The Brian Ritchie Collection of H.E.I.C. and British India Medals

The important group to Field-Marshal Sir Neville Bowles Chamberlain, G.C.B., G.C.S.I., Commander-in-Chief Madras Army, at least seven times wounded in his numerous battles and actions, described as the ‘bravest of the brave’ by Lord Gough, and ‘the very soul of chivalry’ by Sir Charles Napier




(a) The Most Honourable Order of the Bath (Military) G.C.B., sash badge in 18 carat gold and enamels, hallmarked London 1875; and silver breast star with appliqué centre in gold and enamels

(b) Ghuznee 1839 (Neville B. Chamberlain, En. 16th Regt. Grenrs.) reverse of the suspension bar fitted with gold pin for wearing

(c) Candahar Ghuznee Cabul 1842 (Neville B. Chamberlain, Lieut. 1st Cavalry, S.S.F.) fitted with wide scroll suspension

(d) Maharajpoor Star 1843 (Neville Bowles Chamberlain, Gov. Gen. Body Guard) with silver bar suspension fitted with gold pin for wearing

(e) Punjab 1848-49, 2 clasps, Chilianwala, Goojerat (Lieut. N. Chamberlain, Brig. Majr. Bengal Army)

(f) Indian Mutiny 1857-59, 1 clasp, Delhi (Brigr. Genl. N. B. Chamberlain)

(g) India General Service 1854-95, 2 clasps, North West Frontier, Umbeyla (Brig.-Genl. Sir N. B. Chamberlain, Comg. Punj. Irr. Force)

(h) Empress of India Medal 1877, gold, the edge inscribed (Lieut. General Sir Neville B. Chamberlain, GCB. GCSI. Commander-in-Chief Madras Army 1877) the campaign medals on original wearing bar as worn by the Field-Marshal, good very fine or better
£20000-25000

This lot was sold as part of a special collection, The Brian Ritchie Collection of H.E.I.C. and British India Medals.

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Neville Bowles Chamberlain was born at Rio de Janeiro on 10 January 1820. He was the second son of Sir Henry Chamberlain, the Consul-General and Chargé d’Affaires in Brazil, and his second wife, Anne Eugenia, the daughter of William Morgan of London. At the age of thirteen Chamberlain was nominated for a Cadetship at the Royal Military Academy at Woolwich, by Lord Beresford, with the intention that he should join the Engineers. But since he spent most of his probationary year brawling with the other Cadets it was deemed highly unlikely that he would pass the final examination and he was withdrawn from the R.M.A. He returned home in rebellious mood - threatening to join Sir De Lacy Evans’s Spanish Legion. His future, however, was settled when he was nominated for the Bengal Service by George Lyall on the recommendation of J. H. Buckle, and commissioned Ensign on 24 February 1837.

He arrived at Fort William in June of the latter year, and served briefly with the 12th N.I. at Barrackpore, the 52nd at Nusseerabad, and the 55th at Lucknow, prior to transferring on 28 August to the 16th N.I. at Delhi, which corps his brother Crawford (See Lot 94) was soon to join. It was no coincidence that the boys were placed together. The Commander-in-Chief in India, Sir Henry Fane, was an old friend of their father’s, and he had indicated a wish that they should be given the earliest chance of active service. The 16th N.I. was under orders for Afghanistan.

The 16th N.I. marched with the Bengal Column of the Army of the Indus and, on 26 April 1839, entered Candahar. On 21 July the Bengal and Bombay Columns under Sir John Keane arrived before the fortress of Ghuznee and came under fire from several walled gardens which surrounded the fort. The leading brigade was ordered to clear the gardens and this was swiftly completed, but one garden, inside an outwork, which enfiladed the river, still needed to be cleared. Accordingly the Light Companies of the 16th and 48th Native Infantry were sent forward and Chamberlain performed his first act of gallantry in the field. A matchlock ball struck Captain Graves, the commander of the 16th’s Light Company, ‘on the collar bone, which it smashed and glided down into the lungs’.

‘I immediately went to him’ Chamberlain wrote in a letter home, ‘and persuaded him to let me help him from the gardens to the regiment. We were now obliged to expose ourselves to the fire of the whole of the city walls, and seeing he was wounded they commenced shouting and firing, and whilst I was assisting him over a bank, another shot struck him in the back of the waist and went out at the back of the thigh-bone, carrying away his sword-belt. This disabled him from walking, so I laid him in a ditch where they could not touch him, and went for a dooley, but on arriving at the place I had left the regiment I found it had gone into camp, operations for the day being over. I got a dooley among one of the troops of H.A., and brought Graves safe away into camp.’

