Shah Shujah, 1842 (colour litho)

Shah Shujah, 1842. Coloured lithograph after Lieutenant Vincent Eyre, Bengal Artillery, 1842 (c). Shah Shuja-ul-Mulk was the Emir of Afghanistan from 1802 until 1809 when he was driven out by Mahmud Shah. During the 1st Afghan War (1838-1842), the Governor-General of India Lord Auckland attempted to restore Shah Shuja against the wishes of the Afghan people. After his British backers were forced to retreat from Kabul in January 1842, Shah Shuja fled to the Bala Hissar fortress. In April he left this refuge and was killed by the supporters of Dost Mohammad's son, Muhammad Akbar Khan. Dost Mohammed, who had been overthrown by the British, was restored to the throne. From ‘Portraits of the Kabul Prisoners’, a set of pre-publication coloured lithographs later published by John Murray in 1843. The artist’s original drawings were made during his captivity in Afghanistan after the Retreat from Kabul during the 1st Afghan War (1838-1842).