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NEW RELEASES FOR JUNE 2026
20th ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION SERIES
THE LAST STAND AT GANDAMAK, 13th JANUARY 1842
The Battle of Gandamak on 13th January 1842 was a defeat of British forces by Afghan tribesmen in the 1842 retreat from Kabul of General Elphinstone’s army, during which the last survivors of the force, mainly of the 44th East Essex Regiment, were killed.
The surviving members of the army found themselves surrounded on a snowy hillock near the village of Gandamak. With only about 20 working muskets and two shots per weapon, the troops refused to surrender. A British sergeant is said to have cried “Not Bloody Likely!” when the Afghans tried to persuade the soldiers to surrender.
After a period of sniping followed by a series of rushes the hillock was overrun by the tribesmen.
An officer named Captain Thomas Alexander Souter was mistaken by the Afghans as a high ranking officer because they thought he was wearing a general’s yellow waistcoat. In fact the officer had wrapped the regimental colours of the 44th Foot around his body. He was dragged into captivity along with a sergeant named Fair and seven privates. The remaining troops were killed.
Traces of weapons and equipment from the battle could be seen in the 1970’s and as late as 2010. The bones of the dead still cover the hillside.
Bt.Capt. THOMAS C. COLLINS.
GAN-03
20th ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION SERIES,
THE LAST STAND AT GANDAMAK, 13th JANUARY 1842,
THE 44th (EAST ESSEX) REGIMENT OF FOOT,
Bt.Capt. THOMAS C. COLLINS. (#6)
PLEASE NOTE THE (#6) IS THE CORRESPONDING NUMBER ON THE DISPLAY BASE.
Out of those men who struggled through to that small windswept hill above the little village of Gandamak, there was an officer of the 44th by the name of Thomas C. Collins. He was perhaps, as indistinct as the hill itself, lost to history… a nameless figure in a Wollen painting, his only legacy an inscription on the wall of Mumbai’s Afghan Church.
Thomas Collins was born in Bristol in 1801. His father was a lieutenant and Adjutant of the 2nd Dragoon guards, which no doubt helped his son’s prospects, for at the age of eighteen he was commissioned into his father’s regiment as Cornet. Marriage and promotion came, but no children, and he soon found himself in India, perhaps to look over his younger brother who had gone east to join the 6th Madras Light Cavalry in 1828. This, of course, required a transfer into the 89th Regiment of Foot, recently returned from Burma and now in Madras.
His desire to stay in India was evidently strong, for when the 89th returned to England, he stayed and transferred to the ill-fated 44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot. He was promoted to Captain (unattached Company) in 1841, with the regiment in Kabul, but requested to stay with the 44th even though he could only remain as Lieutenant.
Soon the Kabul insurrection was upon them, and the 44th found itself in various skirmishes culminating in the sharp action on the Beymaru Heights. The subsequent rout contributed to the poor morale of the garrison and with winter upon them and supplies running out, the remnants of the Army of the Indus rode out, towards India and towards its end.
Brevet-Captain Collins, having survived the horrors of the Khord Kabul pass, was injured in his left arm at Kutter Sung on the 11th. He struggled through the infamous holly oak barrier at the Jagdalak Pass, only to meet his end at Gandamak alongside his brother officers and men.
His widow Emma petitioned the government for his pension. This was duly granted with the signature of the Colonel of the 44th, allowing her to live out her days in a little cottage near Norwich, saddened by the knowledge that her husband’s body would never see England again. Indeed, it would never leave Afghanistan, and would remain forever upon that windswept hill above Gandamak.
**PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL DEALER TO PLACE YOUR PRE-ORDERS**
20th ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION SERIES
THE LAST STAND AT GANDAMAK, 13th JANUARY 1842
The Battle of Gandamak on 13th January 1842 was a defeat of British forces by Afghan tribesmen in the 1842 retreat from Kabul of General Elphinstone’s army, during which the last survivors of the force, mainly of the 44th East Essex Regiment, were killed.
The surviving members of the army found themselves surrounded on a snowy hillock near the village of Gandamak. With only about 20 working muskets and two shots per weapon, the troops refused to surrender. A British sergeant is said to have cried “Not Bloody Likely!” when the Afghans tried to persuade the soldiers to surrender.
After a period of sniping followed by a series of rushes the hillock was overrun by the tribesmen.
An officer named Captain Thomas Alexander Souter was mistaken by the Afghans as a high ranking officer because they thought he was wearing a general’s yellow waistcoat. In fact the officer had wrapped the regimental colours of the 44th Foot around his body. He was dragged into captivity along with a sergeant named Fair and seven privates. The remaining troops were killed.
Traces of weapons and equipment from the battle could be seen in the 1970’s and as late as 2010. The bones of the dead still cover the hillside.
Bt.Capt. THOMAS C. COLLINS.
GAN-03
20th ANNIVERSARY LIMITED EDITION SERIES,
THE LAST STAND AT GANDAMAK, 13th JANUARY 1842,
THE 44th (EAST ESSEX) REGIMENT OF FOOT,
Bt.Capt. THOMAS C. COLLINS. (#6)
PLEASE NOTE THE (#6) IS THE CORRESPONDING NUMBER ON THE DISPLAY BASE.
Out of those men who struggled through to that small windswept hill above the little village of Gandamak, there was an officer of the 44th by the name of Thomas C. Collins. He was perhaps, as indistinct as the hill itself, lost to history… a nameless figure in a Wollen painting, his only legacy an inscription on the wall of Mumbai’s Afghan Church.
Thomas Collins was born in Bristol in 1801. His father was a lieutenant and Adjutant of the 2nd Dragoon guards, which no doubt helped his son’s prospects, for at the age of eighteen he was commissioned into his father’s regiment as Cornet. Marriage and promotion came, but no children, and he soon found himself in India, perhaps to look over his younger brother who had gone east to join the 6th Madras Light Cavalry in 1828. This, of course, required a transfer into the 89th Regiment of Foot, recently returned from Burma and now in Madras.
His desire to stay in India was evidently strong, for when the 89th returned to England, he stayed and transferred to the ill-fated 44th (East Essex) Regiment of Foot. He was promoted to Captain (unattached Company) in 1841, with the regiment in Kabul, but requested to stay with the 44th even though he could only remain as Lieutenant.
Soon the Kabul insurrection was upon them, and the 44th found itself in various skirmishes culminating in the sharp action on the Beymaru Heights. The subsequent rout contributed to the poor morale of the garrison and with winter upon them and supplies running out, the remnants of the Army of the Indus rode out, towards India and towards its end.
Brevet-Captain Collins, having survived the horrors of the Khord Kabul pass, was injured in his left arm at Kutter Sung on the 11th. He struggled through the infamous holly oak barrier at the Jagdalak Pass, only to meet his end at Gandamak alongside his brother officers and men.
His widow Emma petitioned the government for his pension. This was duly granted with the signature of the Colonel of the 44th, allowing her to live out her days in a little cottage near Norwich, saddened by the knowledge that her husband’s body would never see England again. Indeed, it would never leave Afghanistan, and would remain forever upon that windswept hill above Gandamak.
**PLEASE CONTACT YOUR LOCAL DEALER TO PLACE YOUR PRE-ORDERS**
