Background
Benoit de Boigne was born at Chambery in Savoy, France on the 8th of March 1751, being the son of a fur merchant.
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Benoit de Boigne
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Boigne joined the Irish Brigade in France in 1768, and subsequently he entered the Russian service and was captured by the Turks. Hearing of the wealth of India, he made his way to that country, and after serving for a short time in the East India Company, he resigned and joined Mahadji Sindhia in 1784 for the purpose of training his troops in the European methods of war. In the battles of Lalsot and Chaksana Boigne and his two battalions proved their worth by holding the field when the rest of the Mahratta army was defeated by the Rajputs. In the battle of Agra (1788) he restored the Mahratta fortunes, and made Mahadji Sindhia undisputed master of Hindostan. This success led to his being given the command of a brigade of ten battalions of infantry, with which he won the victories of Patan and Merta in 1790. In consequence Boigne was allowed to raise two further brigades of disciplined infantry, and made commander-in-chief of Sindhia's army. In the battle of Lakhairi (1793) he defeated Holkar's army. On the death of Mahadji Sindhia in 1794, Boigne could have made himself master of Hindostan had he wished it, but he remained loyal to Daulat Rao Sindhia. In 1795 his health began to fail, and he resigned his command, and in the following year returned to Europe with a fortune of £400, 000. He lived in retirement during the lifetime of Napoleon, but was greatly honoured by Louis XVIII. He died on the 21st of June 1830.
Achievements
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Boigne left a permanent fund of 6500 pounds yearly to the metropolitan church of Chambery. He gave a second fund of 1250 pounds to the Company of noble knight archers. De Boigne gave many donations for charity, such as construction of various buildings at the Hotel-Dieu of Chambery and an old age home, the Maison de Saint-Benoit, the church of the Capucins and a theater. He paid for a place in the orphanage for 7300 francs, and ten beds at the charity hospital, for patients with contagious illnesses, who could not be admitted to Hotel-Dieu and gave a trust fund of 1650 pounds a year, about 33, 000 francs, to help poor prisoners every week with laundry and food. He left a trust fund of 1200 pounds to the firemen of Chambéry to help the sick and wounded.
De Boigne also gave four major donations to education, such as reorganization of the college of Chambéry. He donated greatly to the Societe royale academique de Chambery for the encouragement of agriculture, arts, and letters and to the Freres des Ecoles chretiennes (Brothers of Christian Schools) and to the Sisters of Saint Joseph.
Connections
He married a French emigrant after having repudiated his first, Persian wife. He had no children with Adele d'Osmond, so he made the decision to legitimize and naturalize his son Charles-Alexandre from his first marriage to Helene (Noor).
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Born
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Died
June 21, 1830 (aged 79) -
Nationality
France -
Ethnicity