Born in Tipperary, Thomas arrived in Madras in 1781, possibly as a deserter from the Royal Navy. He began learning his trade as a freelance with "the Kanara Poligars, a group of armed chieftain-bandits. Thomas subsequently joined the nizam of Hyderabad's army as a private, and there learned his trade as a soldier. He gathered around him a personal bodyguard, nicknamed the Irish Pindaris, after the feared Indian mercenaries" (ODNB). He was employed by the Begum Sumru of Sirdhana, then by Appa Khande Rao, the Maratha governor of Meerut, leaving Rao in 1797 to join Bapu Sindhia, governor of Saharanpur. "In the fluid situation before the East India Company imposed its rule, and when large areas of land were left virtually ungoverned following the collapse of the Mughal empire, Thomas conceived the extraordinary idea of making himself 'King' of Lahore by conquering the Punjab. He marched his troops into Hariana in 1797 and easily captured the towns of hissar and hansi. He found the latter, an ancient fort, inhabited by one fakir and two lions. He stabilised an area of 120 miles by 5o miles in Hariana and repopulated Hansi... At the height of his fame that year Thomas described himself as *dictator in all the countries belonging to the Sikhs south of the Sutlej' and claimed to hold his land on behalf of the British government" (ibid.). Shortage of money forced Thomas to seek reemployment as a mercenary and he was ignominiously defeated by French-led combined Mahratta, Jat and Rajput force. He died of fever in 1802. Francklin had served with the Bengal army having been commissioned as an ensign in 1783. "By 1814 he had risen to the rank of lieutenant-colonel in both his regiment and the Bengal army. On being invalided on I October 1815 he was made regulating officer at Bhagalpur." He also "enjoyed a considerable reputation as an orientalist" and "was a member, and during the later years of his life, librarian and member of the council, of the Royal Asiatic Society" .