William Linnæus Gardner
| William Linnæus Gardner | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1770 |
| Died | 1835 |
| Nationality | British-Indian |
| Occupation | Lieutenant colonel |
| Known for | Raising Gardner's Horse, initially for police and revenue duties |
| Spouse(s) | Begum Dehlmi, Nawab Mah Manzeil-ul-Nisa (Indian princess) (m. 1796–1835, his death) |
William Linnæus Gardner (1770–1835), was an officer in the Indian Army, known for raising 2nd Lancers (Gardner's Horse) in 1809 and for his marriage to an Indian Muslim Princess.
William Linnaeus Gardner was born in 1770 to a prominent American Loyalist family in New York's Hudson Valley. He was the eldest son of Major Valentine Gardner (born 1739 in Ireland),16th Foot. His father Major Valentine Gardner was the elder brother of Alan Gardner, 1st Baron Gardner and was with the 16th Foot, during its service in America from 1767 to 1782. Gardner's mother was his father's first wife, Aleda (1747–1791), third daughter of Colonel Robert Livingston of Livingston Manor, New York (where he was born).
Gardner "... is mentioned as being cared for by his maternal grandfather at the... manor house for several years before it was judged prudent to send him to his father, with whom he ended up back in England – an involuntary intercontinental emigration in reverse.” Through his father, he had a younger half-brother, also named Valentine Gardner, whose mother his father later married. He was brought up in France and when a boy, was gazetted as ensign in the old 89th Foot on 7 March 1783 and placed on half-pay of the regiment on its disbandment some weeks later. He was brought on full-pay as ensign in the 74th Highlanders in India on 6 March 1789, and promoted to a lieutenancy in the 52nd Foot in India in October of the same year. The regimental muster-rolls, which are incomplete, show him on the strength of the depôt-company at home from 1791–93. He became captain in the 30th Foot in 1794 and at once exchanged to half-pay of a disbanded independent company. Of the circumstances under which he retired various stories were told. All that is known is that he appeared afterwards as a military adventurer in the "chaotic field of central Indian discord".
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