William Hay Macnaghten
Life
William was the second son of Sir Francis Macnaghten, Baronet, judge of the supreme courts of
He was created a baronet in 1840, and four months before his death was nominated to the governorship of
As a political agent at Kabul, he came into conflict with the military authorities and subsequently with his subordinate Sir Alexander Burnes. Macnaghten attempted to placate the Afghan chiefs with heavy subsidies, but when the drain on the Indian exchequer became too great, and the allowances were reduced, this policy precipitated a disastrous collapse in relations between the British and Afghans. Burnes was murdered on 2 November 1841; and under the elderly General William Elphinstone, who was also injured in a bad fall from his horse, the British army in Kabul degenerated into a leaderless mob.[3]
Macnaghten tried to save the situation by negotiating with the Afghan chiefs and, independently of them, with Dost Mahammad's son, Wazir Akbar Khan. At a meeting with Wazir Akbar Khan outside Kabul on 23 December 1841, Macnaghten presented Wazir Akbar Khan with a fine pair of pistols as a gesture of friendship and good faith. However, Wazir Akbar Khan murdered Macnaghten on the spot.[2] The exact circumstances of his death are unclear. Wazir Akbar Khan may have killed Macnaghten with one of the very pistols that he had just been gifted by Macnaghten, or Macnaghten may have been killed because he was resisting after being captured and it was feared he would break free. The former account is more likely to be true.[4]
The eviction of the British army soon became an inspirational story among the Afghans, with the disastrous retreat from Kabul and the
Works
Macnaghten produced one of the principal editions of the
Appearances in fiction
Macnaghten appears in the first volume of the Flashman Papers, being depicted as ambitious, arrogant and a megalomaniac.
He also appears in To Herat and Kabul by
References
- ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 264.
- ^ a b c Chisholm 1911, p. 265.
- ^ Chisholm 1911, pp. 264–265.
- ^ Hopkirk, Peter. The Great Game. p. 256.
- ^ The Alif Laila or, Book of the Thousand Nights and One Night, Commonly Known as 'The Arabian Nights' Entertainments', Now, for the First Time, Published Complete in the Original Arabic, from an Egyptian Manuscript Brought to India by the Late Major Turner Macan, ed. by W. H. Macnaghten, vol. 4 (Calcutta: Thacker, 1839–42).
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Macnaghten, Sir William Hay". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 17 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 264–265. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the
- Prior, Katherine (2004). "Macnaghten, Sir William Hay, baronet (1793–1841)". required.)