Captain J Airey, 3rd (The East Kent) Regiment of Foot (The Buffs), 1842

Coloured lithograph after Lieutenant Vincent Eyre, Bengal Artillery, 1842 (c).

James Talbot Airey (1812-1898) joined the British Army in 1830. In 1841 he accompanied Major-General Elphinstone, the newly appointed commander of the Kabul garrison, to the Afghan capital as his ADC. Following the uprising against Shah Shuja and the British, Airey was taken hostage by Akbar Khan on 21 December 1841. After several months captivity, he was eventually released in September 1842 when Major-General Sir George Pollock's Army of Retribution arrived in Kabul. He later served during the Gwalior campaign of 1843, taking part in the Battle of Punniar (29 December 1843). Airey then served during the Crimean War (1854-1856) as Assistant Quarter-Master General of the Light Division and was made a Companion of the Bath for his services. Promoted to colonel in 1859, he was appointed lieutenant-general and made a Knight Commander of the Bath (KCB) in 1877. He eventually retired with the rank of general in 1881.

From 'Portraits of the Kabul Prisoners', a set of pre-publication coloured lithographs later published by John Murray in 1843.

The artist's original drawings were made during his captivity in Afghanistan after the Retreat from Kabul during the 1st Afghan War (1838-1842).