Following the capture of Ghuznee on the 23rd, the 16th N.I. was one of the regiments left behind to garrison the place when the main army moved on to Cabul. In the autumn of 1840, some of the sons of Dost Mohamed (including Shere Ali, the future Amir) were sent to Ghuznee as prisoners on parole and here the Chamberlain brothers came to know them well.

In June 1841, the 16th N.I. was relieved of its garrison duty by the 27th Native Infantry in which John Nicholson, a close associate of the future, was serving as a subaltern. They became firm friends on first sight, both sensing the British presence in Afghanistan was deeply resented.

On 25 August, the 16th N.I. reached Candahar and, on 8 November, commenced its march back to India; but the disturbances at Cabul resulted in its immediate recall to Candahar. In the meantime, Crawford had been unexpectedly appointed to the command of a regiment of the Shah Soojah’s cavalry, which had a severe effect on Neville’s personal finances since he saw it as his fraternal duty to assist in kitting out his brother. ‘I have not tasted a drop of wine or spirit since April, so as to reduce the amount of my mess bill’ he complained to his family at home, ‘I never accept an invitation to dine with another brother officer, as I should have to ask in return. Were I able to live without servants I would, but that I cannot do, or I should then lose the respect of the men of my company. I have got the name of Hermit from never seeing anyone, and of course I pretend that is my natural character; but you all know what a different nature mine is!’ ... ‘I hope my Prosser [a sword made by the well-known sword-maker of the day, Prosser] may arrive all safe, as I have given the only serviceable sword I had to Crawford, as the chances are he will require it more.’ However, before very long, Neville too was serving in the Shah Soojah’s 1st Cavalry, known as Christie’s Horse after its commander, Captain John Christie (Ritchie 1-56).



In December 1841, the Janbaz Regiments mutinied and went over to Dost Mahommed, the ex-Amir, who had returned from his so-called ‘captivity’ in Bokhara and was attempting to regain Afghanistan. On 27 December, Christie’s Horse went into action against the mutinous Janbaz, near Chuplanee, during which the Janbaz rebel Kilunter Khan, murderer of Lieutenant Golding, was cut down and killed. Seven men of the regiment won the 3rd Class Order of Merit for gallantry in this action, including Ressaldar Moolive Azim Ally who ‘killed several of the Janbaz and saved the life of Ensign (afterwards Field Marshal Sir) Neville Chamberlain, the acting Adjutant, by cutting down the horseman who was in the act of spearing that officer.’

‘I was mounted on a large Cape horse,’ Chamberlain wrote, ‘which had been lent to me, and which soon brought me alongside one of the rebels who had been in our service as a Janbaz. The horsemen of this country all carry guns, and are very expert in using them off horseback; however, as luck would have it, when I was just within sword distance of him, as he endeavoured to fire, his gun flashed in the pan, I closed with him and unhorsed him before he was able to draw his sword, and at that moment one of my men coming up finished the business by cutting off the rebel’s head with his own sword, and taking his horse and arms.’

On 12 January 1842, with the country in open revolt, General Nott, commanding at Candahar, was obliged to marche out with Shah Soojah’s 1st Cavalry (Christie’s Horse), 300 men of Skinner’s Horse, two troops of Horse Artillery, a 9-pound battery, H.M’s 40th Regiment, the 2nd, 16th, and 38th Regiments of Native Infantry, a wing of 42nd N.I., and Shah Soojah’s 5th Infantry, to confront a strong body of Afghans which had assembled on the river in the Urgundeh valley, about five miles west of the city. As the opposing forces drew level, Nott’s artillery opened fire with round shot and shrapnel, while the Afghans replied with their matchlocks. During the course of this exchange, a matchlock ball struck Chamberlain on the knee. So severe was the pain that at first he thought the ball had penetrated the joint. Finding himself still able to ride, he went to the rear and, dismounting to inspect the damage, duly fainted. Nevertheless, he came round in time to participate in the advance in which Nott’s infantry put the Afghan infantry to flight. The enemy cavalry, however, made a show of making a stand on the plain and were promptly attacked by Christie’s and Skinner’s Horse. Nott’s force returned to Candahar next day, when the seriousness of Chamberlain’s injury became rapidly apparent, and having gone to bed that night he found himself unable to leave it for a month afterwards.

