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Open Research Online The Open University’s repository of research publications and other research outputs Reading between the lines, 1839-1939 : popular narratives of the Afghan frontier Thesis How to cite: Malhotra, Shane Gail (2013). Reading between the lines, 1839-1939 : popular narratives of the Afghan frontier. PhD thesis The Open University. For guidance on citations see FAQs. c 2013 The Author https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/ Version: Version of Record Link(s) to article on publisher’s website: http://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21954/ou.ro.0000d5b1 Copyright and Moral Rights for the articles on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. For more information on Open Research Online’s data policy on reuse of materials please consult the policies page. oro.open.ac.uk Title Page Name: Shane Gail Malhotra Affiliation: English Department, Faculty of Arts, The Open University Dissertation: 'Reading Between the Lines, 1839-1939: Popular Narratives of the Afghan Frontier' Degree: PhD, English Disclaimer 1: I hereby declare that the following thesis titled 'Reading Between the Lines, 1839-1939: Popular Narratives of the Afghan Frontier', is all my own work and no part of it has previously been submitted for a degree or other qualification to this or any other university or institution, nor has any material previously been published. Disclaimer 2: I hereby declare that the following thesis titled 'Reading Between the Lines, 1839-1939: Popular Narratives of the Afghan Frontier' is within the word limit for PhD theses as stipulated by the Research School and Arts Faculty, The Open University. Date: 18 September 2013 Signature: Acknowledgements For their generous financial support of my research and attendance at conferences, I would like to thank the following: the Crowther Fund, the English Department, and the Arts Faculty, all of the Open University; and the Society for the History of Authorship, Reading and Publishing (SHARP). For allowing access to the material under their care, I would like to thank staff, librarians, archivists and trustees of the following institutions: the British Library, London; Churchill Archives Centre, Churchill College, Cambridge; the Guildhall Library, London; Herefordshire Records Office, Hereford; the Houghton Library, Harvard University, Cambridge, USA; the Louis Round Wilson Special Collections Library, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA; the National Archives, Kew, London; the National Army Museum, London; the Betty Boothroyd Library, the Open University, Walton Hall; the National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh; and the Women's Library, London. For their generous assistance in helping me access ledgers, manuscripts and unpublished material, I want to thank the archivists of the following collections: the Asia, Pacific and Africa Collection (APAC), British Library, London; the Bentley archive, British Library, London; the Blackwood archive, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh; the Fawcett archive, the Women's Library, London; the Hodder and Stoughton archive, Guildhall Library, London; and the John Murray archive, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh. For their generous sharing of personal memoirs and unpublished family material, I would like to thank the Reverend Peter Gompertz and Professor Richard Sorabji. I would also like to thank my three supervisors, Dr Shafquat Towheed, Professor Robert Fraser, and Dr M. A. Katritzky, for their unfailing encouragement and patient guidance. The following academic colleagues have offered support, encouragement and the answers to my many questions, and I would like to thank them: Dr Rehana Ahmed, Dr Erica Brown, Dr Rosalind Crone, Dr Santanu Das, Dr Caroline Davis, Professor Simon Eliot, Professor David Finkelstein, Dr Simon Frost, Professor Ezra Greenspan, Dr Mary Grover, Dr Karl Hack, Dr Katie Halsey, Dr Mary Hammond, Dr Jack Harrington, Dr Sara Haslam, Professor C. Lyn Innes, Dr Edmund King, Dr Kate Macdonald, Dr Sumita Mukherjee, Dr Terri Mulholland, Professor Susheila Nasta, Professor Bob Owens, Dr Marian Petre, Dr Jane Potter, Professor Jonathan Rose, Dr Sydney Shep, Dr Florian Stadtler, Dr Alex Tickell, Vincent Trott, Dr Jonathan Wild, and the Sabre-Toothed Slugs, support network par excellence: Dr Sophie Bankes, Dr Helen Chambers, Claire Choroba, and Dr Pooja Sinha. Finally, special thanks to my husband, Bonny, for his good-humoured shouldering of domestic life, his willingness to let me follow my obsessions, and his unfailing belief that I would get there in the end. ii Reading Between the Lines, 1839-1939: Popular Narratives of the Afghan Frontier. Contents: Abbreviations 2 Inuoducnon 4 The Shape of War: The First Anglo-Afghan War, 1839-42 44 Chapter 1. 