Alexander Burnes

Captain Sir Alexander Burnes (16 May 1805 – 2 November 1841) was a British traveller and explorer who took part in The Great Game. He was nicknamed Bokhara Burnes for his role in establishing contact with and exploring Bukhara, which made his name. [David (2007), p. 15]

Early life

He was born in Montrose, Scotland, to the son of the local provost. [David (2007), p. 15] While serving in India in the army of the East India Company which he had joined at the age of sixteen, he learned Hindustani and Persian, and obtained an appointment as interpreter at Surat in 1822. Transferred to Cutch in 1826 as assistant to the political agent, he took an interest in the history and geography of north-western India and the adjacent countries, which had not yet been thoroughly explored by the British.

Exploration

His proposal in 1829 to undertake a journey of exploration through the valley of the Indus River was not carried out for political reasons; but in 1831 he was sent to Lahore with a present of horses from King William IV to Maharaja Ranjit Singh. The British claimed that the horses would not survive the overland journey, so they were allowed to transport the horses up the Indus and used the opportunity to secretly survey the river. In the following years, in company with Mohan Lal, his travels continued through Afghanistan across the Hindu Kush to Bukhara and Persia.

The narrative which he published on his visit to England in 1834 added immensely to contemporary knowledge of these countries, and was one of the most popular books of the time. The first edition earned the author £800, and his services were recognized not only by the Royal Geographical Society of London, but also by that of Paris. Soon after his return to India in 1835 he was appointed to the court of Sind to secure a treaty for the navigation of the Indus and in 1836 he undertook a political mission to Dost Mahommed Khan at Kabul.

First Afghan War

He advised Lord Auckland to support Dost Mahommed on the throne of Kabul, but the viceroy preferred to follow the opinion of Sir William Hay Macnaghten and reinstated Shah Shuja, thus leading to the disasters of the First Afghan War. On the restoration of Shah Shuja in 1839, Burnes became regular political agent at Kabul, [David (2007), p. 33] and remained there until his assassination in 1841, during the heat of an insurrection. The calmness with which he continued at his post long after the imminence of his danger was apparent, and the ferocity with which he fought after the murder of his political assistant Major William Broadfoot (killing six assailants in the process), [David (2007), p. 47] won him an heroic reputation.

It came to light in 1861 that some of Burnes' dispatches from Kabul in 1839 had been altered so as to convey opinions opposite to his, but Lord Palmerston refused after such a lapse of time to grant the inquiry demanded in the House of Commons. A narrative of his later labours was published in 1842 under the title of "Cabool".

He is commemorated in the name of the Rufous-vented Prinia "Prinia burnesii".

Publications

*"Travels into Bokhara. Being an account of a Journey from India to Cabool, Tartary and Persia. Also, narrative of a Voyage on the Indus from the Sea to Lahore" (London: John Murray) 1834 3 Vols.

*"On the Commerce of Shikarpur and Upper Scinde" "Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society" Vol. II 1836-8 (Bombay: American Mission Press) Reprinted 1844 pp315-9

*"Cabool. Being a Personal Narrative of a Journey to, and Residence in that City in the years 1836, 7, and 8" (London: John Murray) 1842 (Posthumous)

See also

* The Great Game
* Sir JW Kaye, "Lives of Indian Officers" (1889).
* "Flashman" - a novel featuring Burnes

Footnotes

References

*1911
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