William Brydon

2021-07-02T13:53:07Z

220.253.75.32: /* Subsequent career and death */

{{Short description|19th-century British soldier }}
{{Use dmy dates|date=October 2020}}
{{Infobox military person
|name=William Brydon
|birth_date={{Birth date|df=yes|1811|10|10}}
|death_date={{Death date and age|df=yes|1873|03|20|1811|10|10}}
|birth_place= [[London]], [[England]]
|death_place= near [[Nigg, Highland]], [[Scotland]]
|placeofburial= [[Rosemarkie]] churchyard
|image=Remnants of an army2.jpg
|caption=''[[Remnants of an Army]]'' by [[Elizabeth Thompson|Elizabeth Butler]]
|nickname=
|allegiance= United Kingdom
|serviceyears=
|rank=Assistant Surgeon
|commands=
|unit=[[Bengal Army]]
|battles=[[First Anglo-Afghan War]],<br /> [[Second Anglo-Burmese War]], [[Indian Rebellion of 1857]]
|awards=[[Companion of the Order of the Bath|CB]]
|relations=Major General [[Donald Macintyre (VC)|Donald Macintyre]] [[Victoria Cross|VC]] (brother-in-law)
}}
'''William Brydon''' [[Order of the Bath|CB]] (10 October 1811 – 20 March 1873) was an assistant surgeon in the [[British East India Company]] Army during the [[First Anglo-Afghan War]], famous for reportedly being the only member of an army of 4,500 men, plus 12,000 accompanying civilians, to reach safety in [[Jalalabad]] at the end of the [[Massacre of Elphinstone's Army|long retreat]] from [[Kabul]].

==Early life==
Brydon was born in London of Scottish descent. He studied medicine at [[University College London]] and at the [[University of Edinburgh]].<ref>Claire E. J. Herrick, "Brydon, William (1811–1873)", ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', Oxford University Press, September 2004.</ref> He subsequently was appointed as a surgeon in the [[Bengal Army]] of the British [[East India Company]].

==Retreat from Kabul==
In 1841 William Brydon was posted to Afghanistan as the assistant surgeon<ref>{{cite book|first=William|last=Dalrymple|page=368|title=Return of a King. The Battle for Afghanistan|date=January 2013|isbn=978-1-4088-1830-5}}</ref> of Shah Shuja's Contingent - a British officered infantry force recruited in India to provide protection for the East India Company's puppet ruler in Kabul. This mercenary unit formed part of a combined British and Indian army which occupied the city in August 1839.<ref>Sita Ram page 81 "From Sepoy to Subedar", {{ISBN|0-333-45672-6}}</ref>

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]], {{convert|90|mi|km}} away, and the army would need to go through mountain passes with the January snow hindering them.<ref>{{cite book|first=William|last=Dalrymple|page=355-356|title=Return of a King. The Battle for Afghanistan|date=January 2013|isbn=978-1-4088-1830-5}}</ref>

Under the command of [[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major-General]] [[William George Keith Elphinstone]], 4,500 British and Indian soldiers plus 12,000 civilian [[camp follower]]s, including wives and children, set out for Jalalabad on 6 January 1842, on the understanding that they had been offered safe passage. [[Ghilzai|Afghan tribesmen]] intercepted them and proceeded to [[First Anglo-Afghan War#Retreat and massacre|attack]] them during the next seven days. Bryden recorded in his diary that as early as the first night of the retreat many of his sepoys were crippled by [[frostbite]] and had to be abandoned in the snow.<ref>{{cite book|first=William|last=Dalrymple|page=368|title=Return of a King. The Battle for Afghanistan|date=January 2013|isbn=978-1-4088-1830-5}}</ref>

[[File:The Last Stand, by William Barnes Wollen (1898).jpg|left|thumb|Last stand of the 44th at Gandamak, painted by [[William Barnes Wollen]]]]

By the fourth day of the retreat Dr 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.<ref>{{cite book|first=William|last=Dalrymple|page=378|title=Return of a King. The Battle for Afghanistan|date=January 2013|isbn=978-1-4088-1830-5}}</ref> The [[Battle of Gandamak|final stand]] took place at [[Gandamak]] on the morning of 13 January 1842 in the snow. Twenty officers and forty-five British 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 [[sniper|sniping]] began, followed by a series of rushes. [[Captain (British Army and Royal Marines)|Captain]] Souter wrapped the [[regimental colours]] around his body and was dragged into captivity with a sergeant named Fair and seven privates. The remainder were shot or cut down.<ref>{{cite book|first=William|last=Dalrymple|page=385|title=Return of a King. The Battle for Afghanistan|date=January 2013|isbn=978-1-4088-1830-5}}</ref>

