Page:Dictionary of Indian Biography.djvu/388

 was Executive Engineer, P.W.D., at Delhi : escaped to Meerut from the massacre at Delhi : May 12, 1857 : was at the battles of the Hindun and Badli-ka-sarai : through the siege of Delhi from June 8 to Sep. 14, 1857 : "Salkeld's battery" was near Hindu Rao's house : was told off to blow up the Kashmir gate of Delhi, at the assault on Sep. 14 : was wounded in endeavouring to fire the charge: lingered, and died Oct. 11, 1857 : was awarded the V.C.

SALMONE, HABIB ANTHONY (1860–1904)

Born at Beyrout, Sep. 1, 1860 : son of a naturalized British subject and distinguished scholar : member of the R.A.S., 1884 : wrote On the Importance to Great Britain of the Study of Arabic : Lecturer on Arabic at University College, London : published, 1890, an Arabic-English lexicon, Honorary Professor of Arabic at King's College : travelled through Turkey, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Syria, Persia, India, 1891–2 : founded in 1892 the Eastern and Western Review, in Arabic and English, of Oriental and Imperial affairs, but it came to an end in 2 years : engaged in journalism : brought out The Imperial Souvenir, a metrical translation of part of the National Anthem into 50 of the languages spoken in the British Empire : died Oct. 1904.

SAMBHUNATH PANDIT (1820–1867)

A Kashmir Brahman, whose family had settled in Oudh, and a branch had been settled in Bengal for some generations : son of Sadasib Pandit : born in Calcutta, 1820 : educated at Lucknow, Benares, and the Oriental Seminary : beginning as an assistant to the Sadr Court Record-keeper on Rs. 20 a month, he rose, from being a Pleader, to be Junior Government Pleader, 18 3 : Senior, 1861 : Law Professor at the Presidency College, 1855 : and the first Native Judge of the High Court, Calcutta, 1863–7 : died June 6, 1867 : an authority on Hindu law, and questions of land tenure.

SAMRU (1720–1778)

Walter Reinhard was his proper name : born 1720 : said variously to have been son of a butcher at Salzburg, or an Alsatian born at Strasburg : went to India as a sailor on a French ship : deserted at Pondicherry : enlisted in French Army as Sumner, or Somers, which the soldiers changed into Sombre and the natives pronounced Samru : enlisted in the E. I. Co.'s service in Bengal : was at Dacca : deserted in 18 days to Chandernagore, to M. Law : then to Nawab Safdar Jang in Oudh : then joined Suraj-ad-daula's service : as servant to an Armenian, Gregory, served under Mir Kasim, and commanded two battalions: treacherously captured and massacred 51 English gentlemen and 100 others at Patna, Oct. 1763 : fled to the Nawab Wazir of Oudh at Lucknow : served under Bhartpur, and Jaipur, and Najaf Khan, the Wazir of the Emperor of Delhi : received a valuable estate at Sardhana, where he made a fort and settled, living with the Begam Samru (q.v.) : an uneducated man of low, cruel character, of no military capacity, commanding a disre-putable force : died at Agra, May 4, 1778.

SAMRU BEGAM ( ? –1836)

Named Zebulnissa, by birth a Kashmiri : by family Georgian : lived with Samru (q.v.) at Sardhana, and succeeded him in command of the estate and of a dissolute force of Europeans, over 200, which was at one time under the control of George Thomas (q.v.) : she became a Roman Catholic after Samru's death in 1778, and married a French adventurer named Levassoult, who commanded her force : escaping from a mutiny of her soldiers, he killed himself : she was kept captive, but was re-established in power by George Thomas, after reconciliation : her forces were greatly increased by her commandant. Col. Saleur : they were defeated at Assaye in 1803 : and submitted to General Lake : she lived afterwards on friendly terms with the English, disbanding her troops. She became very rich, and gave large sums in charity to Christian religions, including Rs. 50,000 to the Bishop of Calcutta, and built Christian churches at Meerut : there she entertained the highest officials in India. She died Jan. 27, 1836, over 80 years of age : leaving 70 to 80 lakhs, partly in charities, the remainder to Dyce Sombre, her step-grandson, well known by the great Dyce-Sombre lawsuit.

SANDEMAN, SIR ROBERT GROVES (1835–1892)

Colonel : born Feb. 25. 1835 : son of General Robert Turnbull Sandeman :