NAM.1972-06-36-2

Pack animal trunk, 1879 (c); wooden board construction, covered with stitched brown leather and lined with crimson leather; hinged lid is bound at the corners with strips of iron; the underside and bottom edge are covered with sheet metal; the leather is decorated with ornate stitching on the front; at the back are two heavy iron rings, attached by thick leather loops; fastened with a padlock impressed, ‘HOBBS & CO LONDON’; used to transport the baggage of the officers of the 67th (South Hampshire) during the 2nd Afghan War. This pack animal trunk belonged to the 67th (the South Hampshire) Regiment of Foot. Some of the 67th marched with Major-General Frederick Roberts from Kabul to Kandahar. The Controller General of Supply and Transport for the march observed: ‘The roads, frequently only narrow pathways, traversed a steep, ragged and barren country, and wound through defiles and over lofty mountain passes of a most formidable description. The only transport suitable, or even workable, was that comprised of pack-animals’. Despite the difficult terrain and the high temperatures Roberts’ men covered 280 miles (400km) in 20 days and hardly lost a man. On 1 September 1880 they defeated Ayub Khan outside Kandahar and relieved the besieged garrison.

2nd Afghan War (1878-1880)