Sir Frederick Currie, 1st Baronet

In consideration of the help Raja Gulab Singh of Jammu had given the British during the war and in restoring amicable relations after the war, he was to be recognised, under Article 12 of the 9 March Treaty, as independent sovereign "in such territories and districts in the hills as may be made over to the said Rajah Golab Sing by separate agreement between himself and the British Government". On 16 March, this separate agreement was signed by Currie and Lawrence, forming the Treaty of Amritsar, in which Kashmir was sold by the British Government to Gulab Singh for 7,500,000 rupees (75 lakhs Nanak Shahi). In acknowledgement of the supremacy of the British Government Gulab Singh agreed to make an annual present to the British of "one horse, twelve perfect shawl goats of approved breed (six male and six female), and three pairs of Cashmere shawls".

The terms of the Lahore Treaty did not remove the Sikh Government of the reduced territory or change its composition. The vizier Lal Singh and the majority of the members of the Lahore Durbar remained in office. Duleep Singh Bahadur, the seven-year-old son of Ranjit Singh, remained as Maharaja and his mother, Maharani Jind Kaur Sahiba, was to remain as regent. The Maharani had not committed Sati on Ranjit Singh's funeral pyre with his four principal wives, as she needed to look after the (then) 10-month-old Duleep. At the request of the Durbar the Treaty had specified that the British were to retain a force in Lahore until no longer than the end of the year "for the purpose of protecting the person of the Maharaja and the inhabitants of the City during the reorganisation of the Sikh army". However, when the time came for the British to leave, the Durbar pressed them to remain and on 16 December 1846 Currie assisted by Lawrence, by this time a lieutenant colonel, signed the Treaty of Bhyroval, under the terms of which the British consented to remain until the Maharaja reached the age of 16. A condition of the agreement was that the Regent should be replaced by a resident British officer. The Maharani was awarded a pension of 150,000 rupees and replaced by Lawrence as Resident, who "shall have full authority to direct and control all matters in every Department of the State". In the words of a contemporary "An officer of the company's artillery became, in effect, the successor of Ranjit Singh".

When the Diwan Mul Raj Multanwala, governor of the Sikh province of Multan, was faced with an increase in the levy imposed by the British, he resigned his office. To replace him, Currie appointed the Sikh Sardar Kahn Singh Man, who arrived at Multan on 18 April with two British officers, Mr Vans Agnew and Lieutenant William Anderson. The Diwan handed over the keys peacefully, but afterwards his soldiers attacked and wounded the British officers, who were rescued by Kahn Singh and his troops and carried to the British temporary camp at Idgah, half a mile from the fort of Multan. Agnew sent urgent messages to Lieutenant Edwardes and Colonel van Cortland, asking for help. However the following day a Mazhabi boy was shot by one of Kahn Singh's men and an angry mob from the city sought out and killed the British officers. Kahn Singh was taken prisoner and led before Mul Raj, who presented him with Vans Agnew's head and told him to take it back to Currie. Mul Raj then declared a holy war against the British and set about strengthening the defences of the citadel.

Lieutenant Edwardes quickly decided to quell what he saw as a local outbreak before it developed into a national revolt. With Currie's agreement he assembled a force with help from Cortland and the Khan of Bhawalpur, marched on Multan and called upon the rebels to surrender. When Dalhousie heard about this, he was furious that a subaltern should act in this way without his authority. He sharply reprimanded Currie for allowing Edwardes to march on Multan, and ordered him to "keep his reckless subaltern absolutely and utterly away from Multan". Currie wrote to Dalhousie defending Edwardes and asking for a free hand in dealing with the situation. He also wrote to Gough, the Commander-in-Chief, recommending that a British force should at once move upon Multan, capable of reducing the fort and occupying the city. Neither request was granted immediately. Gough, in his summer headquarters in the hill station at Simla, considered that military activity during the hot and monsoon seasons (May to September) was inadvisable. However, the Lahore garrison was reinforced, as were also the forces at Ambala and Firozpur.

