[or Pertab, Partab]. Maharaja of Idar, native Indian soldier and statesman, belonging to the Rahtor Rajputs of the Jodha class, born in 1844, being the son of Maharaja Takht Singh, ruler of Marwar (or Jodhpur). In 1878 and again in 1879 he was chief minister of Jodhpur. In the following year he accompanied the British mission to Afghanistan, and on his return he carried out many judicious reforms and administered Jodhpur with remarkable success. He visited England to take part in the celebration of the 1887 Jubilee of Queen Victoria’s reign. He served on the staffs of Sir William Lockhart and General Elles in the Tirah and Momand expeditions in 1897–98, was slightly wounded, was mentioned in dispatches, and promoted to the rank of full colonel. He won the reputation of being one of the keenest sportsmen and the best riders that even Rajputana has produced. When it was decided to send a force from India to China in 1900 to relieve the foreign embassies besieged in Peking, Sir Pertab Singh at once offered the services of the Jodhpur Lancers, and himself accompanied them. His father rendered good services to the British government in the Mutiny, and Pertab Singh always cherished the memory of the protection given to Jodhpur by the East India Company in 1818. His services to the empire in India were universally recognized. From Queen Victoria he received the honour of knighthood and the Bath and the Star of India; from King Edward VII. the distinction of “aide-de-camp”; and the university of Cambridge gave him the degree of LL.D. From his own state of Jodhpur he obtained the title of Maharaja-Dhiraj. In 1901 he succeeded to the rulership of the state of Idar. He relinquished his position as Maharaja of Idar in 1911 in favour of his adopted son Daolat Singh, in order to resume the regency of Jodhpur which he had previously held on the death of his brother in 1895, but this time for his grandnephew Summair Singh, then thirteen years of age. When the World War broke out Sir Pertab, in the words of Lord Hardinge the Viceroy, “would not be denied his right to serve the King-Emperor in spite of his 70 years.” He came to France for service in the field with his young ward, then only sixteen, and commanded the famous Jodhpur Lancers. In the later stages of the war he served with them in Egypt and Palestine. Sir Summair Singh died in 1918, two years after receiving ruling powers, and Sir Pertab again became regent, assisted by a council.
