RE 117 — Gravestone, 9th Lancers

• Original:
  Private collection of Bryan Maggs.
• Not in the albums of the RE Collections at Chatham.
• Photographs RE 086 and RE 087-1 show the British cemetery at Sherpur.
• The Second Afghan War 1878-80: Abridged Official Account (1908), pp. 253-255, description of the events on 11th December; p. 256: “The loss in this disastrous engagement was 4 officers (Lieutenants Hearsey and Ricardo, 9th Lancers, Hardy, R.H.A., and O.E.S. Forbes, 14th Bengal Lancers) and 23 men killed, while 2 officers (Colonel Cleland and Captain Stewart-Mackenzie, 9th Lancers) and 23 men were wounded. The casualties amongst the horses were 51 killed and 23 wounded out of a total of about 350 engaged. […]”; pp. 264-266, description of the events on 13th December; p. 266: “[…] the 9th Lancers especially suffered severely, Captain S.G. Butson and four men being killed, Captain J.J. Scott-Chisholme, Lieutenant C.J.W. Trower, and eight men wounded.”
• Hensman, H. (1882): The Afghan War of 1879-80, p. 190 ff., description of the battle on the 11th December; p. 193: “[…] The 9th Lancers had suffered terribly in the charge: sixteen of their troopers, with two officers (Lieutenants Hearsey and Ricardo), had been left on the ground, dead; their colonel had come out badly wounded by a sword-cut and a shot through the side; Lieutenant Stewart Mackenzie had been disabled by his horse rolling over him; and seven troopers had received wounds more or less severe. […]”; pp. 201-206, description of the events on 13th December; p. 203: “[…] One brilliant charge by the 9th Lancers cost that regiment one officer killed and two wounded, besides the loss of several troopers. […] Lieutenant Trower was also slightly wounded, while the Sergeant-Major and three troopers were killed and seven wounded. […]”; pp. 277-278, 1st January: “[…] Several other missing bodies of Lancers have been found; and on New Year’s Day an impressive funeral of the bodies of Captain Spens, Lieutenant Hardie, Lieutenant Forbes, and a non-commissioned officer took place at the foot of the north-western slope of the Bemaru Heights. We have lost twelve officers killed and fourteen wounded since December 10th, which shows the severity of the fighting; while of the rank and file and camp-followers, ninety-eight have been killed and 238 wounded.”
• Adamec, L.W. (1985): Kabul and southeast Afghanistan, p. 727: Sherpur, "The cantonment built by Amir Sher Ali, 1 mile to the north of Kabul city, and in which the British army, under Sir Frederick Roberts, was beleaguered in December 1879. [...]"
• Schinasi, M. (2008): Kaboul 1773-1948, pp. 66-69: description of Sherpur; p. 180: short description of the Christian cemetery.

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