Hello Garen, I'm hoping you can help me with a search that so far has turned up nothing. My gg-uncle served in the second afghan war but I've drawn a blank on finding him anywhere. His name was Arthur Rowland Thomas O'Regan although he seemed to go by Roland O'Regan, born 1856 in Donington Woods, Shropshire. What I know is that he served in Afghanistan and participated in a march under severe conditions where the men were limited to 1 cup of water a day. I thought this was the Kabul-Kandahar march but none of the units fit with his subsequent service. On leaving India his unit shipped out on the HMS Jumna and when they arrived at Aden in Feb. 1884 were sent to Suakin in the Sudan to be part of Graham's relief of Tokar. I have a letter he wrote to his sisters in England dated Feb. 21st (presumably 1884) saying that they were headed to relieve Tokar in the Sudan with the 60th Rifles and the 2nd Brigade Royal Irish Fusiliers, so I presume he was not part of those units.
My first problem is to find his regiment and looking at the units in Afghanistan and the Sudan, I suspect it could be the 10th Hussars. Do you have a record of what units shipped on the HMS Jumna from Afghanistan (or India?) to return to England in Jan/Feb 1884? The other mystery is that he refers to getting "another medal" in his letter which suggests he received a medal in Afghanistan but his name doesn't appear on the medal rolls (at least not that I've been able to find). I would greatly appreciate any help in finding him in the records or suggestions of where best to look fo rhim. Tom
Hello Tom
I'd be interested in narrowing down dome of your info, if that's all right. I need to establish how you know he served in Afghanistan - from the info you've given ("one cup of water a day") it indicates a letter? Are you able to say when this was written? Are any place-names mentioned?
Can you give more context about the "other medal", eg. how it relates to Afghanistan?
My first thoughts about him being on a long dry march would be with Phayre's column from Quetta to Kandahar in August 1880 - but there were many other opportunities too.
Many thanks, best wishes - Garen