By March, Chamberlain had sufficiently recovered to take part in an operation led by Colonel Wymer to protect the surrounding villages and procure forage. On leaving Candahar to escort some cattle grazing some three miles from the town, Wymer’s force was attacked, first on the left flank then on the right. Having repulsed the onslaught, Wymer ordered Chamberlain to take one of his three troops, of approximately forty-five men each, and attack an isolated body of some forty or fifty Afghan horse. Leading his troop away from the support of the main force, Chamberlain came upon a ravine which to his horror contained some 600 or 700 enemy cavalry collected around a red standard. The mass of the enemy swiftly advanced in support of their isolated friends and together bore down on Chamberlain’s troop. In spite of the daunting odds, Chamberlain’s party succeeded in killing the enemy standard-bearer and capturing his flag. But shortly afterwards, the majority of his men failed him and started to retreat. Chamberlain and his own standard-bearer with about half a dozen others attempted to rally them, while fighting for their lives. Having failed in their efforts to prevent the rout, Chamberlain, who at one point was forced to contend with three of the enemy at the same time, and his handful of loyal followers simultaneously concurred that there was no use in waiting to be slaughtered and joined the others in their headlong flight. By this time Chamberlain’s bridle-reins had been cut through and his right stirrup sliced off. He also received a cut on his left hand, which he afterwards correctly predicted would cost him the use of his little finger, a ‘scratch’ above his ankle and a further blow to his ‘game knee’. Furthermore his sword had been broken in two. On nearing the main force, which was coming forward to assist, Chamberlain’s troopers, less five killed and ten wounded, regained their resolve and charged the Afghan horse, who, in turn, fled from the field.

In mid May, General Nott despatched Wymer with a brigade to relieve the garrison at Kelat-i-Ghilzai which had been besieged since the destruction of Elphinstone’s army on the road from Cabul. Hearing that the Candahar garrison had been seriously weakened, the Afghan chiefs decided once more to mount an attack on the town and, collecting a considerable force, concentrated their troops at Baba Wallee. Nott immediately determined to take the offensive and, on 29 May, led out a small force, including Chamberlain’s three troops of Captain Christie’s Horse, to meet the enemy to the west of the town. Despite being heavily outnumbered, Nott managed to repulse the Afghans and Chamberlain took post in a village in order to cut off their retreat. In so doing his horse received a fatal gunshot wound and died two days later. Following up the enemy infantry shortly afterwards on another mount, he cornered two Ghazis in the Baba Wallee Pass and during the ensuing combat was stabbed in the thigh before being forced to make a hasty get away (London Gazette 6 September 1842). In consequence of the wounds sustained during this hectic period of operations, Chamberlain was granted a gratuity of twelve months pay.

In August 1842, Chamberlain marched with Nott’s force to Cabul and, on 26 September, set out with a force under General John McCaskill (Ritchie 2-32) for Kohistan in search of Akbar Khan’s followers who had been routed by General Pollock on the 13th in Tazeane Pass. On the 27th, Captain Bulstrode Bygrave (Ritchie 2-20), the last of Akbar’s prisoners, came into camp and told McCaskill that the enemy intended to make a stand at Istaliffe. McCaskill marched for the traditionally impregnable fortress of Istaliffe next day and attacked the town on the 28th. It contained the harems, valuables and merchandise of all the chiefs who had abandoned Cabul on hearing of Akbar Khan’s defeat at Tazeane. The Afghans realising that their cause was doomed put up a half hearted defence, preferring to save their families and valuables. The town soon fell into McCaskill’s hands and the place was given over to pillage and plunder ‘by men of all regiments and colours - British, Hindu, Mussulmans, Goorka.’ The scenes that Chamberlain witnessed made him ‘disgusted with myself, the world, and above all my cruel profession. In fact we are all but licensed assassins.’

On 12 October, the combined forces of Nott and Pollock left Cabul for India. The column was continually harassed by the Afghans as far as Peshawar, and, during the course of the homeward march, Chamberlain, who was with the rear guard, was twice more wounded - by a bullet in the spine on 16 October (London Gazette 23 November 1842), and by a bullet in the leg on 6 November (London Gazette 10 February 1843). He had been in Afghanistan for nearly four years and had been wounded six times. On reaching India, General Nott’s high praise of Chamberlain’s services resulted in his being selected to do duty with the Governor General’s Body Guard. This appointment did not however necessitate his removal from the rolls the 16th, in which he had been promoted Lieutenant in July 1842.

