From 'Portraits of the Kabul Prisoners"

This image is a lithograph reproduced from a collection of drawings “Portraits of the Kabul Prisoners” made by Lieutenant Vincent Eyre (1811-1881) while he and his family were prisoners of Akbar Khan in Kabul in 1842-43.

During the First Afghan War, in 1842, the British negotiated their retreat from Kabul. However, the retreat was poorly planned and Akbar Khan, the son of the deposed Afghan leader, and his forces killed thousands of British troops and claimed several British officers and their families as hostages, holding them for nine months. The incident has been described as one of the worst military disasters of the century. (1)

Lieutenant Vincent Eyre was among the officers held hostage. Eyre passed his time in confinement writing in his journal and drawing images of the jail and fellow captives, British officers dressed in Afghan clothing. Eyre secreted his drawings to friends.  In 1843, John Murray published the “The Portraits of the Kabul Prisoners” and Eyre’s journal titled “The Military Operations at Cabul, which ended in the retreat and destruction of the British army, January 1842.”

Lieutenant Eye returned to England and continued to serve in the British military. In 1867, he was honoured as a Knight Commander to the Order the Star of India.(2)

Upper Left image: Captain Anderson is featured in this portrait seated on the floor holding a hookah pipe. He is relaxed, barefoot on the floor with his gaze fixed on the viewer. He is wearing a turban, Afghan costume, and a full beard and moustache.

Upper Right Image: In this portrait of Lieutenant Waller, he is seated in profile facing left , reading in front of a window with closed shutters. Calmly seated on the floor, he is wearing a turban and Afghan clothing. He is well groomed, wearing a beard and moustache.

Bottom Left Image: In this portrait, Captain George Lawrence is seated and facing front, with his gaze to the right. He looks peaceful with his hands together resting on his lap. He is wearing a turban, Afghan clothing and shoes.  

Bottom Right Image: Captain Colin Mackenzie (1806 – 1881) served in the 48th Madras Native Infantry. He is seated, facing slightly to the right, his gaze directed at the viewer. He is relaxed, with his chin resting on his hand. He is wearing a turban, Afghan clothing and shoes. He is well-groomed and wears facial hair.

This lithograph was donated to the national collection by The Returned Soldiers Association (RSA), Wellington from the Estate of The Late Colonel W. B. Rhodes on 21 June 1917. It was nestled in a folio among nine lithographs by a different artist, Emily Eden, depicting Indian motifs. Eden’s work, titled Portraits of the Princes and People of India, is a collection of drawings of the people she met and things she saw when she accompanied her brother on his post as Governor General to India in 1836 – 1842.

Colonel Rhodes (1887 - 1915), born William Barnard Moorhouse, was a decorated British airman with ancestral ties to New Zealand. His mother, Mary Ann Moorhouse, was the daughter of kuai Otahui Tuhana (Ngati Tama, Taranaki/Tuturu, Ngati Ruanui, and Te Awa Māori) and one of the wealthiest women in New Zealand, having inherited vast land holdings and assets from her father, William Barnard Rhodes. Mary Ann Moorhouse moved to England with her husband and raised a family there. Her son, William, legally changed his surname to Rhodes to satisfy the requirements outlined in his grandfather's will. In 1915, he perished from injuries sustained in WWI combat. He was the first airman to receive the Victoria Cross, the highest honour for gallantry in the face of the enemy awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. 

Citations: 

1. "First Afghan War," The National Army Museum, London: National Army Museum,First Afghan War | National Army Museum (nam.ac.uk),Accessed 26 September 2024.

2. Wikisource contributors, "Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Eyre, Vincent,"　Wikisource,　https://en.wikisource.org/w/index.php?title=Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Eyre,_Vincent&oldid=10731564

Bibliography: