Captain (later Major-General) Bulstrode Bygrave (1802-1873), Bengal Army, Field Paymaster to the Army of the Indus, 1838 (c)

Oil on canvas, artist unknown, 1838 (c).

Commissioned into the 3rd Bengal Native Infantry in 1821, Bygrave served during the 1st Burma War (1823-1826), including the operations on the Sylhet Frontier and in the Arakan. After a series of staff appointments in India, the then Captain Bygrave was employed as Paymaster General in Afghanistan from 1838 until the end of the 1st Afghan War in 1842. He took part in the storming of Ghuznee on 23 July 1839 and the retreat from Kabul three years later. Bygrave was one of the few survivors of the massacre in the Gandamak Pass and was held hostage by the Afghans for several months afterwards.

After his release and recovery from wounds sustained during the retreat he continued as a paymaster until 1853 when he transferred to the newly raised 3rd Bengal European Regiment. Promoted Major in July 1848, and Brevet Colonel in November 1854, he eventually attained the rank of Major-General. On his retirement in December 1861 Bygrave returned to England, where he died on 9 October 1873.