Paolo Avitabile

Paolo Crescenzo Martino Avitabile (25 October 1791 – 28 March 1850), also known as Abu Tabela (Hindko: ابوتبیلا), was a Neapolitan-Italian soldier, mercenary and adventurer. A peasant's son born in Agerola, in the province of Napoli near Sorrento (in southern Italy), he served in the Neapolitan militia during the Napoleonic wars. After Waterloo he drifted east like many other adventurous soldiers. In 1820 he joined the army of the Shah of Persia, attaining the rank of colonel and receiving several decorations before returning to Italy in 1824.

He joined the army of Maharaja Ranjit Singh of the Punjab in 1827, and later also received various civilian appointments. In 1829 he was made administrator of Wazirabad and in 1837 he succeeded Hari Singh Nalwa as governor of Peshawar. He remained in the Punjab until the assassination of Maharaja Sher Singh in 1843, after which he retired to Italy, where his rank as a general was confirmed and he was knighted.

Avitabile was born in the town of Agerola located in the parish of Acampora on 21 October 1791 and was the son of farmers Bartolomeo Avitabile and Angela di Fortunato. He was born into a large family of eight children, being the sixth born. At the age of 16, Avitabile enlisted into the service of the local provincial military.

The young Avitabile served in the local levies of the Kingdom of Naples between 1807 and 1809, when he joined the artillery of the regular army. On 29 April 1810, he was transferred to the Royal Corps of Artillery after becoming a regular soldier. As a part of the Imperial Army, Avitabile served under Murat on several campaigns. In these campaigns he earned the rank of Lieutenant, as well as the command of the 15th Battery. After the fall of Napoleon and the defeat of Murat at Tolentino, Naples was restored to Ferdinand I of Sicily. Avitabile retained his rank and command and joined the army of the new Kingdom of Two Sicilies, where he joined the siege of Gaeta under the command of the Austrian general Delaver. He served under the Austrian commander Baron Joseph Lauer at the siege.

During this siege, he displayed great bravery and was wounded twice. The general recommended him for a promotion and a decoration, but was not heard. Avitabile was transferred instead to a position of lieutenant in a regiment of light infantry. It is said he quit in disgust over this treatment. His European career had come to an end in 1817, when resigned from his position.

Having quit the army in Naples, Avitabile set his eyes on a career abroad. His initial idea was to, as many of his countrymen, seek fortune in America but this ended in a shipwreck off Marseille after travelling to the Balkans and Mediterranean. While Avitabile was stranded and in-quarantine in Marseilles following the shipwreck, he was in the company of other former Napoleonic officers, one of which, Captain Beraud, advised Avitabile to seek employment in the east in the court of Qajar Persia, who were amicable to employing Europeans with military-backgrounds. Avitabile at this point believed the situation in Europe was unstable and was drawn by the prospects the east presented at the time. Avitabile left for Constantinople, arriving in 1818.

In Constantinople he was approached by an agent of the Persian Shah Fath Ali Shah recruiting European officers; in 1820, Avitabile took service with the Persian Shah. He remained in this employment for six years, during which period he rose to the rank of khan and a grade of colonel in the Persian army. Here he also met Claude August Court who would later accompany him on the travel to Punjab. He had also met with Allard and Ventura while in Persia. Avitabile and Claud reformed the Persian military along European lines, with Avitabile gaining a reputation amongst his Persian troops for being ruthless and fear-worthy. In 1826, Avitabile felt nostalgic about his homeland and therefore secured leave to return to Italy, where the sovereign of Naples presented him a gift of a box containing a Persian shawl made out of high-quality, fine cloth. However, he only remained in Naples for a short-time and became disgruntled again, returning back to Persia ultimately.

Avitabile was rewarded for his services by two of Persia's highest decorations as Grand Commander of The Lion and Sun and of The Two Lions and Crown, accompanied by official diplomas, but found the pay lacking. When he heard favourable notice from Jean-Baptiste Ventura of his employment in Punjab, Ventura again broke up to travel further to the east.