ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>WADE SIR CLAUDE MARTINE (1794-1861)</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="WADE,SIR,CLAUDE,MARTINE,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">&#65279WADE, SIR CLAUDE MARTINE (1794-1861), soldier and diplomat, son of Lt-Col Joseph Wade of the Bengal army, was born on 3 April 1794. He joined the Bengal army in 1809 and was promoted Lieutenant in 1815. He served in operations against Scindia and Holkar, and the Pi&#7751&#7693&#257r&#299s (1815-19) and officiated as brigade-major to British troops in Oudh (1820-21). In February 1823, he was appointed assistant at Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 agency, becoming political agent in 1832 which position he held till 1840.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Martine Wade was one of the few British functionaries on the Sutlej who by their tact and amia-ble disposition had won the esteem and affection of the Sikhs. He remained at Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257 for 17 years as assistant to agent (1823-27), political assistant (1827-32), and then as political agent (1832-40). In his relations with the Sikh Government, Wade balanced the interests of the two States in such a manner as, in due course, he became a personal friend of Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh, who valued his advice and counsel on political matters. In the adjustment of territorial disputes between the two governments, Wade advocated to his own government a policy of judicious settlement in opposition to Captain Murray, the political agent at Amb&#257l&#257, who favoured an outright rejection of Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh's claim to territories in the cis-Sutlej area, including Wadn&#299, Himmatpur, F&#299rozpur, the &#256hl&#363v&#257l&#299&#257 and Ka&#7749g possessions, Si&#257lb&#257, Anandpur and Chamkaur.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Wade was chiefly instrumental in arranging the Ropa&#7771 meeting between Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh and Lord William Bentinck in October 1831. By his tact, he persuaded the Mah&#257r&#257j&#257 to join the Indus navigation scheme and forgo his claim on Shik&#257rpur and Sindh. He impressed upon Lord Auckland the necessity of retaining the powerful Sikhs as allies, as against the advice of Alexander Burnes who had proposed that Pesh&#257war should be taken from the Sikhs and restored to the Af<u>gh</u>&#257ns. Wade's personal influence with Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh was one of the factors in the ratification of the tripartite treaty of 1838.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;After the death of Ra&#7751j&#299t Si&#7749gh, Wade's relations with the Sikh court became less harmonious. He offended Ka&#7749var Nau Nih&#257l Si&#7749gh and R&#257j&#257 Dhi&#257n Si&#7749gh, and the Sikh Government demanded his recall from Ludhi&#257&#7751&#257. On 1 April 1840, Lord Auckland replaced Wade by George Russell Clerk at the North-West Frontier Agency. Wade was appointed resident at Indore. He held this office till his retirement in May 1844. Wade died on 21 October 1861.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Banerjee, A.C., <i>Anglo-Sikh Relations</i>. Calcutta, 1949<BR> <li class="C1"> Gupta, Hari Ram, <i>Panjab on the Eve of First Sikh War</i>. Chandigarh, 1975<BR> <li class="C1"> Hasrat, Bikrama Jit, ed., <i>The Punjab Papers</i>. Hoshiarpur, 1970<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>