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.<ref>Robert Wilkinson-Latham, page 11 "North-West Frontier 1837–1947" {{ISBN|0-85045-275-9}}</ref> 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 Dr Brydon. Part of his skull had been sheared off by an Afghan sword, and 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.<ref>{{cite web |title=Article in theaustralian.news.com |url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19721272-2703,00.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060714034945/http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,19721272-2703,00.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=14 July 2006 |access-date=24 August 2006}}</ref>

[[File:THE SOLE SURVIVOR OF AN ARMY DR. BRYDON REACHES JELLALABAD ALONE.gif|thumb|Dr. Brydon reaches Jellalabad alone]]
Brydon became widely, if inaccurately, known as being the only survivor of the entire army.<ref name= "cnn">{{cite news | title = Transcripts from CNN| url = http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0109/27/se.50.html | access-date =24 August 2006 | date=7 February 2001}}</ref> 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.<ref>Linda Colley, page 350 "Captives – Britain, Empire and the World 1600–1850" {{ISBN|0-7126-6528-5}}</ref> Included, was the wife of [[Robert Henry Sale|Sir Robert Henry Sale]], [[Florentia Sale|Lady Sale]], though not [[William George Keith Elphinstone|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]]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]].<ref>Sita Ram pages 119–128 "From Sepoy to Subedar", {{ISBN|0-333-45672-6}}</ref> About 2,000 sepoys and an unrecorded number of camp followers were eventually found in Kabul and brought back to India by [[Sir George Pollock, 1st Baronet|Pollock]]'s "Army of Retribution" following their occupation of the city.<ref name=Dalrymple-387>{{cite book|first=William|last=Dalrymple|page=387|title=Return of a King. The Battle for Afghanistan|date=January 2013|isbn=978-1-4088-1830-5}}</ref>

The episode was made the subject of a famous painting by the Victorian artist, [[Elizabeth Thompson|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<ref name=Dalrymple-387/>). The painting is titled ''[[Remnants of an Army]]'' (see above).

==Subsequent career and death==
Upon recovering from his wound Dr 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.
<ref>{{cite book|first=William|last=Dalrymple|page=452|title=Return of a King. The Battle for Afghanistan|date=January 2013|isbn=978-1-4088-1830-5}}</ref>

Brydon fought in the [[Second Anglo-Burmese War]] of 1852, when Rangoon was taken.<ref name=it>{{Cite news | last=Obituary | first=14 May | title=Brydon's daughter, Mrs Walter Scott | newspaper=[[The Irish Times]]| year= 1932 }}</ref>

At the time of the [[Indian Rebellion of 1857|Sepoy Rebellion]] of 1857, Brydon was still serving as a surgeon of the [[Bengal Army]]. Stationed in [[Lucknow]] along with his wife and children, Brydon survived his second siege; that of the [[Siege of Lucknow|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]] (CB) in November 1858.<ref name="bath">{{London Gazette
|issue=22201
|date=16 November 1858
|page=4855
}}</ref> His wife, Colina Maxwell Brydon, published a memoir of the siege.

Brydon died at his home Westfield near [[Nigg, Highland|Nigg]] in [[Ross-shire]]<ref name="it"/> on 20 March 1873, and is buried in [[Rosemarkie]] churchyard alongside his brother-in-law [[Donald Macintyre (VC)|Donald MacIntyre VC]].<ref>Heroes ... and Others, Eric H Malcolm, Cromarty History Society, 2003, {{ISBN|978-1-898416-74-6}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist|30em}}

==External links==
{{Spoken Wikipedia|en-williambrydon.ogg|date=2007-01-12}}
* [http://www.khyber.org/publications/011-015/brydonreport.shtml An article about William Brydon's report of the massacre]
* {{cite web | archiveurl = https://web.archive.org/web/20140811070509/http://afghanistan-photos.com/crbst_31.html | archivedate = 11 August 2014 | url = http://www.afghanistan-photos.com/crbst_31.html | title = The first Anglo-Afghan War : Dr Brydon's report of the British defeat}}
* [http://www.tate.org.uk/servlet/ViewWork?cgroupid=999999962&workid=1868 Elizabeth Butler (Lady Butler) The Remnants of an Army 1879, Henry Tate Collection]
* {{cite web|url=http://www.fortrosemarkie.org/brydon01.htm |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110726062210/http://www.fortrosemarkie.org/brydon01.htm |archivedate=26 July 2011 |title=William Brydon – A Lecture to the History Group |author=Peter McLoughlin |url-status=dead}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Brydon, William}}
[[Category:British Indian Army officers]]
[[Category:British East India Company Army officers]]
[[Category:British surgeons]]
[[Category:Companions of the Order of the Bath]]
[[Category:1811 births]]
[[Category:1873 deaths]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the First Anglo-Afghan War]]
[[Category:British military personnel of the Indian Rebellion of 1857]]
[[Category:Alumni of University College London]]
[[Category:Alumni of the University of Edinburgh]]
[[Category:Sole survivors]]

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William Brydon