The Remnants of an Army
by Elizabeth Butler
Lady
Elizabeth was the famous battle artist of the c19th. She was born into family whose fortune had been made in the West
Indian sugar trade and this gave her the means and the confidence to embark on
a career as a painter. Her second painting, The Roll Call, exhibited in 1874,
established her reputation and over the next eight years she produced paintings
which together recorded the lives of ordinary soldiers fighting to establish
and maintain the British Empire in different parts of the world. She did not
attempt to glorify what soldiers did but to elicit pity and sympathy for their plight.
It was said that by focusing on the individual, she did in painting what
Kipling did in words.
A major
influence on the work of Butler was her husband, Major William Butler, a member
of Wolseley’s close circle -the so-called Wolseley ring- who had served in
Burma, India, Canada and West Africa alongside Wolseley. Butler was brought up
in Ireland and became a supporter of Irish Home Rule, and had sympathy for the position of native peoples around the
British Empire. He opposed imperial expansion, claiming it was a ‘a mania
for acquisition’ driven by the ambitions of ‘sordid Stock Exchange
ambitions’. Elizabet though focused on the position of ordinary soldiers
and she dis not get drawn into the politics of imperialism.
Remnants of
an Army was typical of her work. It was painted during the Second Afghan War when
a British force invaded Afghanistan just as had happened in 1839. The painting
depicts the lone soldier, Dr William Brydon, reaching the safety of Jalalabad
fort, held by the British. The painting was exhibited at the Royal Academy in
1879 and was eventually bought by Sir Henry Tate and later presented by him to
the National Gallery. After the Second World War when paintings depicting
battle scenes were thought to be bettre off in military establishments, to was
placed on loan with the Somerset Military Museum Trust
Brydon , the
subject of the painting, was the only one out of a force of 16,000 to complete
the journey from Kabul to Jalalabad, following the expulsion of the British
force that was camped just outside of Kabul. Afghan resistance to the British
supported Shar Shujah had resulted in the British being forces to conclude a
treaty with Akbar Khan, the son of Dost Mohammed, the former ruler, which resulted
in the British force of over 16,000 leaving their cantonment outside Kabul and making
a journey fop 60 miles through mountain passes held by Afghan tribesmen in freezing
conditions. The arrangement made between the Afghan leader, Akbar and the British
General Elphinstone was in return for the British agreeing to leave Kabul, they
be provide with a safe passage and sufficient food and equipment for the journey
of five days.
The first
thing to go wrong was that Akbar’s promised escort did not turn up, nor did the
supplies of food and equipment they were expecting. Over the next week the
column was attacked and harried as it tried to move through the various passes
on the way back to Jalalabad. The march would normally have taken five days,
but after seven days only one rider emerged from the mountains and the passes
to safety – Dr William Brydon, a physician who had been in Shah Shujah’s
service, the man who had been put on the throne by the British to replace Dost
Mohammed who was thought not to be reliable enough.
Akbar
despite the treaty he had signed proved treacherous and as soon as the British left their cantonment outside Kabul,
Afghans swarmed on to the walls and began firing at the rear-guard of the
British column. Afghan horsemen soon began riding amongst the British soldiers
and civilians, killing whoever they could and driving off the baggage animals.
This harrying of the column continued for the next seven days, leaving a trail
of dead and wounded. On the first day only five miles were covered as the
column was slowed down by the camp followers. Tents were lost meaning that officers
and wives had to sleep on the snow in falling temperatures as the column moved
into the mountain passes. Brydon managed to wrap himself in his sheepskin coat
and keep himself warm but others were not so lucky. On the second morning dozens
of the Indian troops and camp followers were found frozen to death.
Continual
sniping and attacks by horsemen took their toll and the only thing that
mattered was to get through the Khyber Pass. One morning Akbar made an appearance
and blamed the British for their plight saying they had left without
permission. He demanded three hostages in return for a safe passage and three
men were handed over, but the attacks continued.
After five
days with the women and children handed over to Akbar in another hope that the
remainder would be given a free passage to Jalalabad, there were just 750 troops
left with Akbar claiming he was doing everything to restrain the local
tribesmen from attacking. By 12 January the force was down to fewer than 200
troops plus 2,000 camp followers. When General Elphinstone sought out Akbar to
negotiate another treaty, the general was taken prisoner.
The handful
of officers and men who had fought their way out of the gorge now found themselves
divided into two groups. One group including Brydon tried to ride for Jalalabad,
leaving in the middle of the night but were discovered and attacked from the
rear.
It was
everyman for himself and Brydon, who was in this group, found himself surrounded. He was struck by a
blow to his head from an Afghan knife. He managed to get to his knees, parry
another blow and despite his head wound clambered over a barrier the Afghan
tribesmen had constructed, found a wounded cavalryman who had been shot through his chest, and took
his pony and rode to the safety of Jalalabad fort.