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Remnants of an Army by Elizabeth Butler.

William Brydon CB (10 October 1811 – 20 March 1873) was an assistant surgeon in the British Army during the First Anglo-Afghan War and is famous for being the only (European) survivor of an army of 16,500 men.

He studied medicine at University College London and at the University of Edinburgh.

The British army began its retreat from Kabul in January 1842 following the killing of the two British representatives there. The nearest British garrison was in Jalalabad, 90 miles away, and the army would need to go through mountain passes with the January snow hindering them.

16,500 British and Indian soldiers, along with a few civilians, wives and children set out for Jalalabad on 6 January to chance their way out of the morass. The Afghan soldiers intercepted them and proceeded to massacre them during the next seven days. A small number of prisoners were taken and returned to the British at a later date. Many of the Indian soldiers and camp followers captured were enslaved and only few found their way home again. This was one of the very few comprehensive defeats that the British Army suffered in South Asia, and has become the stuff of legends. This also became the reason why the West still gives respect to the Pathans and Afghans for being a 'martial race'.^{[citation needed]}

On 13 January, Dr. Brydon rode, alone, up to the gates of Jalalabad. He became famous for being the only European survivor of the entire contingent to have escaped the Afghan guerrillas.^[1] Part of his skull had been sheared off by an Afghan sword. In fact, he survived only because he had stuffed a copy of Blackwood's Magazine into his hat to fight the intense cold weather. The magazine took most of the blow, saving the doctor's life.^[2]

The episode was made the subject of a famous painting by the Victorian artist, Lady Elizabeth Butler, who portrayed Dr. Brydon hobbling to the gates of the Jalalabad fort perched on his dying horse.^[3] The painting is titled Remnants of an Army.

In 1857, he was a regimental doctor at Lucknow and survived his second siege, that of the Lucknow residency (June – November 1857), being badly wounded in the thigh at one stage. His wife published a memoir of the siege.

• Claire E. J. Herrick, "Brydon, William (1811–1873)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, Sept 2004; online edn, May 2006 accessed 26 Aug 2006

"Military Blunders: The How and Why of Military Failure" by Saul David

• An article about William Brydon's report of the massacre
• The first Anglo-Afghan War : Dr Brydon's report of the english defeat

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