Chattar Singh Attariwalla

Career

On the death of his father in August 1815, Chatar Singh inherited large jagirs and occupied himself with farming his estates. He rose to political prominence in 1843, after the assassination of Maharaja Sher Singh, and his daughter Tej Kaur was betrothed to Maharaja Duleep Singh. In 1846 he was made Governor of Peshawar and the following year the Council of Regency recommended him for the title of Raja, but he asked that the title should instead be conferred on his son, Sher Singh.

In 1848 he was appointed Governor of the Hazara province. There he came into conflict with Captain James Abbott, the British Deputy Commissioner of the Hazara District. Abbott alleged that Chatar Singh was conspiring to subvert British authority in the Punjab. The British Resident at Lahore, Sir Frederick Currie commissioned an investigation by Captain John Nicholson who exonerated Chatar Siṅgh, and also justified the defensive measures he had taken to save the besieged capital of Hazārā from Abbott's troops. Despite this, Currie virtually dismissed Chatar Singh and confiscated his jagirs. After this, and the failure of the Resident to honour the betrothal of his sister, Sher Singh, who had been fighting alongside the British, changed sides. In the second Anglo-Sikh War, Sher Singh fought against the British at the battle of Chillianwala, and was defeated later the same year at the battle of Gujrat. Following the battle, Chatar Siṅgh and his sons, Rājā Sher Siṅgh and Avtār Singh, were imprisoned first at Allāhābād and then at Fort William at Calcutta. Chattar Siṅgh died in Calcutta on 27 December 1855.