Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Nott, William
NOTT, Sir WILLIAM (1782–1845), major-general, commander of the army of Kandahar, second son of Charles Nott of Shobdon in Herefordshire, by his wife, a Miss Bailey of Seething, near Loddon in Norfolk, was born near Neath, Glamorganshire, on 20 Jan. 1782. His forefathers had for many generations been yeomen. At a school in Neath, where his father rented a farm, and afterwards at the grammar school at Cowbridge, Nott received an indifferent elementary education. In 1794 his father removed to the town of Carmarthen, became the proprietor of the Ivy Bush inn, and entered on the business of a mail contractor. He also retained a large farm, in the working of which he was assisted by his sons.
In 1798 Nott was enrolled in a volunteer corps formed in Carmarthen, and this led him to aspire to a commission in the army. A Bengal cadetship was obtained for him, and he embarked in 1800 for Calcutta in the East Indiaman Kent. After much hardship, consequent upon the capture of the Kent by a French privateer and the transference of the passengers to a small Arab vessel, Nott finally reached Calcutta; and on 28 Aug. 1800 he was appointed an ensign, and posted to the Bengal European regiment at Barhampúr. He was soon afterwards transferred to the 20th native infantry, and on 21 Feb. 1801 he was promoted lieutenant.
In 1804 Nott was selected to command a detachment forming part of an expedition under Captain Hayes of the Bombay marine against the tribes on the west coast of Sumatra. He distinguished himself in the capture of Moko. For a supposed breach of discipline, Captain Robertson, who commanded the Lord Castlereagh, in which Nott sailed, placed him under arrest and in strict confinement for four months. Robertson was a merchant captain who had been raised to the command of a 50-gun ship, and was quite unacquainted with military duty. On reaching Calcutta Nott demanded a court-martial, which was granted, and he was honourably acquitted; while Captain Robertson, by the orders of the Marquis Wellesley, was censured and admonished.
On 5 Oct. 1805 Nott married, and for some years led the quiet life of a soldier in cantonments. On 1 March 1811 he was appointed superintendent of native pensions and paymaster of family pensions at Barrackpúr. He was promoted captain-lieutenant on 15 June 1814, and captain on 16 Dec. following.
In December 1822 Nott visited England with his wife and daughters, his sons having already gone home for their education. He stayed during his furlough at Job's Well, Carmarthen. He was promoted major in 1823, and regimental lieutenant-colonel on 2 Oct. 1824, upon the augmentation of the army. On 25 Nov. 1825 he returned to Calcutta and took command of his regiment, the 20th native infantry, at Barrackpúr. Nott was every inch a soldier, and, although he had been so long employed in a merely semi-military berth, he brought his regiment into so complete a state of efficiency and discipline that demand was made for his services to effect similar results in other regiments. He was first transferred to the command of the 43rd native infantry, and afterwards to that of the 16th grenadiers, from which he was again transferred to the 71st native infantry at Mhow in Malwa. He then exchanged into the 38th native infantry at Benares, and on 1 Dec. 1829 he was promoted to be colonel in the army.
Upon the outbreak of the first Afghan war in 1838, Nott was transferred to the command of the 42nd native infantry, with a view to being placed in command of a brigade on active service. On 28 June 1838 he was promoted major-general, and in September was appointed a brigadier-general of the second class, to command the second brigade first division of the army of the Indus. The following month his wife died suddenly at Delhi. Nott was overwhelmed with grief. He sent his family to England, and proceeded to the rendezvous at Karnál in a state of the greatest depression.