Chamberlain next took the field in the Gwalior Campaign and was present with the G.G’s B.G. at the battle of Maharajpoor fought on 29 December 1843. On that day, still weak from his old wounds, he had the misfortune to ride a ‘determined runaway’ which at one point carried him from the extreme right of the line of attack to the extreme left, taking him through some of the Mahratta infantry, who naturally let fly at him en passant. In February 1845, with the first Sikh War looming, he reluctantly left Calcutta for England in the hope of making a full recovery, but by the time of his return to India, in December 1846, he had still not regained the full use of his leg. He was then appointed Military Secretary to the Governor of Bombay till May 1848, and afterwards was employed for a few months by the Resident at Indore. On the outbreak of the second Sikh War, he immediately applied for active service and was appointed Brigade-Major of the 4th (Irregular) Cavalry Brigade with Sir Hugh Gough’s Army of the Punjab. Before crossing the Chenab, Gough needed to ascertain whether the enemy was still occupying its entrenchments on the far side of the river and called for a volunteer to swim across and reconnoitre. Chamberlain immediately stepped forward and set out with a few men of the 9th Lancers on this perilous mission, knowing that he would certainly be killed if the Sikhs were still there. As it turned out they had abandoned their positions and marched north. Chamberlain communicated their absence by waving his cap as a signal that the coast was clear. On his return, Gough hailed him as the ‘bravest of the brave’.

Moving up country in pursuit on 13 January 1849, the Army of the Punjab suddenly came upon the enemy drawn up in battle array behind the village of Chilianwalla. It being late in the day, Gough wanted to wait until the following morning before making his attack, and was on the point of ordering the army into camp when the Sikh artillery opened fire, heralding the commencement of a general action. On this occasion, Chamberlain’s brigade was left to protect the baggage, but both he and his brother, Crawford, who was present with the 9th Irregular Cavalry, managed to make their way to the front and helped to rally some of men of Pennycuik’s Brigade after they were driven back. In the British victory secured at Gujerat on 21 February, the 4th Irregular Cavalry was actively engaged, counter-charging the Sikh cavalry which repeatedly attempted to sweep round Gough’s flanks and attack the rear. At length, Gough’s infantry proceeded by a strong line of skirmishers and artillery, dislodged the Sikhs from three fiercely contested villages and drove them from the field with the loss of their camp, colours and fifty-three guns. Chamberlain then joined the vigorous fifteen mile pursuit completing the rout. After the battle John Hearsey (Ritchie 2-12), commanding a cavalry brigade on the British right, wrote in his report, ‘I feel much indebted to Lieutenant Neville Chamberlain, Brigade Major 4th Irregular Cavalry, for his assistance in the field during the forenoon, which I cannot too much appreciate, and for the example he set in several hand-to-hand affairs with a furious and exasperated enemy during the pursuit.’

In view of Chamberlain’s distinguished service, Gough promised him the command of a new regiment of irregular horse, but when such an appointment became available, Chamberlain turned it down on account of the insufficient pay offered to the men. In May 1849, he was appointed Assistant Adjutant General of the Sirhind Division, but unsuited to the lot of an ‘office wallah’, he applied for civil employment with the aim of obtaining an appointment in one of the new frontier districts.


On 1 November, he was advanced to the rank of Captain in his regiment and the following day was made Brevet-Major in recognition of his services on the staff at Goojerat. Armed with a stern letter from the Chief Commissioner of the Punjab, Sir John Lawrence, telling him to deal promptly with his judicial cases, to keep the peace by sound advice and to collect the revenues with the minimum interference in the affairs of the people, Chamberlain took up the post of Assistant Commissioner in the Rawal Pindi district in December 1849. Having satisfactorily carried out his duties there, he was next, in June 1850, transferred to Hazara, the most northerly of the frontier districts, under Major James Abbott. Though well acquainted with the border tribes from his Afghanistan experiences, Chamberlain continued his researches into their history and customs, happily devoting any spare time to the study of Pushtoo - ‘it is a great drawback’ he once said, ‘not being able to exchange thoughts as well as bullets with the enemy.’ In this direction he was aided by Captain J. Luther Vaughan (Ritchie 2-86), who produced a working grammar, and later frequently accompanied Chamberlain on tours of inspection as his interpreter.

