William Brydon
CB (10 October 1811 – 20 March 1873) was an assistant surgeon in the
British East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
Army during the
First Anglo-Afghan War
The First Anglo-Afghan War ( fa, جنگ اول افغان و انگلیس) was fought between the British Empire and the Emirate of Kabul from 1838 to 1842. The British initially successfully invaded the country taking sides in a succession di ...
, famous for reportedly being the only member of an army of 4,500 men, plus 12,000 accompanying civilians, to reach safety in
Jalalabad
Jalalabad (; Dari/ ps, جلالآباد, ) is the fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 356,274, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part of the country, about from the capital Kabul. Jala ...
at the end of the
long retreat from
Kabul
Kabul (; ps, , ; , ) is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province; it is administratively divided into #Districts, 22 municipal dist ...
.
Early life
Brydon was born in London of Scottish descent. He studied medicine at
University College London
, mottoeng = Let all come who by merit deserve the most reward
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £143 million (2020)
, budget = ...
and at the
University of Edinburgh
The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in post-nominals) is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted a royal charter by King James VI in 1 ...
. He subsequently was appointed as a surgeon in the
Bengal Army
The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire.
The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company (EIC) until the Gover ...
of the British
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and Sou ...
.
Retreat from Kabul
In 1841 William Brydon was posted to Afghanistan as the assistant surgeon
of Shah Shuja's Contingent—a British officered infantry force recruited in India to provide protection for the British-backed ruler in Kabul. This mercenary unit formed part of a combined British and Indian army which occupied the city in August 1839.
In January 1842, following the killing of the two British representatives there, it was decided to withdraw the British force in Kabul. The nearest British garrison was in
Jalalabad
Jalalabad (; Dari/ ps, جلالآباد, ) is the fifth-largest city of Afghanistan. It has a population of about 356,274, and serves as the capital of Nangarhar Province in the eastern part of the country, about from the capital Kabul. Jala ...
, away, and the army would need to go through mountain passes with the January snow hindering them.
Under the command of
Major-General
Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...
William George Keith Elphinstone, 4,500 British and Indian soldiers plus 12,000 civilian
camp followers, including wives and children, set out for Jalalabad on 6 January 1842, on the understanding that they had been offered safe passage.
Afghan tribesmen intercepted them and proceeded to
attack them during the next seven days. Brydon recorded in his diary that as early as the first night of the retreat many of his
sepoy
''Sepoy'' () was the Persian-derived designation originally given to a professional Indian infantryman, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire.
In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its ot ...
s were crippled by
frostbite
Frostbite is a skin injury that occurs when exposed to extreme low temperatures, causing the freezing of the skin or other tissues, commonly affecting the fingers, toes, nose, ears, cheeks and chin areas. Most often, frostbite occurs in t ...
and had to be abandoned in the snow.
By the fourth day of the retreat Brydon's regiment had virtually ceased to exist though he himself was fortunate enough to have found some food abandoned by Lady Macnaghten—the wife of the British envoy murdered in Kabul. The
final stand took place at
Gandamak
Gandamak is a village of Afghanistan located between Kabul and Jalalabad, from Jalalabad on the old road to Kabul.
History
During the retreat from Kabul of General Elphinstone's army in 1842, a hill near Gandamak was the scene of the Battle of ...
on the morning of 13 January 1842, in the snow. Twenty officers and forty-five British soldiers, mostly of the
44th Foot
The 44th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment in the British Army, raised in 1741. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 56th (West Essex) Regiment of Foot to form the Essex Regiment in 1881.
History
Early history
The regimen ...
, found themselves surrounded on a hillock. The Afghans attempted to persuade the soldiers that they intended them no harm. Then the
sniping began, followed by a series of rushes.
Captain
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
Souter wrapped the
regimental colours
In military organizations, the practice of carrying colours (or colors), standards, flags, or guidons, both to act as a rallying point for troops and to mark the location of the commander, is thought to have originated in Ancient Egypt some ...
around his body and was dragged into captivity with a sergeant named Fair and seven privates. The remainder were shot or cut down.
Surgeon Brydon was one of twelve mounted officers who had become separated from the remnants of the main column before the final stand at Gandamak. This small group had ridden to Futtehabad, but half had been killed there while six escaped. All but Brydon were killed, one by one, further along the road as their horses became exhausted. Both Brydon and his pony were wounded in the course of encounters with small Afghan parties. On the afternoon of 13 January 1842, the British troops in Jalalabad, watching for their comrades of the Kabul garrison, saw a single figure ride up to the town walls. It was Brydon. Part of his skull had been sheared off by an Afghan sword, and he survived the blow because he had stuffed a copy of ''
Blackwood's Magazine
''Blackwood's Magazine'' was a British magazine and miscellany printed between 1817 and 1980. It was founded by the publisher William Blackwood and was originally called the ''Edinburgh Monthly Magazine''. The first number appeared in April 1817 ...
