William Henry Sleeman facts for kids

Quick facts for kids William Henry Sleeman
Born	8 August 1788 Stratton, Cornwall, Great Britain
Died	10 February 1856 (aged 67) At sea near British Ceylon
Occupation	Army officer, civil servant
Known for	Thuggee suppression

Sir William Henry Sleeman (born August 8, 1788 – died February 10, 1856) was a British soldier and important leader in British India. He is most famous for his work in the 1830s. He helped stop organized criminal groups known as Thuggee. He also found the first bones of a large dinosaur called Titanosaurus indicus in Jabalpur in 1828.

Early Life and Work

Sleeman was born in Stratton, Cornwall, England. He was one of eight children. His father, Philip Sleeman, worked with taxes.

In 1809, Sleeman joined the Bengal Army. He later fought in the Nepal War between 1814 and 1816. He got sick with malaria in 1813. This sickness sometimes came back throughout his life.

In 1820, he started working for the government. He became an assistant to the Governor-General in the Saugor and Nerbudda areas. In 1822, he was put in charge of Narsinghpur District. He said these two years were the hardest of his life.

He became a captain in 1825. In 1828, he took charge of Jubbulpore District. Sleeman was good at learning languages. He spoke Hindi-Urdu very well. He also knew many other languages of India. Later, people said he was one of the few British officers who could speak to the King of Oudh in perfect Urdu and Persian.

Discovering Dinosaur Fossils

Sleeman made the first recorded discovery of dinosaur fossils in India in 1828. He was a captain in the Narmada valley region. He noticed some rock formations that looked like they had been pushed up from under water.

He dug in the Bara Simla Hills near Jabalpur. There, he found several petrified trees. He also found some pieces of dinosaur fossils. He sent these fossils to London and to the Indian Museum in Calcutta. In 1877, a dinosaur genus was named Titanosaurus Indicus because of his discovery.

Stories of Wild Children

Sleeman also wrote about children who had been raised by wolves. He wrote notes on six such cases. These stories were first published in 1858. They were later reprinted in 1852. His discoveries helped inspire Rudyard Kipling's character Mowgli in The Jungle Book.

Stopping the Thuggee Groups

Sleeman is most famous for his work against the Thuggee secret society. These groups were known to local rulers and sometimes to Europeans. But no one knew how many crimes they committed. Later, it was thought they had tens of thousands of victims across India.

In 1835, Sleeman caught a man named "Feringhea." This man helped Sleeman by telling him what he knew. Feringhea led Sleeman to a grave with a hundred bodies. He explained how the killings happened and named the Thugs who did it.

After checking Feringhea's story, Sleeman started a big effort to stop the Thugs. He was made the main leader for stopping Thuggee. In 1839, he became the Commissioner for stopping Thuggee and Dacoity. During this time, over 1400 Thugs were hanged or sent away for life. One Thug, Bahram, said he had strangled between 125 and 931 people with his turban.

It was only possible to find the Thugs with the help of informers. A special prison was built in Jabalpur to keep these informers safe. Sleeman wrote a government report about the Thugs in 1839.

Sleeman also wrote three books about the Thugs. One book, Ramaseeana, explained the special language the Thugs used. This language had secret words and greetings that only Thugs would understand.

British Rule and Thuggee

In recent years, historians have looked again at the British campaign against Thuggee. Many now believe that the idea of "Thuggee" was partly created to help the British gain more power in India.

After India became independent in 1947, many groups were officially called "criminal tribes." The Criminal Tribes Act of 1871 aimed to watch and control groups of Indians who moved around a lot. These groups often included traveling craftspeople, traders, and entertainers. The British wanted to make them settle down.

The Thuggee Act of 1836 was important. It allowed people to be found guilty just for being part of a criminal group. They did not need proof of having committed a specific crime.

Later Life and Legacy

Sleeman worked as a British representative in Gwalior from 1843 to 1849. He then worked in Lucknow from 1849 to 1856. While in Lucknow, people tried to kill him three times.

He did not agree with the British taking over the region of Oudh. Sleeman thought the British should only take over parts of India that had a lot of violence or bad leaders. He believed that local leaders should stay in power if they ruled fairly.

Sleeman also studied phrenology. This was a belief that the shape of a person's skull could show if they were a criminal.

He died at sea near Ceylon in 1856 while traveling back to Britain. He was buried at sea. This was just six days after he received a special honor called the Order of the Bath.

The village of Sleemanabad in Madhya Pradesh, India, was named after him.

Family

While in Jubbulpore, Sleeman married Amélie Josephine. She was the daughter of a French nobleman. They had seven children together.

His second daughter, Henrietta, married William Alexander Ross. A grandson of Sleeman, Colonel Sir James Lewis Sleeman, also wrote about Thuggee. He also became a pioneer in wildlife photography in India.

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