In December 1850, Abbott was sent to survey the northern boundary, leaving Chamberlain in sole charge. He carried out his duties ably and on Abbott’s return was entrusted with the task of organizing the Military Police, a body of 10,000 men raised from the martial classes of his late enemies. In February 1851, he met the Governor-General, Lord Dalhousie, who was then making his second great tour of the Punjab. Chamberlain’s report on the Police was brought favourably to his attention, and as one of the measures to curb the growth of expenditure in the Punjab, he proposed to combine the duties of the head of the Military Police with those of the Military Secretary to the Board of Government at Lahore. Thus Chamberlain found himself occupying the latter post in early 1850. But ever disinclined to sedentary duties he attempted unsuccessfully to avoid filling the post by offering to exchange his better paid and more influential appointment with that of William Hodson who had just been given command of the Guides.

In March 1852, repeated violations of the 1824 Treaty of Rangoon seemed to offer the further prospect of service in the field and he wrote at once to the Governor-General’s Private Secretary, F. F. Courtenay, volunteering to join the expedition to Burma. Courtenay replied in no uncertain terms that in the Governor-General’s view to abandon his current post would not only be to the detriment of the Government but would also deny another soldier of his chance. Somewhat hurt by this rebuke, Chamberlain continued at Lahore until the autumn, when his health broke down from a recurrence of malarial fever, first contracted in Hazara in September 1850. Having obtained two years leave of absence on a medical certificate, he left for Calcutta, arriving there on 20 January 1853. Two days later, Dalhousie called him to an interview and promised him, if it remained in his gift, the command of the Punjab Irregular Force on his return from furlough. He was therefore obliged to spend his leave in the colonies rather than return to Europe. Under the rules of the day, in the colonies he would retain chance of commanding the P.I.F., could keep his staff pay and would not suffer loss of time of service for a pension. Accompanied by his bearer, Peer Bux, he accordingly sailed in the Queen for South Africa where he spent the next two years hunting lions north and south of the Vaal.

Chamberlain returned to India at the end of 1854 and was duly appointed to succeed General J. S. Hodgson (See Lot 56) in the post which Dalhousie had reserved for him. Though still a Captain in his regiment and just thirty-four years old, he was made Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel and given the local rank of Brigadier. His new command, consisting of 11,000 men raised and trained in the manner of Lumsden’s Corps of Guides, was responsible for guarding 700 miles of frontier. He was received at Kohat, on 7 February 1855, with an eleven gun salute, and soon commenced operations against recalcitrant hill tribes. In April, he led an expedition into the Miranzai Valley, and in August he moved against the Orakzais, for which he received the thanks of the Governor-General. He was compelled to revisit the Miranzai in the autumn of 1856, and was obliged, in 1857, to lead a large expedition into the Bozdar country, ‘which no European had visited’. He reduced their power in a sharp action involving infantry, artillery and to a lesser degree cavalry, on 6 March.

When news of the Great Sepoy Rebellion in Bengal reached the Punjab in May, Chamberlain was summoned from Kohat to a council of war at Peshawar, comprising Brigadier Sydney Cotton (Ritchie 2-41), the commander of the Peshawar forces, Herbert Edwardes, the Commissioner, and his deputy, John Nicholson, under the presidency of Major-General Thomas Reed (See Lot 65). They unanimously agreed on the formation of a Moveable Column at Jhelum composed of the elite of the available European infantry and artillery, the Corps of Guides, and reliable elements selected from various Punjabi and Gurkha units, to stamp out at the first any signs of insurrection wherever they may occur in the Punjab. Chamberlain was placed in command, and on 2 June, the column marched into Lahore. During the night Chamberlain’s staff officer, Lieutenant (later Field Marshal Lord) Frederick Sleigh Roberts (of Kandahar), was told by a spy that the 35th Native Infantry intended to mutiny at dawn and that some men had already loaded their muskets. Chamberlain was summoned and having informed the regiment’s British officers of the Sepoys’ intention, immediately ordered the men to fall in. Two Sepoys, whose weapons were found to be loaded were placed under arrest and, on Chamberlain’s instructions, were tried by a drum-head Court Martial composed of Native Officers. Drum-head Courts Martial, it should be said, were then supposed to be obsolete. The prisoners were found guilty and sentenced to death, being blown from guns that afternoon in the presence of the Moveable Column. Afterwards, Chamberlain addressed the 35th N.I.:

