ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>MACNAGHTEN SIR WILLIAM HAY (1793-1841)</TITLE> <style type="text/css"> .BODY { background-color: #EAF1F7; background-image: url('images/gtbh.jpg'); background-repeat: no-repeat; background-attachment: fixed; background-position: center; color: #0066CC;} .C1{text-align: justify;color: #0066CC;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .BIB{text-align: center;color: #000099;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} .CONT{text-align: right;color: #FF0000;FONT-size: SMALL;FONT-family: Tahoma;} </style><META NAME="keywords" CONTENT="MACNAGHTEN,SIR,WILLIAM,HAY,Person,Person"> <META http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8"></HEAD> <BODY class="BODY" oncontextmenu="return false" ondragstart="return false" onselectstart="return false"> <FONT ALIGN="JUSTIFY" FACE="Tahoma"> <p class="C1">&#65279MACNAGHTEN, SIR WILLIAM HAY (1793-1841), born in August 1793, was the son of Sir Francis Macnaghten. He was educated at Charterhouse and joined the service of the East India Company in 1809. He studied Hindust&#257n&#299, Persian and other Asiatic languages. His diplomatic career began towards the close of 1830, when he accompanied Lord William Bentinck as secretary on his tour through the upper and western provinces of India. He was also present at the Governor-General's meeting with Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh at Ropa&#7771 in October 1831. Returning to Calcutta, he was appointed to take charge of the secret and political departments and held that post for four years. In 1838, he headed a mission to the Sikh capital which led to the signing, on 26 June 1838, of the Tripartite treaty.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Macnaghten's mission to Lahore was undertaken in view of the growing Russian influence in Persia and Afghanistan and the supposed threat to the British possessions in India. Auckland's government had decided to subvert the power of Am&#299r Dost Muhammad <u>Kh</u>&#257n and to restore ex-king Sh&#257h Shuj&#257&#8217 to the throne at K&#257bul with the help of Sikh arms and British money. Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh was agreeable to Macnaghten's proposals, but laid down certain conditions. Among other things, he demanded a perpetual tribute or subsidy of 2,00,000 rupees to be paid annually by Afghanistan to the Sikhs, a compensation for forgoing claims on Shik&#257rpur and Sindh, and the cession of the district of Jal&#257l&#257b&#257d and its dependencies to him. All the demands of the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 except the cession of Jal&#257l&#257b&#257d were agreed to by Macnaghten.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; After the restoration of Sh&#257h Shuj&#257' in 1839 in which the Sikh forces did not take part in any military operations beyond the <u>Kh</u>aibar, Sir William was appointed the British minister and envoy to K&#257bul. Amidst mounting disagreements between the Sikhs and the English, particularly on the Sikh-Af<u>gh</u>&#257n borders and the two frontier territories of Sw&#257t and Buner, Macnaghten made wild accusations against the Sikh Darb&#257r. He demanded the recall of the Sikh governor of Pesh&#257war, General Avitabile, who, he alleged, was coercing the <u>Kh</u>aibar&#299s and extending Sikh influence beyond their borders. He complained that the Pesh&#257war B&#257rakza&#299 tributaries of the Sikh government were giving asylum to the Gilzaic chiefs, the rebel Af<u>gh</u>&#257n subjects. Macnaghten finally contended that after the death of Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh, the Tripartite treaty had lapsed and proposed that the Sikhs restore to the Af<u>gh</u>&#257ns their former territories on the Indus, including Pesh&#257war.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; On 23 December 1841, Sir William Macnaghten was lured by the Af<u>gh</u>&#257ns into a conference and assassinated by Prince Akbar <u>Kh</u>&#257n, the deposed Am&#299r's son.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Banerji, A.C., <i>Anglo-Sikh Relations</i>. Calcutta, 1949.<BR> <li class="C1"> Hasrat, B J., <i>Anglo-Sikh Relations (I 799-1849) </i>. Hoshiarpur, 1968.<BR> <li class="C1"> Buckland, C.E., <i>Dictionary of Indian Biography</i>. London, 1906.<BR> </ol><p class="CONT">B. J. Hasrat<br></p><BR> </font><img src="counter.aspx" width="1px" height="1px" alt=""></HTML></BODY>