Gomez
Portuguese Soldier in Sikh Army
Also known as Lawrence Gomez Allard, was a Portuguese. He joined the Khalsa army in 1842. After the Anglo-Sikh wars, he was taken by the British as adjutant in one of the police battalions raised from the disbanded Sikh soldiery. He retired in 1862.
Source: TheSikhEncyclopedia.Com
There appears to have been three separate persons owning, or having assumed, the name of Allard. First, the General himself, secondly, the person above named, who would, from his name, appear to have been a Portuguese, or Goanese, and a third. also known as Amoran or Alverine.
Gomez Allard appears in the list of Europeans of 1842 under the name of George Lawrence, is shown having entered the service in 1821. From the salarv paid to him, which never reached more than Rs. 80. we assume him to have been a person of mixed blood.
He served the Khalsa until 1844, when with the other Europeans he was dismissed for a period, to be taken hack later into the Khalsa service, as Adjutant of one of John Holmes’ battalions. After the Punjab War, he was taken into the British service as Adjutant of one of the Police battalions formed from Sikhs disbanded from the Khalsa service, and served with that until 1862, when he was pensioned and given a grant of land by the Government of the Punjab amounting to 200 acres.