Thomas John Anquetil
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Thomas John Anquetil | |
|---|---|
 Memorial in St Peter's Anglican Church (Fort William, Kolkata) | |
| Born | December 1784 Jersey, Channel Islands |
| Died | (aged 58) |
| Allegiance | United Kingdom |
| Branch | East India Company's Bengal Army |
| Years of service | 1804–42 |
| Rank | Lieutenant Colonel (Brigadier General in the British Indian army) |
| Unit | 22nd, 44th and 57th Regiments Bengal Native Infantry |
| Wars | Shekhawati Campaign First Anglo-Afghan War |
Brigadier General Thomas John Anquetil (1784 – 12 January 1842) was an officer of the British Indian Army who was the last senior officer to command the ill-fated Army of the Indus force as it retreated from Kabul in the First Anglo-Afghan War in 1842.[1] His superiors during the campaign were Generals Sir William Elphinstone and John Shelton. Elphinstone and Shelton were captured and interned by the Afghan rebels, Anquetil on the other hand would die fighting with his force in the mountain passes between Kabul and Jalalabad.[2][3] The British Army and East India Company would lose 4,500 men (mainly Indian soldiers) and 12,000 civilians (mainly Indian), massacred by Afghan tribesmen loyal to the rebel leader Wazir Akbar Khan. Anquetil was said to have died ‘fighting hand to hand with the enemy’ near Jugdulluk, close to the Kabul pass.
Thomas John Anquetil is recorded as being baptised at his parents’ home and later registered in Saint Helier, Jersey on 17 January 1785. His parents were Thomas Anquetil and Marie Poingdestre.[4]
