Late 1700’s was a time in which freebooters from world thronged India .

• Late 1700’s was a time in which freebooters from world thronged India ..it being their el-derado - and like the rich men and nobles kept their own set of mistresses and harem .During this period , 1778 , was born to a Scottish father and his Indian Rajput bibi a son they named James Skinner .Just before he entered teens his mother , daughter of a zamindar , committed suicide .James grew up in Calcutta with mixed blood running in veins that did not give him acceptability in the British society of Calcutta .He was denied commission in the East India Company . At the age of sixteen, he entered the Mahratta army as an ensign under Benoît de Boigne, the French commander of Maharaja Scindia's forces of Gwalior State meanwhile mastered local languages , including the court language. of India Persian .
• In 1803 with the war of Marathas with the British he was dismissed from the service and he raised Captain Skinner’s Corps of Irregular Cavalry, that became famous as the “Yellow Boys “ from the colour of the dress they wore .It eventually became known as the Skinner’s Horse .His assistance in the siege of Bharatpur for EIC led to him being awarded a jagir of Hansi in Hissar District .By 1826 he was appointed companion of the Order of the Bath .
• St. James Church in Kashmere Gate that was earlier named Skinner’s Church was built in 1836 and was constructed to fulfil a vow James had made while lying critically injured in the battle in 1800 in Uniara .Today there is an area in the church where the descendants of this man ,who built a regiment of cavalry in British Army , lie buried .
• James died in 1841 at Hansi and was buried there with full military honours by his Yellow Boys .Subsequently he was buried in Skinner's Church on 19 January 1842 in a vault of white marble where the marble slab can still be seen in St.James Church .
• The regiment continued even after his death and was in 1996 christened as 1st Bengal Lancers .At the beginning of World War II the regiment was still mounted, but was quickly converted to act as a mechanised reconnaissance regiment and was attached to the 5th Indian Division. Post 1947 the Indian Army has maintained it in its original name Skinner’s Horse though now it commands a tank regiment .