Veglia

Sahib Singh joined the Kanhaiya confederacy about 1760, and fought under both Jai Singh and Hakikat Singh. He took possession of Taragarh in the Pathankot pargana of the Gurdaspur district, and after Bhatti Jat Chief Sardar Mahan Singh’s successful expedition against Jammu, Sahib Singh, who had accompanied it, received a grant of Sayadgarh, worth Rs. 30,000. He founded the village of  Wachoya, where he resided till his death in 1803. His estates in Taragarh, Sayadgarh and Wachoya were of the value of Rs. 90,000 and were held in tact by his four sons till 1812, when Maharaja Ranjit Singh marched against Taragarh, and after a short siege reduced the fort and confiscated a great portion of the estate. Twelve villages, including Wachoya, worth Rs. 10,000, were still left free of service; but in the ten years succeeding the confiscation, the four brothers all died, and Sardar Jawahir Singh succeeded to the estate with his cousins, Jaimal Singh, Sangat Singh and Ran Singh. They fought in many of the Maharaja’s campaigns, though their jagir was a subsistence one; and they had no obligation to supply a contingent, till Desa Singh Majithia, who was Governor of the Jullundur Doab, told Jawahir Singh, that a Sardar should give a contingent for the service of the State if he wished his name to endure, and fixed fifteen horsemen as the suitable number. The Veglia jagirs were not interfered with till 1846, when Raja Lal Singh, who had no love for Sardar Desa Singh, the family patron, took advantage of his departure to Benares to confiscate the whole estate but year afterwards the Darbar, with the sanction of the Resident,restored the jagir with an increased assessment of Rs. 21,000 and service of thirty sowars. During the disturbances of 1848-49 the Veglia family remained faithful. Didar Singh joined Captain Hod son with his contingent, and did good service at Rangar Nangal, Parma Nand and elsewhere.  At the annexation the whole personal estate of the family,amounting to Rs. 8,608, was released; one-third of the share of each descending to the lineal male heirs in perpetuity. Didar Singh became a Risaldar in the military police, and took his discharge at the time of the general reductions. He died in 1869. Sant Siugh, son of Ran Singh, was sent down to Delhi as Jamadar in the Risala raised by Major R. Lawrence in July, 1857, to serve with the Guide Cavalry at the siege. A portion of the Risala was permanently transferred to the Guide Corps; the remainder formed the nucleus ofthe Delhi Mounted Police, in which Sant Singh was promoted to be Risaldar. He served with zeal and ability till the reduction of the military police, when he received his discharge. He afterwards joined the provincial police as an Inspector. In 1866 he was transferred at his own request to the 4th Bengal Cavalry, in which regiment he was subsequently made Wardi-Major and Risaldar. He served through out the Afghan War of 1879-80, and acquitted himself well on several occasions before the enemy. He retired in 1882 after thirty-two years’meritorious service on a pension of Rs. 360 per annum. Risaldar Sant Singh died in 1891, leaving two sons, Harnam Singh and Harcharan Singh. Harnam Singh was till his death in 1939 recognised as the head of the family and resided in the Gurdaspur district. His son, Gurdial Singh was married in the Atari family. The second son, Harcharan Singh, served in the transport department during the Sudan expedition of 1885. In the Tirab campaign of 1897 he volunteered his services,worked without pay for the Chief Commissariat Officer, and his services were highly appreciated. In 1901 he was appointed manager of the Domri and Bodarwar estates in the Gorakhpur district. He was an Honorary Munsif for about 16 years in that district; and a member of the Court of Wards Committee and of the Government Railway Technical School, Gorakhpur. His son, Sardar Sudarshan Singh, after being educated at the Aitchison College, joined the police department as Inspector and is now posted at Delhi as Additional Superintendent of Police. He was awarded the title of Sardar Sahib in 1925 and the King’s Police Medal in 1926. Sardar Harbakhsh Singh, son of Sardar Lachhman Singh, was Ala -Lambardar of Wachoya in the Ajnala Tahsil. The family is in receipt of a jagir income of about Rs. 1,025, and owns about 2,200 bighas of land in the Amritsar and Gurdaspur districts.