'' into his hat to fight the intense cold weather. The magazine took most of the blow, saving the doctor's life.
Brydon became widely, if inaccurately, known as being the only survivor of the entire army.
In fact, he was not the only European to survive the retreat; about 115 British officers, soldiers, wives and children were captured or taken as hostages and survived to be subsequently released. Included, was the wife of
Sir Robert Henry Sale,
Lady Sale, though not
Elphinstone, who died in captivity. Nor was Brydon the only European to survive the trek from Kabul to Jalalabad without spending time in captivity; by Brydon's own account a "Greek merchant", a Mr Baness, also made it to Jalalabad, arriving two days after Brydon but surviving for only one day. In addition a small number of Indian
sepoy
''Sepoy'' () was the Persian-derived designation originally given to a professional Indian infantryman, traditionally armed with a musket, in the armies of the Mughal Empire.
In the 18th century, the French East India Company and its ot ...
s reached Jalalabad on foot over the subsequent weeks. One sepoy,
havildar Sita Ram, escaped from Afghanistan after 21 months of slavery and rejoined his former regiment at
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, primarily its western or right bank, Delhi shares borders w ...
. About 2,000 sepoys and an unrecorded number of camp followers were eventually found in Kabul and brought back to India by
Pollock's "Army of Retribution" following their occupation of the city.
The episode was made the subject of a famous painting by the Victorian artist
Lady Butler, who portrayed Brydon approaching the gates of the Jalalabad fort perched on his exhausted horse (which, according to Brydon, collapsed and died when put in a stable after arrival in the city
[). The painting is titled '']Remnants of an Army
''The remnants of an army, Jellalabad (sic), January 13, 1842'', better known as ''Remnants of an Army'', is an 1879 oil-on-canvas painting by Elizabeth Thompson, Lady Butler. It depicts William Brydon, assistant surgeon in the Bengal Army, ar ...
'' (see above).
Subsequent career and death
Upon recovering from his wound Brydon resumed his duties as a regimental surgeon with the "Army of Retribution" under General Pollock, which briefly reoccupied Kabul in September 1842. He narrowly escaped death from an enemy shell during this campaign.
Brydon fought in the Second Anglo-Burmese War of 1852, when Rangoon was taken.
At the time of the Sepoy Rebellion of 1857, Brydon was still serving as a surgeon of the Bengal Army
The Bengal Army was the army of the Bengal Presidency, one of the three presidencies of British India within the British Empire.
The presidency armies, like the presidencies themselves, belonged to the East India Company (EIC) until the Gover ...
. Stationed in Lucknow
Lucknow (, ) is the capital and the largest city of the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh and it is also the second largest urban agglomeration in Uttar Pradesh. Lucknow is the administrative headquarters of the eponymous district and divis ...
along with his wife and children, Brydon survived his second siege; that of the Lucknow residency (June – November 1857), in which he was badly wounded in the thigh. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath
Companion may refer to:
Relationships Currently
* Any of several interpersonal relationships such as friend or acquaintance
* A domestic partner, akin to a spouse
* Sober companion, an addiction treatment coach
* Companion (caregiving), a caregive ...
(CB) in November 1858. His wife, Colina Maxwell Brydon, published a memoir of the siege.
Brydon died at his home Westfield near Nigg in Ross-shire
Ross-shire (; gd, Siorrachd Rois) is a historic county in the Scottish Highlands. The county borders Sutherland to the north and Inverness-shire to the south, as well as having a complex border with Cromartyshire – a county consisting of ...
on 20 March 1873, and is buried in Rosemarkie
Rosemarkie ( sco, Rossmartnie, from gd, Ros Mhaircnidh meaning "promontory of the horse stream") is a village on the south coast of the Black Isle peninsula in Ross-shire (Ross and Cromarty), northern Scotland.
Geography
Rosemarkie lies a quart ...
churchyard alongside his brother-in-law Donald MacIntyre VC.[Heroes ... and Others, Eric H Malcolm, Cromarty History Society, 2003, ]
References
External links
An article about William Brydon's report of the massacre
*
Elizabeth Butler (Lady Butler) The Remnants of an Army 1879, Henry Tate Collection
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Brydon, William
British Indian Army officers
British East India Company Army officers
British surgeons
Companions of the Order of the Bath
1811 births
1873 deaths
British military personnel of the First Anglo-Afghan War
British military personnel of the Indian Rebellion of 1857
Alumni of University College London
Alumni of the University of Edinburgh
Sole survivors