Thomas John Anquetil

Brigadier General Thomas John Anquetil (1784 – 12 January 1842) was an officer of the British Indian Army who was the last senior officer to command the ill-fated Army of the Indus force as it retreated from Kabul in the First Anglo-Afghan War in 1842.[1] His superiors during the campaign were Generals Sir William Elphinstone and John Shelton. Elphinstone and Shelton were captured and interned by the Afghan rebels, Anquetil on the other hand would die fighting with his force in the mountain passes between Kabul and Jalalabad.[2][3] The British Army and East India Company would lose 4,500 men (mainly Indian soldiers) and 12,000 civilians (mainly Indian), massacred by Afghan tribesmen loyal to the rebel leader Wazir Akbar Khan. Anquetil was said to have died ‘fighting hand to hand with the enemy’ near Jugdulluk, close to the Kabul pass.

Thomas John Anquetil
Memorial in St Peter's Anglican Church (Fort William, Kolkata)
BornDecember 1784
Jersey, Channel Islands
Died (aged 58)
Afghanistan
AllegianceUnited Kingdom
Service/branchEast India Company's Bengal Army
Years of service1804–42
RankLieutenant Colonel
(Brigadier General in the British Indian army)
Unit22nd, 44th and 57th Regiments Bengal Native Infantry
WarsShekhawati Campaign
First Anglo-Afghan War

Family Background

Thomas John Anquetil is recorded as being baptised at his parents’ home and later registered in Saint Helier, Jersey on 17 January 1785. His parents were Thomas Anquetil and Marie Poingdestre.[4]

Military career

In 1803 Anquetil is recorded in the 6th Class of Cadets in India as a cadet officer destined for the Bengal Native Infantry.[5] He served in the Mahratta campaign attached to the Light Brigade. He commanded the Pioneer Corps, the 22nd,[6] 44th and 57th Bengal Native Infantry Regiments. He was appointed Adjutant-General of General Robert Stevenson's force in the Shekhawati campaign of 1834 in the restive Rajputna Agency.[7] He was then appointed brigadier and commanded the Oudh Contingent. He went on to command Shah Shuja's army. He was killed in the retreat from Kabul at or near an ambush at Jagdalak on 12 January 1842.[8][9][10]

Memorials

Anquetil has no known grave; as with most of the fallen of his force their remains were scattered where they fell in the mountain passes of Afghanistan.[11] He is remembered in two churches: one in the Anglican parish church in St Helier, Jersey; the other in St John's Church in Kolkata, India.[12][13]

References
  1. Luscombe, Stephen. "The British Empire, Imperialism, Colonialism, Colonies". www.britishempire.co.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  2. "Brigadier General Thomas Anquetil - theislandwiki". www.theislandwiki.org. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  3. "The Retreat from Kabul: A Lesson from History – Prisoners of Eternity". www.prisonersofeternity.co.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  4. Jersey, Church of England Baptisms, Marriages, and Burials, 1540-1812
  5. The Asiatic Annual Register, Or, a View of the History of Hindustan and of the Politics, Commerce and Literature of Asia. Debrett. 1807. p. 140. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  6. The India Office and Burma Office List. 1821. p. 384. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  7. Bingley, A.H. (2011). Hand-book on Rajputs : history and origin, geographical distribution, religion, custom, and festivals (Reprint. ed.). New Delhi: Asian Educational Services. p. 90. ISBN 978-8120602045. Retrieved 24 January 2018.
  8. Dictionary of Indian Biography. 1906. pp. 14&15.
  9. Clark, F (1843). The India Office and Burma Office List. London: Wm H Allen. p. 246. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  10. "Retreat from Jugdulluk - FIBIwiki". wiki.fibis.org. FIBIS. Retrieved 22 January 2018.
  11. "Retreat from Jugdulluk - FIBIwiki". wiki.fibis.org. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  12. "BRIGADIER THOMAS JOHN ANQUETIL - War Memorials Online". www.warmemorialsonline.org.uk. Retrieved 21 January 2018.
  13. Holmes and Co, Calcutta (1851). The Bengal Obituary: Or, a Record to Perpetuate the Memory of Departed Worth: Being a Compilation of Tablets and Monumental Inscriptions from Various Parts of the Bengal and Agra Presidencies. To which is Added Biographical Sketches and Memoirs of Such as Have Pre-eminently Distinguished Themselves in the History of British India, Since the Formation of the European Settlement to the Present Time. Calcutta: J. Thomas. pp. 30& 31. Retrieved 21 January 2018.


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