Eighteen Years in the Khyber I 879 1898

COLL R I B O even the manuscript of these pages could be made ready press by the the pen dropped for ever from the wearied hand which held it Mar vello s men al activity and a powerful will had helped to sustain the well knit but slender frame RO W through nearly th rty seven years of Indian service the latter hal of which was passed in the almost daily worry care and an iety inseparable from the guardianship of important post which had been intrusted to his charge that the famous and once dreaded Khyber Pass How well he ful lled that trust is on of cial record and will have lasting place in the history British rule in India These pages give in his own simple language the modest story during years of lonely exile duty done under many dif culties and often under many depressing in uences RO W never thought of riting a book until the idea was aroused in his mind by a kin y hint given by oyal Highness the P OF W L TO EDE who has graciously permitted this volume to dedicated to himself The ork was then com with R characteristic energy will but the insidious disease from which at times hehadsueredinIndiaandwhichbecame during the trying marches and labours the Tirah campaign had already begun fatal inroads and the end quickly came Returning from the East in full hope future employme t either in England or as he would have preferred it the Frontier again amongst the wild tribesmen who obeyed and loved him he came home onlytodie untimely fate brought to his widow many friends hom would desire to thank here their ex ressions condolence and their kindly efforts lighten the burden of her sorrow above all would humbly express her gratitude to that ugust Lady in whose service her husban died the E I who from her own widowed heart sent ords of tenderest sympathy to hers work is presented as the A T wrote it retaining own ethod arrangement as regards the Chapters and the spelling of Oriental names of men and places If the personal element has been ke t much in the background and little beyond records public o cial incidents are given of the lonely and trying life led by him amongst the wild men the Frontier the explanation is that R TO did not wish to write merely his reminiscences but of his practical work as Warden of the Khyber for nearly eighteen years He desired to give an account of that Stewardship Before he wasappointedtoitschargetheKhyberPasswas the most dangerous place on the Frontier India dreaded by even fghan traders and closed to all others The state of the relations between the Government India and the trans frontier tribes described in pril in a Minute by O LY then Viceroy and Governor General to the Secretary of State India as follows I believe that our North Western Frontier presents at this moment a spectacle unique in the world at lea t I I D C Y know no other spot where after twenty years peaceful occupation a great civilised Power has obtained so little inﬂuence over its semi savage neighbours and acquired so little knowledge of them that the country within a day s ride its most portant garrison Peshawar is an absolute and that there is absolutely no security for British life a mile or beyond our border From the date of his rst appointment on the Frontier LLW set himself to remedy this state things and during the hole period of his control of the Khyber that dreaded Pass was kept open for tra ic or travel without a single E ropean soldier or Se oy being stationed in it beyond Jamrud and when he gave over charge it was as safe a highway as any in India The causes which brought about the tribal rising in ugust and necessitated the Tirah campaign need not be referred to here beyond mentioning that it was LO L belief that no attack on the posts of the Khyber would have been success ful had his services been utilised at once immediately after he had ex ressed to the Govern ent his ness to return to duty in reply to the of cial telegr to which he refers in his chapter on The Khyber having been received and answered by him on ugust He had in the month June previous written to the Secretaries of Government that a strong ave of Mahom edan fanatici m passing over the Frontier and he INT OD CTO Y informed in reply that our political success in the in Swat and Dir has broken the back Mullah fanaticism ever Nevertheless when the storm burst in ugust and he was ready and most axioustoreturnto the Khyber stay the evil Mullah inﬂuence which he knew would be exerted here his services were not called for until ten days after he had tendered the of them It then too late ugust the Khyber posts were attacked and taken day not inaptly described shame and humiliation for the British bitterly the old Warden the Khyber felt that blow may be gathered from an extract from a private letter which he then wrote to afriendin England My mind