Jean-Baptiste Ventura

Jean-Baptiste Ventura born Giovanni Battista Reuben (also Rubino) Ventura (Modena, Italy ca. 1792 - Toulouse, France ca. 1856) was a soldier, mercenary and adventurer who ended up in the Punjab.

Of Italian origin from Modena, Ventura served with Napoleon's imperial army where he reached the rank of colonel of infantry. After Waterloo he travelled east, ending in Lahore with Jean-François Allard in 1822. They took service with the Maharaja Ranjit Singh of Punjab, and soon got to prove their worth. In March the following year, both Allard and Ventura held command in the Battle of Nowshera where a combined Afghan force was defeated, resulting in Punjab's capture of Peshawar.

Together with Allard, Paolo Di Avitabile and Claude August Court, Ventura formed the group of European mercenary officers responsible for the modernizing of the Sikh army, and the training and command of the Fauj-i-Khas, the European model brigade, with Ventura as its commander.

"...Jean Baptiste Ventura... reorganised the infantry into a formidable army including Ghurkas, Pathans, Biharis and Ooriyas. "

Ventura was highly thought of by the Maharaja, and in addition to the rank of General, he was also appointed "kazi" and Governor of Lahore. He served faithfully under Ranjit Sing and his successors Kharak Singh, Nau Nihal Singh and Sher Singh until his retirement in 1843. Taking his fortune with him, he lived out his days in comfort in Paris.

He spent his spare time in Peshawar exhuming Bactrian Greek and Kushan coins from Buddhist stupas in the Khyber Pass, then sending them on to the Asiatic Society of Bengal in Calcutta.

ources

*Major Pearse, Hugh; "Ranjit Singh and his white officers". In cite book | first=Alexander| last=Gardner | title=The Fall of Sikh Empire | publisher=National Book Shop | location=Delhi, India | origyear=1898| year=1999 | id=ISBN 81-7116-231-2