After the arrival of the troops at Ferozpúr Nott was, on 4 Dec., appointed temporarily to command the division of Sir Willoughby Cotton, who had succeeded Sir Henry Fane in the command of the Bengal troops. The Bengal column moved on 12 Dec. along the Satlaj towards the Indus, and thence by the Bolan Pass to Quetta. On 5 April 1839 Sir John Keane [see Keane, John, first Lord Keane] and the Bombay column joined the Bengal force at Quetta, and Keane took command of the army. Nott resumed his brigade command, and, much to his regret and in spite of his protestations, he was left with his brigade at Quetta in order to allow queen's officers, although junior to himself as generals, to go on to Kabul. He was ordered to exercise general superintendence and military control within the province of Shál. The force at Quetta was gradually strengthened, and by the beginning of July 1839 Nott had with him four regiments of infantry, a few troops of cavalry and horse artillery, and a company of European artillery, with a complement of engineers and sappers and miners.
On 15 Oct. Nott was ordered to command the troops at Quetta and Kandahar. Under instructions from Keane, he advanced with half his brigade to Kandahar, where he arrived on 13 Nov. In April 1840, under orders from Cotton, who had now succeeded Keane in chief command, Nott sent an expedition, under Captain W. Anderson, against the Ghilzais, who had assembled in considerable force in the neighbourhood of Kalát-i-Ghilzai, with the view of cutting the communication between Kandahar and Kabul. The expedition was successful, and the Ghilzais were defeated at Tazi. Cotton further sent a force from Kabul to meet Nott, and under his orders to endeavour to prevent any concentration of Ghilzais and to destroy the forts on the route. This was successfully accomplished, and the rebel chiefs either submitted or fled to the hills, and Nott remained in camp at Húlan Robart settling the country.
In July Nott left Captain Woodburn with a small force at Húlan Robart, and himself returned to Kandahar with the main body. On the way he learned that Kalát was in rebellion. He at once proceeded to put the defences of Kandahar and Quetta in as good a state as he could; and on 9 Sept., in obedience to orders from Kabul, moved from Kandahar to Quetta, and on 25 Oct. arrived at Mastung. He then marched on Kalát; but, on his approach, the enemy evacuated the fortress, and Nott entered it on 3 Nov. 1840. Having placed Colonel Stacey in political charge at Kalát, Nott returned to Quetta, and on 18 Nov. marched to Kandahar. He received the thanks of parliament and of the East India Company for his services.
On 18 Feb. 1841 Major Rawlinson, the political agent at Kandahar, reported to Nott that political relations had been broken off with the Herat government. It was necessary to crush the rebellion in Zamín Dáwar, and despatch a force to the Halmand, to cooperate with the garrison of Girishk and to prevent Akhtar Khan from marching on Kandahar. Nott drew in troops from the Quetta district to Kandahar and sent a force to Girishk. Akhtar Khan submitted.
On 28 June 1841 Nott was appointed to command the second infantry brigade in Afghanistan. Successful expeditions were sent out by Nott in June to Girishk, and in July to Sikandarabad, on the right bank of the Halmand. In September he himself commanded a force against the refractory chiefs of Zamín Dáwar, Tirín, and Derawat, and, having brought the chiefs to a sense of their duty, returned to Kandahar on 1 Nov. On 8 Nov. 1841, in obedience to instructions from headquarters, he sent Maclaren's brigade back to India; but they had not proceeded far when tidings came from Kabul of the rising of the Afghans there. Nott recalled Maclaren's brigade, and, in obedience to orders received from Major-general Elphinstone, who had succeeded Cotton in command of the force in Afghanistan in the previous March, sent the brigade towards Kabul. Nott called in all the troops left at Derawat and Nish, and those encamped at Zamín Dáwar. He strengthened the post at Girishk, and took precautions against any rising in and about Kandahar. Maclaren's brigade was soon compelled to return to Kandahar on account of the severity of the weather.
On 13 Jan. 1842 the command was conferred upon Nott of all troops in Lower Afghanistan and Sind, as well as the control of the political officers in those countries. On 12 Jan. 1842 Safter Jang, Atta Muhammad, and others advanced within a short distance of Kandahar. Nott moved out of the city with five and a half regiments of infantry, the Shah's 1st cavalry, a party of Skinner's horse, and sixteen guns. After a march of four hours over a rough country he came in sight of the enemy, some fifteen thousand strong, drawn up in a formidable position on the right bank of the Argand-áb, with a morass on their flank, which made it difficult to get at them. Nott crossed the river and opened fire with his artillery, and in twenty minutes dispersed the enemy, who, owing to the protection afforded by the position, were enabled to effect a retreat with small loss. After this affair the camp of the Duranis became the nucleus of rebellion.
