Major Eldred Pottinger CB (1811-1843), Bombay Artillery, 1840

Oil on canvas by Beechey after George Duncan Beechey (1789-1852), 1848.

Pottinger (1811-1843) joined the Bombay Artillery in 1827 and after several years of regimental duty transferred to the Political Service. He first visited Afghanistan in 1837 and helped Emir Dost Mohammed's army defend Herat from the Russian-backed Persians. For these services he was thanked by the Governor-General, Lord Auckland, and awarded the CB. During the 1st Afghan War (1839-1842) he served as a political officer at Herat. When the uprising against Shah Shuja broke out in November 1841, Pottinger took refuge with the 4th Gurkha (Light Infantry) of Shah Shujah's Force at Charikar. This unit was eventually destroyed and Pottinger escaped with a handful of survivors to Kabul. Soon after his arrival Sir William Macnaghten was murdered and Pottinger succeeded to his position as envoy to the Afghan court. After helping to negotiate the withdrawal of the British garrison to Jellalabad, Pottinger was held as a hostage by Akbar Khan, thus escaping the subsequent massacre. He was released in September 1842 when Major-General Sir George Pollock's Army of Retribution arrived in Kabul. Pottinger returned to India, but died a year later while visiting Hong Kong.

This painting is a copy by George Duncan Beechey's son and was made for Lieutenant R H Keating in 1848. The original by George Duncan Beechey of Lucknow was painted on Pottinger's return from Afghanistan in 1840. That canvas was thought to have been destroyed in Lucknow in 1857.