An etching with aquatint showing the 16th Lancers charging the Sikh Khalsa army at the Battle of Aliwal, 28 January 1846, during the First Anglo-Sikh War. The British, led by Sergeant Newsome, overrun artillery crews and engage the Sikh troops who rush forward with fixed bayonets. Lettered below. 
  
The Maharaja Ranjit Singh had held sway over the Sikh Empire of the Punjab, in north west India, since 1799. He had upheld cordial relations with the East India Company, who held territories adjoining the Punjab, while maintaining the fearsome professionally trained Khalsa army of around 60,000 men. When he died in 1839, no statesman or military figure emerged to take his place and the Sikh empire became increasingly disordered. In September 1845 Sir Henry Hardinge, Governor-General of the Bengal Presidency, received reports that the Khalsa were preparing to invade British territory. He despatched 5,000 extra troops to the region south of the Sutlej river, the border between the Sikh and British territories. It was believed that the future of British India depended on the defeat of Raja Lal Singh's Khalsa army, the equal of the British in training, discipline and weaponry.     

Hard-fought battles claimed as victories by the British against the Khalsa army in December 1845 (see RCIN 750916-750918) had forced the Sikh army to retreat. With fresh reinforcements the Sikh commander Ranjodh Singh moved back across the Sutlej River in order to besiege the British-held fortress at Ludhiana and to threaten the British lines of supply and communication. This force was met at Aliwal on 28 January 1846 by a detachment of British and Bengal regiments led by Sir Harry Smith. The Sikhs were forced to retreat by frontal attacks from a combination of infantry, cavalry and artillery. The 16th Lancers charged and broke through a number of Sikh infantry battallions and overran a battery of their artillery. The remains of the Khalsa army were eventually driven back across the Sutlej river. All of their guns were either lost in the river or captured.

This etching was produced after a watercolour by Henry Martens, which was in turn based upon drawings by Major George Francis White. White served in India between 1825 and 1846, with the 31st Regiment of Foot. He was an amateur artist as well as author and illustrator of 'Views in India Chiefly among the Himalyas', 1886-7. The Tate Gallery hold some of his drawings.