to gain time, ordered the mounted officers to charge the foremost of the enemy. They obeyed his command nobly, with the loss of several of the small troop, but checking for a time the advance of the enemy. Edwardes, speaking of that critical moment, observed, "I did not think I had ten minutes to live." Short as the check was it gave time for one gun to be brought up, which was immediately opened, and was followed by a regiment of Cortlandt's infantry, then by another gun and another regiment, tiU there were six guns pouring in grape and round shot, and upwards of 4000 infantry in action. The Sikh army was put to flight, and never halted till it was safe within the defences of the city of Meehan. For his conduct in this battle and tho series of operations which preceded It Lieutenant Edwardes received the local rank of major in the Lahore territories.
Itloolraj and his troops were confined within the fortifications of Meehan, but not without incessant watching, fighting, and danger to the besiegers, dnring which, in the month of July, a pistol, which Major Edwardes was thrusting into his belt, exploded, and the contents passed through his right hand, shattering it in such a manner that amputation became necessary. General W'hish's army reached Meehan on the 18th and 19th of August, and regular siege was soon afterwards laid to the city, but on the defection of Shere Sing, who withdrew with all his troops and artillery, it was deemed prudent to suspend the siege, and wait for additional troops and guns from Bom bay. These arrived on the 15th of December, and the siege was recommenced. The city was taken January 4, 1849, and the citadel, January 22. Major }3dwardes's brother, a lieutenant in the Bengal Native Infantry, was killed by the falling of his horse at Fcrozepoor, on the 13th of December 1848.
After the termination of the war Major Edwardes came to England, where ho married. lie spent a few months in Wales, wrote and pub lished his ' Year on the Punjab Frontier,' and in 1851 returned to India. On the 20th of October 1849 be was created by special statute an extra taereber of the companions of the Order of the 13ath. He is now Commissioner at Peshawar. He has a pension for his wound received at the battle of Moodkee, but none for the loss of his hand, that having been by accident and not in action. The East India Company have Total him an annuity of 1001., and the Court of Directors have struck a gold medal in his honour.