“Those men have been blown from guns, and not hung, because they were Brahmins, and I wish to save them from the Hangman’s touch, and thus prove to you that the British Government does not wish to injure your caste and religion. I call upon you to remember that each one of you has sworn to be obedient and faithful to your salt. Fulfil this sacred oath, and not a hair of head shall hurt. God forbid that I should have to take the life of another soldier; but, like you, I have sworn to be faithful, and do my duty, and I will fulfil my vow by blowing away every man guilty of sedition and mutiny, as I have done to-day. Listen to no evil counsel, but do your duty as good soldiers.”

Chamberlain did not remain long in command of the Moveable Column, which was gradually divested of troops for service before Delhi. On 11 June, he received a telegram offering him the Adjutant-Generalship of the army in succession to Colonel Chester, who had been killed in the action at Badli-ki-Serai. In spite of the onerous burden of the staff work, he eagerly accepted the post as he was anxious to be at the centre of events and duly handed his command to John Nicholson.

He arrived on Delhi Ridge on 24 June and assumed his duties which had been ably carried on since Chester’s death by Lieutenant Henry Norman (Ritchie 2-85). Chamberlain was welcomed into the British camp by William Hodson, among others, who thinking he might inculcate some generalship on the bleak situation, wrote, ‘He ought to be worth a thousand men to us.’ On 4 July, Sir Henry Barnard, the British commander before Delhi, died of cholera and was nominally succeeded by Major-General Reed who was incapacitated by continual sickness. Consequently the ‘chief labour of command’ fell on the Adjutant-General.

On 9 July a party of mutineers from the 8th Irregular Cavalry penetrated the rear of the British camp and, being mistaken for the supposedly loyal 9th Irregular Cavalry (Christie’s Horse), managed to take several men unawares before withdrawing. Meanwhile a large of body mutineers attacked the British right. Chamberlain, having obtained Reed’s permission, rushed to the scene and, leading a composite force, managed to repulse the onslaught with the help of Reid’s Gurkhas after two hours hard fight. ‘At times the shot flew fast and thick,’ he wrote to Crawford, ‘but it was not God’s will that I was to be hit, so I am all ready for the next occasion.’

This occurred on the 14th, when there was another hard-fought encounter. In the morning, the mutineers made a determined attack supported by artillery fire from the walls of the city. British forces remained on the defensive until the afternoon, when a column consisting of six horse artillery guns, H.M’s 101st Fusiliers, Coke’s Rifles, a few Guides Cavalry and Hodson’s Horse and the Kohat Risala, was formed to drive them back. Chamberlain joined the column and, on passing Hindoo Rao’s ridge, it was strengthened by Reid and some of his Gurkhas. Pushing on under a shower of grape, the column advanced until coming up a against a wall lined with the enemy. William Hodson in a letter to his wife described what happened next:, ‘Then Chamberlain, seeing that the men hesitated to advance, leaped his horse over the wall into the midst of the enemy, and dared the men to follow, which they did, but he got a ball in his shoulder.’ The severity of his wound was such that he passed the next few days ‘in a half state of stupefaction from morphia’, and thereafter was partially disabled, preventing him from taking any further active part in the siege. He did, however, help to stiffen the resolve of Reed’s successor, General Archdale Wilson, who at one point during the storming of the city on 14 September stunned his staff with talk of abandoning the foothold gained inside the city at such high cost. When told of Wilson’s inclination to retire, Nicholson, slowly dying in his tent from the wound he had received trying to capture the Lahore Gate, cried out in fury, “Thank God, I have the strength yet to shoot that man if necessary.” He then dictated a letter to Lawrence urging him, on his own authority, to dismiss ‘the poltroon’ and to appoint Chamberlain in his place. On 16 September, the Chief Engineer, Baird Smith, believing that Wilson had gone mad, persuaded Chamberlain to assume temporary command, allowing the General some urgently needed rest. Chamberlain was created a C.B. on 11 November, and was reappointed to the command of the Punjab Irregular Force on 27 November, in the rank of Brevet Colonel, and with the local rank of Brigadier-General.

