Afghanistan. A History from 1260 to the Present - Jonathan L. Lee (2018)

Name and
rank

Age Regiment/command in

1838

Military background; campaigns

Gen. Sir
Henry Fane

60 Commander­in­Chief,

India

1805–5: Peninsular and Napoleonic Wars

1835–9: Commander­in­Chief, Indian Army

1838: sick, awaiting replacement

Maj. Gen.
Sir John
Keane

57 Commander­in­Chief,

Army of the Indus

Commander, Bombay

Division

1809–14: Peninsular War
1814–15: Commander, 3rd Brigade at Battle
of New Orleans (a British defeat)
1831–2: Commander­in­Chief, West Indies;
Governor of Jamaica
1834: Commander­in­Chief, Bombay Army
1838: in ill health
Maj. Gen.
Sir
Willoughby
Cotton

55 Commander, Scots

Guards; Operational

Commander, Army

of Indus

Commander, Bengal

Division

1797 (aged 14): expelled from Rugby as a
ringleader of the Great Rebellion
1798: enlists as Ensign in 3rd Scots Guards
1805–15: Peninsular and Napoleonic
Wars; Commander, 3rd Guards Regiment,
Waterloo
1824–6: Commander, First Anglo­
Burmese War
1831–2: Commander­in­Chief, Baptist War,
Jamaica (a slave revolt)
1835: Lieutenant Governor of Plymouth
Maj. Gen.
(Sir)
William
Elphinstone

59 succeeded Cotton as

C­in­C of Army of Indus

1805–15: Peninsular and Napoleonic Wars

1815: Commander, 33rd Foot, Waterloo

Brig.
William
Nott

56 Commander, Bengal

Brigade and 42nd Bengal

Native Infantry

son of farmer, grammar school educated

1800: enlists as cadet in Bengal Regiment

1825: Commander, 20th Bengal Native

Infantry

Brig. John
Shelton

49 Commander,

44th Queen’s Foot

1841: appointed

Second­ in­Command to

Maj. Gen. Elphinstone

1805: enlists as Ensign, 9th (East Norfolk)
Foot
1808–9: Portugal Campaign
1809: Walcheren Expedition, Netherlands
1812–13: Peninsula War; lost right arm at
Siege of San Sebastian
1814: Montreal
1817: Commander, 44th (East Essex) Foot
1824–6: First Burmese War, siege of Ava
Col. Sir
Robert Sale

56 Commander, 13th

Queen’s Light Infantry

1839–41: Commander,

Bengal Infantry

Second­in­Command

to Maj. Gen. Cotton

1798–9: Mysore Wars

1808–9: Travancore

1810: Mauritius

1824–6: First Burmese War

table 8: Military Backgrounds of British Commanders

in the First Anglo-Afghan War