Succession of Lord Ellenborough and arrival of Sir Henry Hardinge

Succession of Lord Ellenborough and arrival of Sir Henry Hardinge 1844

In 1844 Lord Ellenborough was recalled by the court of directors. Actually, the Court of Directors differed from him on points of administration, and distrusted his erratic genius. He was succeeded by William Bird in 1844, who remained for a temporary time.

Finally in 1844 only a veteran soldier, Sir Henry Hardinge, who had entered the army in 1799, was sent to India as next Governor General of India. This brave soldier had served England in the Peninsular War and the Waterloo campaign, and was knighted in 1815. It was felt in England that after overcoming all kinds of power in the region, the fall of a Great Sikh nation was near.