General Sir Peter Lumsden. Official Army Record of his services 1847-1862

A first rate Military Surveyor and Draftsman, a good linguist, and a bold and strong rider….
Army and Departmental Services of Brevet Lieutenant-Colonel and Major P. S. Lumsden, Deputy Quarter-Master General, Bengal Staff Corps.

A five page folio printed account of Lumsden’s service, on blue paper watermarked with a crowned Britannia, 13x 8 ins, pasted by the blank side of the last page to an old album leaf. Beginning with Lumsden’s entry in 1847 into the 9th NI the document covers his service up to the beginning of 1863 and was presumably printed in that year. A remarkable testimony to an already very full career with service in Afghanistan, the Punjab, the North West Frontier, Kashmir, the Mutiny, and China. There are quotes from commanders, references to numerous mentions in despatches, etc. Lumsden served under many of the great commanders of the time: Sir Charles Napier, Sir Colin Campbell, Col Sidney Cotton, Brig-Gen Neville Chamberlain, his brother Harry Lumsden, Sir Herbert Edwardes, Sir Robert Napier, Sir J Hope Grant. All thought very highly of him. although this record should be recorded somewhere in Indian Army records the printed copy given to an officer and perhaps his superiors seldom seems to have survived.  jul30/3   SOLD 17th February 2023

Provenance: From a large archive the General’s papers passed down through descendants of his brother, General Sir Harry Lumsden. Lumsden himself had no children.

General Sir Peter Stark Lumsden, G.C.B., C.S.I.. A.D.C. [1829-1918] had a very distinguished career in India, China, and Afghanistan and was the author of the standard work on his brother’s regiment Lumsden of the Guides. He joined the Bngal Army in 1847 and first saw action on the N.W.F. in 1851. In 1857 he was on a special mission to Kandahar and served in the China War with Napier., Bhutan War 1854, QMG India 1868-72, acting Resident Hyderabad 1873, Chief of the Staff in India in 1879 and headed the British Commission for the Demarkation of the N. W. Boundary of Afghanistan 1884-5.  He was made G.C.B. and an ADC to Queen Victoria.