The overthrow of the Sikhs in the first Sikh war, in which many of the leading Sardars and Jagirdars of this district bore a prominent part, and the establishment of the Regency at Lahore under British control in 1855, dealt a severe blow to the authority of the Jagirdars, whose excesses since the death of the Maharaja in 1839 had known no restraint. The introduction of the summary settlement in 1847, the object of which was to substitute a fixed cash assessment for the arbitrary exactions which had hitherto prevailed, caused even deeper alarm. The Jagirdar saw himself reduced from an irresponsible local autocrat, exercising almost unlimited jurisdiction to a mere assignee of a fixed cash assessment. The Kardar saw that there was no place for him in the new system. Both classes regarded the new order of things with sullen discontent, and when the outbreak of the second Sikh war offered a chance of shaking off the British control, and restoring the old order, it is not surprising that almost without exception they threw in their lot with the rebels. The result was fatal. The power of the Sikhs was finally broken at Chilianwala and Gujrat. Of the rebel Sardars of this district many were killed in the above battles, the remainder joined in the general surrender, and were shorn of their honors and Jagirs, receiving in some cases small life pensions for their maintenance.
Among the families that played a prominent part in the rebellion on one side or the other, and were rewarded or punished accordingly at annexation, the following were the chief
- The Nalwa Family
- The Man Family
- The Butala Sardars
- Other Rebel Sikh Jagirdars like Ganda Singh, Mattu, Sahib Singh Virakh, Gurmukh Singh and Attar Singh
The Sardars Loyal to the British: Sardar Jodh Singh, Varaich, and his more famous brother Sardar Man Singh, of Euriala, and General Harsukh Rai of Hafizabad