GENERAL Sir Charles James Napier, born in 1853 was a British general and Commander-in-Chief in India, famous for conquering Sindh province in present-day Pakistan.
"The best way to quiet a country is a good thrashing, followed by great kindness afterwards. Even the wildest chaps are thus tamed"
HE is the person Napier in New Zealand is named after!
He did command the 50th (Queen's Own) Regiment of Foot during Napoleon's Campaign in the Peninsular War.
He fought in the Battle of Corunna, an action for which he won an Army Gold Medal.
He had been left for dead on the fields at the battle of Corunna, where he was saved by a French drummer named Guibert, and taken prisoner.
In 1810 he fought in Portugal, at the Battle of the Côa, where he had two horses shot out from under him.
At the age of 60, he was appointed as Major-General in command of the Indian army.
A story for which he is famous involves a group of Hindu locals approaching him and complaining about the prohibition of Sati.
This was the custom of burning widows alive on the funeral pyres of their husbands.
His reply is impeccable.
"You say that it is your custom to burn widows. Very well. We also have a custom: when men burn a woman alive, we tie a rope around their necks and we hang them. Build your funeral pyre; beside it, my carpenters will build a gallows. You may follow your custom. And then we will follow ours."
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