NAM.1993-02-70-1

Box, 1840 (c). Belonged to Sir William Hay MacNaghten, Bt, Special Envoy to Afghanistan. Associated with the Indian Army, and the Bengal Civil Service. Small, japanned tin box, now empty. Blue with yellow, red white flowers and green leaves on all sides and lid. Note on its provenance stuck to the inside of the lid. Associated with the 1st Afghan War (1838-1842). Sir William Hay MacNaghten (1793-1841) was the Governor General of India’s envoy to Kabul. Convinced that Russian intentions on Afghanistan and India were dangerously real, he believed it necessary to place Afghanistan under British tutelage. Following the occupation of Kabul MacNaghten was created a baronet, but he was murdered on 23 December 1841. He was shot by Akbar Khan, the son of the Emir Dost Mohammed who had been overthrown by the British. MacNaghten’s dismembered remains were left in Kabul when the British garrison evacuated in January 1842. After the campaign Sir William’s widow succeeded in retrieving his body for burial in Calcutta. The fact that she left this otherwise unremarkable box to be handed down through her family suggests it formed part of his possessions in Kabul.

1st Afghan War (1838-1842)