A Major General ‘By Mistake’…

Maharaja Bhupinder Singh of Patiala (left), and Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir (right).

During the British raj in India, rulers of princely states eagerly sought honorary military ranks from the colonists. In one such instance in 1930, Maharaja Hari Singh of Kashmir was seeking promotion from the honorary rank of Colonel to Major General. 

In the process, Lt Colonel G D Ogilvie — the Resident of Kashmir — wrote a letter to the Political Secretary to the Government of India Sir Charles Watson to facilitate this. Ogilvie stated that a sufficient amount of time had passed since the Maharaja’s last promotion. Moreover, he occupied an important position in the Kashmir Army. 

He further pointed out that at 35 years old, there was not much difference in age between him and the Maharaja of Patiala Bhupinder Singh, who was made a Major General when he was 29 years old. 

In the extensive correspondence that resulted from this request, it emerged that the Maharaja of Patiala was given the rank of Major General accidentally. He was recommended for the rank of Colonel by the Government of India, “but His Majesty’s Government, through a misunderstanding, gazetted His Highness as Major-General. No steps, of course, were taken to rectify the error. The case of Patiala does not, therefore, appear to be a safe precedent for regulating the promotion of H.H. the Maharaja of Kashmir”. 

Hari Singh had to wait another five years before becoming Major General in 1935. As a further insult to injury, Bhupinder Singh of Patiala secured the rank of Lieutenant General ahead of him, achieving it in 1931 while Hari Singh remained at the rank of Colonel.