Begum Sumroo was a good friend to the English, with whom she was always exceedingly popular on account of the great hospitality with which she entertained those who visited her neighbourhood. However, she fought against them, as an auxiliary of Scindiah, in 1803. She took part in the battle of Assaye; and at the defeat of the Mahrattas, she fled to Northern Hindostan, and hastily made peace with the Marquis Wellesley, on condition that her principality should revert to the British Government of India after her demise, while her personal property remained at her own disposal.
When the British became masters of Delhi, the Begum frequently visited their camp, dressed in European costume, with a hat and veil, sometimes in a palanquin, sometimes on horseback, sometimes on an elephant. At this time she appeared to be about fifty-five, was of middle height, with a beautiful complexion. Her ancient friendship for the Mahrattas, and an intercepted letter which she was believed to have written to Jeswunt Rao Holkar, caused her to be suspected by the British when they were at war with that chief in 1805. However, she succeeded in clearing herself of the accusation. The exact year of her death is not known.
Although Begum Somroo left no children of her own, she had adopted the daughter of Somroo by his first wife, a Mahratta woman. This girl wedded Mr. Dyce, a half-caste, son of Captain Dyce of the East India Company's service. The Begum had intended to make him her heir; but in her old age she detected him in a conspiracy, and so she left her property to his son, instead. This latter was the notorious David Ochterlony Dyce-Sombre. About the year 1838, this eccentric gentleman came to England, whither he had been preceded by the renown of his fabulous wealth. His arrival caused considerable excitement in London; he was fêted and invited everywhere as the lion of the day. In 1840, he married the Hon. Mary Ann Jervis, daughter of Viscount St. Vincent; but the husband and wife did not agree--a separation was speedily followed by legal proceedings against Mr. Dyce-Sombre, by which the wife's relations sought to prove the Anglo-Indian to be a lunatic. For months and months this great trial was a matter for public gossip; and the unfortunate nabob was compelled to live on the Continent for several years to escape the decision of the Court of Chancery. He returned to London in 1851, to petition against their decree; but was seized with a painful illness, of which he died on the 1st July of that year.