The Bhagirathi valley in Uttarakhand, where Dharali and Harshil, the two areas affected by last week’s landslides, are located, was once the setting of a very unlikely story in which a deserter from the army of the British East India Company acquired wealth and power and is still remembered as the ‘Raja’ of Harshil.

Frederick Wilson or Whulsingh, was born in Yorkshire, in 1817. Like many Englishmen of his time, he joined the East India Company and found himself at Meerut. He is believed to have killed an officer during the 1st Anglo-Afghan War (1838-39), after which to escape the heat, both of the law and the Indian plains, he escaped to Mukhba, a remote mountainous village in Garhwal located at an altitude of nearly 3000 metres.

Wilson first reached Mussoorie in 1839-40, where he murdered Frederick O' Wells, the district superintendent, who had realised that Wilson was a deserter. Wilson took off from Mussoorie on his Afghan horse, Azdhar, and was lucky enough to be aided by a retired Colonel Frederick Young of the East India Company who had developed strong local networks and had the Sudarshan Shah, the king of Tehri in his debt.

Wilson’s presence was resented by the Semwal priestly community of Garhwal. Armed with his 'Brown Bess' muzzle loading gun and other arms, the ‘mlechha’ intimidated them. Wilson was undeterred and starting winning the support of the Bajgi community, who were considered ‘low caste’. He became........

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