William Brydon

William Brydon
Remnants of an Army by Elizabeth Butler
Allegiance	Bengal Army
Rank	Assistant Surgeon
Battles / wars	First Anglo-Afghan War, Indian Mutiny
Awards	CB

William Brydon CB (10 October 1811 – 20 March 1873) was an assistant surgeon in the British East India Company Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War and is famous for being the only European of an army of 4,500 men to reach safety in Jalalabad after the long retreat from Kabul.

He was born in London of Scottish descent. He studied medicine at University College London and at the University of Edinburgh.

The war

The British Army began its retreat from Kabul in January 1842 following the killing of the two British representatives there. The nearest British garrison was in Jalalabad, 90 miles (140 km) away, and the army would need to go through mountain passes with the January snow hindering them.

4,500 military personnel under the command of Major-General William George Keith Elphinstone, and 12,000 civilian camp followers, including wives and children, set out for Jalalabad on 6 January, 1842 with the understanding that they had been offered safe passage. Afghan tribesmen intercepted them and proceeded to massacre them during the next seven days. The final stand took place at Gandamak on the morning of 13th January 1842 in the snow. 20 officers and 45 European soldiers, mostly of the 44th Foot, found themselves surrounded on a hillock. The Afghans attempted to persuade the soldiers that they intended them no harm. Then the sniping began followed a series of rushes. Captain Souter wrapped the colours of the regiment around his body and was dragged into captivity with two or three soldiers. The remainder were shot or cut down. Only 6 mounted officers escaped. Of these 5 were murdered along the road.

On the afternoon of 13th January 1842 the British troops in Jellalabad, watching for their comrades of the Kabul garrison, saw a single figure ride up to the town walls. It was Dr Brydon, the sole survivor of the column.

Brydon became famous for being the only European survivor of the entire contingent to have escaped the Afghan guerrillas. Part of his skull had been sheared off by an Afghan sword. In fact, he survived only because he had stuffed a copy of Blackwood's Magazine into his hat to fight the intense cold weather. The magazine took most of the blow, saving the doctor's life.

The episode was made the subject of a famous painting by the Victorian artist, Lady Butler, who portrayed Dr. Brydon hobbling to the gates of the Jalalabad fort perched on his dying horse (which dropped dead upon arrival in the city). The painting is titled Remnants of an Army.

He fought in the Burma War of 1852, when Rangoon was taken.

In 1857, he was a regimental doctor at Lucknow and, along with his wife and children, survived his second siege, that of the Lucknow residency (June – November 1857), being badly wounded in the thigh at one stage. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in November 1858. His wife published a memoir of the siege. He died in Scotland.

Sources

• Claire E. J. Herrick, "Brydon, William (1811–1873)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2006 accessed 26 Aug 2006

External links

• An article about William Brydon's report of the massacre
• The first Anglo-Afghan War : Dr Brydon's report of the British defeat