is very heavy over this hideous saster which I feel could have been staved even up to thedayofmischief Itmakesmequite to think easily the labour of years a lifetime can be ruined and destroyed in a few days The hard work of the Tirah campaign which followedtheexposureandfatiguecoupledwith unceasing attack of dysentery may be said to have undermined his bodily strength and nally to have causedhis death but the loss the Khyber after faithful guardianship so many years preyed most heavily upon his mind It no exaggeration to say that it broke his heart CH P I A t rppi tt lrtill rytthd to hh C ti t rr si Dost h d Kh I s rr ti at C bl hstg s to h rd rsthr s d rs s p s rly d yshl ssri st lih z tt d yl till ry p st d to j b f th r s d th CH P II Y NN Fi iltr bl s r sfrrd to g ltf C rpsstd j b f trpi r sprt Ciss ri t xprisI vliddto l d i g t r I diith khs pp itd to j C issi ssist t C issi r at sh r CH P III I N C tt p is ig rs rd r CH P IV H Lif sh r ti sh tig hkig I tr d ti Mr ith r d CO TETS rd r j r d ld C ll F tlp l acci d t C ri s f tlityf ll i ri Kprs pr ph y ir siddlFr d rikM ks d ity sh r thi v s Dis pp r b d st rrsstl CH P AA iig Ys z i C rpsid s j b Kh ri f hist ry his rr Khslylty tr y p tr l fr ti r l d pr thr Ysfz i ziz Khsid idd sh r Vlly j b Khs tril d ti to d th x ti xp diti g ist k pri rpris p ish t thksvr t Ch r t risti s CH P VI K Y ith f hist r ty ss r issi ir YkbKhid rd r itiv xp ditiikl v gl d CH P VII T K Y liks Khyb r g bd ll r h ry tiv ssist t Fr btr tr g sMd r C pti Flfrd I pr vts Khyb r ir hi ris ki li g lik r ll CH P VIII K V I sl i Khhr tsto sh t Lit t vrr j bkig ir thr gh Khbr hks v r t O TTS CH P IX H N A tsts ithyb Kh isi gshi ris z is C bl d r his r CH P X K Y fridi vill g rsDisp sthir id s h ti g st p th r ir slph t I sp ti by L rd b rts Milit r s rvys sti t r s pply D rb r sh r L rd visit CH P XI T KK KNN AAI r y d try igh s ig C tt grph priss by First vi t rKrhi I r d lity ri dsMlik KhsK ll l k t i p ig ll try Khyb r Visit r ls Ch rls Dilk to L di K tl h kgp ty CH P XII N T Di lti s r d ki g KhsKpris r Li L di K tl hi rihildr L rd L sd Khyb rrd prdFighti ggst hi ris z tt d CH P XIII V N V ri r d D r ti tivhist ri sp Cr ti gir t r d r vi i di ri slts ybKh pris d light Khyb r Mliks ri f s d th H P X V IY tr ty pp siti s rvyprty dvt s pp r iv r il y rvy Dilytrib l isit rshhid i i at tt k C p x r is C d r Chi frt r st rrl rid thr h Khyb r ith t s rt ir z iid t r itish rs r d Khyb r i s d CH P XV A INANS ISIN K ki Khlf ti r i r i Khyd rKh rki bl d f d rd r irKhir hllhsI trig tr bl i Khsttk p ls rrtFr itl s d v rs to bt i rp ssist t Fid lity Khyb r liks ir s Visit rs pp i Ldi K tl L rd l isit Khyb r H P XVI A II bility t k l v to rp rr fridi fri ds D r d issi kb rKhs rd r v d Visit i l rr d r y r sl v r s pp it t Khyb r xtrrdi ry pr ltijr y C bl s rtthr hssL rd lgi s isit ltd lttrs CH P XVII F N A S KHY Chitr ltr bl s sr ll Kh rd rKh r ii h pr vtsthr ht Khyb r C pt i rts Visit Lkh rt pp r d ryD r ti issi ppr hi r tir t rp f rto t k pl d by l ti ti s r ti t CO T T CH P XVII K t ydithybrrid givihtC bhg yd b r h h tk hb sti pl pp idto ii l Lkh r t k D r i h id ith Kps r s r d C ld p ig Dth vlk Fith id rd r i s CH XIX TII ry L r lt tsF r Dt t L rditDi t d ti s v rk Fr tt srsbs ks r t rrs ix ith tr sb rd r lt Frrd l y j b i y F il r lttr st s Fr i r CH P XX T S K Y ivlrptt prs xpri sth ir l y tly ight y rslst I D X P T AIT WA T N F T A D LALA C NA LAC INT W ETW EN L M A D K AN G N M VI W T W DS P S AW S WING A CA T AD L ING D WN KHY PASS F O W LLS F T AS D VIEW CENT E T W S T MAS ID L T WA DS PES WA AND S G IDGE IDI VI LAG S ELW AS ID L N I K TAL E T WA T N LI T SLA K A OICES AND K L S M P IC ET VICT B ADD OCS S ITE A D PNCE L T VICT A D SS NG OICS K EILES P INCET VICT DC AT NG ATIOIC S K LES AT A D ILL TTO S P INCE L E T VICT SC T GE T WA T N LIE T LNEL SLA L DETS ISS E TS F EDE IC E TS AND PA T E T WA T N LIE T SLA K AN S A S K I LES I L S IDIS F T A D KHY AND S NDING CO N Y CPTERI FO going into any details of my own experiences a brief sketch of my father s military career and its icissitudes may not be uninteresting to the reader nor out of place here He of a family eleven sons and four daughters whose father Richard Warburton of near Portarlington was an easy going man who permitted his boys to have rather a free hand on the paternal estate all events if a strict supervision was kept over the elders some of the younger ones managed to do much as they pleased these my father Robert who was the ninth and his brother thur who was the tenth being near to one another in age took full advantage of the liberty allowed to them and accor ng to home trad tions told to me were comrades in many pranks encouraged by the tenantry amongst whom they used to live days together going from house to house

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