Dr William Brydon died on the 20th March 1873, leaving behind a wife, four sons and four daughters.
Brydon was as assistant surgeon attached to the 44th Regiment of Foot, in the British Bengal Army. In March of 1839, the British East India Company, effectively in charge of colonial interests in central Asia, ordered the army through the Bolan Pass into Afghanistan, being concerned about approaches by the Afghan ruler, Dost Mohammad Khan, towards an alliance with Russia. The British viceroy, Lord Auckland, planned to install a pliable, pro-British ruler, Shuja Shah Durrani, in Dost Mohammad's place. Initially, the colonial forces saw events going to plan. Early confrontations saw them victorious over the Afghan tribes, and Dost Mohammad was supplanted and in exile. British soldiers held the major cities.
This state of affairs was only to last until 1841, however. The garrison in Kabul, where Brydon was stationed, included many wives and families who had come to join their husbands, signalling to the Afghans that this force was to stay in their capital indefinitely. They were not prepared to offer their country's hospitality, and the cantonment of the British was besieged. Led by Dost Mohammad's son, Akbar Khan, the natives killed the British Representatives and captured their stores, so that surrender was inevitable. The British comander, Major-General William Elphinstone, a model of military incompetence agreed to evacuate the garrison, on a promise of safe conduct to India. In total, about 16,500 British soldiers, Indian sepoys and camp followers set out from Kabul on the 6th January 1842, heading for the garrison of General Sale at Jalalabad.
The army marched foward at 9 o'clock in the morning, leaving the very sick and wounded in the care of some of their medical officers, although not Brydon, and some hostages in the care of Akbar Khan, in return for the guarantee of safety. As the last of the British left the gates of the cantonment, they were seen on their way by gunshots from the walls, and as they looked back, the forlorn travellers saw fires and smoke rising from the barracks they were leaving behind. They marched away from the signs of destruction, into the deep snow of the harsh Afghan winter. The conditions proved too much for many of the women and children attached to the camp, who succumbed to exposure on the very first day, and were lost.
On the following day, they reached Boot-Khak in an arduous journey, and much of the property that they had brought with them had to be abandoned. To make matters worse, they were harassed by the Afghans, losing a number of their guns. More artillery pieces were disabled and abandoned, being too heavy to haul through the snow in the face of fierce opposition. On the 8th January, the march took the army through the Khoord-Kabul pass. The local forces held the heights on both sides, and poured down continuous fire on the retreat beneath. The weather gained the upper hand on the 9th, and it proved too cold for the British to advance any further. Many of the non-combatants and the wounded were handed over to Akbar Khan in the hope that they would be delivered safely to Jalalabad.
The next day, the journey was continued, with the enemy pressing to the flanks and rear. By the time they reached Tezeen, most of the Indian sepoys, along with many British soldiers, had been lost to the cold and to fighting. Many more were captured. As night fell, they marched on, abandoning the guns of the Horse Artillery, as the cavalry moved to the vanguard. By morning, they had reached Kutta Sang, but they were vulnerable from the heights, and it was not deemed safe to halt, so they moved on to Jigdalak, still subjected to unrelenting attacks. More hostages were handed over here, and they remained at Jigdalak on the 12th January.
As the day ended, suspecting a trap, the British proceeded under cover of darkness. Not expecting this sudden movement, the Afghans had left the blockades that they had set in place unmanned, and the remnants of the retreating army passed through. However, they were heavily pressed from the rear as they advanced. Discipline finally failed. There were cries of "Halt" and "Hold back the cavalry!" but the mounted troops were gone, abandoning those behind them. As they reached the end of the pass, Brydon struggled to make his way to the front of the procession, as the leading group pulled away from the following party. By dawn, there was no sign of those behind them, and the remainder started to break up into smaller groups. Brydon was among a handful of officers who reached Fatehabad, several of whom were killed soon after. Others, who still had fit horses, fled, and Brydon was left with just one other officer, Lieutenant Steer. At last they approached Jalalabad. Three miles out, Steer told Brydon that he would hide until nightfall, and try to make his way to the garrison in darkness. Brydon went on alone, reaching his destination at 1 o'clock in the afternoon, part of his skull having been sheared away by an Afghan blade, with his horse dying beneath him. He had only been saved from a more severe wound by a copy of Blackwoods Magazine which he had folded up in his hat, to insulate himself from the cold, and which softened the blow. For a time Brydon was thought to be the only European survivor of the retreat of 16,500, although some other stragglers made their ways in as time went by. However, the image of this lone forlorn man was a serious message for the occupying army of the intent of the Afghan people.
The wounded doctor soon found himself in another siege, as the Afghans surrounded Jalalabad, intending to follow up their victory. This lasted for some five months, before the garrison commander General Sale rallied his troops. They counterattacked, and succeeded in routing Akbar Khan's troops. In retaliation for the massacre inflicted on the British retreat, Generals Pollock and Nott proceeded to reinvade Kabul, defeating the Afghans, and burning the great Bazaar.
Fifteen years later, Brydon found himself once more under siege. 1857 saw an uprising in India against colonial rule. There was great local resentment towards the way the British East India Company was behaving, showing no respect for Indian traditions and customs, and causing great offence in many areas of life. Rebellion broke out openly in May of that year, as Indian soldiers marched on Delhi. On the 30th May, the mutiny reached Lucknow, where Brydon was now stationed, but initially the British and the loyal Indian force repelled the attackers. Over the next few days, however, unrest broke out across the region, dissolving British authority, and the Residency at Lucknow was surrounded. The defenders managed to withstand all attacks, but their numbers were dwindling through violence and disease. The siege was temporarily relieved in September by a force from Cawnpore, but too few of the relief brigade remained to perform a full evacuation. The rebels rallied and enclosed the Residency again, but the defence had been strengthened by the new troops. At last, a much stronger force, reinforced by newly arrived soldiers, came to their aid in November, and succeeded in effecting an evacuation to Cawnpore. Brydon was among those to escape, although he had received a bullet in the leg during an attack.Following his return to Britain, Brydon retired from the army, and he repaired to Scotland, where he lived among his wife's family in peace at last.