Hon Colonel H. H. Maharaja Sir Ganja Singh, Bahadur of Bikaner, GCIE, KCSI, 1908

Watercolour by Major Alfred Crowdy Lovett (1862-1919), 1908 (c).

The Maharaja was a progressive ruler, who promoted water supplies, railways, hospitals and schools in Bikaner (Rajputana), as well as a representative assembly in 1913. He served in China in 1900, commanding the Bikaner Camel Corps and received the KCIE and was mentioned in despatches.

Sir Ganja Singh put the resources of his state at Britain's disposal in 1914, and himself served in France and Egypt, receiving the KCB and rank of Hon. Major-General for his services. He was the only non-British member of the British Imperial War Cabinet during the war and a signatory of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919. The first Chancellor of the Indian Chamber of Princes from 1921 to 1926, he attended the Round Table Conferences in London in 1930-1931.

This is the original artwork for an illustration in Major G F MacMunn's 'Armies of India', published in 1911.