Pierre Cuillier-Perron (1753 to 1755–1834) was a French mercenary active in

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

. Born Pierre Cuillier (or Cuellier) at Luceau near

Château-du-Loir Château-du-Loir (; literally 'Château of the Loir') is a former commune in the Sarthe department in the region of Pays de la Loire in north-western France. On 1 October 2016, it was merged into the new commune Montval-sur-Loir.

was the son of a cloth merchant. In India, he changed his name to Perron (a diminutive of Pierre). He was generally referred to by his contemporaries and posterity as General Perron.''Biographie universelle et portative des contemporains'', Paris, 1826, p. 900. In 1780 he went out to India as a sailor on a French frigate, deserted on the

Malabar coast The Malabar Coast () is the southwestern region of the Indian subcontinent. It generally refers to the West Coast of India, western coastline of India stretching from Konkan to Kanyakumari. Geographically, it comprises one of the wettest regio ...

, and made his way to upper India, where he enlisted in the

Rana Rana may refer to: Astronomy * Rana (crater), a crater on Mars * Delta Eridani or Rana, a star Films * Rana (2012 film), an Indian Kannada-language action drama * Rana, a 1998 Telugu-language action film directed by A. Kodandarami Reddy * R ...

of Gohad's corps under a Scotsman named Sangster. In 1790 he took service under De Boigne, and was appointed to the command of his second brigade. In 1795 he aided the

Maratha The Marathi people (; Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-A ...

forces in winning the

Battle of Kharda The Battle of Kharda also called the Battle of Khurla, took place in 1795 between the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Maratha Empire, in which the Nizam was defeated. During the Battle Governor General John Shore followed the policy of non-intervent ...

against the ''

nizam Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I ...

'' of

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

, and on De Boigne's retirement became commander-in-chief of Maratha general Mahadji Sindhia's army. At the Battle of Malpura (1800) he defeated the

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

forces. After the Battle of Ujjain (1801) he refused to send his troops to the aid of

Scindia House of Scindia or earlier known as the Sendrak was a Hindu Maratha Royal House that ruled the erstwhile Gwalior State in central India. Ranoji Scindia rose as a prominent military commander under Peshwa Bajirao I. Ranoji and his descendants ...

. His treachery on this occasion shook his position, and on the outbreak of war between Scindia and the British in 1803 Perron was superseded and fled to the British camp. In the battles of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

, Laswari, Ally Ghur (now Aligarh) and Assaye, Perron's battalions were completely destroyed by Lord Lake and Sir Arthur Wellesley. He returned to France with a large fortune, and died in 1834.

Buildings

Sir Shah Sulaiman Hall's main Building, which currently serves as the Provost Office (Administrative Block), was built by him in year 1802.The Tremendous Adventures of Major Gahagan
, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 2 The palatial home he built for himself at

Chinsurah Hugli-Chuchura (), also known by its former names Chinsurah or Hooghly-Chinsurah, is a city of Hooghly district and the district headquarters of Hooghly division in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is one of the densely populated citie ...

was to house Hooghly College (

Hooghly Mohsin College Hooghly Mohsin College, established in 1836 after the Macaulay Report, is one of the oldest colleges in India. It offers undergraduate and postgraduate courses in Arts, Commerce and Sciences. It is affiliated to University of Burdwan. History Ho ...

) from 1837 to 1937.

References

* Herbert Compton
''A particular account of the European military adventurers of Hindustan, from 1784 to 1803''
(1892). * 1750s births 1834 deaths French sailors French mercenaries Mercenaries in India People from Sarthe People of the Second Anglo-Maratha War {{France-mil-bio-stub