de of the river.
Having recently consolidated the new Sikh Empire, Maharaja Ranjit Singh crossed the Sutlej in 1806 in his first expedition against the Cis-Sutlej states and stripped the Rais of all their possessions, including Ludhiana. The city was occupied but not immediately annexed to the Lahore state.
By 1809 Ranjit Singh was completing his third expedition and was again on the west bank of the Sutlej ready to attack Ludhiana. Fearing further expansion that was coming closer to their sphere of interest, the East India Company occupied the Cis-Sutlej states east of the Sutlej. The Company sent Colonel David Ochterlony with a force to occupy Ludhiana.
By the end of 1809, The Treaty with the Rajah of Lahore was signed in which the Rajah agreed to remain north and west of the Sutlej. British troops were permanently stationed in Ludhiana, and they established a cantonment to further consolidate their occupation. Compensation was paid by the British to the Raja of Jind.
In 1835, the Jind family, who technically still ruled Ludhiana, were left without any heirs. By the British doctrine of lapse, Ludhiana came under official control of the East India Company.
Following the First Afghan War, Ludhiana became the residence of the exiled family of Shah Shuja.
The British cantonment was abandoned in 1854. During the Indian Rebellion of 1857 Deputy-Commissioner Ricketts crushed a rebellion in Ludhiana with the assistance of the chiefs of Nabha and Maler Kotla.
Sukhdev Thapar, who was hanged along with Bhagat Singh and Rajguru, was born in Ludhiana
