Frederick George Lister (1 January 1790-28 February 1870) was a military officer and political agent of the Khasi Hills during the British Raj.
However, during a quarrel, a Bengali worker taunted the Khasis that the road would allow the British to subjugate them and enforce taxes on them.
Lieutenant Burlton defended himself against higher numbers all day before fleeing in the direction of Gauhati; however, he was overtaken and killed by his followers.
The march into the Khasis Hills was straining on the force due to the terrain but Lister avoided rest for the journey.
[5] The chiefs retained a level of independence but had to submit to the control of a political agent who would be stationed in the hills and dealt with all cases of a criminal nature as well as construct roads, bridges, infrastructure and bungalows when necessary.
[6] After the Burmese war, the unstable conditions lead to the Jaintia Kingdom encroaching on the undefined British borders in the Nowgong district.
The matter escalated further when the Raja of Gobha, who was a chieftain vassal to the Jaintia kingdom, kidnapped four British subjects.
The British attempted to encourage Rajendra Singh to give up the perpetrators of the offence and warned him of the consequences of non-compliance.
[9] The chieftain of Gobha, who perpetrated the original sacrifice, was caught a few weeks later in Nowgong by the Assam Light Infantry.
[10] The annexation saw the revolt of hill tribes from the Jaintia territories, which led to Lister suppressing the rising and granting a liberal peace settlement with them as a result.
The Sylhet authorities blamed the King of Hill Tipperah, Krishna Kishore Manikya of dereliction of duty.
Colonel Lister was assigned to institute an enquiry into the matter under Lord Dalhousie on Cooper's conduct in Sylhet.
If the enquiry confirmed the responsibility of the Lushai-Kukis for the attacks, then Lister was also empowered to arrange a punitive expedition against the perpetrators.
As a result, Mr Ewing, the magistrate of Sylhet, declared the villages and ranges called the Siddheswar and Sevallia Hills to become company territory.
[18] Halliday the secretary of Bengal praised Lister for his service and requested the military board to submit a plan for drawing the boundary between the East India Company and Tripura.
[19] Captain Vener, the Superintendent of Cachar, on 21 November 1849, sent a letter to Lister with evidence collected from two kukis who were victims of the raid.
[20] As a result of the letter, Lister as political agent of the Khasi Hills informed the Secretary of the Bengal Government, J.P. Grant on 31 December that he would visit the massacre at Roopa Chera to determine if the location was in British territory.
Mora was designated the perpetrator of the raid as, in his house, belongings of the Tripura villages massacred were found and dated 1849.
[22] Lister advised for future expeditions concerning the Lushai Hills to field a bigger force and to use Cachar as the easiest base of operations.
[24] The East India Company appointed Harry Inglish as assistant political agent of the Khasi Hills under List between 1835 and 1850.
The survey led to Lister cooperating with authorities at Fort William, leading to R.G Hadden and his company drilling petroleum by the British government.
[25] He would return to England as a wealthy man after investing in shares of different companies in close connection with managing houses in Calcutta.
[1] Frederick George Lister would die on 5 March 1870 from heart disease in St Helier in the Channel Islands.