July 1858, found Chamberlain at Murree, where, with Sir John Lawrence and Herbert Edwardes, he drew up a memorandum on the delicate subject of the reorganisation of the Indian Army. In early August, word reached Murree of an imminent crisis at Dera Ismail Khan. The Sikh soldiers of the garrison, emboldened by the thought that Punjabi troops appeared to be reconquering Hindustan for the British, had embarked on a conspiracy to murder the European officers, seize the fort and magazine, rearm the disarmed Hindustani corps located there, and then hoping they would be joined by other regiments across the Indus, proposed marching on Multan and Lahore, raising the disarmed corps and population in the hope of resurrecting the Sikh empire. Sharing Lawrence’s fear that these disaffected Punjabis should feel their own power, Chamberlain set out to grapple with the plot.

He was in a poor state of health, still suffering from an open wound. The temperature seldom fell below ninety-eight degrees, and against this background he successfully rooted out the ringleaders and brought them to trial before a military commission, for which he afterwards received the thanks of the Secretary of State. Operating under the constant threat of assassination, he was obliged to take every precaution - ‘I never go out unarmed, and at night my sword is alongside of me under the sheet, and my revolver on a chair by my side, and by way of extra precaution I have a Colt revolving rifle on my table. It is not a nice state of society to live in, when if one awakes and hears a noise, one puts one’s hand out to feel that the pistol is handy.’

As the Mutiny was gradually suppressed, Chamberlain once more returned to his duties on the Frontier. In October 1859, the barbarous murder of Captain Richard Mecham (the brother of Captain Clifford Mecham (See Lot 76) by a gang of Darwesh Khel Waziri maurauders caused Chamberlain to lead a punitive expedition, composed of entirely native troops, into the territory of the Cabul Khel Waziris who sheltered the murderers. Although only one of the murderers, Muhabbat, was delivered up, Chamberlain proved to the Cabul Khel Waziris that disciplined troops could traverse their mountains and punish them at will. Zingi, the leader, and the rest of the gang were never brought to justice, but Muhabbat was taken back to the scene of his crime and hanged. Two years later, the India General Service Medal was granted to all survivors of the troops engaged in this operation, as indeed it was for those who had participated in Chamberlain’s forays into the Miranzai Valley and the Bozdar country. On 11 April 1863, Chamberlain was made a Knight Commander of the Bath.

In the autumn of that year he was called on to lead the Yusafzai Field Force of 5,600 men against the Muslim fanatics in Sitana. Advancing up the Umbeyla Pass into the Chamla Valley, he encountered strong opposition and found that the Bunerwals and other tribes from the country between the Indus and Afghan frontier, not involved in the original dispute, intended to stand against him. His force was not sufficient to overcome such opposition and he took up a defensive position at the top of the Pass, reached on 20 October, and established outlying picquets, pending the arrival of reinforcements. These posts were continually assailed, being taken and recovered.

At 9:00 a.m. on the morning of 20 November, the tribes began to collect in great numbers near Crag Picquet (otherwise known as Kutlgar, ‘Place of Slaughter’) and opened a heavy matchlock fire. The Crag was held by 200 men from the 101st Fusiliers and the 20th Punjab Infantry under Captain Delafosse, one of the four European male survivors of the Cawnpore massacre, who had evidently recovered from the delusion which had afflicted him after his miraculous escape during the Mutiny, by which he believed he had inherited £30,000 and vast Scottish estates, to which he invited all who met him. By noon, Delafosse’s post was hard pressed and at about 3:00 pm he was ejected from the position. Down at the main camp, Chamberlain seeing that the post had been taken for the third time, immediately ordered the 71st Highlanders, the 5th Gurkhas and 5th Punjab Native Infantry to fall in. At the same time he directed Captains Griffin’s and Salt’s gunners to open fire on the Crag where the tribesmen were displaying their standards. Having instructed Colonel Luther Vaughan to advance with the Gurkhas and Punjabis on the post by a slight circuit, Chamberlain addressed the Highlanders, and stirred the ‘spirits of every man’, before placing himself at their head and commencing the perilous climb.