On 31 Jan. 1842 Nott heard of the murder of Macnaghten at Kabul. In February he was solicitous for the safety of Kalát-i-Ghilzai and the citadel of Ghazni. The enemy had captured the city of Ghazni in December 1841, and driven the garrison into the citadel. On 21 Feb. 1842 orders came to Kandahar from General Elphinstone at Kabul that the troops at Kandahar and Kalát-i-Ghilzai were to return to India. Nott decided that, Elphinstone having written under coercion, the Kabul convention was not binding on the officer in command at Kandahar, and that he would remain where he was, pending definite instructions from Calcutta. Sale, at Jalalabad, had received a similar letter from Kabul, and had replied in the same spirit. News of the fate of Elphinstone's army retiring from Kabul reached Nott immediately after, and he at once wrote to the government of India, pressing upon it the necessity of holding on both at Jalalabad and Kandahar with a view to advancing later upon Kabul and punishing the murderers of Macnaghten. He added that he would not himself budge without express instructions to do so. Nott now ordered all Afghans in Kandahar, some six thousand in number, to leave the city, and posted up a proclamation on 27 Feb. denouncing Safter Jang and his Durani followers. In the beginning of March the enemy, twelve thousand strong, having approached Kandahar, Nott marched out on the 7th with a strong column, drove them across the Tarnak and Argand-áb rivers, and dispersed them, his want of cavalry alone saving the main body from destruction. But when Nott was some thirty miles from Kandahar the enemy made a flank march with a strong detachment upon Kandahar. Endeavouring to storm the city, they obtained possession of one of the gates; but they were repulsed with great loss by the troops in garrison, under Major Lane, on 11 March 1842.
On 15 March Colonel Palmer was compelled to make terms at Ghazni. Treachery followed, and, while many of his force were killed and many sepoys made slaves, he and some of the officers were eventually carried off by the Afghans as prisoners to Bamian. On 22 March Major-general (afterwards Sir) Richard England [q. v.] arrived with reinforcements at Quetta. He moved from Quetta on the 28th, and, meeting with a reverse at Haikalzai, had to fall back again on Quetta. Nott was deeply concerned for the loss of Ghazni and the repulse of General England. But he was without money to pay his troops—four months' arrears of pay were due—and he was destitute of medicine and ammunition. Consequently he could not move. He sent stringent orders to England to bring his force at once to Kandahar by the Kojak Pass, and he sent a brigade of infantry, with horse artillery and cavalry, to the northern end of the pass, to insure the safety of the pass. England joined him in Kandahar early in May. Lord Ellenborough [see Law, Edward, Earl of Ellenborough], the new governor-general, who had arrived in February, was at first in favour of a policy of retreat. He appointed Pollock to the chief command of the army in Afghanistan, and directed him to relieve Sale at Jalalabad. At the same time he corresponded freely with Nott, whom he allowed to maintain his position.
While a large force had been despatched by Nott to withdraw the garrison of Kalát-i-Ghilzai, Akhtar Khan, the Zamín Dáwar chief, assembled three thousand men and joined the force under Safter Jang and Atta Mohammed on the right bank of the Argand-áb. Nott moved out with a part of his force, leaving General England to protect Kandahar. He found the enemy on 29 May in possession of the Baba Wali Pass and the roads leading to the camp. He attacked them vigorously, carried all their positions in gallant style, and drove them in confusion and with great loss across the Argand-áb river. The governor-general, in an official despatch dated 25 June 1842, sent him hearty congratulations.
