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Home / People / William George Keith Elphinstone

Historical person

William George Keith Elphinstone

1782–1842

William George Keith Elphinstone was a British army officer who commanded the Kabul garrison during the First Anglo-Afghan War. William George Keith Elphinstone is generally dated to 1782–1842.

Elderly and indecisive, he failed to control negotiations and the retreat of January 1842, which ended in the destruction or capture of most of the column. William George Keith Elphinstone was born in Scotland and died in Afghanistan.

George MacDonald Fraser’s Flashman places General William Elphinstone in command of the doomed Kabul garrison, portraying the indecision and collapsing authority that precede the catastrophic retreat of January 1842. William Dalrymple’s Return of a King reconstructs the same command from British, Afghan, Persian and Indian evidence, showing how Elphinstone’s ill health, divided leadership and failure to respond decisively to the uprising contributed to the destruction of the retreating force.

Series

Historical novels and book series featuring William George Keith Elphinstone (1 series)

The Flashman Papers in Order

by George MacDonald Fraser 12 books 4.2(80,547)

The Flashman Papers present the supposed memoirs of Sir Harry Paget Flashman, the bully expelled from Rugby School in Tom Brown’s School Days who becomes a decorated Victorian soldier despite being a coward, liar, opportunist and sexual predator. George MacDonald Fraser places this fictional witness inside documented nineteenth-century…

All books in this series

Non Fiction

Non Fiction featuring William George Keith Elphinstone (1 book)

Biographies, histories and other non-fiction are listed separately from the historical novels above.