The Late Sir Alexander Burnes, Political Service

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

Captain Sir Alexander Burnes (1805-1841) was a soldier, explorer and political agent who played a leading role in the 'Great Game' on the frontiers of British India. Nicknamed 'Bokhara Burns' after exploring that country, he established political contacts with many south Asian rulers, including Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Accompanied by Mohan Lal, his faithful Kashmiri assistant, he journeyed far and wide across the Punjab, the North West Frontier, Sindh and Afghanistan.

On the eve of the 1st Afghan War (1839-1842), he advised the Governor General of India Lord Auckland to support Dost Mahommed on the throne of Kabul, but Auckland followed Sir William Hay Macnaghten's advice instead and reinstated Shah Shuja. Burnes accompanied the Army of the Indus into Afghanistan and he and Mohan Lal played an important role in the capture of the Ghazni fortress. He remained in Kabul as a political agent after most of the troops had left and was assassinated in 1841 when Muhammad Akbar Khan led a popular revolt against Shah Shuja and the British.

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).