'Ifshe escapes she will publish everything': Lady Sale's Journal 45 Chapter 2. The Authorised Version: Sir John Kaye's History 92 A Time of Heroes: The Second Anglo-Afghan War, 1878-80 130 Chapter 3. 'My Dear Lads': Henty's Boy Heroes 131 Chapter 4. Kings of Kafiristan: Kipling's Border-Crossings 171 Empire's Sideshow: The Third Anglo-Afghan War, 1919 201 Chapter 5. On Active Service: Ganpat's Frontier Tales 202 Chapter 6. Writing in the Margins: Pennell's Literary Mission 248 Conclusion 281 Appendix 292 Bibliography 296 1 Abbreviations These abbreviations are first used in the respective chapters in which they form a substantial part of the discussion. The use of single words, as substitutes for book titles, are restricted to the key texts studied in this thesis. AP - Alice Pennell APAC - Asia, Pacific and Africa Collection, British Library, London Begum - Pennell's Begum's Son BL - British Library, London BM - Blackwood's Magazine BtA - Bentley archive, British Library, London BwA - Blackwood archive, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh Campaigns - Henty's Through Three Campaigns Children - Pennell's Children of the Border CMG - Civil and Military Gazette CR - Calcutta Review CS - Cornelia Sorabji CSI - Classified Subject Index to Calcutta Review 1844-1920 'Daughter' - Henty's 'Soldier's Daughter' Doorways - Pennell's Doorways of the East EE - Edward Eyre Engagements - Kaye's Long Engagements GP - Ganpat papers, British Library, London Herat - Henty's To Herat and Cabul History - Kaye's History of the War in Afghanistan 2 HSB - Henty Society Bulletin ILN - Illustrated London News Insurrection - Eyre's Kabul Insurrection JM - John Murray (publisher) JMA - John Murray archive, National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh Journal - Sale's Journal of the Disasters in Aflghanistan 'King' - Kipling's 'Man Who Would Be King' Kingdom - Elphinstone's Account of the Kingdom ofCaubul KJ - Kipling Journal Name - Henty's For Name and Fame NLS - National Library of Scotland, Edinburgh Operations - Eyre's Military Operations at Cabul Roads - Ganpat's Roads of Peace TLS - Times Literary Supplement 3 Introduction I have been walking, as it were, with a torch in my hand over a floor strewn thickly with gunpowder. There is the chance of an explosion at every step. I have been treading all along on dangerous ground. 1 This thesis is a study of British literary responses to three specific historical events that took place during a century of involvement on India's Afghan Frontier. Against the immediacy of press reports on military and political engagements, I trace the influence of these conflicts on authors and readers ofa variety of popular genres narrating Afghanistan. Some of these narratives were publishing sensations, some barely covered their costs; the work of some authors are read with enthusiasm today while others are almost unknown. I uncover material central to contextualising the work of these authors and the response of their readers, demonstrating the rise and fall in popularity of narratives on Afghanistan. Reading this trajectory ofliterary interest alongside the media attention greatly enhances our understanding of the impact of the three Anglo-Afghan Wars on the British imagination: an impact of relevance to any future study of literary responses to the Anglo-Afghan War in the twenty-first century. Reading the texts, the lives and the critical reception to the authors I have chosen for this thesis, I have, like their contemporary readers, followed their footsteps across the 'dangerous ground' ofliterary representations of Afghanistan. I John William Kaye, History of the War in Afghanistan: From the Unpublished Letters and Journals of Political and Military Officers employed in Afghanistan throughout the Entire Period of British Connexion with that Country, 2 vols (London: Bentley, 1851), I, p.vi. 4 The First Anglo-Afghan War (1839-1842) was the result of British attempts to control Afghanistan's responses to Russian overtures of friendship and Persian threats. Political and military misjudgements triggered an overwhelming British defeat and the need for a further campaign to rescue hostages and exact retribution on the Afghans. Competition between British or Russian influence over the Afghan court was also a central factor in the Second Anglo-Afghan War (1878-1880). After establishing British ascendancy through military force, the killing of the British Resident in Kabul a few months later led to a swift return of the army to avenge his death before withdrawing. Numerous military campaigns were waged against various tribal disturbances in the border regions in the intervening years, before the Third Anglo-Afghan War (1919), which took place at the same time as widespread unrest in India against the British presence. This brief war,