John Shelton (British Army officer)
British army officer / From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Colonel John Shelton (1790/91 – 13 May 1845) was an officer of the British Army who commanded the 44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot during the First Anglo-Afghan War and was second-in-command to Major General Sir William Elphinstone. He was one of only a small number of British soldiers to survive the disastrous 1842 retreat from Kabul, in which a British army column of 4,500 men and 12,000 civilians was massacred by Afghan tribesmen as it attempted to march to Jalalabad. He was widely disliked as a tyrannical and ineffective commander whose failures led to the annihilation of his regiment and whose accidental death was cheered by his men, but he also had a deserved reputation for great physical bravery.
John Shelton | |
---|---|
Born | 1790/91 |
Died | (aged 54) Dublin |
Buried | |
Allegiance | United Kingdom |
Service/ | British Army |
Years of service | 1805–45 |
Rank | Colonel (Major General in the British Indian army) |
Unit | 9th (East Norfolk) Regiment of Foot 44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot |
Wars | Peninsular War Walcheren Campaign War of 1812 First Anglo-Burmese War First Anglo-Afghan War |