JOHN

See also:

• JACOB
• JOHN JACOB (1812-1858)

JACOB (1812-1858)  , Indian soldier and administrator, was born on the zsth of January 1812, educated at Addiscombe, and entered the Bombay artillery in 1828 . He served, in the first Afghan War under Sir John Keane, and afterwards led his regiment with distinction at the battles of Meeanee, Shandadpur, and Umarkot; but it is as commandant of the Sind Horse and political superintendent of Upper Sind that he was chiefly famous . He was the pacificator of the Sind frontier, reducing the tribes to quietude as niuch by his commanding personality as by his ubiquitous military measures . In 1853 he foretold the Indian Mutiny, saying: " There is more danger to our Indian empire from the state of the Bengal army, from the feeling which there exists between the native and the European, and thence. spreads throughout the length and breadth of the land, than from all other causes combined . Let government look to this; it is a serious and most important truth "; but he was only rebuked by Lord Dalhousie for his pains . He was a friend of Sir Charles Napier and Sir James Outram, and resembled them in his out-spoken criticisms and independence of authority . He died at the early age of 46 of brain fever, brought on by excessive heat and overwork . The town of Jacobabad, which has the reputation of being the hottest place in India, is named after him . See A . I . Shand, General John Jacob (1900) .