William Henry Sleeman

Sir William Henry Sleeman was a British officer and administrator in Company-ruled India, best known for his leading role in the Anti-Thuggee Campaign of the 1830s against what he perceived as a pan-Indian fraternity of ritual stranglers. Sleeman served as General Superintendent of the Thuggee Department from 1835 to 1855 and published his main work on thuggee, entitled Ramaseeana, in 1836. His writings served as the foundation for the colonial-era representation of thuggee and formed the basis of Philip Meadows Taylor's 1839 novel Confessions of a Thug.