On 22 July Nott received from the governor-general orders to withdraw from Afghanistan, with the permission to do so either by the Quetta route or round by Ghazni, Kabul, and Jalalabad. Nott did not hesitate. He determined to march with a small, compact, and well-tried force upon Ghazni and Kabul, and to send General England back to India by Quetta and Sakhar. General Pollock at once communicated with Nott, and it was arranged that they should meet at Kabul. On learning Nott's decision, Lord Ellenborough threw himself into the forward movement, and did all he could to assist it. He directed Nott to bring away from Ghazni the club and mace of Mahmúd of Ghazni and the gates of the temple of Somnát.
By the end of July Nott had completed his preparations. He transferred the Sind command to General England, and saw him start with his column for India on 8 Aug. Nott then moved slowly away from Kandahar by short marches, as he desired to give General England a fair start while he was within reach. On 30 Aug., as Nott approached within forty miles of Ghazni, Shamsh-ud-dín, the Afghan governor, met him at Kárabágh, near Ghoain, with twelve thousand men. After a short but spirited contest Nott completely defeated the enemy, capturing their guns, tents, and ammunition, and dispersing them in every direction. Darkness alone prevented the complete destruction of the enemy's infantry. Shamsh-ud-dín fled to Ghazni.
On 5 Sept. Nott was before Ghazni, and during the night commenced the construction of batteries on the hill to the north-east; but at daylight on the 6th it was found that the Afghans had evacuated the city, the walls and gates of which, with its citadel, were destroyed so far as the means available and two days' time would permit. Between three and four hundred sepoys, who had been sold into slavery when Palmer capitulated in March, were recovered. Nott removed the gates of Somnát from the tomb of Sultan Mahmúd, but the club and shield could not be found. A general order dated 30 Sept. conveyed to Nott and his troops the thanks of the governor-general for their services.
Nott continued his march towards Kabul, and as he approached Beni-Badám and Maidán, he found Shamsh-ud-dín, Sultan Jan, and other Afghan chiefs, with an army of twelve thousand men, occupying a succession of strong mountain positions directly on his road. On 14 and 15 Sept. Nott's troops dislodged them, and they dispersed. Communications between Nott and Pollock were frequent and continuous. Pollock reached Kabul first, and when Nott arrived on 17 Sept. the British flag was flying from the heights of the Bala Hissar. Nott encamped a few miles from the city. The combined army remained at Kabul until 12 Oct., when it marched for India by way of Jalalabab. At Gandamak Nott received a letter from Lord Ellenborough transmitting a copy of the general order issued on 21 Sept., acknowledging the splendid services of the army. This order very handsomely complimented Nott on his own brilliant victories, and notified his appointment from 30 Nov. following to the office of resident at the court of Lucknow, with title of envoy to the king of Oude. ‘I rejoice,’ wrote Lord Ellenborough, ‘in the opportunity afforded to me by the vacancy of that office of marking the high sense I entertain of the value of your military services, and of making known to the army and people of India that the situation of greatest dignity and emolument under the government is deemed by me to be the due reward of a successful general.’ Nott gratefully accepted the proffered honour. On 23 Dec. the army reached the Satlaj, over which a bridge of boats had been thrown, and the governor-general, the commander-in-chief, and their staff, accompanied by several native chiefs, received the troops with every demonstration of honour. While being feasted and fêted at Firozpúr, Nott, by direction of the governor-general, prepared a memorandum on the carriage or transport department, which displayed knowledge of the subject and common sense. Before leaving Firozpúr Lord Ellenborough presented Nott with a valuable sword in the name of the British government.
