The following day Hodson rode to the enemy camp, heavily outnumbered by the rebels, and demanded the surrender of the Mughal princes who were leading the rebellion around Delhi and subsequently shot his prisoners.

In one of his letters home at this period he calls the campaign a "tissue of mismanagement, blunders, errors, ignorance and arrogance", and outspoken criticism such as this brought him many enemies throughout his career, who made the most of his character faults.

[1] A contemporary described him as "a tall man with yellow hair, a pale, smooth face, heavy moustache, and large, restless, rather unforgiving eyes… a perfect swordsman, nerves like iron, and a quick, intelligent eye".

[1] The initial assistance he gave in organising the newly formed Corps of Guides in December 1846 had been one of Sir Henry Lawrence's projects in which Hodson excelled.

[7] As a result, Hodson and Lumsden had the joint distinction of being the first officers to clothe a regiment in Khaki, which many view as the precursor of modern camouflage uniform.

On 5 January 1852,[8] he married Susan Annette (died 4 November 1884), daughter of Capt C. Henry, RN, at Calcutta Cathedral; she was the widow of John Mitford of Exbury and he had known her prior to her first marriage.

[9][10] While it was unusual at that time for a British soldier in India to be a Cambridge graduate, William further differed from the norm by enjoying classical literature for relaxation.

[12] At the outset of the Indian Mutiny, Hodson made his name by riding with dispatches from General Anson from Karnal to Meerut and back again (a distance of 152 miles in seventy-two hours) through areas full of hostile cavalry.

Following this feat, the commander-in-chief empowered him to raise and command a new regiment of 2,000 irregular cavalrymen, which became known as "Hodson's Horse", and placed him at the head of the Intelligence Department.

As a sign of surrender the emperor handed over his arms, which included two magnificent swords, one with the name "Nadir Shah" and the other with the seal of Jahangir engraved upon it, which Hodson intended to present to Queen Victoria.

As they approached the city gate, a crowd of people again started to gather around them, and Hodson ordered the three princes to get off the cart and to strip off their top garments.

[citation needed] Hodson's service record showed that he had often behaved in arbitrary fashion before, and he had previously been removed from civil duties by the then Governor General of India, Lord Dalhousie.

The first was that he had arbitrarily imprisoned a Yusufzai Pathan chief named Kader Khan, as well as his young son, on suspicion of being involved in the murder of Colonel Mackeson.

[28] The man was acquitted, and Lord Dalhousie removed Hodson from his civil functions and remanded him to his regiment because of his lack of judgment and gross negligence.

He has often discussed Hodson's character in talking to me, and it was to him a regret that a man possessing so many fine gifts should have been wanting in a moral quality which made him untrustworthy."

Finally, on one occasion Hodson spent £500 of the pay due to Lieutenant Godby, and under threat of exposure was obliged to borrow the money from a local banker named Bisharat Ali through one of his officers.

Sir Henry Norman stated that to his personal knowledge Hodson remitted several thousand pounds to Calcutta which could only have been obtained by looting.

On the other hand, again, Hodson died a poor man; his effects, which included a ring, watch, Bible and Prayer book, and a miniature, were sold for only £170.

In parliamentary speeches made on 14 April 1859 the Prime Minister Earl of Derby, and the Secretary of State for India Lord Stanley, paid tribute to Hodson.

Lord Stanley is quoted as saying: "Major Hodson, of the Guides, who, in his short but brilliant military career, displayed every quality which a cavalry officer should possess.

By his valour, his rigid discipline, and careful attention to his men's real wants, comforts, desires, and even prejudices, he had obtained an influence which was all but marvellous.

[3]This recognition of Hodson by the prime minister was reflected in the special pension granted his widow by the secretary of state for India in Council, who declared it was "testimony of the high sense entertained of the gallant and distinguished services of the late Brevet-Major W.S.R.

In 1860 Queen Victoria honoured him by granting his widow a grace-and-favour apartment at Hampton Court Palace "in consideration of the distinguished service of your late husband in India".