page_title: 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot
section_title: Second Anglo-Afghan War
hierarchical_section_title: 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot / History / Second Anglo-Afghan War
caption_attribution_description: The Maiwand Lion is a sculpture and war memorial in Forbury Gardens, a public park in the town of Reading, in the English county of Berkshire. The statue was named after the Battle of Maiwand and was erected in 1886 to commemorate the deaths of 329 men from the 66th Berkshire Regiment during the campaign in Afghanistan between 1878 and 1880. It is sometimes known locally as the Forbury Lion.
context_page_description: The 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, raised in 1756. Under the Childers Reforms it amalgamated with the 49th Regiment of Foot to form the Princess Charlotte of Wales's in 1881.
context_section_description: The regiment was deployed to Afghanistan in early 1880 and took part in the Battle of Maiwand in July 1880 where the British forces were routed and most of the regiment was caught up in the rout. Some 140 of them made a stand at the Mundabad Ravine, which ran along the south side of the battlefield, but were forced back with heavy losses. Eventually 56 survivors made it to the shelter of a walled garden and made a further stand. Eventually the 56 were whittled down to only 11 men—two officers and nine other ranks. An Afghan artillery officer described their end: 
  "These men charged from the shelter of a garden and died with their faces to the enemy, fighting to the death. So fierce was their charge, and so brave their actions, no Afghan dared to approach to cut them down. So, standing in the open, back to back, firing steadily, every shot counting, surrounded by thousands, these British soldiers died. It was not until the last man was shot down that the Afghans dared to advance on them. The behaviour of those last eleven was the wonder of all who saw it".
   Officers who died in the action included: Lieutenant-Colonel James Galbraith, Captain Ernest Stephen Garratt, Captain William Hamilton M'Math, Captain Francis James Cullen, Captain Walter Roberts, Lieutenant Maurice Edward Rayner, Lieutenant Richard Trevor Chute, Second Lieutenant Arthur Honywood, Second Lieutenant Walter Rice Olivey and Second Lieutenant Harry James Outram Barr. A subscription led to two memorials in Reading: a window in St Mary's Church, and a large memorial sculpture, the Maiwand Lion, erected in 1886 in Forbury Gardens. The regiment also saw action at the Battle of Kandahar in September 1880.
caption: The Maiwand Lion, Forbury Gardens, Reading
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