Under a storm of matchlock balls and a shower of stones, Chamberlain led the assault, directing and encouraging the men in their vital task. He was nearing the summit when a bullet hit him in the forearm, but regardless he continued to direct the counter-attack on the summit. At one point, with his right arm powerless, he was assailed by a fanatic who rushed at him with an edged weapon. Fortunately a Highlander intervened and, having deflected the blow with his rifle, discharged his firearm into the wild tribesman. After the successful recovery of the Crag, which all but broke the enemy’s will, Chamberlain tried to find the Highlander but without success. According to Crawford, who arrived a few days later, it was feared that ‘the brave fellow must have fallen later in the day.’ On that same day, the Governor-General, Lord Elgin, died and his Council decided to withdraw the expedition. Chamberlain protested and won, but his wound made it impossible for him to continue and he was succeeded by Major-General Gavrock who brought the Umbeyla campaign to a satisfactory conclusion in December. As soon as Chamberlain was fit enough to travel, he sailed for Europe and joined his mother and sisters at Versailles in July 1864.

He was promoted Major-General on 5 August, and created a Knight Commander of the Star of India on 24 May 1866. In 1869, at the Queen’s suggestion, he accompanied, Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh on his Indian tour. Further honours were swift to follow with his promotion to Lieutenant-General on 1 May 1872, and his advancement in the Order of the Star of India to become one of the eighteen British Knight Grand Commanders on 24 May 1873. On 29 May 1875, he was created a Knight Grand Cross of the Bath. He returned to India in February 1876 to take command of the Madras Army.

In 1878, with Russia’s aggressive policy towards Constantinople checked by the signing of the Treaty of Berlin, the Russians began to press once more in the direction of Afghanistan and the North West Frontier. In July, a Russian mission, under General Stoletov, appeared in Kabul, causing the Viceroy, Lord Lytton, to announce that a British mission would be sent likewise. Chamberlain, as an experienced Afghanistan hand and one who personally knew the Amir, Shere Ali, from the latter’s days in captivity back in 1840, was selected to go as Envoy. The mission, however, was halted at the frontier on the orders of Shere Ali, and there followed the British ultimatum, which Shere Ali ignored, and Lord Lytton, who had been gearing up for an invasion used the ‘unprovoked insult’ to declare war.

The military operations which followed quickly overwhelmed the Afghans, and Shere Ali fled north to Russian territory where, rather conveniently, he died. His son Yakub Khan was set up in his place and the Treaty of Gandamak signed on 26 May 1879, whereby the Afghans ceded military control over the passes and accepted British control of foreign policy with a British minister at Kabul.

Meanwhile, Chamberlain, now serving as the Military Member of the Council looked on, like many men trained in the Punjab school after Lord Lawrence’s tradition, with some concern. He did not wholly agree with the Gandamak Treaty and, in July, he communicated his opinions to Lytton who in the meantime had recommended him for a peerage. ‘I have lived sufficiently long on the frontier to know that a time does come when one feels the benefit of not being committed to a single outpost more than is indispensable for internal security.’ With regard to the peerage, he informed the Viceroy that he would have to decline any offer that might be forthcoming, ostensibly on the pretext that he possessed neither the ‘income or broad acres or any adjuncts’ which in his opinion were associated with the nobilty. He also took the opportunity to announce his ‘surprise’ and ‘disappointment’ that Crawford was not to receive a K.C.B. for his many services which he deemed superior to those of ‘many officers now wearing the decoration.’ Following the murder of Cavagnari and the second occupation of Kabul, he took an increasingly dim view of Lytton’s ‘Policy of Disintegration’ under which Kandahar was retained in 1880.

Chamberlain’s term of command of the Madras Army came to an end on 3 February 1881, and he bade farewell to India. He settled with his wife, Charlotte Cuyler, the sixth daughter of Major-General Sir William Reid, at Lordswood, near Southampton. In October 1887, he was made full General and placed on the unemployed supernumerary list in February 1886. Finally, on 25 April 1900, he reached the apogee of his profession and received his field-marshal’s baton. Sir Charles Napier called him ‘Coeur de Lion.’ He was ‘the very soul of chivalry’. Field Marshal Sir Neville Chamberlain died at Lordswood on 18 February 1902, and was laid to rest beside his wife at Rownhams in Hampshire.

Refs: Hodson Index (NAM); Dictionary of National Biography; Life of Field Marshal Sir Neville Chamberlain (Forrest); IOL L/MIL/10/31; The Gemini Generals (Wilkinson); Historical Records of the Governor General’s Body Guard (Hodson); My Service in the Indian Army and After (Vaughan).