[BITList] Afghanistan, 1839

[John Feltham]

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Abbott, Sir  James  (1807-1896), army officer, third son of Henry Alexius Abbott of Blackheath, Kent, a retired Calcutta merchant, and his wife, Margaret, daughter of William Welsh, writer to the signet, of Edinburgh, was born on 12 March 1807. He was the brother of Augustus Abbott and Frederick Abbott. He was educated at a school in Elliott Place, Blackheath, kept by John Potticary, an Independent minister, and one of his schoolfellows was Benjamin Disraeli. Abbott was trained at Addiscombe College, near Croydon, from 1821 to 1823, and was commissioned second lieutenant in the Bengal artillery in June 1823.

Abbott arrived in India in December 1823. His first active service was at the second siege of Bharatpur, under Lord Combermere, in December 1825 and January 1826, when he served under his brother Augustus with the artillery, and took part in the assault and capture of the fortress on 18 January. For twelve years after the siege the Bengal artillery had no war service. Abbott was promoted lieutenant and appointed adjutant of the Sirhind division of artillery in September 1827. From October 1835 he was employed in the revenue survey of Gorakhpur until August 1836, when he was placed in charge of that of Bareilly, and was officially commended. In June 1838 he was promoted brevet captain.

In November 1838 Abbott joined the army of the Indus, under Sir John Keane, which invaded Afghanistan. He reached Kandahar in April 1839. In July he accompanied his friend Major Elliott D'Arcy Todd as assistant political officer on his mission to Herat. This resulted in Abbott's involvement in the difficult and dangerous 'Great Game', the struggle for influence and intelligence in central Asia between Russian and British agents, far from British seapower. British policy was to attempt to limit Russian expansion, in order to safeguard India. In 1839, partly in response to the British intervention in Afghanistan, Russia sent a military expedition against the khanate of Khiva, in Turkestan, ostensibly to free Russian slaves and end raids on caravans, but in fact to bring Khiva under Russian control. The ruler of Khiva, Allah Quli Khan, wrote to Todd requesting British artillerymen to help fight the Russians. Todd, because of the urgency of the situation and the slowness of communication with his superiors, had to act on his own initiative. Cautiously, he refused military aid and in December 1839 sent Abbott on a mission to Khiva to advise the khan to remove the pretext for Russian intervention by freeing the Russian slaves, and if there were already war between Russia and Khiva to offer mediation. In fact the Russian expedition failed disastrously in the exceptionally cold winter, and in February 1840 withdrew before reaching Khiva.

Abbott's task was not easy. He lacked diplomatic experience and knowledge of Khiva. He wrote that he went 'to a Court, of the language and manners of which I am utterly ignorant, and to accomplish that of which the most sanguine have no hope' (Kaye, History of the War, 1.519) and that he 'did not start upon his tour primed and prefaced'  (Abbott, 1.xi). He rode to Khiva where the Khivans, who had never seen an Englishman, initially suspected he might be a Russian agent. He wrote back recommending more British intervention in Turkestan, including military aid to Khiva. He failed to persuade the khan to free the Russian slaves. Exceeding his authority, he was persuaded by the khan to agree to a treaty providing for the establishment of a British agent at Khiva and British mediation between Khiva and Russia. Abbott decided to go to Russia to negotiate this mediation. He acted on his own initiative and forged documents to justify his journey to Russia. In March 1840 he left Khiva. In April his party was attacked and kidnapped by Kazakhs. His right hand was injured by a sword cut and he lost several fingers. Later, fearing retribution, the kidnappers freed him and his party. He reached Russian territory on the Caspian, and ultimately St Petersburg. His reception was cool and suspicious, and the Khivan terms he brought were rejected. He returned to England in August and received the thanks of Palmerston, the foreign secretary, for his conduct of the mission. In August 1841 he was promoted captain, and in 1843 was awarded a pension of £50 per annum for his injuries.

Despite his courage and initiative, Abbott's mission had failed. It was his successor at Khiva, Lieutenant Richmond Shakespear, who achieved the freeing of the slaves. Abbott, however, believed that his own mission had succeeded. In 1843 he published his version in his two-volume Narrative of a Journey from Heraut to Khiva, Moscow and St Petersburgh; in 1856 he published an enlarged edition. He claimed that his efforts had been crowned with the most signal success and that he had negotiated the release of the slaves, ending Russia's pretext for taking Khiva and so advancing closer to India. He also criticized central Asian slavery and debauchery and Russian militarism, and warned of future Russian aggression against India.

Abbott returned to India in September 1841, and was appointed second in command of the Merwara local battalion and assistant to Captain Dixon, the superintendent of Merwara. In 1842 he was appointed assistant to the resident at Indore, with charge of Nimar. In February 1844 he married Margaret Anne Harriet (d. 1845), daughter of John Hutchison Fergusson of Trochraigne, Ayrshire, and they had a daughter, Margaret H. A. Fergusson-Abbott. In 1845 he was appointed commissioner of Hazara. During his rule Hazara rose from desolation to prosperity. Abbott raised the whole population, and after many small actions retained control of the district and nearly all the forts. He trained the raw levies of the mountaineers, and though for several months cut off from communication with British troops, he occupied the Marquella Pass and held off superior Sikh and Afghan forces until the war ended in February 1849. He received the thanks of the governor-general and of both houses of parliament and was promoted brevet major in June 1849.

Abbott continued to rule in Hazara. In December 1852 he planned the operation and commanded a column of the successful Black Mountain expedition to punish the Hasanzais for the murder of two British tax officials. He left Hazara in 1853. Abbottabad, named after him, is a memorial of his achievement.

Abbott was promoted lieutenant-colonel in July 1857, then successively promoted, finally attaining the rank of general in October 1877, when he retired from the active list. On 24 October 1868 he married Anna Matilda (d. 1870), youngest daughter of Major Reymond de Montmorency of the Indian army, and they had a son, James Reymond de Montmorency Abbott. He was made a companion in the Order of the Bath in May 1873 and knighted (KCB) in May 1894. He died at Ellerslie in Ryde, Isle of Wight, on 6 October 1896.

Abbott was a brave soldier, a successful administrator, a pious evangelical, and an imaginative writer of romantic verse. Sir Henry Lawrence described him as 'of the stuff of the true knight-errant'  (Vibart, 372).

R. H. Vetch 

Roger T. Stearn 

Roger T. Stearn 

Sources  The Times (8 Oct 1896) + C. R. Low, The Afghan war, 1838-1842 (1879) + J. Abbott, Narrative of a journey from Heraut to Khiva, Moscow and St Petersburgh, 2nd edn, 2 vols. (1856) + M. E. Yapp, Strategies of British India: Britain, Iran and Afghanistan, 1798-1850 (1980) + F. W. Stubbs, ed., History of the organization, equipment, and war services of the regiment of Bengal artillery, 1 (1877) + H. M. Vibart, Addiscombe: its heroes and men of note (1894) + J. W. Kaye, History of the war in Afghanistan, 1 (1851) + J. W. Kaye, Lives of Indian officers, 2 (1867) + P. Hopkirk, The great game: on secret service in high Asia (1990) + m. cert. + d. cert.
Archives BL OIOC, corresp. and papers, MS Eur. F 171, MS Eur. C 210 225, MS Eur. E 277
Likenesses  B. Baldwin, watercolour drawing, 1841, NPG [see illus.]
Wealth at death  £2245 11s. 7d.: probate, 17 Dec 1896, CGPLA Eng. & Wales



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