William Elphinstone (major-general)

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Major-General William George Keith Elphinstone (1782–April 23 1842) was an officer of the British Army during the 19th Century. Born in Scotland in 1782; he was the son of William Fullerton Elphinstone, who was a director of the British East India Company, and nephew of Admiral George Keith Elphinstone, 1st Viscount Keith.

Elphinstone entered the British Army in 1804 as a lieutenant; he saw service throughout the Napoleonic Wars, rising to the rank of colonel by 1815, when he fought at the Battle of Waterloo.

Elphinstone was promoted to major-general in 1837, and, in 1841, during the First Anglo-Afghan War, placed in command of the British garrison in Kabul, Afghanistan, numbering around 16-17,000 (most of whom were East India Company troops). He was elderly, indecisive, weak, and unwell, and proved himself utterly incompetent for the post; his inability led to the disastrous British retreat from Kabul of January, 1842, which saw his command all but wiped out. Elphinstone died in Afghanistan on April 23, 1842.

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