Meanwhile, the imprisonment of Maharani Jindan Kaur in the Sheikhupura Fort in the Punjab had not destroyed her determination and ability to influence the affairs of the Punjab. She maintained contact with Sikh leaders and Currie described her as "the rallying point of rebellion". On discovering plots by her against the British, he decided to exile her from the Punjab. She was taken to the Chunar Fort, about 45 km from Varanesi, her allowance was reduced from 150,000 to 48,000 rupees and her jewellery and cash were taken from her. This caused deep resentment among Sikhs and fuelled the developing rebellion. The Muslim ruler of neighbouring Afghanistan, Dost Mohammad Khan protested that such treatment is objectionable to all creeds.

Trouble was also brewing in the Hazara province. During the first months of Currie's Residency Captain James Abbot had warned Currie that discontent was rife in the Sikh brigade stationed there and in August he reported that its Governor, Sardar Chattar Singh Attariwalla was planning an uprising against the British. Abbott raised a Muslim force and marched on the capital to expel Chatar Singh. Currie ordered an investigation by Captain John Nicholson, whose report excused the defensive measures the Governor had taken to protect the capital, but drew attention to Chatar Singh's numerous previous actions, which had given rise to and justified Abbott's assessment. Accordingly, Currie issued orders that substantially reduced Chatar Singh's authority and income. This angered his son, Raja Sher Singh Atarivala, who was fighting on the British side with Edwardes against Diwan Mul Raj. Sher Singh was a prominent member of the Council of the Regency and was until then well disposed to British interests. His sister was betrothed to Maharaja Duleep Singh and in November 1847 he had been honoured by the Lahore Durbar with the title Raja.

In July, Dalhousie granted Currie the free hand he had asked for in April. Currie ordered a force from the East India Company's Bengal Army, under General Whish, to join Edwardes and the contingents from Van Cortland, Bhawalpa and Sher Singh in the Siege of Multan. The forces under General Whish arrived outside Multan between 18 and 28 August. However, Sher Singh and his troops changed sides on 13 September, angered by the treatment of both his father and sister, and the Bhawalpa troops and a number of Edwardes' irregulars dispersed to their homes in sympathy with them, severely weakening the British side. The fortified city of Multan with its fortress citadel was considered to be the strongest in the Punjab and General Whish decided that the siege must be abandoned until the arrival of reinforcements from Bengal, so he withdrew to a position which commanded the principal roads to Bahawalpur and the Derajat. The reinforcements started arriving in November and heavy siege guns arrived at the beginning of December. Their batteries made two breaches in the city walls and on 30 August destroyed the main magazine in the citadel. The city itself fell early in January 1849, but the citadel held out for two more weeks, finally falling on 18 January.

Sher Singh had offered to assist Mul Raj, who declined his offer but gave him money to pay his army, so he moved northward with his troops at the end of September on the way to join his father. He proclaimed himself a servant of the Maharajah and the Khalsa and called upon the people of the Punjab to rise in arms and expel the British. Meanwhile, the Sikh contingents at Bannu, Kohat, Tofik, Peshawar and Attock had joined Chatar Singh.

The monsoon over, Gough announced in early October the formation of "the Army of the Punjab" to operate under his personal control. He reached Lahore on 13 November. Full accounts of the campaign are given elsewhere. Summarising:

22 November - Gough's cavalry fell into a trap at the ford of the Chenab River at Ramnager, with severe losses, including the deaths of General Cureton and Colonel Havelock;

13 January - a disastrous battle at Chillianwala, after which Lord Airey, referring to the infamous Charge of the Light Brigade at Balaklava, said "It is nothing to Chillianwala";

25 January - Sher Singh, joined by Chatar Singh's army, moved to Gujrat, on the Chenab River;

18 February - General Whish's troops and heavy batteries arrived from Multan and during the next two days brigades from Bombay and Bengal arrived;

21 February - the British won a decisive final victory in the Battle of Gujrat;

14 March - Sher Singh surrendered to the British at Rawalpindi;

29 March - the British flag was hoisted on the citadel of Lahore and the Punjab was formally proclaimed to be part of the British Empire.

Currie had called for military help to protect the young Maharaja and his government of the Lahore Durbar. However, despite his protests and strong opposition from Henry Lawrence, who by that time had returned from leave, Dalhousie had annulled the Lahore Government, exiled Duleep Singh and confiscated the Koh-i-Noor diamond, the symbol of his power. The Sikh Raj was ended. The annexation of the Punjab was complete. A Sikh warrior cried out "Aj Ranjit Singh mar gaya" - Today Ranjit Singh is dead.