The Second Afghanistan War Battle of Maiwand Casualty Afghanistan Medal 1878-1880, no clasp, awarded to Colour Sergeant Samuel Scadding, 66th Berkshire Regiment of Foot. Scadding is confirmed in action at the Battle of Maiwand on 27th July 1880 when his regiment lost both the Queen’s Colour and Regimental Colour. He was 1 of 4 Colour Sergeants killed in the Battle of Maiwand.
Afghanistan Medal 1878-1880, no clasp; (1340 CR. SGT. S. SCADDING. 66TH FOOT.)
Condition: Good Very Fine
Provenance: Lot 99, Brian Ritchie Collection, Dix Noonan Webb (now Noonans), 2nd March 2005.
Awarded to Colour Sergeant (No. 1340) Samual Scadding, 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot who was killed in action at the Battle of Maiwand on 27th July 1880, one of four Colour Sergeants killed in the Battle.
66th Berkshire Regiment of Foot was out on service in India from February 1870 onwards, and was there on the outbreak of the Second Afghanistan War.
On New Year's Day 1879 the 66th regiment arrived at Kurrachee and three companies (D, F, and G) proceeded by train to Hyderabad. The Commanding Officer, Lieutenant-Colonel d'Epinay Barclay, left Kurrachee en-route to England on the 10th November 1879, on completion of his five years' command. Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel Galbraith assumed command of the regiment on the 16th November 1879.
The regiment was soon placed under orders for service in South Afghanistan and proceeded to Sibi, en route to Kandahar. The companies of the regiment travelled by rail to Sibi on different dates and it came together on the 13th February 1880. The regiment (with the exception of D company) marched from Sibi, en route to Kandahar, via Quetta, arriving at its destination on the 25th of March 1880. D company, which was left as an escort for Royal Artillery, was subsequently selected for the sole charge from Sibi of a battery of smooth-bore guns, a present from the Government of India to Sirdar Shere Ali Khan, Governor of Kandahar. The guns having been conducted over the Kojak Pass without mishap were handed over to Sirdar Shere Ali Khan's men at Chaman.
A detachment, consisting of G and H companies, was sent to the citadel of Kandahar on the 29th March 1880. A detachment, consisting of A and E companies, left Kandahar, en-route for Khelat-i-Ghilzai on the 6th April in relief of two companies of the 59th Foot.
Early in July 1880 it was reported that Sirdar Mahomed Ayub Khan, Governor of Herat, was marching on Kandahar at the head of a powerful army. In consequence of this report Brigadier-General Burrows was ordered to proceed at once to Girishk to check Ayub's advance and accordingly he left Kandahar on the 5th July, with the 2nd Infantry Brigade, two regiments of native cavalry and a battery of horse artillery. The Headquarters and B, C, D, F, G and H companies of the 66th, under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Galbraith, formed part of Burrows' force.
Burrows marched as far as Kokeran on the 5th, and at 6 a.m. on the following day, tents were struck and the column pushed on towards the Argandab River and halted at Ashoulkhan. Atta Karez was the next halting place, and on the 8th the column encamped at Kushki Nakud. From here it proceeded to Mez Karez (a deserted town) and on the 10th arrived at the Helmund near to Girishk, which was on the opposite side of that river.
On the 14th Burrows received intelligence that Sirdar Shere Ali Khan's troops had mutinied, whereupon he marched against them with five companies of the 66th, three companies of the 80th native infantry, 400 cavalry and the horse-artillery; the remainder of the column being left to guard the camp.
The mutineers numbered between four and five thousand men and had with them the smooth-bore battery, which the Indian Government had presented to the Khan. Towards 10 a.m. they opened fire on Burrows' force, but the horse-artillery returned the fire with such good effect that in about an hour's time the mutineers had had enough and retired from their position, leaving two guns behind them. The cavalry and infantry pursued them and after killing a considerable number took the other four guns. Burrowes returned to his camp about 4 p.m., with the captured guns escorted by a party of the 66th. In this affair the regiment had four men wounded, one of whom later died.
On the 16th July, in consequence of the scarcity of supplies in the vicinity of the Helmund, Burrows returned to Kushki Nakud, where he encamped on the 18th. Here a telegram was received from his Excellency the Commander-in-Chief thanking the troops for their gallant behaviour and the capture of the Khan’s guns. On the 21st the column went into laager at Kushki Nakud, where there was an enclosure in which the field-hospital and commissariat stores were placed. At Kushki Nakud Burrowes’ force was strengthened by a troop of the 3rd Sind Horse and at the same time horses were provided for the captured battery, which was then manned by a detachment of the 66th.
On the afternoon of the 26th July information was received that the Afghan force under Sirdar Mahomed Ayub Khan was making for the Maiwand Pass a few miles away. Burrows decided to move early the following day to break-up the Afghan advance guard. At about 10 a.m. horsemen were seen and engaged, and the brigade started to deploy for battle. Burrows was not aware that it was Ayub's main force. The Afghans numbered 25,000 including Afghan regular troops and five batteries of artillery, including some very modern Armstrong guns. The Afghan guns gradually came into action and a three hour artillery duel ensued at an opening range of about 1,700 yards, during which the British captured smoothbore guns on the left expended their ammunition and withdrew to replenish it. This enabled the Afghans to force the left hand battalion back. The left flank comprising Indian infantry regiments gave way and rolled in a great wave to the right, the 66th Regiment, the backbone of defence, were swept away by the pressure of the Ghazi attack.
E Battery / B Brigade Royal Horse Artillery (Captain Slade commanding) and a half-company of Bombay Sappers and Miners under Lieutenant Henn (Royal Engineers) stood fast, covering the retreat of the entire British Brigade. E/B RHA kept firing until the last moment, two sections (four guns) limbering up when the Afghans were 15 yards away, but the third section (Lt Maclaine) was overrun. Maclaine was captured and held as a prisoner in Kandahar, where his body was found at Ayub Khan's tent during the British attack on 1 September, apparently murdered to prevent his liberation. The British guns captured during the action were also recovered at Kandahar.
E/B RHA came into action again some 400 yards back. The Sappers and Miners retreated as the guns withdrew. Henn and 14 of his men afterwards joined some remnants of the 66th Foot and Bombay Grenadiers in a small enclosure at a garden in the nearby village of Khig where a determined last stand was made. Though the Afghans shot them down one by one, they fired steadily until only eleven of their number were left, and the survivors then charged out into the masses of the enemy and perished
Of the 2,476 British and Indian troops engaged, the force lost 21 officers and 948 soldiers killed, and eight officers and 169 men were wounded: the Grenadiers lost 64% of their strength and the 66th lost 62%, including twelve officers, of those present. Oscar Pettit with the 66th was one of those who was killed at Maiwand.
Word of the disaster reached Kandahar the following day and a relief force was dispatched. This met the retreating force at Kokeran. The British had been routed at Maiwand, but managed a withdrawal due to their own efforts and the apathy of the Afghans.
The battle dampened morale for the British side, but was also partly a disappointment for Ayub Khan, Governor of Herat and commander of the Afghans in this battle, because he had lost so many men to gain a small advantage. Ayub Khan did manage to shut the British up in Kandahar, resulting in General Frederick Roberts's famous 314 mile relief march from Kabul to Kandahar in August 1880. The resulting Battle of Kandahar on 1 September was a decisive victory for the British.
The loss of the Queen's Colour and Regimental Colour of the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot at the Battle of Maiwand, following so soon upon the loss of the Colours of the 1st/24th (2nd Warwickshire) Regiment at the Battle of Isandlwana (22 January 1879) during the Anglo-Zulu War, resulted in colours no longer being taken on active service.