Remembered Kensal Green Cemetery London Captain Robert Trevor killed in the treacherous massacre in the retreat from Kabul. His wife and 8 children survived Wazir Akbar Khan - Wikipedia 1842 retreat from Kabul - Wikipedia
Robert Salusbury Trevor 1802–1841 BIRTH 30 DECEMBER 1802 • Chester, Cheshire West and Chester Unitary Authority, Cheshire, England DEATH 23 DECEMBER 1841 • Kabul, Afghanistan Cadet Record TD
Thanks for posting chaps, the three Afghan Wars, possibly four depending on how you look at things, are my particular interest area re: collecting British campaign medals.
Info from Retreat from Kabul (Macrory) Sir William Macnaghten (British Envoy), escorted by 3 British Captains including Trevor, had gone to meet with the Afghans when the order was given to seize them. “The unlucky Trevor fell, or was dragged, from his horse and died instantly beneath the Ghazi knives”. As for Macnaughten: “There came another yell of hate and derision from the window, where a human hand, impaled on a pole, was being bobbed up and down in mockery… this was the hand of Sir William Macnaughten.” Macnaughten’s head and limbs were paraded around the town and then his body hung on a meat hook next to Trevor’s in the bazaar. So, I doubt Trevor is actually buried in Kensal Green Cemetery!
I've had a quick search to see if any of the medals of MacNaughten or Trevor had been up for sale at any of the major auction houses, but to no avail so far.
I heartily recommend 'Kabul Catastrophe: The Retreat of 1842' by Patrick Macrory, published 1986 and republished in 2002. Still available: Kabul Catastrophe: The Invasion and Retreat 1839-1842 (Prion Lost Treasures S.): Amazon.co.uk: Patrick Macrory, General Sir Michael Rose: 9781853754890: Books Truly a British military disaster. Not that Afghanistan has been kind to visitors since then.
Is this the same as this book, slightly different title, same author? https://www.amazon.co.uk/Signal-Cat...y&sprefix=Kabul+catas,aps,151&sr=8-6-fkmrnull
Thanks, I might get a copy. I've read a lot of books on the second Afghan War, which is where my main interest lies, but it is always good to read more around the subject. As you said earlier, nothing much has changed for occupiers of the country over the last 170 odd years.
I believe it's the same Macrory book as I mentioned earlier in the thread. First published in 1966 as "Signale Catastrophe" in the UK and as "The Fierce Pawns" in the US. The addition I have was published in 2002 and is titled "Retreat from Kabul". Best work I could find on the subject. See also "Britain in Afghanistan - The 1st Afghan War" (Forbes), and contemporary accounts "With the Cavalry to Afghanistan" (Taylor) and Lady Sale's Diary (can probably find online somewhere). I bought a number of books on the subject a few years ago - it seemed like a good story and I had the idea of writing a movie script. Never got around to writing the script, but I did read the books!
I just received my copy of Signal Catastrophe this morning. I purchased a 1967 hardback edition and it has some lovely photographic plates and maps. It is now placed third in the queue on my reading list.
There's also the more recent Return of a King by William Dalrymple. It's superb. https://www.amazon.co.uk/Return-Kin...teway&sprefix=the+return+of+a+,aps,140&sr=8-3
That was my first ever Kindle book, and probably one of only a few. Never really took to the thing! Today's purchase has that lovely musty smell and slight foxing to the pages.....
So in the end, I couldn't resist photographing all four Afghanistan campaign medals together. One of each over the years. When you look at these and the various dates: 1842,1878-80,1919 and 2001-? it seems that very little has changed in terms of outcome and of course continued British casualties.
This book is so well written. Sometimes with these types of subject matters, the accounts of actions can be a little dry, especially if you need to remember so many indivivdual names from both sides of the divide. Macrory delivers this so well and portrays the sense of impending doom for the British Army of occupation, building the suspense with every chapter.