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Auction: 24003 - Orders, Decorations and Medals
Lot: 232

'At 12:30 p.m., less than an hour after we had begun to retire, we reached the ground where the fight had taken place. The dead bodies of our officers and men, stripped and horribly mutilated, proved how fierce had been the struggle, and dropping shots which came from the fortified villages in the neighbourhood and from the ravines, warned the Brigadier-General that some of the enemy were still in the neighbourhood.'

Field Marshal Roberts describes the bloody aftermath of the Charge at Kila Kazi, Forty-One Years in India, refers

A 'Charge at Kila Kazi' casualty's Afghanistan Medal awarded to Private A. Doncaster, 9th Lancers, who was cut down during the famous action, his body being discovered several weeks later

Afghanistan 1878-80, 2 clasps, Charasia, Kabul (1475. Pte. A. Doncaster. 9th Lancers.), nearly extremely fine

One of only 18 men of the 9th Lancers present to be killed in the action.

87 Charasia clasps to the Regiment.

Arthur Doncaster was enlisted with the 9th Lancers at London on 16 September 1872 and saw home service for several years before being posted to India, arriving on 12 February 1875. The Regiment entered the Second Afghan War in December 1878 with 'A' Squadron being detached to join General Roberts' Peshawar Valley Field Force.

This Squadron took part in the Battle of Charasia on 6 October 1879, where the British drove a large Afghan army from the heights before Kabul. The cavalry was unleashed after the action and captured a number of Afghan guns, effectively ending any immediate resistance. After the Battle the rest of the 9th Lancers arrived, and A Squadron rejoined them for what proved an uncomfortable winter in Kabul.

The British settled down in Kabul after the Battle but soon found themselves virtually under siege as local warlords and religious leaders roused the countryside into a frenzy. Soon enormous bands of Ghazis were to be found in the nearby hills and repeated patrols and sorties were launched to disperse them.

Kila Kazi

One of these was led by General Massy who brought with him two Squadrons of the 9th Lancers and a small force of the Bengal Lancers as well as F/A Battery of the Royal Horse Artillery. They came into action at Kila Kazi on 11 December 1879 against a mass of Afghan warriors estimated at 9,000 - 10,000 men.

The horse artillery moved to engage them but found that the enemy moved far faster than expected over the rough ground and they were soon under threat of being overwhelmed. Roberts, seeing this, ordered a charge of his available cavalry to cover the guns as they withdrew, caused a little over 200 men to be launched full tilt into the teeth of the Afghan army.

The following action was well described by Trumpeter Charles Duly who took part in the charge, stating:

'All that limp feeling passed away however, when I was ordered to sound charge. I came to myself and close behind Captain McKenzie; we charged a good distance when the General's trumpeter sounded the "Recall". We rallied back and formed up again and we had another charge at them it was only to try to get the guns away. Three of the guns retired about two thousand yards back leaving one gun behind. It sounded the recall again, we rallied back to them and the even numbers with carbines dismounted and opened fire at them, but it did not do much good as there was something like ten thousand to about two hundred all told. We made another dash to try and save the guns, but it was no go. This made the third time we had charged the enemy. We had to retire leaving the guns behind us.'

The action saw Revered J. W. Adams win the Victoria Cross for rescuing fallen men of the 9th Lancers. The total losses came to 29 men and officers killed or wounded from the Regiment, after being forced to abandon the guns they withdrew to the Sherpur Cantonment.

Doncaster was killed during the fighting, likely in the bitter melee before the withdrawal. A Squadron of the 9th made an expedition to bury the bodies of the dead on 28 December 1879, discovering several men of the Artillery and Bengal Lancers, as well as one man of the 9th, that being Doncaster.

Sold together with copied research.

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Estimate
£1,000 to £1,400

Starting price
£800