Nott now bade adieu to the army of Kandahar, and proceeded to Lucknow to take up his new appointment. Soon after he was installed at the court of the king of Oude, he was summoned to Agra by the governor-general to be invested with the order of the G.C.B. He arrived on 11 March, and the ceremony was performed amid great splendour. A day or two after Lord Ellenborough sent Nott the Kandahar and Kabul medals, begging that he would wear them on his entry to Lucknow. On 20 Feb. the thanks of both houses of parliament were voted to the generals and their armies for the ‘intrepidity, skill, and perseverance displayed by them in the military operations in Afghanistan, and for their indefatigable zeal and exertions throughout the late campaign.’ The vote was introduced into the House of Lords by the Duke of Wellington, who bore especial tribute to Nott's merits; while in the House of Commons Sir Robert Peel warmly eulogised him. ‘During the whole of the time he was employed in these dangerous undertakings,’ Peel said, ‘his gallant spirit never forsook him, and he dreamt of nothing but vindicating his country's honour.’ Lord Ellenborough, in his correspondence with the Duke of Wellington, expressed the opinion that Nott was superior to all the other generals.
In June 1843 Nott married a second time. In October he had a recurrence of an illness which he had contracted in Afghanistan, and in the following year he was obliged to proceed on leave to the Cape of Good Hope. After a few weeks at the Cape he became so much worse that he was sent to England, where he arrived in the summer of 1844. He received numerous invitations, but he was too ill even to go to Windsor, and he lived in retirement at Carmarthen. The court of directors of the East India Company on 21 Aug. passed a resolution granting an annuity of 1,000l. for life to Nott. In December the city of London bestowed upon him the freedom of the city. But the disease of the heart which affected him assumed an aggravated form, and, dying on 1 Jan. 1845, he was buried on 6 Jan. in the churchyard of St. Peter's, beside the grave of his father and mother.
A full-length portrait of Nott, painted by T. Brigstocke, a Welsh artist, is in the town-hall of Carmarthen; another by the same artist is in the Oriental Club, London; and a third is in the town-hall of Calcutta. A portrait was also painted by Benjamin Rawlinson Faulkner [q. v.] for Henry Wood, and presented by that gentleman to the military college at Addiscombe. A statue, by Davies, in bronze was also erected at Carmarthen by public subscription, to which the queen contributed 200l. and the East India Company 100l. In order to procure a proper site in Carmarthen, several houses near the town-hall were pulled down and a square formed, which has been called ‘Nott Square.’ The bronze for the statue was made of guns captured at the battle of Maharajpúr, and presented by the East India Company.
Nott married first, on 5 Oct. 1805, at Calcutta, Letitia, second daughter of Henry Swinhoe. Fourteen children were the issue of this marriage, but only five survived him. He married secondly, in June 1843, at Lucknow, Rosa Wilson, daughter of Captain Dore, of the 3rd Buffs.
Nott was a self-reliant man, who, when the opportunity offered, showed a genius for war. He was imbued with a strong sense of duty, and was a strict disciplinarian. Nevertheless he was himself impatient of control, and freely criticised the conduct of his superiors, with whom he was apt to disagree. Reserved in manner, he was intimate with few; but to those few he was a true friend.
[India Office Records; Despatches; Stocqueler's Memoir and Correspondence of Major-general Sir William Nott, G.C.B., with portraits, 1854, and Memorials of Afghanistan, Calcutta, 1843; Kaye's History of the War in Afghanistan in 1838–42, 1874; Lord Colchester's History of the Indian Administration of Lord Ellenborough, 1874; Buist's Outline of the Operations of the British Troops in Scinde and Afghanistan between November 1838 and November 1841, with Remarks on the Policy of the War, Bombay, 1843; Atkinson's Expedition into Afghanistan, 1842; Abbot's Journal and Correspondence of Afghan War 1838–42, 1879; Eyre's Military Operations at Cabul, 1841–2, &c., 1843; Havelock's Narrative of the War in Afghanistan in 1838–9, 1840; Hough's Narrative of the Expedition to Afghanistan in 1838–9 (March and Operations of the Army of the Indus), 1841; Kennedy's Narrative of the Campaign of the Army of the Indus in Sind and Kaubool in 1838–9, 1840; Outram's Rough Notes of the Campaign in Scinde and Afghanistan in 1838–9, &c. 1840; Stacy's Narrative in the Brahore Camp and with General Nott's Army to and from Cabul, 8vo. Serampore, 1844; Low's Afghan War, 1838–42, &c. 1879.]