Lake, then only a lieutenant like Edwardes, was in fact commander-in-chief of the Davodpootra army, and although directed to co-operate with Edwardes, and in no way under his orders, he nevertheless magnanimously subordinated himself, and was content to do his utmost to further his friend's plans (Edwardes, A Year in the Punjab). On the fall of Mooltan, Lake was again in the field, and took part in the final victory of Gujerat on 21 Feb. 1849. He accompanied General Gilbert to the Indus in his pursuit of the Afghans, and was present at Rawul Pindee when the Sikh army laid down its arms. The war over, Lake received a medal and two clasps. Going to Batala, he next had charge, under John (afterwards Lord) Lawrence, for two years of the northern portion of the country between the rivers Beas and Ravee. In 1852 he went home on furlough, travelling through Russia, Prussia, Norway, and Sweden. He returned to India in 1854, having been promoted captain on 21 Aug., and a brevet-major on 22 Aug. for his services in the Punjab campaign. He took up his old charge in the trans-Sutlej province at Kangra as deputy-commissioner. In 1855 he was appointed commissioner of the Jalundhur Doab. When the mutiny broke out in 1857, Lake occupied and secured the fort of Kangra against the rebels, and held it until the mutiny was suppressed. His calmness and resource were a tower of strength to the government throughout the crisis.
In 1860 his health failed, and he was obliged to go to England. He was promoted lieutenant-colonel on 18 Feb. 1861, and in July married the youngest daughter of T. Bewes, esq., of Beaumont, Plymouth. He returned to his post at Jalundhur in the same year. In 1865 he was appointed financial commissioner of the Punjab, and the following year was made a companion of the Star of India. In 1867 ill-health again compelled him to go to England, and subsequently to decline Lord Lawrence's offer of the much-coveted appointment of resident of Hyderabad. He had been promoted colonel on 31 Dec. 1868, and on 1 Jan. 1870 he retired on a pension with the honorary rank of major-general. After he left India the ‘Lake Scholarship’ was founded by public subscription in January 1870 in his honour at the Lahore High School.
About 1855 Lake had come under deep spiritual impressions, and was thenceforth earnestly religious. At home he became honorary secretary of the East London Mission Relief Fund in 1868, and worked hard between 1869 and 1876 as honorary lay secretary of the Church Missionary Society. From April 1871 to June 1874 he was sole editor of the ‘Church Missionary Record,’ and contributed articles to the ‘Church Missionary Intelligencer,’ the ‘Sunday at Home,’ &c. In the summer of 1876 lung disease made it necessary for him to remove from London to Bournemouth, and in the following spring he went to Clifton, where he died on 7 June 1877. He was buried on 13 June 1877 in Long Ashton churchyard, near Clifton. In 1873 he edited the fifth edition of the ‘Church Missionary Atlas,’ and was engaged on another edition at the time of his death. Lake was a man of slight and delicate frame, but of a very cheery and lovable disposition. He had great aptitude for business, and remarkable tact in the management of natives, by whom he was known as Lake Sahib, and was much beloved. Lord Lawrence, Sir Robert Montgomery, and other great Indian administrators had a very high opinion of him. Sir R. Montgomery wrote: ‘The names of Herbert Edwardes, Donald McLeod, and Edward Lake will ever be remembered as examples of the highest type of public servants and devoted friends.’
[In Memoriam Edward Lake, two Memoirs by the Rev. John Barton and General Maclagan, R.E., 2nd ed. Lond. 1878; Edwardes's A Year in the Punjab Frontier in 1848–9, 8vo, Lond. 1851; Royal Engineers Journal, vol. vii.]
LAKE, GERARD, first Viscount Lake of Delhi and Leswarree (1744–1808), general, elder son of Launcelot Charles Lake and his wife, Elizabeth, was born on 27 July 1744. He was a descendant of Sir Thomas Lake [q. v.], secretary of state, and was grandson of Warwick Lake, who married the heiress of Sir Thomas Gerard, bart., of Flamberds, Harrow-on-the-Hill (see Burke, Extinct Baronetage). His mother was daughter of Joseph Gumley of Isleworth, Middlesex. One of her sisters married William Pulteney, first earl of Bath, and another was mother of George Colman the elder [q. v.], the dramatist. Lake was appointed ensign in the 1st footguards (now grenadier guards) 9 May 1758. His subsequent steps, all in the same regiment, were lieutenant and captain 3 Jan. 1762, captain-lieutenant 11 Jan. 1776, captain and lieutenant-colonel 19 Feb. 1776, regimental (3rd) major 20 Oct. 1784, regimental lieutenant-colonel 1 Aug. 1792. He became major-general in 1790, lieutenant-general 1797, and general 1802.
Lake served with the 2nd battalion of his regiment in the campaigns in Germany in 1760–2, and some years later was aide-de-camp to General Sir Richard Pierson, K.B., an old 1st guardsman, in Ireland. As
