Soldier Sahibs

Charles Allen published a book on the ‘men who made the North West frontier’ around 10 years ago, covering the lives of a half dozen cadets of Henry Lawrence in the middle years of the 19th century and they operated across the Punjab and Afghanistan. One of them, Neville Chamberlain, reflecting on an encounter near Peshawar, is quoted in the book as having diarised “I turned round and said to an officer, ‘These fellows do not fire badly’. And true enough for the moment afterwards I was struck (in the thigh). The ball struck me so hard that my friend answered, ‘You are hit old fellow’, but I needed not to be told to make me aware of it.” Lt Chamberlain was no doubt very grateful to be working alongside such a splendidly observant fellow.