Second Anglo-Afghan War 1878-80

[nellie d]

Hi nellie,

You may already know this but in case you don't A Battery, 2nd Horse Brigade (later C Brigade RHA) was formerly the 1st Troop, 1st Brigade Bengal Horse Artillery. Following the Indian Mutiny in 1857 the British realised that it was unsafe to leave the native Indian armies in control of their own artillery.  So, with the exception of the mountain artillery, all the artillery assets of the 3 former Presidency Armies (Bengal, Madras and Bombay) of the HEIC were absorbed into the British Army. However at the time of the Second Anglo-Afghan War, a good proportion of the gunners in the battery would still have been Indians, although virtually all the officers and a smattering of the NCOs would have been British.

Thank you Andy. I am just getting started on my adventure into the 2nd Anglo Afghan war. Using a link on Garen Ewing’s site, to Families in British India, I have managed to establish that my gtgt grandfather was in fact, a driver with the RHA.

[ShaunJ]

Nellie D,

There were several soldiers named William Biggs in the RHA and more than one served on the NW Frontier in the late 1870s.  Your man had several service numbers (see below) but I don't think 6200 was one of them.

Luckily his service records have survived https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBM%2FWO97%2F2303%2F052%2F001&parentid=GBM%2FWO97%2F2303%2F145669

[nellie d]

Nellie D,

There were several soldiers named William Biggs in the RHA and more than one served on the NW Frontier in the late 1870s.  Your man had several service numbers (see below) but I don't think 6200 was one of them.

Luckily his service records have survived https://search.findmypast.co.uk/record?id=GBM%2FWO97%2F2303%2F052%2F001&parentid=GBM%2FWO97%2F2303%2F145669

Yes, that’s my man. I put in the wrong number in error. I blame ADHD. WhenI am excited about something I am dreadful at not checking before I click send 😬

[Andy J2022]

To be fair to Nellie, when I first read her post earlier this afternoon she had correctly said his number was 1699 because I remember parsing it as a date at first until I saw it was impossible.

My gt gt grandfather Bomb William Biggs 1699,

[Andy J2022]

His medical history looks typical for a European soldier serving in India, entry after entry for various local diseases and complaints like ague. He also went up and down the ranks a few times!

[nellie d]

His medical history looks typical for a European soldier serving in India, entry after entry for various local diseases and complaints like ague. He also went up and down the ranks a few times!

I am going to have to pay up for Find my Past aren’t I? Maybe an early Christmas present to myself 😂

[Garen]

Hello Garen.
I have been looking at you website with great interest.
My gt gt grandfather Bomb William Biggs 1699, was in A Battery, C Brigade of the RHA during the 2nd Anglo/Afghan War.
They were based at Peshawar, where my gt grandfather William was born.
It is an amazing piece of research that you have compiled and am looking forward to reading through the posts in this thread…I think it might take me a while.
Basically, I am trying to work out, which battles my gt gt grandfather’s brigade where involved in!

Hello Nellie

Thanks for your message (and the kind words :-))

To dive right in - A/C RHA did not serve in the Afghan campaign. Looking at the service paper of the William Biggs that ShaunJ kindly posted, it shows a detailed, interesting service, but no campaign medals.

Like many Royal Artillery men he moved around the batteries a bit, with his record mentioning L/A and B/F as well as A/C.

Just to confirm this is your William - he was born in Oxford and married Louisa Sybilla Hopgood in Southampton in October 1878. A daughter, Lilian Emily, was born in December. I see this Louisa does appear to be on the 1911 Oxford census with a son, William, b. Peshawar c.1881/82, so that would look like it's your William here (and I see them in 1891 too).

It would be worth looking to see when A/C RHA garrisoned Peshawar - Biggs is recorded on his papers being at Umballa Nov 1879 and Peshawar Dec 1880 (the Afghan conflict was officially over Sep 1880). A quick look at the Relief lists in the newspapers show A/C moving to Peshawar from Umballa at the end of 1880 and then from Peshawar to Sialkot in Jan 1882, so that fits.

A full and interesting history for William Biggs, but no Afghan war battles to mention, I'm afraid!

Best - Garen

[nellie d]

Thank you Garen.
That’s definitely my William Biggs.
I am very grateful to Andy for the images of my gt gt grandfather’s service records, just need to try and decipher them now 🤣

[nellie d]

Garen
That’s very interesting about Umballa as it’s not all that far from Sanawar.
I knew that my William and Louisa’s daughter, Lilian Emily, had died whilst they where in India, but it was only by following through some of the links in your page that I discovered she had died in Sanawar. Further investigation sent me in the direction of the Lawrence Military Asylum at Sanawar and from there to the Old Cemetery, where I believe she is buried.
I was saddened that she would have been so far from her parents, who, I assumed, would be in Peshawar, but now I can see that might not have been the case.
I am going to try and make a time line of his postings and then map them out for a better idea of his travels.