Sir Ganga Singh, Maharaja of Bikanar, was appointed Honorary Colonel of the 2nd Lancers on 30 December 1919 and continued as such after the regiment amalgamated with the 4th Cavalry in the reorganisation of 1922. He remained Honorary Colonel of 2nd Royal Lancers (Gardner’s Horse) until his death on 2 Feb 1943.
Ganga Singh was born on 13 Oct 1880, Vijay Dashmi. His father was a Royal Rajput of Bikanar State, and Ganga succeeded to the position of Maharaja at the age of 8 after the death of his brother, Dungar, on 16 Dec 1888. He was sent for military training to Deoli in 1898, attached to the 42nd Deoli Regiment, and served in the Boxer Rebellion in 1900. He commanded the famous Bikanar Camel Corps when they served in France, Egypt and Palestine.
In civil life he took a great interest in legal administration and set up the first Chief Court in Bikanar, the first such establishment in Rajasthan. He also established a Representative Assembly in 1913. He initiated many innovative benefits for the people under his rule, insurance for employees, a savings bank, and the Sharda Act which stopped child marriages. His achievements were many, the building of the Ganga Canal, which encouraged people to settle in the area. He dealt with a terrible famine in 1899 and established an irrigation scheme. He developed the city of Sri Ganganagar and the area around it as a fertile agricultural region. He developed railways and electricity, reformed prisons, encouraged manufacturing, and founded schools.
In 1902 he visited Britain for the Coronation, being appointed ADC to the Prince of Wales. He played an important role in WW1 on the Central Recruiting Board in India, he was on the Imperial War Conference in 1917, the Imperial War Cabinet, and attended the Paris Peace Conference in 1919, He was Chancellor of the Chamber of Princes from 1920-26 and represented India at the 5th session of the League of Nations in 1924. He was a leading light in many civil Associations in India, and was a freemason.
He was married three times, first in 1897 to Maharani Ranawatiji, daughter of the ruler of Pratapgarh State. They had 3 children but she died in August 1906. One of her children was Sadal Singh who became Maharaja in 1943 until his death in 1950. Sir Ganga Singh was also married, in 1899, to Maharani Tanwarji, daughter of Thakur Sultan Singh of Sanwatsar. They had no children and she died in 1922. He married his third wife in May 1908, Maharani Sri Bhatianiji, daughter of Thakur Bahadur Singh of Bhikamkore, Jodhpur State. She had three children and survived her husband, dying in Nov 1945.
Sir Ganga Singh died in Bombay, on 2 Feb 1943, at the age of 62, He had been ruler of Bikanar for 56 years. The painting by A C Lovett depicts him in the uniform of a senior officer of the Bikanar camel Corps.
