A rare Maiwand disaster survivor’s medal awarded to Sergeant Thomas Tyrrell, 66th Foot who, although wounded, was present from the start of the retreat through to the last stand in the walled garden and the subsequent travails back to Kandahar

Afghanistan 1878-80, 1 clasp, Kandahar (1598. Sergt. T. Tyrrell, 66th Foot.) nearly extremely fine £2000-2500

Thomas Tyrrell was born in Ireland around 1848. His father, also called Thomas was a butcher. He first appears in the record as being transferred from the Army Hospital Corps with a Regimental Number 1845 to the 47th Regiment Number 1119. In the 1st Quarter OF 1870 he transferred to the 66th Foot with Regimental Number 1598 and is listed as en-route to India. He served with the Regiment while it was stationed in Karachi and Belgaum, spending time on detachment to Hyderabad in 1873. On 24 February 1875 he returned to England for reasons unknown but was stationed at the Regimental Depot at Reading. On 10 August 1878 he married Annie Austridge at Reading.

On 7 April 1879 he returned to the Regiment in Karachi being listed as Corporal and was promoted to Sergeant on 11 June 1879.

On 27 July 1880 the 66th Regiment of Foot marched into action at Maiwand. The 66th came under fire just before midday but were not unduly affected and remained steady. However, by early afternoon the battle was turning in favour of the Afghan forces and, once Jacob's Rifles had faltered, retreat became inevitable.

Private 676 Richard Lodge, a Bandsman of the 66th Foot, who had been supplying ammunition to the front line wrote a personal account of his experiences of that fateful day:

“When the line was broken we were all mixed up together. Then Captain McMath of D Company formed a sort of square and a stand was made [This must have been just before the 66th began to retire back to the Mundabad Ravine]. I ran out under heavy fire and brought in a wounded officer, Lieutenant Honywood, and assisted Sergeant Tyrrell to come within the square. We kept on retreating and forming fresh squares until most of our men were killed.”

After the order to retreat from the last stand in the walled garden Private Lodge, in his personal account, wrote:

“We were instructed to make the best of our way back to Candahar. This was fifty-three miles away. For fourteen hours we had not been able to get a drop of water and the sufferings of the wounded were dreadful to witness. I helped Sergeant Tyrrell along until we found a stray camel which was not until after we had walked twenty miles. I cannot tell how any of us escaped at all. I lost everything I had in the world.”

Richard J. Stacpoole-Ryding wrote in his well researched and atmospheric book, Maiwand, the last stand of the 66th (Berkshire) in Afghanistan, 1880:

“Sergeant Tyrrell had been with Lodge since the start of the retreat off the battlefield and it appears that these two men had formed a friendship that was to help them survive the long and dangerous trek back to safety.”

Sergeant Tyrrell recovered from his wounds and was present at the battle of Kandahar on 1 September 1880, serving in the Field Reserve 1st Brigade under Colonel Daubeny.

On 19 January 1881, the 66th Foot marched out of Kandahar, bound for Bombay and England. Sergeant Tyrrell arrived in England and appears on the 1881 census taken at Parkhurst Barracks, Carisbrooke on the Isle of Wight. On 17 August 1881 his photograph was taken with the Sergeant-Major and all the members of the Sergeants' Mess at Osborne House after being presented to Her Majesty Queen Victoria.

Sergeant Thomas Tyrrell died on 23 February 1882, of Tuberculosis at Parkhurst Hospital and was interred in the Parkhurst Military Cemetery, aged just 34. Sold with a comprehensive file of research.