Sleeman, William Henry (1788–1856)

British soldier and administrator. He served with the Bengal army, which he joined in 1809 and in the Nepalese war (1814–16). His great work in India was the suppression of Thuggi. As resident in Oudh during the era of scandalous misrule by the king's favourites, Sleeman himself advised against extreme measures, but in the event Oudh was annexed by the British in 1856. Sleeman was born in Stratton, Cornwall, England.