ÿþ<HTML><HEAD><TITLE>WHISH SIR WILLIAM SAMPSON (1787-1853)</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="WHISH,SIR,WILLIAM,SAMPSON,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">&#65279WHISH, SIR WILLIAM SAMPSON (1787-1853), divisional commander of the British army under Lord Hugh Gough in the second Anglo-Sikh war, was born at Northwold, England, on 27 February 1787, the son of Richard Whish. He received a commission in the Bengal artillery in 1804. In 1826, he was appointed to command the Karn&#257l and Sirhind division of the artillery. In January 1848, he took over from Sir John Littler the command of British troops stationed at Lahore. In August 1848, he was given the command of the Mult&#257n field force, 8,000 strong, to march against D&#299w&#257n Mul R&#257j. He took up position in front of Mult&#257n and besieged the fort on 7 September. As the Darb&#257r troops under Sher Si&#7749gh A&#7789&#257r&#299v&#257l&#257 withdrew a week later, Whish removed his forces to &#7788ibb&#299, and a period of inaction followed which enabled M&#363l R&#257j to improve his defences. In the beginning of November M&#363l R&#257j threw up his batteries which threatened Whish's camp, but on 21 December he was reinforced by a column from Bombay and, on 22 January 1849, he secured the Mult&#257n governor's surrender. After the fall of Mult&#257n, Whish's division moved northwards to join Lord Gough's army. He reached R&#257mnagar on 13 February and took part in the battle of Gujr&#257t (21 February 1849). In November 1851, he was promoted lieutenant-general.</p> <p class="C1">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;Whish died in London on 25 February 1853. His eldest son, G. Palmer Whish, general of the Bengal staff corps, had taken part in the battle of Gujr&#257t. Another son, Henry Edward Whish, a major- general in the Bengal staff corps had also served with his father in the siege of Mult&#257n.</p> </font> <p class="BIB"> BIBLIOGRAPHY<p class="C1"><ol class="C1"><li class="C1"> Hasrat, Bikrama Jit, <i>Anglo-Sikh Relations 1799-1849</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>