author
W. S. R. (William Stephen Raikes) Hodson
1821–1858
A brilliant and deeply controversial cavalry officer, he became one of the most talked-about British figures of the 1857 uprising in India. His reputation mixed daring battlefield action with accusations of harshness and misconduct, which has kept his story debated ever since.
1 Audiobook
Twelve Years of a Soldier's Life in India Being Extracts from the Letters of the Late Major W. S. R. Hodson, B. A.
by W. S. R. (William Stephen Raikes) Hodson
About the author
Born near Gloucester in 1821, Hodson studied at Rugby and Trinity College, Cambridge before going to India and joining the East India Company army. He later became known as the commander of Hodson’s Horse, an irregular cavalry regiment, and earned a reputation for energy, boldness, and personal charisma.
He is most closely associated with the Indian Rebellion of 1857, during which he captured Bahadur Shah II, the last Mughal emperor. At the same time, his career was shadowed by serious criticism: reference works including Britannica note that his reputation was clouded by charges of fraud and mistreatment, and he remains a disputed figure in accounts of British rule in India.
Hodson died in 1858 at Lucknow while still in active service. For readers today, he stands out not simply as a soldier of dramatic action, but as a reminder of how empire could produce figures admired by some contemporaries and condemned by others.