John Hessing was a military officer who served in the armies of the Maratha Confederacy in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He commanded 3000 Maratha regular troops in the Battle of Kardla, where the Maratha armies defeated the Nizam of Hyderabad on March 12, 1795. In June 1801 Hessing commanded four battalions outside Ujjain

Ujjain

Ujjain , is an ancient city of Malwa region in central India, on the eastern bank of the Kshipra River , today part of the state of Madhya Pradesh. It is the administrative centre of Ujjain District and Ujjain Division.In ancient times the city was called Ujjayini...

, which were attacked and defeated by Yashwantrao Holkar

Yashwantrao Holkar

H. H. Maharajadhiraj Raj Rajeshwar Sawai Shrimant Yashwant Rao Holkar Bahadur, Nusrat Jang, Maharaja of Maratha Empire, was born on 3 December 1776...

, the Maratha ruler of Indore

Indore

Indore is one of the major city in India, the largest city and commercial center of the state of Madhya Pradesh in central India. Indore is located 190 km west of the state capital Bhopal. According to the 2011 Indian census, Indore city has a population of 1,960,631...

. Hessing fought with the Maratha armies against the British in the Second Anglo-Maratha War

Second Anglo-Maratha War

The Second Anglo-Maratha War was the second conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India.-Background:...

. He died in Agra

Agra

Agra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...

 on 21 July 1803 while in command of the Maratha forces there.

Hessing's tomb is located in the Padretola, or Padresanto, a Christian cemetery in Agra

Agra

Agra a.k.a. Akbarabad is a city on the banks of the river Yamuna in the northern state of Uttar Pradesh, India, west of state capital, Lucknow and south from national capital New Delhi. With a population of 1,686,976 , it is one of the most populous cities in Uttar Pradesh and the 19th most...

:

The tomb of John Hessing, hard by, is a still more splendid edifice, being a copy, in red sandstone, of the famous Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal

The Taj Mahal is a white Marble mausoleum located in Agra, India. It was built by Mughal emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his third wife, Mumtaz Mahal...

, and on a pretty extensive scale too, though far smaller than the original. The tomb, which was completed in or about the year of the British conquest, bears an inscription in good English, setting forth that the deceased colonel was a Dutchman, who died Commandant of Agra, in his 63rd year, 21 July 1803, just before Lake's

Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake

General Gerard Lake, 1st Viscount Lake was a British general. He commanded British forces during the Irish Rebellion of 1798 and later served as Commander-in-Chief of the military in British India.-Background:...

successful siege of the place.*

Red Taj :Tomb of Col John Hessing

The Tomb was built by Wife of John Hessing ,Alice
This has no match with real TajMahal in beauty and size but consiedr the emotion of Alice she was not an Empress . she had very little money around one lac Rupees at that time out of which she managed to built this structure. she could not afford four Minarets in four corners you can see the base for Minarets which could not be erected because money was used up. I salute the feelings of that great lady. picture of the Tomb is also added on wikimedia - Red Taj Tomb of John Hessing