Auction: 4020 - Orders, Decorations, Campaign Medals & Militaria
Lot: 17
An Official Account of the Chitral Expedition 1895 A 94-page printed report, with some maps, and a further 101 pages of appendices, compiled by Captain W.R. Robertson DSO, 3rd Dragoon Guards, issued in Calcutta by the Office of the Superintendent of Government Printing, India, dated 1898 and stamped Serial Nº 9, cloth covers, a pocket in the end containing a map, Nº 1,492-I 98 showing the Chitral area Estimate £ 80-120 The defence of the fortress of Chitral, under the command of Captain Charles Townshend of the Central India Horse, during a 46-day siege, became a military epic. In World War I, Sir Charles Townshend, as a Major General, was responsible for the disastrous siege of Kut-al-Imara in Mesopotamia. Captain Robertson, the compiler of the report, was the future Field Marshal Lord Robertson who became CIGS during World War I. He had joined the 16th Lancers as a trooper, progressed meteorically through the ranks to RSM, and was commissioned into the 3rd Dragoon Guards before transferring to the Staff. He is remembered chiefly for his warning to General Smith-Dorrien that he was about to be relieved of his command, with the words "'Orace, you're for 'ome."
Sold for
£280