The battle for Ceylon
During the first decade of the 19th century the struggle for imperial domination still raged across the globe. Britain and France were at war as the tide that swept away the Bourbon monarchy in bloody revolution gained momentum under the genius of Napoleon Bonaparte and was felt from Europe to the East and West Indies. Britain in dominating the Indian sub-continent was in conflict with martial cultures who often had French backing. Here the future Duke of Wellington would make his name before his greater military glories in Iberia. The tear-drop shaped island of Ceylon a rich resource of spice, tea and other exotic trade goods-and a country which would add another eastern jewel to the imperial crown-had, of course, not escaped Britain's notice. Predictably, the indigenous population, particularly in the form of the rulers of the kingdom of Kandy, took issue with the prospect of British rule and opposed British Army regular troops, supported by the natives of the Honourable East India Company's army, with force. This book recounts a very little reported campaign to subjugate the Kandyians. It was a savagely a war fought over difficult terrain and one which did not decide who would rule Ceylon. This book will fascinate those interested in the history of warfare during the Napoleonic period and the story of the campaign is supported in this special Leonaur edition by an historical overview of the period to provide a first hand account context and understanding of the wider conflict.
Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket; our hardbacks are cloth bound and feature gold foil lettering on their spines and fabric head and tail bands.

William Knighton (d. 1900) published this history of Ceylon (present-day Sri Lanka) in 1845. He spent most of his career there and in India, and published a number of vivid accounts of his experiences. This book surveys the ancient past of the island up to Knighton's own day, covering its many rulers and invaders as well as its shifting eras of unity and fracture into competing kingdoms. It gives an account of the first settlement, the establishment of Buddhism, the growth of the ancient capital Anuradhapura, the reign of Queen Anula (the first female ruler in Asia), the emergence of early Christianity, the development of the caste system, the medieval wars after the forming of the Jaffna Kingdom, the arrival of the Portuguese, the Dutch, and later the British invasion. Covering law, agriculture, arts, religion and language, this learned work remains relevant to students of Sri Lankan history and culture.

The writer William Knighton (c.1824-1900) spent much of his career in Sri Lanka and India. Published in 1855, this is an account of the court of the notorious Indian King Nussir-u-deen (c.1803-37), written from the viewpoint and using the testimony of an anonymous British member of the King's retinue. Richly descriptive, it is an intimate portrait of life in the service of a hedonistic sovereign so hated and paranoid that he feared his own family would try to poison him. He is characterised as a cruel and frivolous man who only trusted his sycophantic barber. As well as describing the lavish royal lifestyle, the narrator documents the King's thirst for hunting, for exotic-animal fights and for abusing and humiliating members of the royal family. This is a lurid and engrossing tale of a monarch in decline and the corruption and favouritism that led to his eventual assassination.