Begum Samru's heir was declared insane on his wife's petition, and after his death she contested his will leaving £200,000 to an Indian college

David Ochterlony Dyce Sombre was born in Sardhana in 1808. Begum Samru, ruler of Sardhana, raised him and declared him her heir. When she died in 1836, the East India Company took Sardhana, but he kept her large personal fortune. He moved to England and married Mary Anne Jervis, a society figure, on 26 September 1840. He was elected MP for Sudbury in 1841 and unseated in April 1842 for bribery. In 1843 his wife, supported by his sisters and their husbands, alleged he was insane. On 8 August 1843 a commission found him of unsound mind, and his property was placed under control. He fled to Paris, where French doctors found him sane. He fought six hearings in Chancery and lost each time. He died in London on 1 July 1851. His will left £200,000 for an educational institution in India, a large bequest to Mr Prinsep, a Company director, £1,000 to each director, and made Company chiefs trustees. It disinherited his wife. She contested it on the ground of insanity. The Prerogative Court took seven months and found against his sanity. The directors appealed. His wife won around 1856^† and in 1862 married Lord Forester. His heart was buried with the Begum at Sardhana.