It is difficult for anyone to understand the reasoning behind the extraordinary attitude of the British towards Afghanistan; the Afghans must have found it impossible. While always protesting friendship, the British repeatedly invaded the country and shot at its inhabitants.

Although unable to subdue the proud, fiercely independent Afghans, they always feared that Russia or Persia would, and this frequently served as an excuse for meddling in Afghan affairs.' So wrote Byron Farwell in 'Queen Victoria's Little Wars' (1973). Both the First Afghan War 1839-42 and the Second in 1878-80 were examples of aggressive imperialism which achieved nothing, 'except for the glory won by the soldiers' in the face of ferocious fighters, hostile terrain and, all too often, terminal disease.

The present war in Afghanistan has led to a fair amount of interest in the memorial erected at Nottingham Castle following the Second Afghan War of 1878 -80. The Nottingham connection goes back to the middle of the 18th century. In 1755 the 59th Regiment of Foot was raised, recruiting in Nottinghamshire and Leicestershire. Originally they had crimson facings on their jackets but were ordered to replace them with white. Hence they were eventually known as the 'Lilywhites'.

They fought honourably in the Second Afghan War but shortly afterwards in 1881, the British Army was re-organised. Historic regiments, such as the 59th, became mere battalions. For some years, the 30th Regiment of Foot had shared the same Brigade Depot at Burnley with the 59th. So it seemed logical to the mandarins of Whitehall to change their names to the 1st and 2nd Battalions, East Lancashire Regiment.

Along with many others the 2nd Battalion was determined to retain as much as it could of its former identity. Although it was stationed at Dover and the Regimental Depot was at Burnley the Battalion deliberately chose to have a memorial for its dead of the Afghan War erected in the grounds of Nottingham Castle. The monument was unveiled on July 3rd 1884, exactly six years to the day since the Castle Museum and Art Gallery had been opened. The curator, G.H. Wallis, was one of the guests invited that day.

The monument, an obelisk of Irish granite, was made by William Jackson, an architect and sculptor with premises at 199 and 74 Mansfield Road Nottingham. It records the names of the 42 men of the 59th who fell in action or who died of wounds or disease during the Afghan campaign. Most of the deaths occurred in the summer of 1879 while the 59th was based at Kandahar, nineteen of them in July alone.

The monument bears the following information:

IN MEMORY OF
THE OFFICERS
NON-COMMISSIONED OFFICERS
AND PRIVATE SOLDIERS OF
H.M.'S 59TH. REGIMENT
WHO FELL IN ACTION OR DIED OF WOUNDS
OR DISEASE
DURING THE AFGHAN CAMPAIGNS
1878. 1879. 1880.
ERECTED BY THEIR COMRADES

There follows a list of eleven comrades who fell in action or died of wounds, and forty-one who died of disease. For each name there is rank, and place and date of death.

The dignitaries, led by the police, walked to the obelisk in procession. Next, playing a majestic march came the band of the 59th Foot. After local gentlemen came officers of the Robin Hood Volunteers, followed by a detachment of officers of the 59th led by Lieut. Colonel Lawson. With them was Euston Henry Sartorius V.C., now also a Lieut.Colonel, who had won that honour for his part in the action near Kalat-i-Ghilza in 1879.

In his speech, Lieut. Colonel Lawson said that, in his thirty years service with the 59th, he had been imbued with the idea of Nottingham being the 59th's town. The 59th had already presented its Colours to the town and the Chinese bell in the Arboretum. He regretted that the authorities had seen fit to cut the 59th's connection with Nottingham. Later, at the mayoral luncheon at the Exchange, the Mayor said the officers of the 59th told him how reluctant they were to part company with Nottingham; they wished to remain the 2nd Nottinghamshire Regiment, not the East Lancashires.

Apparently, General Eyre, the Colonel of the East Lancashire Regiment, had tried his utmost to retain the 59th's link with Nottinghamshire. This extract from a letter from the General met with applause: May this memorial so feelingly erected for the men of Lancashire and Nottinghamshire to the memory of their heroic sons of the "Old Notts" Regiment, may it tend to preserve and strengthen the bond of relationship and attachments, which, in old times, existed between the military classes in Nottingham and was proverbial in the 59th Regiment.

Actually the ties were less real in fact than in sentiment. The 'heroic sons of Old Notts' were more accurately the heroic sons of Ireland and Scotland. And Lieut. Colonel Lawson had to admit that he had never seen Nottingham before and had no idea what a splendid place it was. From what he had seen that day he thought it must be a very great pleasure for anyone to be associated with Nottingham.

Terry Fry